Hello, Goodbye

"Ready?" asked Noelle. She was in my room, all dolled to go to New York with her family and mine. She looked stunning as usual, as she stood there with her turquoise Donna Karen dress on, which accentuated her perfect body. I took one last look in the mirror and nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go" I said, while gathering my purse. I opted for a black Betsy Johnson pencil skirt and white blouse. As we stepped out into Pemberly's dreary hallways, I couldn't help but laugh how glamorous we looked. "Wow, we so don't fit in Pemberly" I said while gesturing to our clothes.

Noelle scoffed and said "The hell we don't. I have no idea how you managed to stay alive in this place." I looked at Noelle questionably until she noticed how wrong the word choice was. "Sorry. I mean, I never thought I would have to sleep in this shit hole, but lo and behold! Here I am, rotting my ass away in Pemberly" she shuddered.

I laughed as we went down the stairs. "Tell me about it."

After the initial shock of Billings being torn down was gone, all the former Billing girls had to sleep in Pemberly, respectively. There wasn't enough room for everyone, so some people had to do a triple. Horrid, I know. The first night was a total uproar. Noelle wasn't going down without a fight; she bossed everyone around, made arrangements to her own liking, and made sure nobody dared to cross either one of us. Ivy and Noelle had a little spat, but it quieted down after a while. However, there was some talk that a few people would live in the freshmen and sophomore dorms. And did I mention Noelle was rooming with Ivy now? I was too preoccupied in my own thoughts to even think about that.

I had finally seen Josh, and all he gave me was a blank stare. A part of me hoped that he would be happy to see me. That instead of asking dumb questions and acting weird, he would talk to me and everything would be alright. But it wasn't. He acted like Dopey from Snow White.

After our little meeting outside, I never saw Josh again. That was fine, because I still wasn't ready to face him yet. Every time I thought about him, I would get a nauseous feeling in my stomach, probably from anxiety. I would see Ivy because she was my next door neighbor, and that didn't really help. She was extremely nice to me, despite the fact I got her shot. Only a day had passed by, and I already had a headache. So all in all, I was very confused.

As Noelle and I stepped out into the cold, brisk air of Connecticut, I happened to see two people walking across the quad, coming our way. At first, I thought one of the, was Upton; that was impossible for he was a thousand miles away, until I realized my own foolishness and saw that it was Sawyer with Gage. The boys spotted us and waved.

Noelle groaned. "I'm so not in the mood to deal with Gage right now."

I laughed. "Whatever, they're still coming our way."

"Where do you guys think you're going?" asked the ever so cocky Gage as he and Sawyer approached us. Both were wearing long black coats, pink in the face from the cold.

Sawyer smiled at me as he approached us. "Hey Reed." He looked over at Noelle and simply said "Noelle." Noelle got the vibe, but chose to only roll her eyes a bit.

"Reed and I are going to New York for the day to spend time with our families" stated Noelle. She linked an arm around mine and started to drag me. "So if you'll excuse us boys, we need to leave."

I tisked her and unhooked my arm from Noelle's. "What are you guys doing early in the morning?" I asked.

"Well, it is breakfast time, so I thought I should show Sawyer here how we roll in the mornings" explained Gage. He slapped Sawyer on the back. Sawyer only looked dismayed.

"You mean how you roll" I clarified.

"Touché, touché. Besides, Mr. Bookworm simply could not wait to get a super old copy of a book in the library. So he dragged me along" said Gage. I looked over to Sawyer's hands and saw a book called The Black Robe by Wilkie Collins, whoever the hell he was. Sawyer saw both Noelle and I looking at his book, and he ostentatiously put it aside.

"I guess we should let you guys go" said Sawyer. I looked at my cell phone and saw that it was already 9:20.

"Sawyer, you just read my mind. Come on Reed, we're running late" mentioned Noelle, and she started to leave.

"You to Sawyer, I'm freezing my ass out here" added Gage. Just like Noelle, he left, leaving us alone.

Noelle had all ready started to open the car door, and gestured that I follow her. "Hold on a sec Noelle!" I turned and faced Sawyer. "Hey, if you need anything, just come and find me. I don't think either one of us want Gage to show you how the school runs" I added. Sawyer and I laughed, and I instantly felt warmer despite the cold.

"Same goes for you Reed." He looked at me with those grey/brown eyes, and he was truly sincere about what he just said. I swallowed and smiled.

"I know" I said quietly. We were now talking about other needs, not normal ones. I tensed up, but I knew it was alright to talk about these things to Sawyer. After all, he had saved me twice, and we both knew what it felt like to lose someone.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blonde haired boy coming out of Ketlar, carrying an easel with him. Ohmigod, it was Josh. What was up with fate?

Josh continued to walk, until he noticed the commotion by the gates. He looked up and saw Sawyer and I standing next to each other. He stopped for a second, taking in the sight in front of him. In stages, he slowly realized that I was standing next to Sawyer. I could've sworn I saw some judgment and hurt in his face, but he continued to stand and stare.

No way was I going to let him look at me like that. I had every reason to talk to Sawyer. Anger bubbled in me; I was now releasing the frustration I had developed over the past day and a half. After giving me a blank stare and making me stay up all night, I was not going to let Josh slip by. So I did the unthinkable.

I threw my arms around Sawyer's neck, and kissed him on the cheek. I burned over the fact that Josh was probably looking at me and that I was probably giving the wrong idea to Sawyer. Sawyer was taken aback, but he lightly wrapped his strong arms around me. "Thanks Sawyer" I said. I quickly released him and started to head towards the car before I did anything else stupid. "See ya!" I half yelled. I was still blushing at my actions. He only nodded and waved at me. I could see his face becoming more red every with every passing second.

I opened the car door and went inside. I took a peek outside the window, and saw Josh stomping his way back to Ketlar and Sawyer heading that way also. Oh God, I couldn't believe I just did that.

"What was that all about?" asked Noelle curiously.

I tried to look as casual as I could. "What do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"You honestly don't know what I'm talking about?" retorted Noelle, all the while raising a perfect eyebrow.

I shrugged and said "Enlighten me." Noelle gave me one hard look and looked out the window. She smirked, and leaned forward to tell the driver to get moving.

It was virtually impossible to lie in front of Noelle.

here you go folks, first chapter of scandal. god, i feel like a loser for already having this done, when i just finished suspicion on friday. my mom is always wondering why i'm on word half the time i'm at home. anyway, i was at home sick and i got bored, so why not post another story, eh?

well, what do you think? i know its started off really boring, but i hate long chapters. review please! they would be appreciated.