"I'm in the business of misery…

Let's take it from the top."

NINA'S POV

I watched them longingly; her and him, hand in hand as they walked pass by. And behind them, walks her little posse, brain-dead barbies who do anything she says, of course she IS their queen after all.

Joy Mercer, school's Queen Bee: Smart, beautiful, popular, cheerleader captain and filthy rich. What she wants, what she gets. She's a little bitch, a whore, a no-good spoiled brat who doesn't let anything get in her way. She strides along the school grounds like it's her own personal catwalk; everyone parts like the red sea whenever she arrives. Nobody dares to get in her way, they're afraid of her; they don't know what she's capable of doing so they do their best to stay out of her way. Even with that bitchy attitude of hers, lots of guys adore her. Lots of guys wish to be her boyfriend, lots of girls wish to be her, but of course she ain't no Mary Sue. She's a bitch, a slut and as much brain-dead worshippers she has, much detest her equally. She's got a reputation for stealing girl's boyfriends.

Her posse, brain-dead Barbie dolls who do everything she says just for popularity. Me and my friends aren't even sure if they really treat her like a real friend like we did, note: did. We were her friends once, by we, I mean: Me, Nina Martin, Patricia Williamson, Amber Millington and Mara Jaffray. We were always there for her, we even saved her countless times and when her parents became billionaires, all the power and money got to her head. She became popular, got new friends and along with that, she forgot us. She got exposed to the wrong crowd, her posse are just her stupid worshippers who just want money, popularity and gossip. And for that, we hate her.

"Ugghh! Seeing them happy together makes me sick!" I muttered, staring at my sandwich in disgust.

"Aww…Neens is jealous!" Amber, my blonde BBF, teased me while taking a bite of her salad.

"I'm not!" I defended myself, leaning against the tall, willow tree we sat under. We're currently having a 2-hour lunch break we usually have every Friday, courtesy of Joy Mercer of course, and we're at our usual spot: behind the school, under the tall willow tree with an eye of horus engraved in it plus all our initials engraved in it and the word 'forever' (N + A + P + M = forever). We chose it as our daily meeting spot where we eat, gossip, fool around, hang-out and stuff like that. From time to time, my friends' boyfriends would join us too, making me a bit out of place since I'm the only one who doesn't have a boyfriend. Why you ask? Because of Joy, of course. She stole him away from me, you'll learn how later.

"Jeez, Neens you got to work on your lying because you STILL suck at it." Patricia Williamson, same old goth pixie, pointed out, munching on her cheeseburger. I rolled my eyes at her, "Fine. Maybe I am, but you know why!" I grunted in defeat. Amber smiled triumphantly, "See. You still have feelings for him too." She cheers. Before anyone could say anything else to bug me, Jerome approached us.

"Hey Mara!" A tall blonde called out, sitting beside his girlfriend. "Hi Jerome!" She greeted him cheerily, giving his cheek a quick peck.

"Ack! We're eating here, can't you see?" Patricia whined in disgust, faking a gag. I laughed at her reaction; she's got a boyfriend but still isn't used to all the lovey-dovey couple stuff and still finds it disgusting.

"Oh shut it, Trixie." Jerome rolls his eyes, putting an arm around Mara's shoulders. "Martin, Millington." He turns to us with a smile. We just both return the smile and return to our food. Jeez, who would've thought that THE great Jerome Clark, a player, prankster, blackmailer and sneaky guy, would fall head over heels for Mara Jaffray, a simple, beautiful, nerdy girl? Well, you can expect the unexpected when it comes to love, though.

"So, what are our plans for tonight?" Amber asks, picking out the raisins from her salad.

"How 'bout we catch a movie?" Mara suggests, still not taking her eyes of Jerome.

"I say we party 'til we can't party no more and drink 'til we just can't take it no more." I suggest, and once I said that, all of my friends' heads turned to me.

"Seriously? Uptight Martin's up for partying and getting real drunk?" Jerome asks me, his blue eyes widening.

"Uh-huh." I reply, confused why they're all shocked.

"WHAT HAVE YOU GIRLS DONE TO HER?!" Jerome jokingly yelled at the others.

"Hey guys!" Alfie and Eddie walked in, "What's wrong?" they both asked, confused, seeing the others' eyes wide and mouth open.

"Yacker, close your mouth. It'll attract flies." Eddie joked, closing her mouth.

"Shut it, weasel!" Patricia yelled, lightly smacking him on the arm.

"So…what's wrong?" Alfie asked. "Nina suggested we go party and get drunk…" Amber tells, surprise evident in her voice.

"WHAT?!" Alfie and Eddie both yelled in unison, eyes widening and they stood up. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" Eddie demands jokingly.

"DID YOU BRAINWASH HER? I KNEW IT! YOU GIRLS ARE ALIENS!" Alfie says.

"ALFIE!" We all yelled. Classic Alfie, still believing in aliens.

"We did nothing!" Patricia says, raising her hands up in defense. "So what has gotten into you, Nina?" they demand, still can't get over the fact that I, Uptight Nina Martin, suggested us to go partying and drinking.

"Nothing! I just thought that it would be…fun?" I say innocently, raising my arms up in defense. "Jeez guys, can't a girl suggest something like that nowadays?" I ask jokingly.

"Why not? Nina! You're loosening up!" Eddie cheered like a little kid. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed.

"On to the suggestion, yeah! That'd be fun! But Neens, I'm taking you to a doctor to see if you banged your head on something." Amber squeals. I rolled my eyes again, "Amber!"

"Maybe Joy hit her head with a bat!" Jerome chuckled, I frowned at the mention of her name.

"JEROME!" Mara yelled, slapping him at the back of his head. "Oww!" Jerome yelped, rubbing the part Mara smacked. "Apologize!" Mara demands. I stifle a small smile, Mara really does bring out the best in him, she made his other side, the sweet and caring one, show.

"Fine. Fine. Sorry…" Jerome muttered. I plastered on a fake smile, "It's alright…"

"No it's not. Nina, I could tell if you're lying, if you're alright or not and if you're faking something. And that smile of yours is fake and I know you're not okay! Stop telling us you're alright if you really aren't, it worries me Neens!" Amber whined.

I managed a weak, genuine smile at Amber, "Fine, I'm not alright. It's just…I hate her so much!" I give up, venom in the phrase 'hate her so much'.

"You really need to party Neens. And you need to get drunk, hook up with guys and stuff like that. We need to get you out of your misery!" Mara says, handing me a small bottle of root beer.

I smile at her, "Yeah. A misery that she caused." I say bitterly, taking the root beer and having a swift gulp of it.

"Ooohh…Nina's going to loosen up!" The boys cheered, I smiled and rolled my eyes at them, quickly finishing the root beer, crumpling the can and throwing it away at a nearby trashcan.

They're right. I need to loosen up, and most importantly get out of my misery. One that the great Joy Mercer caused.

A/N:

So…? Did you like it? I hope you did! Anyway, this story is kind of based on the whole song Misery Business by Paramore. I just thought that Nina, Joy and Fabian would fit this perfectly well. So…yeah. Review? I'd love to know what you think about it.

Anyway…I'm going to school in a few days now, and I'll be updating ever so slowly but I may be able to give you tons of updates, so bear with me and my slow updating please?

Byeeee~