A/N: Hey guys!
Normally, I'm not the type to write fanfics. I prefer my own, original plots :). But I couldn't resist here. I wanted to write in my own OC named Lily, and sort of show what their life is like one year later.
This first chapter is just an introduction to the new character. I know it's boring but I promise I have a whole plot going. This is just to show where Lily came from.
This could have potential to be a series after I finish this one, so maybe if you guys like them I'll keep writing them :)
Okay, I'm done now. Enjoy!
XXXXXXXXXX
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Caitlin reached for the microwave excitedly and pulled out her experiment. The hot yellow liquid inside each of the five cups was bubbling fiercely. Was that a good sign?
She handed each of her friends in the table below her a cup; her grin was practically ear to ear by now.
"Here guys, try this! I thought of the idea myself!" Caitlin mused as she waited eagerly for her friends to take a sip. If this idea became popular and sales went up, she would certainly get a raise! And just in time for the upcoming sale at Albatross and Finch.
Several long moments of silence passed. Each friend looked at their cup reluctantly and peered inside to see it's bubbling contents. Finally, Jude spoke up.
"Duuuuuuude. This looks like my pee after I drank that entire bottle of ketchup..."
Caitlin scrunched her nose up. "Why did you drink an entire bottle of ketchup? That's disgusting!"
"It was a dare... and he won," Jonesy replied with a defeated look on his face.
"Seriously Cait, what is this?" Jen asked,
"It's hot lemonade! I took normal lemonade and heated it up in the microwave for a minute or so. Try it!"
"Why did you make 'hot lemonade'? No offense but, it kind of sounds....gross." Nikki chimed in while analyzing the contents of her cup.
"Because, it's October, and sales are always down during this time of year. Nobody wants a cold drink when they're already freezing! I figured this way we could keep sales up during the wintertime!"
"Well...maybe you should just stick to the cold drinks. It's not like people aren't buying them, you know." Nikki pushed her drink away, towards Jonesy.
"Oh come on guys, can't you at least try it? I really need this new raise! There's this cute new jacket at Albatross and Finch and I won't be able to buy it at their next sale with my current paycheck! Please?"
"Oh come on guys, maybe it won't be so bad," Jen piped in.
"Yeah, who knows? Maybe it will be the next big thing!" Wyatt added along.
"Oh, okay, fine. I'll try it!" Jonesy announced as he slowly lifted his cup to his mouth. As the warm liquid reached his tongue, his eyes widened in disgust. He proceeded to spit the contents of his mouth all over the table, as well as all over Nikki, who was seated next to him.
"That was..."
"Disgusting?" Caitlin cut him off with a sigh in her voice.
"Pretty much...Sorry Cait. It was a good idea, though."
Nikki wiped the lemon spit off of her shirt. "Ugh, Jonesy, did you have to spit it all over my shirt? This is so gross!"
"You don't seem to mind my spit when it's inside your mouth," Jonesy winked and leaned towards her.
Nikki rolled her eyes and playfully shoved Jonesy. "You can be so gross sometimes, you know that?"
Caitlin giggled slightly. With all the sarcasm and small fights, Caitlin always wondered how they managed to stay together for almost a year. Maybe it was some sort of weird way of showing affection towards each other.
Caitlin let her mind wander further. The word "year" lingered in her head. She couldn't believe it had been over a year since she had first met her best friends. She pictured her same group of friends from a year ago and looked at them now. Things had certainly changed.
Jen had cut her long, red-ish yet brown-ish hair into a sophisticated bob, much like Chrissy's from the Khaki Barn, but more edgy looking. Her face had a sharper look to it, and her body had filled out more. She finally started wearing a bit of eyeliner and mascara, which added to the sophisticated look she was going for. She was still the mature one of the group, but had learned to tone down her controlling attitude a bit. She had become head coach of The Penalty Box after Coach Halder was promoted to a higher position in the franchise. Things were going pretty well for her.
Nikki's hair had grown down all the way to just past her shoulders. She had dyed her hair back to it's original jet black color, but had left the front strands in their signature purple color. She was the same tough, non-conforming type girl, but a slight gentle side was forming to her. At least, that's what Caitlin thought. She was still stuck at her job at the "tacky barn", but deep down she actually liked the job. She got paid to sit around and sleep all day, even if the clones squealed and "eeeee!"d all day.
Jonesy's hair was the same deep blue color, but it had grown out a bit and sort of sat around his eyes. It was almost attractive, oddly enough. One thing hadn't changed though: he still couldn't keep a job for more than a week.
Wyatt still had his poofy hair, of course. He wouldn't be Wyatt without it. However, the rest of him had changed quite a bit. His scrawny body buffed up a little bit and he grew a little taller. While he still had a sensitive side, he had trained himself to toughen up a bit and be more confident when it came to girls. He also got himself out of Burger McFlipsters and landed himself a decent job at Grind Me, his favorite coffee joint.
Caitlin studied Jude a bit, looking for any changes. For the most part, Jude had stayed the same. Same shaggy blonde hair, same odd, immature attitude. She studied a bit harder. The only visible change was the slight stubble on his face. He was too lazy to shave sometimes.
Caitlin pulled out a mirror from her purse and studied her reflection. She had certainly changed as well. Her short blonde hair had finally grown long enough to tie back in a short ponytail. And she was certainly not the same shallow person she had been before she had met them. They had taught her a deeper meaning to life, something she would've never learned if she were still with Tricia.
Caitlin let out a dreamy sigh and turned to her friends.
"Wow guys, can you believe it's been over a year since I befriended you? And look how much we've changed!" Caitlin exclaimed while resting her head on her hand.
The entire group shot her a strange look. Obviously they had been talking about something completely unrelated.
"Whoaaaa... that was just a little random, brah!" Jude replied.
Nikki let out one of her famous snort-snickers. "Yeah, seriously." She looked at her watch. "Ugh, I've gotta jet. The Crappy Barn is calling me."
"I think we all have to go to work. It's almost nine 'o clock. See you at break, Cait!" Wyatt announced as he stood up from his seat. The others nodded, said their goodbyes, and walked away, leaving Caitlin all alone. Time to open up The Lemon.
XXXXXX
Lily McIntyre looked down at the complementary map of the Galleria Mall, and back up at the actual building. Man, this mall was huge! Certainly nothing like the tiny little mall she had back home.
Lily sighed. It would take her awhile to accept the fact that this was now her home. And this mall was where she now worked.
She shivered a bit, and pulled her jacket closer to her body. She looked up at the mall's giant thermometer. It read negative fifteen.
"There's no way it can be that cold!" Lily muttered to herself. "Is that even possible? How do these people survive?"
Lily smacked herself. She had completely forgotten that Canadians used celsius, not fahrenheit. She pulled out her phone and pulled up the little converter. Five fahrenheit. Now that made much more sense.
Lily hurried herself inside. She was already late for her new job.
XXXXXXX
Nikki woke from her rather short nap to find the clones surrounding her, leaning themselves right in Nikki's face.
"GUESSWHATGUESSWHATGUESSWHAT?" They all screamed at once.
Nikki groaned. "Ugh. What?"
"We're getting a new staff member today!" Chrissy announced excitedly.
"Yeah, she just moved here! The old Khaki Barn she worked at transferred her to this location!" Kirsten added.
"I wonder what she's like..." Kristen chimed in.
"I bet she's got totally awesome style!"
"She's probably suuuper pretty!"
"I bet she'll be just like us!"
"Maybe she even looks just like us, too!"
"That would be soooo cool!"
"Cooler than cool! We could all four go on major shopping trips together!"
The three clones began jumping up and down, all while "eeeee!"ing, as usual. Nikki rolled her eyes.
"Hey guys, remember Ashley? Your fourth clone? Are you sure you want somebody exactly like her all over again?" Nikki replied, cutting off their "eeeee"s.
"Ugh, leave it to Nikki to try and rain on our fun!" Chrissy hissed back, practically spitting the word "Nikki".
"Yeah! Let's go out front and wait for her. She could be here any minute!" Kirsten announced. The girls exited the break room, giving Nikki some peace and quiet again.
XXXXXXX
Caitlin smiled as she watched Jen approach the Lemon. She always got so bored standing there all alone, so she longed for her friend's breaks throughout the day. However, Caitlin's grin was not returned. Jen groaned as she took a seat in her usual chair.
"Awww... what's the matter Jen?" Caitlin asked. She began to whip up a Cherry Lemon Smoothie, Jen's favorite.
"Ugh...just some problems with annoying customers. Why do all my employees send the difficult ones to me so they don't have to deal with them? It's not fair!"
Caitlin set Jen's drink onto the table. "I know how you feel. I always get stuck with the crazy thirteen-year-olds trying to be funny, ordering things like 'diet water'. Some people really need to grow up!"
"Diet water? That's such an old one! If they're going to be annoying they could at least try to be original!"
Caitlin giggled. "I know! But they're only thirteen, you really can't blame them."
-
Lily bit her thumbnail and took a good look around. The place looked even bigger on the inside. Did this many stores even exist in the world?
"Man, I hope I can learn my way around, otherwise I'll be late for work everyday!" Lily muttered to herself, giggling slightly.
She took another glance around and noticed a giant lemon in the distance. Did they sell lemonade? Come to think of it, Lily was getting a bit thirsty. She decided to go check it out.
As she got closer, she noticed a blonde girl wearing a rather dorky lemon hat and a girl in a referee shirt sitting in the table below her.
They look friendly! Lily thought to herself. I'll go say hi.
She smiled and walked right up to the counter, studying the menu. They seemed to have every sort of lemony drink on the planet, from lemon squishies to pink lemonade icees, along with plain lemonade with a variety of possible flavor add ins to choose from.
"Wow...an entire little stand dedicated to lemonade? This mall really is huge!" Lily exclaimed while further studying the vast menu.
The girl in the referee shirt giggled. "Yeah...you didn't know that? Are you from around here?"
Lily sighed. "I am now, I guess. I just moved here about a week ago." Lily glanced down at her cell phone. 10:27. It was her first day and she was already over an hour late. Go figure. "I'll have the lemon squishy please. Can you make it quick? I've gotta be somewhere."
-
Caitlin studied this new girl as she handed her the squishy. She had really long, dark brown hair, with blonde streaks as well as the occasional pink streak, which Caitlin despised. She wore thick black eyeliner on her top lids, and a little bit of mascara, leaving the rest of her face make-up free, and Caitlin could certainly tell by the uneven skin tone she sported. She wore a shirt boasting "The Left Side", which she guessed was some indie band, underneath a blue and black striped jacket. She also wore black skinny jeans and polka dotted tennis shoes. To Caitlin, she was one big fashion disaster.
"Man, that girl really could use a makeover. And a new wardrobe." Caitlin announced as the girl walked away. Jen rolled her eyes.
"Caitlin, not everybody wants to go for the blonde preppy chick look, you know."
"I know but...I just want to put a little bit of foundation on her...she has such uneven skin tone. Ewwww...."
"Caitlin, you can't judge somebody by how they look. I bet she's pretty nice. And most of us don't really care about 'uneven skin tone'." Jen used dramatic air quotes around "skin tone".
"Oh what does it matter, it's not like we're ever going to see her again!"
Jen sighed. "Whatever. I've gotta go back to work. I'll see you at lunch, okay?"
XXXXXX
Nikki couldn't help but laugh at how anxious the clones looked while they waited for the new employee to show up. They were like this on Nikki's first day, too, until they realized she wasn't exactly clone material.
A young, blonde girl walked into the store with a huge smile on her face. She could have passed as another clone, if it weren't for her short height and the large braces that covered her teeth.
"Hi! Welcome to The Khaki Barn! How can we help you?" Kirsten asked her with a huge grin on her face.
Chrissy walked over and slapped Kirsten on the arm. "Kirsten, you idiot! That's probably our new employee! You don't treat them like normal customers!"
"Oh, right! Sorry!" Kirsten smacked herself on the head for her mistake. "Well let's go congratulate her and show her around!" She grabbed Chrissy's arm and skipped over to the new girl.
Nikki snort-grunted. "Oh great, another clone to deal with around here. Just what I needed."
"Hey...excuse me, do you work here?" She heard a voice ask. Nikki looked up to see a rather unusual customer for the Khaki Barn. She had dark hair with pink and blonde streaks, along with heavy eyeliner and some rather...different clothes. She looked like some strange combo between emo, scene, and normal.
"Yeah...unfortunately. Um, I don't think you're going to exactly find anything that's your style here..." Nikki replied before laying her head back down on the counter.
"Actually...I'm here for my first day on the job..."
Nikki's eyes widened. This had to be some sort of joke. She lifted her head back off the counter. "You...work at the Khaki Barn? There's no way!"
"Oh yes there is..." She dug through her bag and pulled out some sort of document. "This is the location they transferred me to... and this is my first day, so...here I am!"
Nikki glanced over the document. She was telling the truth. "Wow. Well. Okay. So if you're the new girl then...who's that?" Nikki pointed to the blonde girl she had seen walk in earlier.
"But you HAVE to be it!" Chrissy whined.
"You're like, one of us!" Kristen added in.
"Guys...no...I'm just a customer! Really!" The girl whined.
"Oh nonsense. Quit with the joke, we know you're just trying to surprise us. Come on, we'll get you your name tag!" Kirsten shouted, dragging the girl towards the front counter.
"Uh, clones? She really isn't the new employee. She really is just a customer!" Nikki stated, giggling slightly.
"Ugh, well if she isn't, then who is?" Chrissy replied while folding her arms. She hated it when Nikki tried to smart mouth her.
Nikki silently pointed to the emo/scene/normal girl, who gave a sheepish smile and waved. The clones gasped.
"There's no way she's working at the Khaki barn!" Chrissy shouted. The other two positioned themselves behind Chrissy and nodded their head. "We're not falling for another one of your stupid jokes, Nikki."
Nikki picked up the document and handed it to Chrissy. "Actually, she really is. I'm not kidding you."
Chrissy scanned over the document, eyes widening as she read it. After finishing, she sighed and handed the paper back to Nikki. "I guess you are working here now. Welcome to the team." Chrissy groaned. "Nikki, you train her!"
Nikki rolled her eyes as the clones walked away. "Well, uh, I'm Nikki, as you've probably already guessed. You must be..." Nikki eyed the top of the paper "Lily! Nice to meet you Lily!"
Lily's mouth was hanging wide open. "Are...they...triplets or something?"
Nikki rolled her eyes. "No, they're just the clones. They try really hard to look and act the same. Scary, right?"
Lily sat herself down behind the counter. "Just a little. Wow..."
Nikki snort-giggled. Finally, somebody normal around here. "So, how long have you been working for the Tacky Barn, anyways?"
Lily glanced at her phone. "About....five minutes. Not very long."
Nikki tilted her head in confusion. "Wait... weren't you working there back at your old home? I thought you were transferred over..."
Lily leaned her head on her hand, pouting slightly. "No. I was working at Red Hot Gossip back when I lived in the U.S. But apparently they don't have any of those here in Canada."
"Whoa! No way! You actually worked there? I visited one of those back on a family trip to the U.S! I was in heaven!"
Lily sighed. "Yeah. I did. I was the manager too. They loved me so much that they promised me they'd automatically transfer me to a new job when I moved. But since there were no Red Hot Gossips nearby, and the company is owned by The Khaki Barn..."
Nikki scrunched her nose up. "You got stuck here? That sucks. Like majorly."
Lily could swear she felt a tear forming. Nikki was right. It did suck. She was stuck in another country, with no friends, no idea where anything was or how anything worked, and a stupid job with annoying co workers.
Nikki sensed the pain coming from Lily and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey...want to come eat lunch with my friends and I in a couple of hours? I think you'd like them!"
Lily put on a weak smile. "Sure. I'd love that."
XXXXXXX
Jude took a good, long look at the ice before him. Things looked pretty smooth.
He proceeded to park the zamboni in it's usual spot and hopped out of it. He noticed a couple of 'Zamboni Dude' fans pressing their faces against his window, some holding notepads for him to autograph, and others even going so far as to wear 'Zamboni Dude' t-shirts.
Jude was always amazed that the novelty of Zamboni Dude never wore off, even after months and months with the title. He was almost like a local celebrity. At least to the little twelve year olds who admired him. He even had posters of him hanging up in the mall in various places.
Jude let out a light chuckle and stepped outside of his office. His fans began to crowd around him, shoving their notepads close to his face. He let out a deep sigh.
"Little dudes and dudettes, I can't sign autographs right now! I promised my friends I'd meet them for lunch and I'm gonna be late!" Jude exclaimed as he gently shoved his fans aside. "But don't worry, Zamboni Dude will be back in an hour!"
The kids began to squeal, along with random "I love you Zamboni Dude!" outbursts and more crowding.
Jude somehow managed to plow his way through the crowd and hopped on his skateboard before the fans caught up. Okay, maybe he wasn't really in a huge hurry for lunch. He probably could have signed all of his fan's autographs and still have shown up to lunch without his friends worrying any. But 'Zamboni Dude' was feeling lazy today.
He dug around in his back pocket, too hungry to wait for the five minute ride to the food court. He thumbed over some sort of round, slightly sticky object. Curious, he pulled it out and examined it. It was slightly green, with brown spots and unidentifiable fuzz growing. It seemed to ooze some sort of bright green juice. Jude shrugged his shoulders. "Looks edible to me!" He took a bite out of the top and thought for a second. Suddenly, it came to him.
"Oh yeah! This was the pickle I stuck in my pocket a couple of weeks ago because I didn't have enough money for lunch! I must've forgotten to eat it!" he shrugged his shoulders again. "Oh well. It's still good."
He took another big bite out of the top, unaware of where he was going, or the fact that he was about to run into a plant display.
BAM!
Jude's vision went black.
-
"Are you okay?"
Jude opened his eyes to see a girl peering over him. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. She sported heavy eyeliner and dark hair with blonde and pink streaks, and was carrying boxes labeled 'The Khaki Barn'. Definitely not something you saw at the mall everyday.
"Hello? Do you need some help up?"
The girl took his hand and lifted his upper body up to a sitting position. Jude rubbed his eyes as his vision blurred back to normal.
"Whoaaaa... what happened, dudette?" Jude asked while rubbing his aching head.
The girl giggled slightly. "Well, you were eating some sort of...I don't even know. And you weren't paying attention and you rammed into the plant display here." Her nose scrunched up slightly. "You got some of the....substance on your shirt by the way."
Jude looked down at his shirt. Sure enough, there was a huge green and brown stain splattered on his shirt, along with the original pickle, which was lodged inside his armpit. How did that happen?
"Awww man, now I gotta walk around all day looking like I puked on myself!" He separated his arm from his body, causing the pickle to drop, and then stood himself up. The girl continued to giggle.
"I'm Lily by the way." She started to reach her hand out, but pulled it back after spotting Jude's goop covered hand.
"I'm Jude. Nice to meet you, brah!"
Lily's eyes widened slightly. "Wait, are you the Jude that's on the 'Zamboni Dude' posters all over the mall?"
"Yepp. That would be me!" Jude replied with a grin.
Lily sat herself down on the nearby bench and ran her fingers through her hair. "You guys have famous zamboni drivers? Man, Canada is going to take a lot of getting used to!"
"Well, no, we don't have famous zamboni drivers, it's just me, well, er... It's hard to explain." Jude sat himself down beside Lily. "So, you're obviously not from around here. Where are you from, bra?"
Lily's smile quickly turned into a slight frown. "I'm from the U.S. I just moved here last week."
"Duuuuuuude, that's so awesome! I've always wanted to go down there!"
Lily let out a slight chuckle. "It's really not all that great. Especially where I'm from. I just miss my friends and family there, you know?"
Jude shrugged his shoulders. He had lived here all his life. He couldn't really relate.
Lily glanced over at the Khaki Barn boxes beside her and remembered what she was supposed to be doing.
"Uh, Jude? Do you happen to know where the Khaki Barn is? I was supposed to be back with these boxes like half an hour ago, but this mall is so huge that I keep getting lost!"
Jude chuckled. "Of course, dude! I know this mall like the back of my hand!" He pulled his skateboard up closer to him and flipped it up into his hand. "Want me to give you a ride?"
Lily giggled, widening her eyes slightly. "You don't seriously think you can ride with me standing on the board, do you?"
Jude grabbed Lily's boxes and stuck them on the edge of the board, then proceeded to grab Lily's arm and fasten both arms around his stomach. "Don't worry about it, brah. I can do it."
"If you say SOOOO! AHHH!" Lily began to scream as Jude began to move forward. She was obviously not used to riding on a skateboard. "Slow down! What if I fall?"
Jude turned his head towards Lily. "You won't fall. I promise. Just trust me, okay?" He let out one of his signature low chuckles and began to speed up.
Lily took a deep breath and smiled. This wasn't so bad. She leaned in closer to his ear. "Do you think you could take me on a ride on your zamboni later? It sounds like fun!"
"Sure thing, brah!"
***
"Well, I see you've met Jude!" Nikki announced as Jude zoomed up to the Khaki Barn entrance. "What took you so long, anyways?"
"Dudette here got lost, so I took the liberty of helping her get to her rightful place!" Jude replied , lifting his chest slightly and grinning wide.
"So...you just randomly found her and decided to help her out? Awful nice of you..." Nikki commented with skeptical look on her face.
Lily rolled her eyes. "No, he crashed after biting into an expired pickle and not paying attention and I happened to walk by and help him up."
Nikki rolled her eyes and giggled. "That sounds more like the Jude I know. Here, I'll drop the inventory off in the back, and we can all go for lunch, okay?"
XXXXXXX
Caitlin looked up at the big clock that was in the center of the food court. 12:25. Her friends would be there any minute.
Caitlin quickly threw off her uniform and closed down the lemon. She took a seat in their usual table and waited.
As usual, Jonesy was the first to stroll up. Usually by this time of day he was either out of a job or about to start one. Today was no different. He had on his "I just got fired" face.
"Hey Jonesy! What's the matter? Get fired again?"
Jonesy sat himself down in the chair next to Caitlin. "I wish. I got this new job at Mallory's Surprise, thinking that a ton of hot chicks would be there."
Caitlin scrunched her nose up. "Eww, Jonesy, everybody knows that that store is filled with a bunch of desperate old ladies who want to be hip again."
"Well, now you tell me! If a bunch of old ladies shop in that store, how come they have hotties in the catalogs?"
"Because, Jonesy," Caitlin rolled her eyes. "They want old women to think that it's this hot, hip store so they'll shop there. It's all just a marketing ploy. Obviously, you fell for it, too."
"Maybe I should consult you next time before getting a job anywhere. Seriously, do you know how many old lady boobs I had to grope today? You would think they'd learn to measure themselves before walking into the store!"
Caitlin scrunched her nose up again. "Oh, that's bad. Wait, how did you even get a job at a lingerie store anyways?" Caitlin narrowed her eyes and leaned her head towards him. "Don't tell me you pulled the gay line again! Ugh, Jonesy!"
"What? What else was I supposed to say? I wanted the job!"
Caitlin rolled her eyes. "I guess groping old lady boobs is just karma, then."
"Gee, thanks Cait."
"Hey there, Jonesy!" said a voice coming from behind. Nikki, he presumed. She sauntered up closer, bent down from behind, and kissed him on the cheek. "What did we miss?"
Jonesy turned around and saw Jude and a rather...freaky looking chick behind her. Who was she?
Caitlin knew, alright. She cringed at the site of her. She just couldn't stand her get up!
"I see you brought a new friend, Nikki." Caitlin groaned.
"Oh yeah, guys, this is Lily. She's my new co worker at the Tacky Barn. You can have a seat, if you want." Nikki gestured Lily into the seat between Jude and her. She took her seat shyly.
"Oh hey, you're the girl who works in this giant lemon! I met you earlier...er...sorta." Lily piped in. "Where's the girl with the referee shirt?"
"Jen? She and Wyatt should be here any minute. I'm Jonesy, by the way." Jonesy put his hand out and sort of force-shook it with Lily.
"Oh, hi Jonesy. I'm Lily. So...there's six of you? Are you guys like, a little clan or something?" Lily asked.
"I wouldn't call it a 'clan'," Nikki replied. "Just six friends who have known each other for awhile, that's all."
"Hey guys!" came another voice. The gang turned to see Jen and Wyatt, looking rather disheveled, with hair all messed up and clothes wrinkled. The gang went silent.
"What? Why so quiet?" Jen asked while taking a seat next to Caitlin. Wyatt took a seat as well, laying his head on the table and grunting.
"Did you guys...?" Jonesy attempted to ask.
Jen rolled her eyes. "Don't get any dirty thoughts, guys. We got trampled by a bunch of preschoolers gone loose on our way down here. It took us forever to get out of there!"
"Yeah!" Wyatt joined in. "Apparently their daycare supervisor went for a lunch break and forgot to call in someone else to watch them. Go figure."
"Ouch. How irresponsible of them!" Lily piped in. "You guys must be Jen and Wyatt. Hi!"
"Yeah..." replied Jen, not bothering to look and see where the somewhat familiar voice was coming from.
It suddenly clicked. The girl from the Lemon!
Caitlin leaned over into Jen's ear. "I can't believe that girl we saw earlier is friends with Nikki!"
Jen smirked. "And you said you would never see her again. Funny."
Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Is she going to be, like, our new gang member? She seems so unlike us though!"
"Caitlin, you can't judge someone by how they look, as I said earlier! And besides, we took you in back in your snobby shallow days."
"I guess that's true..." Caitlin replied with a defeated look on her face.
Jen scrunched her nose up. "She does look a little tacky. I don't know..."
I don't care if the rest of the gang likes her. She just seems too weird for me! I'm staying away from her... Caitlin's thoughts were cut off by Jonesy.
"So, Lily, where are you from?"
"The U.S. Nothing special." She shrugged.
Caitlin's face lit up. She completely forgot about the decision she had made in her head. "That's so cool! Did you live in New York? I hear they have this huge city there! With like tons of stores!"
"Or California? Apparently a bunch of celebrities live there!" Jen joined in.
"Or Florida? They supposedly have the prettiest beaches there...how romantic..."
"Or Louisiana? They have the best food there!"
Lily sort of half-frowned and shrugged again. "Actually, I'm from a small town in South Dakota. Nothing interesting."
"Where?" Jen and Caitlin seemed to ask simultaneously.
"It's the state below North Dakota, which is right below Canada. Don't you guys remember that from geography last year?" Nikki replied.
"Oh...yeah..." said Caitlin. "That is boring. Why did you move here?"
Lily looked even more upset. "My parents got a divorce, so my dad decided to move back to his old hometown. Here."
"Oh, that sucks. I remember moving here right before sophomore year. I was so freaked out!" Caitlin replied. "I didn't have any friends, really, until I met Tricia. And she turned out to be a total jerk!"
Jen smiled. "What grade are you going into anyways?"
"I'm a senior. I'm starting next Monday. I'm so nervous!" Lily replied.
"Oh, don't be! We're seniors too! You can hang out with us!" Jen's smile grew even bigger.
Lily's half frown turned into a small smile. "Really?"
"Sure! You seem cool enough. Welcome to the gang!" Jonesy added in with a big grin.
Jude looked up from his belly button, where he was digging for lint. "Are we gonna eat? I'm st-AR-ving!"
"Oh yeah! I forgot about lunch. Let's go, guys!" Jen announced, lifting herself from the seat.
"Someone should wake Wyatt up before we go..." Nikki snickered as he let out a slight snore.
"I'll do it!" Jude shouted. He picked up his reject belly button lint from the table and waved it around his ear.
Wyatt jumped from his chair, spooked. "What was that?!"
"It was my belly button lint." Jude said nonchalantly, tossing the lint aside.
Wyatt cringed. "Gross Jude!"
Jen giggled. "Are we ready for lunch now? Let's go!"
Jude picked up his skateboard. Lily giggled. "Can I ride with you again?"
"Sure thing brah, as long as you don't scream in my ear again!"
Lily nodded and positioned herself behind Jude. "Meet you guys there!"
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A/N: So, there you have it! Lily! I'll try to update ASAP and get the actual plot going
