Some of the girls at OCD Middle School can get a little bit crazy. I mean, it seems like all they care about are clothes, money, the types of cars their daddies own, and the boys here at Briarwood Academy. A few of them are cool and fun to hang out with, but others are just plain annoying. For example, there's this one group of girls that all the boys seem to love and all the girls seem to fear and I just do not understand why. I mean, they are shallow, mean, and they make it completely obvious that they want to be with some of the guys at this school. And what's even sadder is they think they are too cool to hang out with the other girls so they have no other friends besides themselves. I mean, how sad is that? Even their names sound preppy: Massie, Alicia, Kristen, and Dylan.

Chapter One

At the first day back to school all the guys can talk about is the new soccer season coming up. Last year the Briarwood Boys team went all the way to the championships but in the last 30 seconds when both teams were tied 4-4 the other team made a goal leaving our school's ego seriously crushed. All of the guys who want to make a splash in the new school year try out for the soccer team in the summer and hope to play on the teams in the school year. I made the team this year, which is saying something because I am only a seventh grader-most of the guys who make it each year are eighth graders. Most of the time there aren't any hard feelings between the guys who make it and the guys who don't because we have all grown up together and most of us like each other. Nonetheless, I am really glad I made the team this year because I have loved soccer ever since I was a little kid. And this year I plan not only to get to the championships but to win.

I sit in the cafeteria that morning with my friends, Derrick, Josh, Chris, and a couple other guys who just decided to join our cafeteria table. I've been friends with these guys since pre-k and most of the time I loved them like they were my own brothers. Sometimes, though, I just didn't get them. For example, Derrick has a huge crush on the most popular girl at OCD Academy for Girls (our sister school), Massie. I mean, I guess she's pretty and all but she's also one of the girls in the elite group that I can't stand. She thinks she is the hottest things to hit this earth, and completely materialistic. And, for reasons that I just cannot fathom, a lot of the guys at my school seem to buy into that kind of crap that she and her friends promote.

So anyway, due to his insane fascination with Massie Derrick is showing off pictures that he got at a summer party at Massie's house last weekend to the cafeteria table. I was invited along with him, Chris, and Josh but I wasn't able to go because I had to go visit my grandparents in New Mexico. I'm looking at the pictures to beef up Derrick's rep and make cool comments about him, but I am not really interested in seeing a bunch of stuck up girls in short shorts that they think look good. However, when Derrick comes across one picture that he skips and says nothing about I tell him to stop and go back to it.

In the picture is a group of girls jumping into a pool but I am not looking at them (even though all the other guys at the table are). Instead I am looking at the girl at the background. She's sitting on a lawn chair with a book and her hair is in a messy ponytail and wisps are falling around her face. It is so blonde it almost looks white and she's facing the camera so I can just barely glimpse her piercing blue eyes. Another thing about her that caught my eye was the way that she looked nothing like the other girls: instead of wearing short shorts she was wearing jean capris with a hole in the knee and a t-shirt with tiny flowers embroidered on it and instead of at least 5 pounds of makeup and hair that came from some factory she had messy hair and she looked completely natural. None of the other guys paid her any mind, and I had never seen her around before, but I thought she was beautiful.

When I told Derrick he could go to the next picture he gave me a sideways look that clearly asked me what had been so important about that picture but I pretended I hadn't seen the look he gave me. Normally I shared everything with him but this was something I wanted to keep to myself before my second new goal of the year was reached: I wanted to meet that new girl and be her friend, if nothing more…except, that wasn't something I could guarantee.