"Mimi"

"Damn it!" I ran my hands over the pockets of my dark blue jeans.

"What?" Alec asked looking up from his script.

"I can't find my pen. I just had it. Nikki, Ash, did one of you take it?" I frantically searched my Coach purse. I turned to look behind me then looked at Ashley.

"Mimi," Ashley said looking to Nicolette who was sitting across from us.

"It's in my hair isn't it?" Ashley bit back a laugh.

"Yes," Nicolette said smiling, I pulled a pen out of my ponytail and Ashley rolled her eyes.

"Ten points," Angel said running his tongue over his lower lip piercing.

"Alicia does it all the time. Roll your eyes at her, Fairy," I laughed 'cause Ashley looked like a little pixie creature when her hair was back in a ponytail. I always loved making fun of her for it.

"What?" Alicia said looking up from her magazine she was hiding behind her language arts notebook.

"Mimi was just saying how you lose stuff," Graciana informed her. It was very like Alicia to not be paying attention. Graciana put her hand over Alec's. He leaned over, swept a blonde hair that was hanging over her eyes out of the way and kissed her cheek.

Aww! I mouthed at them.

Shut up, He mouthed back and she blushed which made her brown eyes look so much brighter. She looked at me with her evil Gracie look that shot nails through my soul.

"Oh. Well I'm blonde. What's your excuse?" Alicia shrugged.

"Hey. I was blonde," I ran my hands through my now, almost natural, medium brown hair.

"Keyword: was. You were also a raven color," Nicolette added.

"Shut up," I said.

"And bright red when I first met you," Angel added.

"Shut up," I said again.

"And like a golden orange," Tyler said. He and Ashley were dating again. Most people thought I'd be pissed but Tyler isn't half bad, a lot better then some of her previous boyfriends. Not to mention I've seen it coming since 7th grade.

Angel, Nikki and I have a bet. I said they'd be the first to walk down the aisle, Nikki thinks they wont last one year, but Angel thinks they'll be third to walk down the aisle. He won't tell me after whom, but I'm decently sure one of the couples is Gracie and Alec.

"Again, shut up," I said.

"Now you're more of a plain old brown," Alicia noted like it was some big secret. I rolled my eyes.

"Wow Ally, You know your colors," She stuck her tongue out at me and went back to looking at the pretty pictures, as she would call them. Alicia wasn't the sharpest person in the world but I loved her to death. She always managed to make me laugh. And when I laughed, she snorted. It was so funny.

"Ugh! When will this day end?" Jimmy said.

"Chill. We only have a few more minutes," I told my older brother. He was totally sweet but totally impatient. I was too so maybe its genetic or something. He just shrugged and shook out his dark black hair.

"This class seems, um, uh, what was that vocabulary word we had?" Alicia said. She didn't even bother to look back in her notebook that was under her desk.. Knowing her, she probably had forgotten that she wasn't just carrying her April/May copy of Allure.

"Interminable?" Jayden said not even looking up from his drawing pad, also known as his math workbook, to answer.

"Yeah that's it!" Alicia said very proud of herself. She began to blow a bubble with her gum.

"Did you learn anything so far this year?" Jayden said glancing up. His brown eyes flickered with sparks of amusement.

"Psh I don't know," She shrugged and popped her gum.

"Wow," Jimmy and Jayden said in unison.

"Well you got to do it twice so you wouldn't know," Alicia said sticking her tongue out at him. I laughed quietly but still managed to swallow the piece of gum in my mouth. It wasn't exactly funny but it was nice when I got to take a break from making fun of him and someone else stepped in.

"As funny as that was hush. You know damn well he's brilliant and the only reason he stayed back is because he was..." I though of a nice way to say it but Angel beat me to it.

"Out for so long." He said.

"Yes. Apparently beating the crap out of the asshole who decided to call my little sister a whore will get you suspended for a minimum of three and a half months," He rolled his eyes.

"Well when you accidentally leave claw marks on the principal while he's trying to separate you two, what do you expect?" Ashley asked. She laughed and flipped her short reddish brown ponytail.

"Well its not like I meant to," He threw his hands up like he was completely innocent.

"Isn't that what everyone says?" Angel laughed.

"Well it is decently noble that you defended your sister." I pointed out. I'd probably do the same.

"Kiss up," Alicia said covering it with a cough. Jayden rolled his eyes and went back to drawing. As soon as he shifted his glance I smacked the back of her head.

"Ow! What the hell?" She clutched the back of her head. I went back to writing.

"What's wrong?" Nicolette turned towards us.

"I got hit," Alicia swung at me but I managed to duck in time.

"Mimi," Jayden said giving me a disapproving look that made me laugh. Him being serious, well trying to anyway, was just beyond funny to me.

"She has no proof," I smiled angelically and winked at Alicia. I knew at the second her nose flared that she was going to say something overly dramatic… or blonde.

"How about the bump on my head the size of Jayden's ego?" Alicia shrieked. I knew it. She'd do both. I rolled my eyes but I had to laugh when I saw Jayden's face.

"Hey!" Jayden sounded offended.

"Guys, keep it down please," Mr. Lugo asked poking his head up from what he was reading.

"Sorry," We all said.

"Stop being such a drama queen," I laughed, "That's Angel's job." Alicia swung at me again and missed, again. I laughed to myself. And she thinks I'mblonde. Angel stuck his still tongue out at me and swatted my shoulder.

"Alicia, Mimi, Do I need to separate you two?" Angel asked.

"Wait. I don't have a big ego," I had a feeling Jayden wouldn't let this one go so easily. I started dying when Angel started to hum. A grand orchestra! Ha ha. Don't you love inside jokes?

"I'll be good," I said to him laughing and winked. Jayden looked up at me for an explanation but I just shook my head so he went back to drawing. I glanced over at what Jayden was drawing and saw a picture of what appeared to be a cat. Jayden was a very good artist and sometimes, well when he wasn't being an ass, it was fun to just watch him draw.

"Jayden?"

"Yes Mimi?"

"That's a nice kitty," He looked up.

"What do you want?" He smiled and raised his eyebrow.

"I need another boy's name for the book,"

"Reid. Meems?"

"Yes Jay?" I said looking up from my notebook.

"If you ask me for one more name I'm gonna shoot you."

"So I won't ask you for two male names that rhyme…?"

"God dammit Mimi." He laughed

"God? Now I know you're praying mister."

"Halleluyer."

"Hallelujah! Ah! It has an A for a reason."

"I swear, next time, next time…" He muttered pulling his hand back like he was gonna slap me. I just rolled my eyes, "Roy and Troy."

"Thanks," I smiled and wrote them in where I had the blank space. I noticed he went back to drawing. "Harmless…" I muttered to myself to quiet for him to hear. Had he heard me I would've been "Jesused".

"Okay guys," Mr. Lugo walked up to the front of the class, "Book reports are due when you come back. Have a great break guys."

"Thanks," The class said in unison.

"You too," I said. It pissed me off how teachers never got wished a nice break. I mean they have to be as tired as us as we are of them. It would make sense.

"Thanks Mimi," He said. He slyly handed me a book he promised to give me. Even though neither of us would say it I was his favorite student. The fact he was one of my best friend's dads might have had something to do with it. Ha! I started to tap my fingers on my desk while looking up at the clock. I began to tap Angel's "Today 4 U" drum solo from Rent when I felt a warm hand cover mine to stop the music.

"Stop please," Jayden said with a little kid smile. I pulled my hand from under his, moved my hand away from him, and began tapping again. Angel looked at me. I knew he recognized the song. He started to sing. We both knew all the words to the entire Broadway show. I was so happy he had the surgery. He had lost his voice due to an illness, he didn't like to talk about it so no one knows very much about it, but a bunch of our friends, including myself, raised money and we paid for half of the surgery he'd need to repair his vocal chords. Now he sounds like an angel, pardon the pun, whenever he opens his mouth.

I went back to tapping and he yet again covered my hand. I looked Jayden dead in the eyes and began to tap but before I could react or even realize what was happening, he smacked my forehead.

"Ouch! Bitch!"

"Jesus!" He laughed. I rubbed my now throbbing forehead. I'm gonna get you ten times worse. Just wait.

"I'm going to get you back, I hope you know," I smiled mischievously and winked.

"No. You're going to try. You're going to fail. And then I'll laugh and Jesus you again," He laughed and so did Alec and Jimmy. I smacked Jimmy's arm but all I had to do was look at Alec and he shut up.

"I don't know why you try to win with me. No one wins with me." Besides Angela anyway. Angela is my older sister. She joined the Marines about three years ago. I miss her. But thank god she's coming back this summer.

I had the feeling my thoughts were projected on my face because no one had a smart ass comment like usual. Even though I'm mean to them, I absolutely love my friends. I was so happy they let us all hang out in whatever class we wanted for our last period. Of course we all picked the band room.

It wasn't until I went to Jesus Jayden back that the final bell of the day rang. Just my luck!

"Finally!" The whole class screamed. I got my piano book off the shelf and walked over to where Russell was still getting his saxophone.

"Hi." I said.

"Hey." I looked towards the door and saw Jimmy and Angel. Angel winked at me and mouthed "Meet me at my locker." Jimmy just smiled at me and left. I mouthed "love ya!" back at him.

"Um, do you have plans for break?"

"Yeah, I'm going to Jamaica. It's where my parents met 20 years ago so they wanted to go back. Why?"

"Oh," I frowned So much for that, "I'll be here with nothing to do and thought you might want to hang."

"Oh. I'm sorry Mimi," He frowned slightly, "Next time?"

"Totally! How about…"

"Mimi!" Jayden said motioning me towards the door. Obviously he didn't listen to Angel tell to him to get lost. I glanced between the guys and turned back towards Russell. I was going to hear about this from Jayden later.

"Here," I wrote my number down on an index card I had tucked in my purse.

"Call me," I smiled and walked towards Jayden. He glanced back towards Russell but shifted his gaze once I saw him looking. Jayden and I walked into the hallway. I went to ask him why he looked at Russell like that but upon hearing my name I turned around.

"Mimi!" I stopped and turned around.

"Kevin?" I walked towards him questioningly.

"Autumn's gonna be late to your house," I searched his eyes to find a hint to why he knew that but when I found nothing I resorted to the old fashion way.

"Um. Okay. And you know this how?" I knew this couldn't be good. Kevin being involved with Autumn was bad news. He already broke her heart once. If he even came close to doing it again he'd disappear mysteriously. Of course I'd know absolutely nothing about it though. I snickered to myself. I knew I was harmless and my friends knew I was harmless but it was still fun to imagine I wasn't.

"She asked me to tell you," He shrugged and walked away.

"Weird," I muttered. I glanced around and saw Jayden hadn't waited for me. Jerk! I looked around and saw him at Christine's locker. He laughed and she blushed as he took a strand of her medium blonde and pushed it behind her ear. I rolled my eyes and walked to my locker.

So he likes Autumn and is probably hooking up with Christine again. Great! I can't wait to tell Autumn. Ha ha! I was at my locker when a pair of warm hands covered my eyes.

"Jayden?" I heard a warm laugh.

"How did you know?" He grabbed the books from the top of my locker that I was too short to reach. Curse being 4'10. He got on the ground next to me and put them in my messenger bag.

"Thanks." I didn't intent for my voice to sound that sour. Sure, I was happy I finally had dirt on him but the fact that if Autumn liked him back that he'd be playing her weighted on my mind.

"What's wrong boo?" God, I hate when he calls me that. Maybe if it was a special name for just me I would like it but the fact he calls every girl that makes me sick to my stomach. That means what? I'm just another one of his little human puppets? Ha ha! Right.

"Nothing. Why?" I figured if I pretended I wasn't mad he wouldn't figure out my devious plan.

"You sound upset," He grabbed my face and forced me to look at him, "You're a horrible liar."

"Yet somehow I'm a good actress?" Let's change the subject.

"Yeah. I never understood that," He took the books and papers out of my locker and put them in my bag. Yes! It worked. I looked into my locker and saw it was empty.

"I'm here," Angel walked up to me and put his Ed Hardy sunglasses on. He handed me my yellow and paint splattered glasses. I guess I left them in his car when he picked me up this morning. They are my all time favorite glasses, and my only for that matter, but I love them regardless. They were a gift from a truly amazing singer, dancer, and actor. Angel! Ha ha. Not to mention he bought them from a cute little street store in NYC. As he describes it: "I bought them legally. How he got them? I don't know."

"Are you good?" Jayden smiled and put my messenger back over his shoulder. I shot him a look. "What would you prefer to carry it?" He laughed.

"Such a gentleman," Angel said playing with his lower lip piercing. He knew everything that I knew about him. Angel was my adopted brother, well not really but for all intents and purposes he was, and partner in crime. We began to walk down the stairs and Jayden turned back to me.

"So you never answered me. Why are you pissed?" Crap! Not this again. I put my sunglasses on.

"Don't worry. It's nothing. Nothing at all," I pulled my messenger bag out of his hands and took off down the stairs. I heard him laugh and I knew they were both flying down the stairs after me. I guess I could forget about the past for a minute and just have fun. I mean isn't that what life is about? Just living? Who knows? But one thing is for sure, this will be the summer of Marcela Camilla Conord. Not just this summer but every summer. From now on. Now and always.

I hit the floor first. I turned and smiled at them. Jayden came at me and picked me up off the ground. I started to wiggle.

"Put me down!" It's kinda hard to be serious while laughing

"Never!" He smiled and spun me around until I was dizzy. He put me down on my feet and I fell. He laughed and ran off. I rolled my eyes and tried to regain sight. I felt hands on my waist and was picked up to see Angel.

"Thanks babe," I picked up my messenger bag.

"So what's wrong?" He linked his arm in mine.

"So basically, he's using Christine," I rolled my eyes, "Again."

"Oh God!" He rolled his eyes too.

"I know. I can't wait to tell Autumn!" I smiled evilly.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" He looked at me. The epicness of the moment was kind of screwed up by the fact that we were both wearing sunglasses and couldn't see each others eyes.

"Hell yes! We've been waiting for dirt like this forever," I shook my head, "Are you drunk? You know what I think of you're drinking…"

"Shh!" He pointed to the teachers we were passing on our way out the front door of the school. "No I'm not drunk."

"High?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Shut up. I don't do drugs." He nudged my shoulder. He never hit me. I liked that about him. He just kind of nudged or swatted me. He was a true gentleman. I admired that.

"Then what?" By now we were at his black 2005 Hyundai Sonata. I pulled the door passenger side door open and got in. I tugged gently at the pink and black scarf he tied around the head rest. I loved his car. I looked at the time. 3:17 pm. I knew I'd remember that time as it was the end of my junior year of high school. I was officially a senior.

"Well, I've been thinking," He started the car and turned the radio down a little. There was always music on in his car no matter what else was going on so it seemed pointless to change that for a small conversation.

"If Autumn legit likes him," I frowned, "Sorry kiddo but it could very well be true. But anyway, if she likes him would you want to be the one to ruin what could be a good relationship for one of your best friends?"

"But it wouldn't be a good relationship," I clicked my seatbelt, "He's a player and he's just well. Ugh Culo sucio!"

"Mimi. Please, there's no need to curse in Spanish."

"Okay, he's a dirty ass! Better? Ha ha." I smiled and he laughed.

"No. Not really," He rolled his eyes and we laughed, "Well back to seriousness. It could be a good relationship. He's a Scorpio, They are flirtatious but when they like someone they're loyal as hell," He smiled, "I'd know." I shrugged.

"I didn't know hell was loyal. But okay. You win for now, but shh don't tell the others I let you win," I reached for the stereo, "Now shut up. It's music time!" We both laughed and started to belt. I smiled really big and paused for a second.

"What?" He asked turning the music down.

"Nothing. You just have a gorgeous voice," I smiled and he smiled back while turning the radio back up.

"Thanks," He pulled into my driveway and we belted until the song finished. I got out of the car as he got his CD holder. He kicked his leg up getting out and locking the car.

"Show off." I winked at him. He just smiled and shut the door. I walked up to my house and unlocked the front door. I turned my key but took a step back when I heard a car skid around our corner. It was Jayden and Alec. Alec was out of the car before it stopped.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked. Alec looked out of it. I locked the house back up and put my key in my pocket. I had a sickening feeling we wouldn't be here long.

"No. Graciana and Jimmy got into a car accident. They were…" I started to hyperventilate. I didn't hear anything else until Angel started to talk.

"Get back in the car. What hospital are they at?" Angel was already unlocking his car. Alec was halfway in the Jayden's red 1995 ford pick-up already.

"Rahway." Jayden called out the driver window. I didn't realize I hadn't moved until Angel picked me up. He was smart. I tried to say I could walk but nothing came out. He put me in the passenger seat and buckled my seatbelt for me.

I just stared into space on the ride there. It was like I was trapped in my own skin. I think I started to cry but I wasn't sure. I was too numb all over to really know what I was doing.

Somewhere inside my head, there was a part that was working and telling me to breathe. It also noticed that he turned the radio off when we first got in. I'd turn it on if I could move. My brain drifted back to when I first met him, I knew with certainty this was the first time there was no music on.