Chapter 1: At the Beginning
"Why don't I have ANY CLOTHES??" Sarah grumbled as she flung blouse after sweater after tank top out of her closet and dresser. It was the first day of sophomore year, and she wanted her outfit to say "Look at me!" without seeming like she did it on purpose.
Sighing, she pushed her brown hair out of her face, grabbed her phone from off the side table, and dialed her best friend Shannon's number.
"Hellooo?"
"Shan! Are you ready for the first day?? Do you know what you're wearing?"
"Uh, no, sweetie, I haven't even rolled out of bed yet. "
"WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? YOU NEED TO GET UP, DO YOUR HAIR, MAKEUP-"
"Inside voice, please. And you know I don't wear makeup."
"Whatever. You need to get up; we have to do our first day stakeout!"
"Fiiiine. Jeesh. You're lucky I'm so nice."
"Of course. Meet you at the spot. Love ya!"
Sarah hung up, then eyed herself in the mirror. She was nicely tanned from all those summer days spent at the beach, and she knew she looked cute.
"Why stress over what I'm wearing?" she thought. "I've got a great body- I'll look good in whatever I wear! Not to mention, I'm running late and I bet mom's coming up the stairs…"
Right on cue, there was a knock at her bedroom door. "Sarah?? You're gonna be late!"
"Coming, mom!" Sarah yelled. Eyeing the mess of clothes around her, she sighed, and began to sift through them, all the while thinking about the first day of her sophomore year.
--
Sarah made a beeline toward the old oak tree by the side of the school. Shannon was already there, leaning against the tree nonchalantly. Sarah could never figure out how Shannon always woke up later than she did, yet still managed to have enough time to look acceptably cute AND get to school before Sarah. She was black, so she didn't worry about tanning, because her skin was naturally light brown, and her dark brown hair, which she had curled and tied back with a ribbon, had reddish tints in it from all the time she had spent in the sun. When she saw Sarah she grinned.
"Hey Chatterbox," Shannon said, hugging her. "What's good?"
"The usual. Oh, except on the radio on the way over hear they said they're holding some kind of contest tomorrow. Something about Miley Cyrus. I'm gonna enter."
Shannon groaned. "I still don't see why you like that girl so much. She's just OK to me."
"Are you KIDDING? She's like my idol! My inspiration! My-"
"Your muse, and prime example of why you should follow your dreams. I know, I know. But you already sing way better than she can. You should set your standards a little higher… Who's that girl?" Shannon interrupted.
Sarah glanced over to where Shannon was looking. Standing not too far away was a black girl with short hair and glasses that she had never seen before. She was tiny- She definitely didn't look as if she should be in high school.
"These freshmen are getting shorter every year," Sarah said, giggling. "We didn't look so itty-bitty when WE were freshmen, right Sha- Shannon?"
Shannon had begun walking toward the girl. "She's all alone. I want to go talk to her."
Sarah grabbed her arm. "What about checking out cute GUYS? We're not freshies anymore! We're like… older women!"
Shannon burst out laughing. "Older women? We're 15! We're not even allowed to DRIVE yet!"
"Well, I still think cute guys should be a priority-"
"Did someone mention me?"
The girls turned around. Walking toward them was a guy, tall for being just a sophomore, with long-ish blonde hair and blue eyes. As he walked towards them, a couple of the girls he passed dissolved into giggles.
"Hi, Jake," Sarah greeted him. "No, nobody mentioned you. And don't make some lame joke about being one of the "cute guys" we were talking about, either."
Jake grinned, and the girls behind him burst into giggles again. Shannon shook her head. "How was tennis camp? And the beach house in Florida?"
"Show-off," Sarah coughed. Jake smirked at her.
"They were both great, thanks for asking, SHAN," he replied. "And how were the kids at summer camp?"
"They were fine," Shannon said absently. She was looking around. "That girl is gone."
"What girl?" Jake asked.
"Some freshie she felt sorry for," Sarah replied nonchalantly.
"I didn't feel sorry for her! She just looked all alone and I figured she could use a friend!"
"None of the sophomores were nice to us when WE were freshmen."
"That's different, we had each other."
"Yeah, whatever you say," Sarah winked, and moved to poke Shannon in the spot on her side that made her laugh like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Shannon dodged her.
"Whatever! Let's go inside, we have English first period," Shannon said, glaring at Sarah.
"Oh, do you have Ms. McClarkin?" Jake asked. "I have her too, I heard she's a real hard-ass."
"Thanks for the word of encouragement, Jakey," Sarah said sarcastically. "Let's just go get good seats."
She linked arms with Shannon, and they headed towards the double doors and into the start of sophomore year.