CHAPTER 1 PART 1
Courtney was nervous. Well, that was new. She was never nervous because for god's sake, she
was Courtney Jude, the most popular girl at school. Of course she was young but that didn't
stop her for being on top of the social pyramid.
Why was she even nervous? Yes, it was the beginning of a new year but that never bothered
her.
That was when it hit her, she was coming back from winter break. Or in other words, her worst
vacation ever. She got in so much trouble, she cheated on her boyfriend, got in a fight with her
best friend (which normally never happened), and was expelled from her ballet academy.
She didn't know how to face everyone today. But as usual, she looked at herself in the mirror
and gained her confidence back.
When she was ready to go her dad drove her to school. She was so nervous but eventually got
out of her car.
"Courtney!", a familiar voice screamed.
Natasha obviously. It had to be. But why did she sound so cool about seeing her best friend
again after having that massive fight?
"Um, hi Nat." Courtney tried to escape but when she turned around and saw her dad had
already left she had no other option but to smile at the girl.
"Ready to go in?" Natasha asked with a smile on her face too.
"I was born ready."
"Good, because I expect you to be ready for a little chat we're going to have after first period."
Courtney swallowed hard. And with that they opened the main door which led to the hallway, walking
arm by arm, pretending to love each other as usual, because that was the price they had to pay to be
popular. The truth is that they couldn't stand each other, but they had to put on a show as if they
were so close and had the perfect friendship, so everyone could believe they were flawless. And they
did.
Everyone was staring, which wasn't something new. As they walked side by side they saw
kids moving out of the opposite way, and that could only mean one thing. Courtney was going to
face her second problem. Her boyfriend.
Ryan had always been so cool about everything. Truth is Courtney wasn't bothered by him, he
was a really nice person, but she considered him as her best friend deep down inside where
nobody could see what she was really thinking of everyone around her. She thought Natasha
was the biggest bitch alive, and her boyfriend Tyler was too good for her. But of course, that was
the way things worked out. Courtney Jude, captain of the cheerleading squad, had to date Ryan
Princeton, the quarterback of the football team, and Natasha Lockhart, cheerleading co-captain,
had to date Tyler Pryce, Ryan's best friend and former football player too.
As she kept walking forward she started to see that so familiar body walking, until she was face
to face with it.
"Court, can we talk for a second?" He said.
"No because I don't want to hear whatever you want to say, because i've heard enough yelling
at me from my dad ever since vacation was over, and now I have to hear this bitch blurting stuff
at me which we all know she'll regret later but it will all work out because we'll just pretend to
like each other in front of everyone, same with you. So no, we can't talk, i'm sick of all of you."
But of course she didn't say that, not because she didn't want to, she was dying to say it since
she could never be honest and had to swallow all of her feelings, but because she couldn't. So
she just smiled and said,
"Of course."
PART 2
"I still don't get what you're so upset about, I always kiss other guys when you're not around
and you know every time I do it."
"Yes! But they don't." Ryan was losing his temper, and it was not good.
"What do you mean they?" Courtney asked, though she already knew the answer. She could've
come up with a better question but she just didn't know what to answer to what he told her.
"The kids at this school, Courtney… Oh, you know what? The kids everywhere. You're known
everywhere in this town."
"I wish I didn't live here…"
"And I wish you would stop being such a slu-… Stop cheating on me. We both know how it will
end if they get word of what happened. And let's face it, you can't stay where you are without
me."
Courtney laughed viciously. "I can be popular whether i'm with you or not. Actually, I think we
could use this drama to get everyone's attention and get rid of each other for good."
"I would prefer not. Look, maybe you have your sources to stay popular, but i don't. Just help me
out here. If you kept up with me for 2 years now you can tolerate me for until next year."
"And why would I want that? Better question, why would I DO that?"
"Um, I don't know, maybe to feel like a good person for once", Ryan told her, but it sounded
more like a sarcastic question. Then he sighed. "Courtney, we both need this. If everybody
admires us then they will vote for us in everything we want and that's gonna help you get into
Winter Division. I know you more than anyone in this world, and I know you are capable of
doing anything to get into that school."
Next year was the time for everyone to prepare themselves for the children universities. It was
something their school had came up with like 10 years ago. People could stay at their own school for
7th grade or they could attend a university, for kids 12 to 18, when they graduated and went to a real
university, these were just to prepare themeselves for their careers for a way longer amount of time.
And Courtney had always wanted to attend Winter Division. Everyone knew it. She had been
working so hard on being popular so she could get to be Class President, captain of the
cheerleading squad and other things that would help her in her application. She needed to be
the best of the best because WD just took 2 kids from 7th grade from any school every year. If
she blew her chance next year she would never get another. She would do anything to get into
that school and make her family and herself proud, which was never that hard. She just needed
this and she was willing to do anything. After all, Ryan was right, if she could stand a bitch and 2
guys by her side for 2 years, she could stand it one more.
"Fine."
PART 3
First period was over within a blink of her eye. The bell rang and she felt like puking, because
it meant it was time to face Natasha. She was not nervous about getting into a fight with her,
she could easily deal with that, she was nervous because everyone would be there. Natasha
loved to make a scene every time she could, and Courtney was sick of it but she would have to
face it sooner or later. So she just headed for the door and to her locker, where, as she expected,
was Natasha. She would obviously choose this hallway. The crowded one. That was nothing new
about her. The weird thing was, she wasn't wearing her cheerleader outfit now. She had
changed. Why would she do that? And to the one that she was wearing? Courtney couldn't
believe what she was seeing. Her 'best friend' was wearing white knee socks, a pink plaid skirt,
and a white tucked in reindeer sweater.
"Um, Nat? What are you wearing?"
"Shut up, I don't want to hear your crap right now."
"Woah, okay." Courtney laughed. "Then why did you even come here? To talk to me, right? It
looks as if you're going to hear my crap after all because i'm not just gonna stand here and let
you talk to me like that, understand?"
"Whatever. You might be wondering why I chose this place of all to talk to you about our
fight in winter break, right?"
Not really, Courtney thought.
"Um… Sure."
"I chose this place because it has so much movement. Everyone's here. And after we fought you
said what happened wasn't a big deal, so if it wasn't I guess you wouldn't mind telling everyone
what occured."
"Indeed, I don't care." She didn't even need to scream for everyone to pay attention to her since
they were already looking their way from the very beginning. "People, since Natasha here can't
help herself for trying to pull focus and she wants me to tell you stuff, I will. Though this is
helping her get good attention because she looks like the victim, I don't think it will work out for
the guy involved in this problem.
"I kissed Tyler." As she looked around she could see everyone murmuring and with their mouths
hung open. What really pissed her off was when she turned to look at Natasha and noticed she
was wearing a smirk. She was loving this, but Courtney couldn't give a damn. She'd been
through this a million times.
"Nothing new, I don't know why everyone's so surprised. Courtney kissed another guy, cheating
on her boyfriend AGAIN. Usual news, she just wants the attention. You guys should just go to
class."
Courtney didn't even need to look the way the voice was coming because she knew exactly who
it was coming from. Ginger Alderman. Probably the most annoying girl she had ever met besides
Natasha. Ginger was the captain of the glee club, just enough fact to know she was a loser at
school. But some way she managed to be popular. Everyone thought she was a sweetheart,
which she obviously wasn't through Courtney's eyes. Another thing Courtney's eyes captured
were people actually going away, losing interest in the conversation.
This time she did want the attention, because Ginger was the cause of it going away from her.
"Did you seriously have to do that, Ginger?"
"Did you seriously need to cheat on your boyfriend? Again?"
"THAT is none of your buisness."
"Oh of course it is," Ginger said walking her way, "or you wouldn't be shouting it through the
hallways all proud of yourself."
"At least I have something to be proud of. Glee club isn't exactly a place where I would like to be
captain, feeling good because i'm respected there of all places."
"Don't worry honey, nobody respects you there."
With that Courtney rolled her eyes and sent her her best bitch glare, walking away. She knew
exactly what was going to happen, and indeed, it did.
"Wait up Court!", Natasha screamed after her and slid an arm through Courtney's.
They would have to be playing best friends again. As usual.
PART 4
"I can't believe you would do this to me!" Courtney yelled at her dad while driving home after
school. She hadn't exactly been having a good day since she didn't see Ryan after their fight, had
to play besties with Natasha once more, and couldn't see Tyler in the eye since probably
everyone told him the secret was now public. But this, what her dad was telling her, was beyond
the line.
"Its just for your credits", he told her.
"I don't care about credits!" he looked at her in disbelief, "well, at least not when it involves me
joining the stupidest club in town"
"Oh come on, honey pie, it can't be that bad"
"Are you even kidding? Glee club is beyond tragic. I'm going to become a total loser because
probably Coach Hamblett will kick me out of the squad because i'm not being loyal or whatever
and I will lose my popularity"
"That's called jumping to conclussions"
"And what you're doing is called being unfair"
"Well you don't get to chose everything you want. You lost your privileges since you were the
one who got kicked out of the ballet academy. Courtney, what you did wasn't fair. You know how
expensive the other academies are"
"Oh like money is a big problem in this family"
"Well maybe not but it still doesn't make it okay for you to act all wild and get kicked out. After
all the effort."
"UGGHH, I heard this all vacation, can you talk about anything else?"
"Of course. I can say that you joining glee club is not up for discussion. You are doing it and that's
that."
