-Chapter Two-

As far as schedules go, Chelsea and I hit the jackpot. Out of a total of seven classes, we had four together. One of which is a study hall, which often made second period my favorite part of the day.

I tossed my stuff on the ground and slid into my chair at our usual table in the back of the rather compact school library, mumbling out a quick "hey" as I did so.

Chelsea briefly glanced up from her new copy of Seventeen. "What's up?"

"Nada. You?"

She shrugged, looking back down at her magazine. Deciding to get some homework done, I began pull homework out of my thick binder. I stared down blankly at the papers for a few seconds before realizing I'd need a writing utensil. I leaned down over the hard arm of the chair and lugged my backpack onto the table. As I searched around for my fuzzy purple pen, I could feel Chelsea's eyes on me.

"Are you okay?" she asked cautiously.

The way she was staring at me was making me nervous. I felt like I was growing a third eye or something. "Yeah, why?"

Her look was incredulous. "You were humming to yourself with this huge grin plastered on your face."

"I was not humming," I rolled my eyes and went back to searching for my pen.

"'I got sunshine, on a cloudy day,'" she sang quietly.

"Shut up," I muttered.

She tossed her magazine on the table. "Seriously," she said, resting her arms on the table. "What the matter with you?"

"Nothing," I snapped a little too defensively. "I'm just having a good day is all."

"Okay," she said, obviously trying to appease me. I could tell she didn't believe me, and this probably wasn't the last I'd hear of it.

Like a sudden change in weather, Chelsea's mood shifted. She rapidly grabbed her magazine and flipped to a random page.

"Chels?"

"Sh!" she hissed. "Act natural."

"What are you-" I was silenced by her eyes, which were motioning at something behind me.

In a nonchalant manner, I "accidentally" dropped my pen on the ground on my left. Leaning my right arm over the left side of my chair, I reached down and tried to grab it. I surreptitiously snuck a glance at what had Chelsea internally freaking out.

Travis Reeves, the school heartthrob, and Jeremy were standing in a nearby aisle about ten feet behind me. Travis, with his movie star good looks and perfectly sculpted muscles, was without a doubt the school heartthrob. And Jeremy was just plain handsome. They were way too attractive to be standing in the same small space together, much less be in a fifty foot radius of each other. It was almost too much for my eyes to handle.

After realizing I was taking way too much time to simply pick up a pen, I pulled myself back up. Chelsea was looking at me with a knowing smirk. It faltered briefly, and then picked back up again into a friendly grin.

"Chelsea, why are you-"

A sooth voice spoke from behind me. "Hey, ladies." I turned around to find both boys suddenly standing behind my chair.

"Hey," Chelsea and I both responded at the same – her answer cool and laid back, mine overly perky. I'm such an amateur when it comes to this. Talking to guys has never been my specialty.

Travis smirked seductively. Did I mention he's also a major player? I refrained from rolling my eyes. He was so obvious.

My focus shifted to Jeremy. He seemed uncomfortable, standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. From what I'd seen of him so far (which quite honestly, wasn't much), I'd bet Travis wasn't even the type guy he'd like to hang out with. The two of them probably got thrown together because Travis practically owned the school and it made the most sense logically for him to show Jeremy around, take him under his wing. He probably thought he'd gained a new follower. Just another sheep to follow him blindly. It's typically how things went. I'd seen it happen first hand. It's a shame, really.

Chelsea's voice popped a hole in my thoughts. "That sounds like a great idea. Right, Blakely?"

I gave her a blank look. "What?"

"The party that Travis just invited us to," she said slowly, staring at me like I was crazy.

"Oh," I was my only response.

"She's right, you should come," Jeremy finally spoke up. "It'll be fun." He added flatly. That unexcited tone and the subtle pleading look he was sending me confirmed it – Travis was trying to mold him into one of his cronies, and Jeremy so wasn't buying into it. Poor kid.

"I guess I'll go then," I tried to shrug like it was no big deal.

Travis nodded his head, like I was making some great, life-changing decision or something. "Cool. I'll see you guys at my place tonight. 9-ish." He did a weird hand raising thing that I guess was supposed to be some sort of cool guy wave. Chelsea totally bought it and was waving back at him ecstatically as she watched him go.

With a tired sigh, Jeremy reluctantly followed after him. "See you guys later," he said while passing us. Before looking ahead again, he flashed me a quick wink.

Even once they were out of sight she was still staring after them.

"I think it'd be a good idea to put your eyes back in your head and wipe that drool from your chin."

Her only response was to stick her tongue out at me. I guess only hot guys could leave Chatty Chelsea grasping for a witty comeback.