Freshman:

Waking up the next morning and realizing I had school was like getting ran over by a truck. Twice. Not only did I actually have to pull myself out of bed and put clothes on, but I had the vague memory or history homework and a biology assignment. The last thing I wanted to do was team up with Brady or any other giant to work on a stupid assignment which probably involved something like human DNA.

Life really likes throwing me lemons too, I realized, when I woke up and there were no clean pants in my closet. My options were simple. Either I rummaged through the dirty laundry for a good pair of jeans, or I wore a dress. My laziness won out, of course, and five minutes later I was standing in front of Sydney who snorted with laughter.

Dressed just weren't my thing. Not only was I against the whole 'only girls can wear them' thing, but they also pushed what little cleavage I had out for the world to see. It wasn't a tight dress or anything, just simple and green and pulled in around my waist. It would have been drop dead gorgeous on Sydney or someone of that type, but instead it was doomed to stay wrapped around my little body.

"How was your walk home yesterday?" She asks, as we pull ourselves into her jeep and buckle up. Didn't she know Paul had come to get me? Wasn't it her that sent him? I shrug.

"Wet." I croak dryly, too preoccupied with applying some eyeliner and lip gloss in the rearview mirror.

I didn't even realize we were in the school parking lot until I looked over and Sydney was gone. Hopping out, I look around me for a familiar face but can't seem to find one. I knew I'd met a good number of people yesterday, and despite really taking the time to remember names, I thought I'd at least remember a face or two. I spotted Emma and Seth as they stepped off a motorcycle across the lot and make a dash towards them.

There was nothing scarier than heading into high school alone on your second day. Except, maybe, the giant brick wall that stepped in front of me. Though he called himself Brady.

"Hey! Glad I found you, so I was talking to Seth and he said we could go to his house to work on that Bio project today." He grins like he's the smartest guy ever. Hopefully he was so I wouldn't have to do anything. I nod along. Unfortunately for him, he was about to find out full force how much of a slacker I am.

"Yeah, sounds good." I breathe out a huff of nervous air as I settle into a calm pace towards the front doors with him. "Are we still on for lunch?" Though we hadn't made any actual plans for lunch, I figured I'd put it out there because, let's face it, who else would I sit with? Besides, he couldn't actually say no when I put it like that.

"Totally," He answered, holding open the door for a few girls walking ahead of us and me. "Catch ya later." He said in parting and heading down the opposite hall for his first period class which I headed for my locker.

I liked the fast paced conversation we'd had. It was the first high-speed teenager thing I'd experienced so far. Like we were already good friends. I reached my locker in record time, wiggling the lock for a good minute until giving up. A big fist flies past my head and slams into the metal, undoing the lock. I look back to Embry with wide eyes as he grins cheekily.

"Damn you're lucky we're here." He kids, walking further down the hall towards his own locker, and leaving Paul behind.

"You, you're, uh, yeah, so, I, um," he begins but can't seem to find the right words.

"So I hear you're quite the whore." I say, but it's more of a joking question. His brows furrow and I wonder if, unlike the others, he doesn't see me as a sort of friend. I cough awkwardly into my sleeve as I pull out a few books and slam the door. "Sorry, do you prefer douche?" I ask but he still doesn't laugh or say anything obnoxious. Instead his body begins to shake lightly as if he's embarrassed or angry. But not at me, at himself. "Woah, calm down." I demand. The guy was scary. And he does calm down. His face lightens and he bites his lip.

"So how's high school?" He asks, and the question takes me off guard. It was just such a weird question; one that I hadn't thought about.

"Fine. So, listen, I gotta go to class so…catch ya later!" I borrow a line from Brady and set off for first period. I would see him again at lunch anyway.