Hey guys. Thanks lots for all the reviews! You guys brighten my day with every single one I get. You're all the best(:

Here's the next chapter. Just a warning-I don't like this chapter at all until the end. I hope you find it at least decent!

Also, I must give darling (dreams of evermore) credit for the last part of this chapter. It was her idea, and I give her full credit and thank her lots for her awesomeness!

"Spill! Spill everything! We want to know every single detail about every single second."

I managed a half-smile, but I was so distracted in my thoughts that I couldn't do anything more. Tonight had been an amazing night, one of the best, if not the best, of my life. After that first slow dance with Nick-which was so romantic, our eyes were locked on each other's the whole time-we'd been inseparable. "We danced for a few slow songs and a few fast ones, he got me drinks whenever I got thirsty, we stood around and talked-and flirted-for a while. End of story."

Halley rolled her eyes and plopped dramatically onto the plus carpeted floor across from me, a bottle of sparkling water in her hand. "That can't possibly be all. Come on, what did you guys talk about?" I bit my lip for a moment, a bit jealous of how good she looked in a pair of skin tight black hipster shorts. My envy of her body type hadn't faded at all. At least she was still fashionably impaired-I'd picked out almost every outfit she wore for the past week.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Music, sports, hobbies, favorite things. The usual stuff."

"Did he compliment you?" Marisol asked, sitting cross-legged on my bed and munching rather loudly on some pretzels, a few crumbs sprinkling down to her way-too-big plain gray T-shirt. I held back a wince. That shirt combined with her knee-length boys' basketball shorts made her usually cute and curvy figure look clunky. At least we weren't in public.

That brought a smile to my face, instantly blowing my cover. My friends were suddenly right in front of me, their expressions eager as they yelled at me for not telling them about it sooner. "Okay, okay!" I said, holding my hands up in the air in surrender. "He…you know, he told me I looked beautiful and all that shit." I couldn't let my walls down totally, not even with them. I couldn't make myself out like some giddy girl with a crush on some boy. "He's a sweetheart."

Reilly grinned and leaned back against my dresser, popping a piece of gum in her mouth. I smiled, proud that she was following my advice. I suggested that she do that to keep her from eating too many snacks, and obviously it was working. She looked super cute in her brand new Juicy Couture satin camisole and shorts set. "You two were just ah-dorable." she said, pulling her hair out of its bun.

I wrinkled my nose at the way she said adorable…ah-dorable? Had she always talked with that heavy New York accent? I hadn't even noticed it before. Would I stick out if I didn't have that accent? Should I start to try to use it? Or should I be original and keep my normal Cali accent. Huh…

"Reilly's right, he couldn't take his eyes off of you awl night." Marisol's voice broke me out of my mini freak-out, but made me start to freak out more. She had an accent just as heavy. How had I not noticed that? "Are you guys, like, official yet?"

"Umm…no." I replied distantly, trying to shake my thoughts. Just then, my iPhone buzzed and started playing Love Story by Taylor Swift. I jumped up to get it, but forced myself to walk slowly so I didn't look desperate. I grabbed my phone and looked at it, and as I'd been hoping, it was Nick. I quickly tapped out a reply and sat back down, dropping my phone next to me. I then noticed that my friends' eyes were glued to me. I shrugged at them, not feeling like talking, and muttered, "We didn't see Spencer at all tonight."

Marisol grinned. "Well, Jules, you kinda scared the crap out of her that first night we met."

"Yeah, you were fierce. Ah-bviously she's scared of you now. It's fine with me, the farther away she is from me, the happier I am." Reilly added. I raised my head as I watched her take out her gum and put it neatly into a napkin. One eyebrow lifted up as she dipped her hand into the bowl of red, white, pink, and green m&ms on Halley's lap, but she didn't notice it and shoved a handful into her mouth. I decided to let it slide for now, but we'd have to do an extra hard work-out tomorrow.

I shook my head to get off the subject of Spencer-I didn't feel like talking about her now. "So, there are only two weeks of summer left. I have tons of stuff planned, but We have time to do some other things. What do you guys want to do?" I pulled out my ever-present spiral notebook and an aqua blue gel pen and flipped to my 'Things to do Before Summer Ends' list. I had already written down a few things:

Go to the Taylor Swift concert - obvi!

Do more shopping - my closet still has more racks to be filled!

Be seen in public [i.e., the mall, Café Rogue]

Train/Get in shape for sports [and choose which ones to do!]

Get together with Natalia Ryan and that girl Daisy - she may be one of the dreaded Barbies, but she seems decent, plus, she might have some inside info to share

Bring the girls to consult with the wardrobe designer my mom hired - let them have a say in their outfits for the first day of school

Planplanplan and make sure the girls are ready for school to start

I was satisfied with my list, but I did care that the girls did what they wanted to too. I looked up from my list and over at them, raising my eyebrows and waiting.

Marisol jumped up in front of me onto my bed. "Can we go to the beach? I need to get some tanning done before school starts."

I threw my head back and laughed. "You? You've got perfect tan skin, you do not need to tan. Just look at me!" I held out my arm to hers, wincing at the lightness of my cream colored and many shades lighter skin. "But yeah, we can go to the beach." It would be good to go to a beach where BOCD kids went. They would need to see us together and know that we were a group. Plus, who doesn't love the beach?

"There's gonna be a soccer game at BOCD sometime this week. It's supposed to be really important, and the guys at our school are going to be playing in it." Reilly added. I scrunched my nose up and she laughed. "Well I just thought maybe you'd like to go, you know, considering that Nick's on the team and all…"

"He is?" I asked, trying not to look too excited. Reilly nodded, and I shrugged. "Okay, I guess we can go then." I wrote it down on my paper, spending more time than necessary to get every single letter exactly right. "Halley, what do you want to do?"

Halley looked down at the floor, her hair falling into her face. I raised an eyebrow and she looked up at me. "Well, there's this art show next weekend that I kind of have to go to…" I turned my head to one side, Confused as to why she looked so embarrassed. She looked away, but I could see her cheeks were turning red. "Well, some of my art is sort of in it and-"

Marisol cut her off, "Your art is in an art show? I didn't even know that you drew."

Halley shrugged. She looked up at me to see my reaction, and I smiled at her. "That's so awesome. What kind of art do you do?"

Her eyes lit up. "I draw, like sketching, and I paint."

I smiled reassuringly at her. "That's so cool. I can't wait to see." I looked down to add that to my list and flipped to a clean page. "One more thing before we get to the movie," I murmured, eyeing the DVD case on my dresser with 'The Notebook' inside. "I think we should join some sports and clubs when school starts. We want to show people that we're more than just a bunch of pretty faces in ah-mazing clothes." I tried out the New York accent the others used, but it tasted strange on my tongue. I decided it would be best if I stuck with my own accent. "What are your ideas or preferences?"

Marisol looked over at me and popped another pretzel in her mouth. "Well I have to start that Bible Club. You guys will join right?"

I winced. I wasn't a religious person at all, and hadn't planned to join the club with her. I held back the 'No' that was rising up my throat. "I'll go to the first few meetings with you for moral support." Marisol nodded slightly, her eyes showing a glow of worry and nervousness. I wished I could comfort her, but I couldn't.

"I'd really love to do cross country and track." Halley piped up.

I smiled. "Awesome. I'd join those with you." The other two girls wrinkled their noses. "Okay, well you two don't have to join with us. We'll find something else."

"How about cheerleading? I'd love to do that now that I'm, you know, thinner." Reilly said shyly.

I shook my head while Marisol nodded excitedly. I put my eyes on her. "Do you really think cheerleading will help you? Not that I really mind, it's just that everyone in the school will really think you're a slut if you join cheerleading." I saw her face drop and softened my tone. "I'm sorry, you really can do whatever you want. I just think you should stick to safe, good-girl type things until this really blows over. I don't want people bothering you."

Marisol nodded and looked down sadly, as if she was trying to convince herself that I was right. "You're right, Juliet."

I tilted my head back and forth, weighing my options. I finally gave in, feeling too bad for my friend. "Maybe you could do this…How about you make it known that you're planning to, like, teach the other cheerleaders your Christian ways or something? You could get them to do prayer-circles or something before the competitions and games and convince them that purity is the right way. I don't know, but if you do this, you're going to have to work really hard to make sure you keep your good-girl rep."

Marisol squealed and got up, running in circles around my room. I couldn't hold back a laugh as she ran over to hug me. "You're the best."

I smiled, but paused for a moment, feeling the power I'd felt many times before when I made decisions for my friends. It felt good in a way, but for some reason, it felt a little sour as well. I shook the feeling off and looked at my friends. "I think I'm going to try out for lacrosse whenever it starts up." No one looked interested.

"Lacrosse? But it's so…violent." Reilly said, popping a few more m&ms in her mouth.

I shrugged. "Yeah, well I think it'll help with my anger and stuff. I'll be able to get it out while playing." I reached over and grabbed a few pretzels from the bowl by Marisol. "Hey, let's watch the movie already. Who's ready to bawl their eyes out?"

The girls laughed and cried out, "Me!" I smiled and got up to put the movie in.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

I rolled around under my red cashmere blanket on the floor, wishing that I could be sleeping in my big, comfortable King sized bed. Marisol was snoring lightly beside me, and Halley was sleeping soundlessly on my other side, her stuffed dog tucked into her arm, and Reilly was by Marisol's other side, sleeping on her stomach. I sighed and rolled over for the thousandth time that night, when I heard a light tap. I jolted up, my blanket dropping onto my lap. I looked around my room and saw nothing, like I expected. I began to settle back down into my blanket when I heard it again. It sounded like something was hitting my window. My heart fluttered for a moment, imagining that maybe it was Nick being romantic and throwing rocks at my window. I jumped up quietly and walked over to my window, opening it up and hopping out onto my balcony. When I looked down, the cool air raising goose bumps on my skin, I saw a figure about Nick's size. Butterflies flew in my stomach and I stifled a giggle of girly happiness. In a matter of seconds, I'd jumped back through my open window and tiptoed out of my room, down the stairs, and out into my backyard.

"Nick?" I whispered, stepping lightly onto the damp grass in my bare feet. The breeze brushed my ruffled hair over my shoulder. I took in a deep breath, savoring the sweet smell of grass and summer air. I took in another breath, noticing the strange and strong smell of something else…

Suddenly, I felt a hand clamp over my mouth and an arm wrap around my waist. I immediately tried to scream in fear and tried to turn around and see who it was.

"Hey Jul…Juliet. It's so, so nice to…to see you again." The voice was thick and heavy and garbled, and sent a wave of alcohol scented air to my nose. "I felt like I didn't see enough of you at the party. I thought…I thought we could hang…hang out for a little while now…instead."

And then I felt him pulling me down, shoving me onto the wet grass with his sweaty hand still covering my mouth. I knew what was going to happen, I'd read enough stories and seen enough movies and TV shows to know what was going to happen next. I wished that someone would all of the sudden pop out of the bushes and say, "Hah! Gotcha! You've just been punk'd! We sure scared you!"

I knew that wouldn't happen.

I screamed, or at least tried to. His hand was in the way.

And no one could hear me.

Sorry for the cliffhanger! I hope you liked this chapter. Reviews would be amazing(:

Hugs and Kisses!

~Rosie