Hey you guys! I hope you guys like this, because I majorly worked my

butt off to get this done tonight!! Remember, in Claire's (that's

me!) land, Jessica and Whitney are best buds!

All's Fair In High School

Chapter 8

Kay Bennett

People say you can't judge a book by it's cover. But who

really believes that? If there's anything I've actually learned,

it's that first impressions are important. Anyone who says otherwise

is most likely a hypocrite.

So, lately I've been wondering how people see me when they

meet me. For practically the first time in my life, my school isn't

filled with people who have known me since my idea of stimulating

entertainment was eating play-doh.

Forget modesty. I'll be honest. I've always been popular.

And my image is very important to me, because I know how important

first impressions are. But when people see me, do they see me as a

cool individual... or some dumb cheerleader that's popular strictly

only because she follows the crowd?

I feel like I spent all this time and energy putting myself

together because it really matters to me that people like me. But

sometimes I let my emotions take over, and it ruins all my hard

work.

Like with Miguel. I really liked him. Before I actually knew

anything about him. And when I found out that he had a girlfriend, I

got upset and totally went off... without thinking for a second how

I would sound or who might be listening. And now the first

impressions I made to the most popular girl at Castleton High is

that I'm an evil, backstabbing, boyfriend-stealing bitch.

This may be one problem a fab outfit and great hair won't

fix.

Jessica Bennett brushed some lint particles off her the knee

of her worn out jeans as she made her way out of the auditorium on

Monday afternoon. Why did drama class involve the weirdest things? I

mean come on! Acting exercises that involved "intreptating" amoeba?

And these so-called "interpretations" always involved crawling

around on the dusty stage floor.

She wondered if it was too soon to consider just dropping

the class. When she was little, she had done a lot of acting, but

she had promised herself that she would try to get back into it this

year. If for nothing else, then to be entertained by Eric Matthews

acting out a snake. On the floor. Just the thought made her almost

burst out in uncontolled laughter.

Jessica glanced at her watch. Drama had surprisingly let out

a couple minutes early, so she could probably catch Whitney coming

out of creative writing class. She really hadn't talked to Whit much

lately, with the exception of the school newspaper meeting. But

Whitney's life was pretty hectic lately. Especially with tennis and

all.

The final bell of the period rang. All around Jessica,

crowds of students erupted into the hallways, talking and laughing

as they walked down the hallway. She scanned the scene for a familar

face. There were so many new kids, that she couldn't keep them all

staight. So many people she hadn't met. The Castleton kids had only

been there for a week, and everyone already seemed to be in a group

or a couple. Everyone except Jessica.

Even though she was constantly putting on a school-spirit

facade, sometimes Jessica just wished that the Castleton kids would

just go back to where they cam from. It was all much easier to be

social- or to pretend, at least- when she actually knew her

schoolmates. Now she just felt lonely and empty.

But it wasn't their fault they were here. They didn't ask to

get their school totaled by the storm. Jessica suddenly couldn't

believe that she was being so selfish.

Maybe she was just insane to let her life revolve around

school. After all everything that she worked so hard for could be

turned into rubble in a matter of seconds. Maybe she should spend

more time hangout out and meeting people- acting like a normal,

socially functioning human being.

Jessica stationed herself off to the side of Whitney's

classroom and someone passing through caught her eye. In fact,

"caught" was an understatment, it was more like "demanded". Chad

Harris, one of the new seniors and possibly the hottest guy Jessica

had ever seen, was walking right towards her.

'Why is it I never seem to know how to look cool at moments

like this?', Jessica wondered. Chad had lost the ratty overcoat he

had been wearing earlier. Now he had a black crew neck shirt that

defined his chest- well. His head was bent slightly as he walked,

and Jessica realized it didn't matter how uncool she looked- he

wan't going to notice her anyway.

Lucky for her, that just gave her more time to stare without

getting caught by him. Instead of doing the wimpy girly thing (which

was blushing and looking away), she summoned up all of her

self-confidence and guts and gave him a tiny smile. He gave her a

small nod as the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. And he

walked right past her.

Jessica felt her tiny smile blossom into a full grown happy

face. So what if he hadn't exactly fell in love at first sight with

her? But he had noticed her. And that would have to do for now.

Maybe she should get to know some of the new seniors.

Whitney rose from her desk in slow motion as she watched

Chad quicly walked- not glided- out the door. That guy didn't walk-

it was as if he were floating on air...

Whitney grabbed her notbook. As she glanced at it, she

realized that it was empty. Not a good sign. She hadn't realized

that she had pent the entire class period staring at Chad. She knew

there was an assignment, but she couldn't recall what it was... an

essay on characters? Character study? Who knows?

Whitney let out a slight groan as she shuffled slowly

towards the door so it wouldn't seem like she was trying to catch up

with Chad.

'Making a point of not following him is almost as bad as

actually following him, though', she pointed out to herself. '

Either way, your spending too much energy on this guy. This guy that

you barely know.'

She still couldn't believe the irony of the situation. The

first stupid crush she got on a guy all year, and somehow she had

ended up being his roomie. Fate had some sick sense of humor.

" Whit! Over here!", she heard someone call.

Jessica was standing near the wall by her locker. She looked

naturally gorgeous as usual. Whit looked at her in amazement. She

looked a lot like Kay, actually, just with less makeup and less

trendiness, or whatever. Jess was just wearing a pair of Express

jeans with a simple long sleeved pale pink shirt, her hair tucked

neatly behind her ears, but she still looked perfect and totally

pulled together.

" God are you on a different planet today?", Jessica

grinned, " I was calling your name for practically forever."

" Sorry,", Whit said hoarsly, " I'm kinda out of it. Weird

night last night."

" I know what you mean. But listen to this. That hottie,

Chad Harris? Just totally checked me out!", Jessica said happily.

Whitney's throat involuntarily constricted. " Oh, wow."

" Isn't he hot?", Jessica asked in a dreamy voice.

" No." Whitney said quickly. Too quickly.

" I mean, he's not really my type.", she added hastily.

" True," Jessica agreed, " he's not the hot shot tennis club

kinda guy, is he? Have you ever talked to him?"

" Uh... actually, yeah." Whitney replied.

" You have? Spill it, now!" Jessica demanded.

Whitney hesitated. " Actually, my dad said he could stay at

our house for a while, to help out his mom with a new job that she

took on."

" Wait a minute. Rewind. Are you telling me that you LIVE

with this guy?" Jessica asked, her eyes practically poping out.

" Uh huh. Can we talk about something else now?", Whitney

asked quickly, starting to walk down the hall.

" Get out, Whit! You go girl! That's too awesome!" Jessica

exclaimed, a wicked grin playing on her face.

" Let it go, Jess. He's just not boyfriend material."

Whitney snapped.

" Okay, Whit. Sheesh. Don't freak on me. Give me a call

later. Maybe we can do something tonight. Just don't think that you

can keep him all to yourself!" Jessica said laughing, as she

disapeared around the corner.

Whitney hugged her notebook to her chest. What if she wanted

to keep him all to herself?

Kay was so ready for this day to be over. Ever since her

encounter with Charity and her entourage at lunch, she'd felt like

every guy in school was leering at her legs and every girl in school

was sneering at them.

'Only two more classes to go.' she thought as she walked

through the hall. In a couple of hours, she could finally go strip

off the new pleathery miniskirt she was wearing. When she bought it,

it had felt cool and sexy. Now it only felt dirty and slutty.

Kay turned the corner and saw a couple of Castleton girls

she recognized from cheerleading. She gave them a small smile. As

they walked by, Jessica heard a burst of laughter behind her. She

whirled around and saw the two girls walking with their heads bent

together, obviously having some sort of pathetically masked private

conversation. One of them glanced back at Kay and not-so-subtley

said aloud, " God, who does she think she is, wearing that slutty

skirt? Charity was so right."

Kay felt her knees get weak, but forced herself to keep

walking, as if she hadn't even heard them. Had Charity and the FOC's

(Friends of Charity) launched the fashion police on her now? Maybe

she should run to her locker and get her sweats. No, she thought, as

she glanced at a clock on the wall. There was no time. And anyways,

the day was almost over.

She picked up her pace, even though she wasn't exactly

excited to go to class. Charity and the FOC's would be present and

armed.

" Kay."

She stopped short. She could recognize the sound of his

voice anywhere. Kay turned around, with a disintrested look on her

face.

" What do you want Miguel?", she asked impatiently. With

malice. More than she felt. But she wanted to hate him. She really

did. He well deserved it.

Miguel tenatively took a step closer to her. " I just wanted

to tell you that... well, that--" Miguel looked up past her shoulder

and backed up again. Kay glanced behind her shoulder and watched

Emily slip into her classroom.

" What, Miguel?" Kay asked, feeling sure that he was about

to take off like a jackrabbit.

Bingo. " I have to go." Miguel said quietly, looking at the

floor. "Sorry."

His broad back hunched slightly as he retreated down the

hall. "Me too, Miguel. Me too." Kay whispered. She glanced at her

classroom door.

" Because now little Emily is going to report to her leader

and Charity will be ready to scratch my eyes out with her perfect

manicure."

Kay walked into the classroom, feeling like a mouse in a

room full of cats. She slipped into her usual seat by the door,

pointedly keeping her eyes from the back of the room, where Charity

and her people were sitting.

As soon as she sat down, she heard a nasty laugh. She felt a

feeling of dread wash over her. This was so not good.

Frantically, she looked around. For any sign of some joke.

Anything. A kick me sign- whatever. She just wanted to find it.

And then she saw it. And almost screamed.

Written in big letters across the blackboard were the words:

Kay Bennett is a slut.