Things had started turning around for her when she went back to school at Eden Hall the following week and befriended a new girl named Tash.
It started when she had helped Tash with her locker and in return Tash had beaten up a cheerleader that had given Julie a hard time. Everyone was shocked, especially Julie. She'd never known anyone to stand up for her like that in her entire life.
She almost burst out laughing as she remembered he'd come rushing over to the classroom expecting to find her in some drunken state but he had to eat an extremely large piece of humble pie when he found out it was Tash who was in trouble and not her.
She never forgot the jeering she received from Kelly, Eden Hall's biggest bitch "As if someone like Adam would care about someone like you, to him you're just another guy on the hockey team".
At the time she had shut herself off from him and the rest of the world, taking Jade's words personally. It wasn't until she had a conversation with Tash that she realised that someone thought she was worth caring about.
Tash couldn't understand why all of the guys were falling over themselves to ask her out. Tash was one of those girls who basically had to fight for everything she had. She had come to Eden Hall after her parents were killed in a drug-dealer shootout and her snobby aunt and uncle had no choice but to take her in.
"But I'm just me Julie" she protested.
Julie had taken her over to the mirror and explained it – "See Tash, beautiful, Julie, not beautiful, I'm just seen as one of the guys"
She never forgot the horrified look on Tash's face as she said "No Jules, you are beautiful. You're the most beautiful person I know"
As best as she tried to cover it, she was secretly thrilled that a girl as awesome as Tash thought that Julie was beautiful too.
If Tash thought she was beautiful maybe he would think so too.