A/N: Not sure if the disclaimer is necessary. If you don't know which characters I don't own, please slap yourself repeatedly. Xx Ella

P.S. I'd like to specially thank all of my reviewers for leaving amazing comments. Thank you to wintertwist87, SinisterShadows, Arinna Black, not-so-average-07, TragicCure, Leave your hat on, Kermitfries, SleepWalks, Neith4Weiss, Hayley Jean, lovelylinds, Kris Death, casadora22, Obsessedfan13, Bookworm 305, and QuietOne364!

Chapter 8

"'Reese's Sword In My Heart by Eliza Brennan.'" I almost fainted as Cee started reading my story aloud. Thankfully I was already laying down. "'It all started one day, a long time ago, in the time of children and the one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater.' It's not that bad Eliza. I mean, it could be worse." Cee was an optimist.

I was not.

"How so?" I threw my pillow over my head and groaned into my bed. I just wished this day would end already. Everyone had copies of my story. I was sure of it. Anytime I had thought I had taken the last one from some random kid, I'd find another.

"I don't know." She sounded dumbfounded. "I didn't expect you to ask me that."

Well, at least she was honest.

I flung my arms over my head and gripped onto each end of the pillow. Maybe if I held it down long enough, I'd be able to suffocate myself? Or at least until the point I'd lose my memory. Permanently.

Naveed and I had spent the previous hour trailing around from group to group, from jock to geek, from man whores to just regular whores, and destroying any and all copies of my story. I had no idea how many copies Justine had printed, who she had given them to, and who still had a copy. I was humiliated. And it sucked.

"Eliza, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" My voice was muffled. "I'm trying to kill myself."

"I doubt that would do it" I ignored the amusement in her voice. I pulled the pillow away and turned to face her. My hair was all over the place.

"Do you think Reid saw it?" I asked the question I dreaded the answer to.

"Well, he either did or he didn't. We can't change what happened." When did she become so philosophic and wise? "But we can make her regret what she did." She grinned mischievously.

Cee was up to something.

xx

"It looks as though one of my students' creative writing assignment has become popular around campus." Mrs. Jordan sneered at me through yellow coffee-stained teeth. "Miss Brennan, since your story has become so huge, I thought you might want to read it out loud to the class. For extra credit of course."

My face and hands became hot. I sunk lower in my chair.

"I think that's a marvelous idea Mrs. Jordan!" Justine exclaimed, clapping her hands wildly.

I heard a few kids behind me snicker.

"Uh, no thanks." I mumbled out, paying extra attention to the binder sitting on my desk.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Naveed spoke up for me. I looked over and forced a smile, as my way of thanking her.

"I'll read it for her, if you don't mind Mrs. Jordan?" I hated Justine. I hated that girl with a passion. Her eyes lit up when Mrs. Jordan nodded in response. She stood up and walked to the front of her class with my original creative writing story in her hands.

"'Reese's Sword In My Heart,'" She read dramatically, pressing her hand against her heart, "'By Eliza Brennan.'" She turned the page and cleared her throat. I heard a few kids behind me snicker.

As she read my story out loud, in the front of the class, I realized at that very moment, that I would have given anything to be somewhere else. Or to be someone else. I would give both my breasts to be anywhere but here.

As I sat there, slowly deteriorating as a person, realization dawned on me. People were laughing (at me of course) because I was letting them. I am letting them get the best of me. For what? Did I not have any pride left? Justine was humiliating me over and over again, and I was just sitting there, letting her do that to me. When did I become such a pushover?

I'm not sure what force had taken over my body, but I became invisibly empowered. I suddenly stood up, pushing my things off of my desk and marched right up to Justine, who was so consumed in my humiliation, that she hadn't stopped reading. With one loud slap across her face, and a now sore right hand, I felt my pride coming back to me. I turned around to face a shocked classroom, and an equally shocked teacher.

I looked around the class until my eyes fell on a pair of familiar blue ones. The blue eyes I had lost to in that staring contest a day before. "For the record, I did write this story about you, Reid." I spoke to him in the front of the class with confidence. Confidence that I didn't know I had. Reid looked stunned. I don't think he, or anyone else for that matter, expected such an outburst from me. I turned back around and noticed that Justine hadn't moved. Her hand was still cupping her cheek and she was glaring at me. At least she had stopped reading. SMACK.

And with that second slap, I retraced my steps, and sat back down in my chair. "Please, continue on. Your almost to the climax." I hurried her.

"So, you and Bordy are going to the Fall Fest together?" Reid handed over my weekly pack. I opened it up, took one out, and offered it to him. "No thanks, I don't do Lights." He said, pushing my hand away. I stuck the cigarette into my mouth and lit it up.

"Yeah, he was the first person to ask me so I figured, first come first serve." I chuckled.

"That's kind of dirty." Reid wiggled his eyebrows.

"You're kind of dirty." I playfully shoved him aside. I missed having him around. Freshman year, Reid and I were inseparable. But this year, things had changed. Bordy, the most popular guy at school (other than Caleb Danvers of course), had taken an interest in me. Reid spent the summer hanging out with his 'brothers' which left me no choice but to hang out with Cee and Naveed. Sure, Reid and I would occasionally hang out together, but it wasn't the same anymore. Reid was just different. He looked different. He acted different. He treated me differently. Things were just different.

"So what's new with you. Other than Bordy, of course." Reid took off his jacket and set it down on my desk.

"Nothing really. Dad bought the Ferrari but said I can't drive it until I get my license." It was true. My dad and I had a thing for really nice cars. Ferrari's, Bentley's, you name it, we liked it. My dad drove a silver Bentley Continental GT and had just bought a red Ferrari Spyder 360 for me, even though my sixteenth birthday was a good five months away. "It's red, like my hair, and inside the seats are black and they're leather and it's a stick shift so I'm going to look so cool driving it. It's so awesome." I added enthusiastically.

"Do you even know how to drive a manual transmission?"

"No, but how hard can it be?"

xx

"NO! You're doing it all wrong. Push down the clutch without pushing down on the gas, and then SHIFT THE DAMN GEAR!" "STOP YELLING AT ME!" I screamed back at him.

I was sitting in the driver's seat of Reid's '67 Mustang, trying not to rev the engine. I let go of the gas pedal, pushed down on the clutch, and popped the gear shift into second gear. The engine didn't rev and I managed to turn a corner without stalling.

"Oh my God!" Reid threw both hands up in the air.

"What, what'd I do now?" We had been at this for the past two hours. His full tank of gas was nearly empty. My throat was dry from all the yelling and screaming. I could only imagine how dry his throat must be.

"You actually did something right!" He laughed.

I rolled my eyes. "Never thought you'd see the day, did you?"

Reid laughed low in his throat. The way he laughed was kind of sexy.

I drove back to Reid's parents house and managed to stall his car only once in the process. I was leaning over the driver's side of his car, gathering my things, when he leaned over and hugged me from behind. "If I would have asked you before Bordy, would you have said yes?" He whispered into my ear.

I couldn't help it. I laughed. It was the funniest thing he had ever said. Well, that and I sort of felt awkward.

He pulled away from me rather quickly. "What, what's wrong?" I stopped laughed when I saw his expression change. He didn't answer me, but instead turned around and walked towards his house. "Oh come on Reid!" I ran after him, "You weren't serious, were you?"

He looked at me with those beautiful pale blue orbs. He was serious.

I spent the rest of my English class in Provost Higgins office.

"Eliza," I was on a first name basis. Provost Higgins took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Obviously, he was frustrated. "You're the only female student that has her own chair in the lobby." He pointed to his window, and I vaguely glanced outside of it and noted the empty desk in the lobby. It has a sign that said RESERVED on it. Sadly, I'm not kidding.

"I'm flattered." When I get nervous, I joke around with people. Right now, I was extremely nervous. I had a few months until I graduated. Brown had already accepted me, for what reasons I don't know, but I did know that my frequent visits to Provost Higgins's would be frowned upon.

"I understand that you are going through a lot, with your personal life, right now," so he too had read my story, "but acting up at school is not the answer. Deliberately slapping another student is unacceptable. Therefore, I have no choice but suspend you from school grounds for an entire week starting immediately." He flipped through a stack of files and pulled out a piece of paper. "I am aware of your week-long detention with Mr. Pennyworth and that will not be forfeited. Instead, you will resume the remainder of your detentions next week, when you will return back to school. Until then, I have to contact your parents and you will not be allowed on school premises, including the dorms."

I sighed. I knew my mom and dad were not going to be happy with me. But at least I didn't have to serve detention with Reid and Justine anymore. And at least, I had my pride back.

xx

"I can not believe you did that. The entire class was silent until the bell rang. Everyone's referring to you as 'Scrappy.'" Naveed spoke as she helped me fill my Louis Vuitton suitcase with my designer clothing.

"Did she at least finish my story?" I tried closing the overflowing suitcase, but it was too full.

"Yeah, it drew applause at the end." She forced the top of my suitcase down with both hands while I successfully zipped it up.

"The story or the slapping?" I laughed sarcastically.

"Seriously though, she had that coming-"

"Hey Eliza, can you come out here for a minute?" Cee had waltzed into our dorm room rather abruptly, interrupting Naveed, and looked at me suspiciously. "There's someone here to apologize to you."

I looked at her and at then at Naveed.

Naveed was wearing the same confused expression I was.

I walked past Cee and I could not believe my eyes.

A fear stricken Justine was standing in front of my dorm room. Cee shut the door, leaving Naveed alone in my dorm room, and spoke dominantly. "Justine has something she would like to say to you," She looked at me and smiled. "Don't you Justine?" Cee's smiled faltered as her gaze returned to Justine.

Justine looked like she was about to crap her pants.

"I'm sorry."

I barely heard her speak.

"Say it louder or you'll regret it." Cee sounded like a bully. She was starting to scare me a little too.

"I said I'm sorry!" Justine yelled, causing the people walking past us to look at the commotion we were causing. I noticed some girls in the far corner whispering to themselves. This was going to be around school in no time.

I stood there, contemplating whether or not I should forgive her when Cee spoke for me.

"She'll forgive you if you dump Reid."

My eyes were wide and I looked at Cee just to make sure I had heard her right. Cee smiled tauntingly at Justine.

For a minute or two, Justine didn't speak to either of us. She just stared, or glared rather, at Cee. "Too late." She finally spoke up.

"What do you mean 'too late?'" Cee's voice was harsh and I reminded myself to never cross her… ever.

"He broke up with me." My heart fluttered at her answer. Cee looked back at me and winked. Justine seemed to have caught on to our silent conversation and spoke again. "You two deserve each other." Her tone was defiant as she spoke to me. I wasn't sure if she meant Reid and I, or Cee and I.

"Bad answer." Cee's voice was domineering. "Eliza, please excuse Justine and I, will you?" She spoke to me in a gentler voice, but I knew if I didn't do as she told, she wouldn't hesitate to behead me.

"Please don't hurt me." I heard Justine say as I walked back into my dorm and shut the door behind me.

Cee was my hero.

xx

"Your father and I are very disappointed in you." I heard my mother speak up over the radio. "And don't think you're going to get away with this suspension like you did last time." Thoughts of shopping at Addison's flooded my mind.

I could use some shopping right about now. "But Mom, you have no idea what she did to me! She humiliated me in front of the entire school." I counter argued. "She posted my story about Reid all over school and everyone read it and then she even read it in front of the class today." I sounded like I was whining. Maybe I was. "Reid was in my class. He heard it all."

"I'm sure this Justine girl is a bitch," I smiled as my mother swore, never taking her eyes off of the road in front of us, "But you shouldn't have slapped her."

"It wasn't the first time." I mumbled under my breathe thinking the radio drowned out my voice. It didn't.

"What?" My mother sounded bewildered.

"Don't worry about it." I reassured her. "I punched her but I didn't get caught."

My mother stayed silent for awhile, listening to the radio, as she drove us home. "You know, your father had a girlfriend when I first met him." She gripped the steering wheel as she spoke. "She was a real jackass too. She looked down on me because I was a fashion major and according to her standards, I wasn't smart. Her name was Danielle and she was a law major." She shook her head as if she were reliving her memories, "Anyways, your father was really in love with her. He spoke about her whenever we would get together and I never thought I'd have a chance with him. Then one day, out of the blue when I least expected it, he showed up at my apartment with a bouquet of roses and concert tickets to Aerosmith. I've never let him out of my sight since then." The radio filled my ears before she spoke again. "Whenever Danielle and I would cross paths, she would give me dirty looks or say something really nasty, and I just let it slide. I've never been one to raise my voice unless it involves clothes."

I laughed at my mom. We were more alike than I had thought.

"My point is that even all these years later, I wish I would have spoken up to her, and stood up for myself. Just because I was a fashion major didn't mean that I wasn't any less intelligent than a law major. It took a date with your father for me to realize that."

The rest of the ride home was silent and I thought about what my mother had said.

My mother parked her Prius in between my Ferrari Spyder 360 (still had yet to pass that damned driving test) and my dad's Mercedes as my heart started beating faster.

"Is dad mad?" I asked her, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"He thinks you're sick with the flu."

I turned my head and looked at my mom, studying her face.

"Your father wouldn't understand like I do. Reid's a good boy Eliza, but is he worth getting suspended over?" Without waiting for my answer, my mother opened her door and got out of the car. I watched her as she came around the side and opened the back door, only to shut it after grabbing my suitcase. "Jesus Christ, what the hell did you pack?"

I snickered. The vulgar mouth was definitely hereditary.

xx

"I'm glad you're starting to feel better Eliza. When's the last time you ate?" My father raised an eyebrow as I shoved another spoonful of mashed potatoes into my mouth. I had missed my mothers cooking. Even though it was technically take out. Maybe it was just the fact that I hadn't eaten a meal served on a dinner plate. I was used to eating out of a plastic tray... I sound like a dog don't I?

"This is just really good. Where'd we get it from?" I was wearing a pair of baggy Victoria Secret sweat pants and an extra large hoodie. I wasn't wearing any make-up as I stuffed my face, and weirdly I didn't care how I must have looked. I glanced over at my mother who was spooning more salad onto her plate.

"Teddy's." She answered whimsically.

I shoved another spoonful into my mouth when we all heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it." My dad was already standing up as he spoke.

I looked over at my mother and she shrugged. "Maybe it's just one of those door to door sales people." She suggested.

"Come in! I haven't seen you in years!" I heard my father exclaim from the front of the house. "How's your old man doing?" My father's voice was getting louder. Maybe he was just getting closer.

"He's doing good." I strained my ears, listening to the voice answer him. My breathe caught and I forced the potatoes down my throat. I recognized that voice almost immediately.

"Come in, come in. We're just sitting down to dinner. Are you hungry?" I heard my father talk as he walked back into the dining room.

"I'm starving." Reid answered, walking in behind him.