Chapter 6

TJ POV

Beep beep beep….. My hand fumbled out from under the covers as I desperately search for the alarm to turn it off. When the annoying beepis finally gone I slowly make myself get out of bed.

"TJ! Time to get up" mom yells from downstairs.

"I'm up" I yell back knowing from experience that she will continue to yell upstairs until I answer.

I walk lazily to the window stretching as I go to see what the weather's like. I glance quickly seeing that it's sunny and I begin to look away when someone catches my eye.

A girl is standing in front of the neighbors' house looking at it with almost a look of longing. Her black hair is thrown up in a ponytail making it impossible to tell how long it is but from what I can see it looks like it goes halfway down her back. She's on the short side at 5 foot 4 and looks almost fragile.

I can't seem to drag my eyes away from her.

I watch as she slowly walks forward, almost as if she's in a trance, she bends down pulling something from the neighbors garden. What the hell was she doing?

As if realizing that she's being watched; she suddenly stands up straight and looks toward my window. We make eye contact and quickly she begins to look around. I see her check her watch. My eyebrows raise when I see her lips move in a swear word which looks utterly ridicules coming from someone who looks like they could be blown over in the wind. Then she turns away and begins to sprint.

"TJ! What are you doing up there? You're going to be late" I turn away from my window at my mothers bellow and quickly begin to get ready.

"I'll be right down" I yell back just in case she thinks I'm still sleeping. I can't help but wonder why that girl looked so familiar.

Later that day at school

"Hey T.J.! Over here" I turn towards a voice that I know very well and head for a group of guys.

"Hey Vince, what's up?" I ask when I finally reach the group through the throng of other students.

He just grins and begins to tell one of his many sport stories to me. No matter how much time went by Vince was always the same. I thought back to a younger Vince telling his other triumphs on the court and I can't help but laugh.

Vince had quit trying to be best in every sport and had finally decided that basketball was his forte. He was the star of the team and there was already talk on what colleges were after him.

Looking around the hallways I see Gretchen walk by. I watch as she walks past our group heading towards her first class. She catches my eye and gives a small nod of acknowledgement before she continues on her way.

God has she changed. The once gawky girl is now one of the prettiest girls in the school. She's still taller than most of the other girls in our school standing at five foot seven and the rest of her had also developed nicely to fit her tall frame. She kept her hair long but pulled half up half down to keep it out of her face. I watch as some of the other guys turn and watch her walk away.

I grin slightly knowing that she doesn't have a clue how guys watch her since she still keeps her head in the books.

I look back at my group of friends that are acting out one of their great games.

Five years ago I had a completely different group of friends. We had all been so different; there had been Mikey who had been the sweet, peaceful big guy, Gus who had been the good guy who followed every rule, Gretchen the smart girl and Vince the jock. My mind wanders back to another spitfire of a girl that had been all of our friend years ago.

God I hadn't thought about the old gang for so long. The year that Spinelli had left our group had slowly fallen apart. At the time I never would have guessed that it was Spinelli that had held our group together. I had always thought that with me being the group leader that it was me who had kept us close.

The year she didn't come back it was like our group dynamic changed. Gretchen began to feel odd being the only girl in our group and had begun to hang out with the different girls in our school starting with swinger girl then upside down girl and finally becoming very good friends with library girl. It was really so gradual that I didn't even notice it happening.

Then slowly Gus and Mikey started to do there own thing during recess as Vince and I played sports. Although we hadn't realized it at the time but it had been Spinelli who had kept us from playing sports every recess which Vince always wanted and trying new things which interested Gus and Mikey. By the time we were leaving for high school we had for the most part stopped hanging out together and high school was the final break.

"Damn would you look at her…" My mind is pulled away from my memories as one of my friends lets out a small whistle.

What had started my trip down memory lane? I hadn't thought of the old crew for years.

Realizing my friends were now staring towards the office I turn and look at the girl that has caught their attention.

To my utter amazement it's the girl from this morning. She's dressed casually in a pair of jeans and t-shirt which make her stand out from the other girls who normally wear very revealing clothing. Her black hair is still thrown up in a messy ponytail making it still impossible to see how long it is, which I find most to my surprise I really want to know. Even without showing off her stomach or wearing extremely tight clothing she's a knock out.

She walks confidently towards the office and pauses slightly to look at the other students that have stopped to look at her. Did I mention that she kind of stands out because of the way she dresses. She glances in my groups' direction then heads into the office without another look.

The students in the hall snap out of their trance and the whispers begin about the new girl. It is highly unusual to get a new student half way through the year in high school so this is big news.

Ding… ding…

And with the warning bell the students begin to file to there next class.