Chapter 5:

A New Friend

Dana walked out of her third period class towards her locker. She wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and bumped into someone. She looked up and found herself staring at a girl with blue highlights and green Asian eyes.

"What do you want?" Jade said still pissed at her for sending her to the office.

Dana suddenly became nervous. "I'm sorry, really…"

Jade snickered and shifted her weight to the other foot. "And you wonder why Sasha picks on you so much."

"Why does she?"

"Well let's see, you throw your food at us at lunch, send all of us to the office, and basically you just let her. Why else would she hate you?"

Dana glared at her. "Hey, that's not fair though. What about all the stuff you did to me?"

Jade got in her face. "What about it?"

Dana stood her ground. "It's just that all of you act like…" her voice trailed off.

"Like what?" Jade said provoking her.

"Like bitches. All of you are bitches."

Jade was surprised to hear that at first but then her face turned into an evil glare. "You know what, that's a lot of talk coming from the new girl. I would think you'd want some friends around here. Instead of going around calling people bitches, take the next train and go back to wherever the hell you came from. You're obviously not wanted around here."

Before Dana could respond Koby came up behind Jade and surprised her by putting his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder with a playful smirk. "Quit harassing the new girl baby."

Jade continued to glare at Dana. "I would think she was the one harassing me since she called me a bitch."

Koby looked at Dana with a fascinated nod. "You've got to have some guts to call this one a bitch." He squeezed her butt. "Let's go, I hear they have a taco bar today."

Jade broke her gaze from Dana. "Sweet." She took his hand and they went downstairs.

Dana watched them go then went to her locker feeling angry. Who did those Bratz think they were? They accused her of doing things to them but those were accidents. They automatically decided they didn't like her before they even knew each other and they did things to her on purpose. She didn't even want to be their friend anymore. Sure it would be nice to be instantly popular with a hot boyfriend like Koby or Cameron but at this point it wasn't worth being tortured by them.

She went to the cafeteria and sat at her usual table by herself becoming preoccupied with her fries and her thoughts.

"Excuse me."

She looked up and saw a girl standing by her. She had brown hair just past her shoulders, glasses, freckles across her nose, and she wore a white tank top with black and red plaid shorts, striped socks up to her thighs, and sneakers. "Can I sit here?"

"Um, sure."

The girl sat across from her with her chicken sandwich. "How come you're all by yourself?"

Dana shrugged. "Just haven't made any friends yet."

"Well I'll be your first. I'm Aubrey."

"Dana," she said with a smile.

"How are you liking the school so far?" Aubrey asked.

"It's…okay I guess. Regular old classes and stuff. Just, some people I guess really don't like me."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "That's the thing about Styles High. It's all about popularity. If you don't have designer clothes and a long weave people don't think anything of you. It's all about finding the right people I guess."

"What about you, where are your friends?"

Aubrey pointed across the cafeteria. "Over there. I would have sat with them but seeing how you're kinda the new girl around here and you haven't really met anyone yet, I thought you might like some company."

"That's really nice of you."

Suddenly the Bratz walked past in their usual group. When they saw Dana they sneered in her direction then went to their usual table where Cade, Cameron and Koby were sitting along with a couple other girls.

It didn't slip past Aubrey. "What's their deal?"

"They're the ones that don't like me."

"What reason would they have not to like you? You seem really nice, if not a bit quiet."

"I don't know. My first day I had a class with Sasha and I tried to make friends with them but they just decided they didn't like me. And ever since that incident last week they've been out to get me. I really don't understand."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "People around here kiss the ground that those girls walk on. All because they wear name brand clothes and they're pretty much rich. They're not the only ones that can walk around in six inch heels and get a cute boyfriend."

"I take it you've had bad experiences with them?"

"Not really," Aubrey said shaking her head. "We went to middle school together and they used to make fun of my glasses and pig tails. Since then though they've backed off a bit. I don't consider them close friends but I talk to Jade sometimes in a few of my classes."

"She seems like one of the meanest," Dana said remembering what happened in the hallway.

"She just doesn't let people mess with her. Trust me; she won't let anyone believe for a second that she's a pushover or anything. But once you get on her good side she's really not a bad person."

Dana sighed. "I wish they were as nice to me."

"Don't let them bother you so much. There are plenty of other people at this school. All they are is just four girls who think they're better than everyone else."

The bell rang for the end of lunch.

Aubrey wrote something down and gave it to Dana. "I'm leaving early today so I won't see you later. Call me." With that she skipped off to her next period.

Dana looked down at the number and saw there was a little smiley face next to her name. She smiled as she put the note in her pocket. She had finally made a new friend.