AN: you know what? i'll just put up chapter one anyways. not like the trailer gave up that much information :P i'm working on chapter 6 already :O but don't rush me ;D REVIEW and i'll put up the next chapter faster :D
Disclaimer: don't own anything. except for the smoothie i'm drinking right now. GO MAGIC BULLETS!

Kemp Hurley ran over to the group, but not before doing his own little happy dance by shaking his light brown, skater-haired head and doing a combination of jazz hands and spirit fingers. "Guys, guys, guys!" He shouted, not able to contain his excitement.

But he had to get it off his chest. He couldn't get the dark blonde-haired girl out of his mind.

His friends, all sitting by the fountain, looked up at him with different expressions. Massie's being the one that counted the most. Unlike Cam's and Claire's that were ready to listen politely, Massie cut him off with a flick of her wrist. She turned back to Dylan, scooting closer. "So what exactly did he say?"

Dylan, tossing her perfectly tamed reddish-auburn hair behind her shoulder, leaned in to whisper the juicy gossip into Massie's ear.

"Guys," Kemp whined. "I have news though."

Massie glanced up and gave him an irritated look through her amber-colored eyes. "No, Kemp, we really don't care what you got when you measured."

Kemp rolled his eyes. "No, not that."

Kemp's best friend, Chris Plovert, snickered from the bench across from the fountain. His arm was slung around Alicia, who seemed to be his victim of the week—except Alicia, who seemed to be the only girl in the group that actually appreciated his little game. She snuggled her cheek against the soft fabric of his American Apparel black v-neck.

"Just let the guy speak." Chris said. "Then he'd shut up, Mass."

Massie held her chin up higher, as though she was trying to choose between her dignity or quiet and peace from Kemp. Whatever. She could patch her pride up later. "Fine. Talk."

"There's a new girl!" Kemp squealed girlishly.

"It's a new year. New students kind of come along with it." Massie snapped. "Is that what you had to interrupt everyone for?"

"She's not a freshman." Kemp added quickly, defending himself. "And she's really hot. I'd totally date her."

Derrick, who was sitting on the other side of Massie with his ankle resting on his other knee in a guy-friendly-crossing-legs way, stopped admiring his new Nike high tops (or really just wishing that Massie paid attention to him more) and snorted. "Kemp, you'd date any good-looking girl."

"Uh, no." Kemp shook his head and rolling his eyes. "I'd kiss any good-looking girl. But date?" Kemp winced. "I save that for the rare case."

"What's your point?" Massie asked impatiently.

"That was my point!" Kemp said. "Hot new girl in our grade! Isn't anyone excited as me?"

The group looked at him with a prolonged silence.

"Um," Claire Lyons gave Kemp an apologetic look. "Sorry we're not exactly the best audience."

Kemp's shoulders slouched. He scrunched up his nose and gave everyone an annoyed look. "Fine. I'm going to go find her again then. You guys have fun being boring!"

Massie rolled her eyes, nodding and shooing him away with her hand. "You go ahead, K."

Kemp shook his head and ran. The last time he saw the girl was near Jamba Juice. She couldn't have gone too far.

"Shouldn't someone make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble?" Claire said slowly. Everyone looked at Claire blankly. Who would volunteer to do that? "You know what? I'm going to do the noble thing and go. I don't want the poor girl to think she's a target of rape or something."

And with that, Claire marched off to follow Kemp.

--

Kristen Gregory sipped her power-sized, energy-boosted Red Gummy smoothie and studied her schedule and the map the counseling office had given her. The campus was so much bigger than her old high school (well, duh) where she had spent such a horribly boring and uneventful freshman year that she had to beg her parents to send her to boarding school. She had been going crazy.

Kristen, as quiet as she usually was back home, was ambitious. She knew that there was no way she'd check off any of her lost list of goals if she just stayed in her little town in Northern California.

The door jingled as it was pushed open and a girl and a boy her age walked into the room.

"Why the hell would anyone feel as though they were in the middle of a rape attempt?" The boy said, shaking his head as he looked around the room. He was good-looking, but in the cocky, well-informed-of-his-good-looks way.

Kristen looked back at the pieces of paper. This didn't seem to concern her, so why be nosy?

"Please, you know it's true." Kristen heard the girl say. Then she heard the boy's footsteps but didn't think anything of it until she looked up to see him standing in front of her table.

"Hello?" Kristen said hesitantly, looking up at him with a confused look.

She was new and not expecting anyone to address her. I mean, she was just Kristen. Not the girl that guys drooled over. Not the girl that other girls instantly feared.

"You're hot and I'm Kemp." The boy said quickly, giving her a cheeky smile. "And if you're single, I'm hot too."

The girl, who had walked over, gave Kristen an apologetic look. "Oh God, sorry. He's not usually this brash." She turned to Kemp and hissed. "What do you think you're doing?"

Kristen laughed for the first time since she had gotten to New York. Kemp, as cheesy as he was, was pretty funny. Friend material, Kristen decided. The girl was nice too. "I've seen that on a t-shirt before, but good job with the attempted originality."

The petite blonde girl looked at Kristen closer and smiled. "I'm Claire. Kemp here says you're new?"

Kristen nodded, feeling half-disturbed yet half-honored that she had been pursued by Kemp. "I'm Kristen. Are you guys sophomores too?"

"Yeah, but if you like upperclassmen, I can pass for a junior." Kemp grinned.

Kristen turned to Claire. "Does he always talk in pick-up lines?"

Claire rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Only during his time of the month." She gave Kemp a smirk and pushed him lightly towards the counter. "Order me a Peanut Butter Moo'd."

"Scandalous." Kemp scoffed and walked towards the cashier.

Claire turned back to Kristen with a twinkle in her aqua blue eyes. "He's stupid. Anyways, you want to sit with us during the welcoming dinner?"

Kristen's eyes widened. She never realized they were a couple. "Wait, just you two?"

Claire wrinkled her nose and made silent gagging faces. Um, scratch the whole couple thing. "As if. There's…" she looked up at the ceiling, counting in her head, "nine of us."

Kristen rubbed her lips together. Nine. That was a huge group, which only meant more new people and more people that could possibly not like her. The thought intimidated her, but the opportunity was just too great to pass. Who else was she going to sit with? Confused freshmen?

"Sounds great!" Kristen grinned. It wasn't even the first real day but she was sure she found a new group of friends. Hopefully they'd all like her…?

--

Claire Lyons bit her lip as she walked over to her group's usual spot near the middle of the dining hall. Massie sat at the very end of the long mahogany table, looking as intimidating as always as she checked her nails for any white nail polish chips.

This was a bad idea, Claire thought. At the time, it seemed like a great one. Kristen seemed really cool, not at all like the try-to-hard posers that always worked super hard to get into good graces with Massie and her friends. Kristen wasn't even fazed by Kemp's seducing skills—which, Claire might add, were really horrible—but it showed that she could be a keeper in the group.

Yet, when had Massie ever been good with change and new things?

"Guys," Claire cleared her throat, walking in front of her usual seat next to Cam. She motioned Kristen to go next to her. "This is Kristen. I invited her to sit with us tonight. That's okay, right, Mass?"

Massie looked up, giving Kristen a quick glance and shrugged her shoulders. "Whatev." She turned back to Derrick on her right and went back to whispering about something that seemed urgent.

Then again, anything that had to do with Massie herself was urgent to her, from debating mascara colors (what shade of brown was really right for her lashes anyways?) to what she was going to ask her mother to send in her next care package.

"Omigod!" Dylan giggled, covering her mouth and concealing her perfect pearly white—thanks to her mother, the famous Merri-Lee, and her styling crew—even though she had a perfect reason not to. "You're Kemp's little crush, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Dyl." Kemp said quickly across the table.

"Omigod, that's so cute." Dylan rolled her eyes and laughed. She looked up at Kristen and waved her hands towards the seat across from her and next to Claire. "Sit! Tell me what line he used on you. Was it a sweet-cheesy one, like, 'did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?' or was it sleazier, like, 'do you have a mirror in your pants?'?"

Claire shook her head, speaking up for Kristen. She knew Dylan's bold personality sometimes scared people off, especially new kids. "He was actually, surprisingly, mildly well-behaved."

"I'm Dylan Marvil." Dylan introduced herself to Kristen, placing a hand above her chest. "This is Plovert. He's a flirt but in a totally different way than Kemp." She said, pointing her thumb towards the guy on the left side of her.

"Am not." Chris Plovert said, unwrapping his arm around Alicia (finally!). He scooted his chair in more towards the table and leaned towards Kristen, giving her a smoldering look with his emerald green eyes. "But you know, you're my new favorite."

Claire was the only one that noticed the dirty look Alicia sent Kristen's way, but tried pushing it out of her mind herself. Alicia had some jealousy issues, especially when it concerned being territorial over the guys in the group.

Kristen laughed breezily, turning her attention to Josh sitting on Dylan's right. "And you are?"

Claire tilted her head as she watched the way Josh gave Kristen a surprised double-take and took off his NY cap and shook out his dark hair. Josh Hotz never took his cap off, not for any girl. Not even for Alicia when they went out for half a year in the beginning of last year and she begged him to take it off when they went to the über-fancy, expensive restaurant a block away from the school.

And even though Josh was the most fashion conscious guy—dressing in only designer duds—and his cap was something that threw everything off balance, it always remained on his perfect head.

"Josh Hotz," Josh said with a perfect grin. "And I think we should hang out later."

Kristen, who was unfazed by both Chris and Kemp, tilted her head and smiled. "Actually, I'd like that."

Currently Listening To:
Tell Me Your Wish by SNSD

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