A/N

And...it's a filler. Basically. Long story short, I haven't looked at this story in ages but wanted to give you guys something, so here it is. Even if it isn't the greatest thing ever.

Enjoy!

I glance up at Gigi. "No way."

"Yes way. There's a party tonight. And what's a better way to come back with a bang than a party?" I sigh, and Haylee speaks up from in front of the mirror, carefully applying mascara.

"Exactly. Besides, you never know who might be there." Somehow, she manages to wink at me, without ruining her makeup. I wonder about that girl sometimes.

"Is that why you're going, then?" I ask. She pauses in her eyelash curling and turns to me.

"It's a party, Ra. 'Course I'm going," she gives me a sly smile. "Plus, Luke might be there." I feel my eyes roll. She faces the mirror again. "C'mon, El. Someday, you're gonna get married, and have a family, why not think ahead? It's like...choosing subjects for senior year to help you get a job, but instead it's choosing boys to see which one could be a potential partner." That is...actually quite deep. I didn't expect that from her.

"That was deep," Gigi remarks, voicing my thoughts. I see Haylee's eyes roll in them mirror.

"I'm more than just a pretty face, you know," she says.

"Who would've thought?" Gigi quips.

"Oh, do shut up. Or I'll tell Marcus you like him-"

"Shutting up," Gigi says quickly. I stifle a laugh. Marcus is her ex, who cheated on her and then must've changed his mind, because he started stalking her a few months later. He hadn't had a single girlfriend after that. Well, that I know of, anyway.

"He's still creepy?" I ask. She nods.

"As ever. Anyways, since you're both coming to mine for the night, we can get ready there, and no Ella, just because you didn't bring clothes doesn't mean you're getting out of this. You can borrow mine. Cool?" Haylee explains.

"Yeah, okay. I've got art in like five minutes, so I'm gonna go. See you afterschool," I say, and stand up. I exit the bathroom and head down the corridor to the art rooms. They have these tables with bean bag seats, and it generally looks like a rainbow preschool. But despite that, it's seriously the most awesome room in the entire school.

"'Ello," I announce, dropping into the seat next to Drake's. He jumps, and groans.

"Oh, not you! You're just gonna show off the whole lesson," he moans. I pat his shoulder.

"There, there. Not everyone can have my talent." He shoots me an annoyed glance. I smile widely at him. He just huffs and turns away.

"Hey," a voice says casually, and I feel a presence behind me. I spin and see Luke. "This seat taken?" He asks, gesturing to the empty seat on the other side of me.

I shrug. "Nope." He sits down, and pulls out his book. When he opens it, my jaw drops. The pages are filled with cartoon drawings. Really good cartoon drawings. He notices me staring, and grins.

"Oh, I didn't draw these. That was Ma-y friend." I note the slip-up suspiciously.

"Whose are they, then?" I ask casually. He raises his eyebrows.

"Ah, you won't know him," he replies casually, flipping a page of his book.

"So, how're the Mogs treating you?" I ask conversationally, since Drake is ignoring me as he finishes his drawing of a...uh, I don't actually know what it was. I think it was meant to be a plant.

He shrugs. "Eh, it's Mogadore. What d'you expect?"

"Fair enough. Uh, what are we meant to be drawing?" I question.

He looks at me in mock disapproval. "Not paying attention, Ella? One of those plants," he adds, pointing to the windowsill where five flowers sat.

"Oh. Oh, that's what Drake's drawing," I note. I peer at Drake's paper, and hide my smirk. The boy can't draw to save his life.

"Hey, Dray," I whisper. "Is that...a deflated balloon? A mutated banana? A-"

"Ella," Drake begins loudly. "Shut up, please."

"Shutting up," I mumble. The rest of the class passes by uneventfully (except for me mocking Drake), until the last ten minutes. Well, it isn't that exciting, but I had nothing else to do except eavesdrop. The girl on the other side of Luke starts talking to him, and since I am right next to them, I can't help but listen.

"So, you're a transfer, right? Where'd you come from?"

"Uh, Garde," Luke replies quietly. That piques my interest. I don't remember him. And I'm sure I'd remember him. I knew most of the students. Maybe he just slipped under my radar. You can never really see his entire face, which is weird, but I don't pay much attention to it.

"Really? Isn't that the school with those kids in that accident?" I don't know what she's talking about, but apparently Luke does. Accident? Adam and Drake said they hadn't explained the whole story, but I hadn't thought they'd left out that much.

"Yep. I was friends with one of them." Then he winces. Which, again, is odd. I decide to butt in, even though they'll know I was eavesdropping.

"Who were you friends with?" I ask curiously. One of his eyes twitch, but he answers me calmly.

"Myra. I was in with Wade," he grinds out.

"Eesh, seriously? Did you hear they broke up?" The other girl looks peeved that I stole her conversation. I grin at her.

"Yep. Best news of my life."

"Why-" I'm cut short by Drake's yell of joy.

"Schools out! Woo!" My eyes roll, but I grin. Then it falters.

"Oh, crap," I say. Drake eyeballs me strangely.

"You're...sad schools over?"

I shrug. "Well, now I'm going to a party at some persons house. When I would really rather just be home watching Netflix."

"Fair enough." The teacher examines our work as we leave the room, and I hold my breath as she gets to Drake's. I wonder what she'll-

"Drew Kent!" Huh. He must've actually registered with his real last name. Thank god. Barrymore would've been just slightly suspicious.

Drake gulps. "Uh, that's me?" The teacher jabs a finger at his drawing.

"What...is this?"

"It's a plant," Drake tells her helpfully. I roll my eyes again.

"I can see that-well, no actually. I can't. It looks like mutated broccoli. And...is that Pacman there? Dear lord." Drake grins sheepishly.

"Well, I wanted to give it a contemporary spin, per say, like you said you wanted! And I thought, hey, everyone loves Pacman!" The teacher just looks at him like, why me? As soon as we leave the room, I start laughing. Drake is smiling.

"You know," he begins, and I turn my gaze to him. "If you came back to Garde, you could laugh at me all the time."

"That," I state. "Is the crappiest come back speech I've ever heard."

"Good luck for your party!" He exclaims, then walks down the corridor.

"Ugh."

"Ella! Ella Ra!" I turn around to see who's calling me, and have to repress a groan. My however many greats grandfather, Setrakus Ra. Who is even named Setrakus anyway? What a weird name. Why is he here, you ask? Because he's the freaking principal. "I'm glad to see you're back at Mogadore."

"Yeah? Cause I'm not," I reply bluntly, and begin to turn around. A hand catches my shoulder and I am forced to face him again. I'm not exactly sure why Crayton hates him, but apparently he messed up some things with the rest of the family.

He gives me a wide smile. "Oh, you used to love it here, I'm sure you'll find old habits die hard."

I flash him an equally big smile. "And I'm sure you'll find those habits died with the amnesia." I feel a surge of triumph at his confused expression. "Amnesia?"

"Sure," I reply. "I mean, I fell off a building and cracked my skull, along with my dear friend who was in a coma for four weeks. But you'd know that if you really cared about your granddaughter, wouldn't you?" With that, I turn around and stalk out of the corridor, feeling oddly satisfied. Then I remember Haylee and Gigi are waiting for me outside the gates. Oops. Hopefully they didn't mind waiting...or, even better, they left without me so I don't have to go to the stupid party. But I know better.

"No, El! You totally have to wear this! It's, like, the perfect outfit!" I am laying on Haylee's bed, staring up at the ceiling. She's holding up some clothes for me to wear.

"Whatever. So, where's this party being held?" I ask, munching on a pack of popcorn I found lying around Haylee's room. Knowing her, it was reasonably new since she was one of the biggest OCD's I knew.

She didn't miss a beat with reapplying her makeup. "Hayden's place." I feel my jaw drop.

"What? No! There'll be Garde people there! They'll know me," I protest. I don't want to see anyone I know! Part of the reason I agreed to move to Mogadore in the first place was because I didn't want to see certain people again.

"Well, you can show them what they're missing. Didn't you say a lot of your friends turned on you? Try show them you're better off without them," Gigi puts in, and I turn my head towards her. "Even if it's not true."

"So put this damn outfit on before I force you into it," Haylee demands, holding up her hair curler threateningly. There was no arguing with that. I also wanted to try succumb to my old life a bit more, take my mind off the stress of recent events.

"Alright. What am I wearing?"

It wasn't a dress. But it was a skirt, and I didn't know which was better. The other two look me up and down with approving looks on their faces. Then they turn to each other.

"We're geniuses," Haylee remarks.

Gigi nods. "We truly, truly are." I raise my eyebrows, and Haylee directs me to the mirror.

"You've gone for the darker look, I see," I observe dryly.

"What d'ya think?"

I took in the black pleated skirt (which looks better than it sounds), white graphic tank and dark eye makeup. It wasn't my usual look, but it did look good.

I shrug, still staring at myself in the mirror. "Hey, it works. Maybe the others won't even recognize me."

They do recognize me.

As soon as we walk in, the music doesn't stop or anything like that, but I feel the first glance. I know the girl. She hung out with Myra. Which means Myra is probably here. I'm pretty sure she's still on my side, so that's okay. It's more the Stanley types I'm worried about.

Gigi nudges Haylee. "See your lover boy?" The latter scowls at her as she peers over the heads of everyone in the crowd.

"Oh shut up. I don't suppose Marcus is here, is he?" Gigi quickly stops talking. I tapped them both on the shoulders, and they turn to face me.

"Hey, I'm gonna go get something to eat, you want anything?" I'd learnt long ago not to touch the drinks. Gigi gives me a look.

"You're sure you wanna separate? You might not find us again," she warns. I flap a hand.

"I'm an old pro, I'll be fine. Meet outside, okay?" She nods and I head off in what I hope is in the direction of food. The host has a pretty nice house, well, mansion more like. It has high ceilings and patterned rug carpeting and a very grand feel to it. Fit for the royal family in whatever country still has one. England, maybe.

In my admiring, I don't look where I'm going and bump into someone. "Oh, sorry!"

"All goods Ella." I glance up in alarm, trying to put a name to the face in front of me. They take off their beanie with an exaggerated gesture and I finally get a good look at his face.

"Oh, hey Peyton," I say, lifting a hand in greeting. "What brings you to this not so humble abode?"

He shrugs. "Hell if I know. I got dragged along, and I saw no reason not to come. What about you?"

"You know Haylee? Haylee Cormana?"

He raises an eyebrow. "A Haylee hit on me my first day. That sound like her?"

I grin and shake my head at my friend's antics. "That'd be her. She made me come. Coming 'back with a bang', she said."

"Ah." We stand in silence for a while, none of us knowing what to say. We're not exactly good friends, he just keeps cropping up everywhere. Then I look over his shoulder and swear.

"Yo, you okay?" Peyton questions. I try and move behind him.

"Hide me!" I hiss, turning my back to the people streaming by. He turns around to face me, looking at me quizzically.

"What? Why?"

I try and make myself as small as possible. "People I don't wanna talk to. They're coming this way-oh, no. No, no no, no," I murmur, trying not to panic. It isn't working very well.

"Hey, it's okay. Who is it you want gone?" I point at a group of four people. One looks strikingly like Draco Malfoy. Another has a mischievous smile and brown hair. A blonde girl who I don't know is hanging onto the arm of a boy with shaggy black hair.

"Be right back," he says, and then he walks away, leaving me in plain sight of the approaching group. Except...he's walking towards them. What is he doing? Is he going to-wait, he's talking to them? I watch in both terror and awe as Peyton strides right up to them, and drapes his arms over the shoulders of Damien and Stanley. I can faintly hear snippets of their conversation from where I stand.

"Hey...heard about you...you going?"

"Drinks...who are you..."

"Whatever...sure, man...thanks..." I try to tune out after that. He's either helping me out or getting me in deeper than I already am. But after a few minutes, I'm surprised when the group started walking the other way. I'm pretty sure my mouth is still hanging open when Peyton comes back over to me, casually leaning on a wall.

"You...they just left...how?" I ask in awe. He puts a finger to his lips.

"A magician never tells his secrets."

"You're not a magician," I point out.

He nods. "No, I'm a philosopher. Which is pretty much the same thing." His wide grin lets me know he's kidding, and not just really, really dense.

And that is how Peyton Evans and I became friends.

Okay, I'm curious, how do you guys all pronounce Garde? Because I say it like gar-day, but I think it's supposed to be pronounced just like guard. But I dunno. I think the way I say it sounds cooler.

As always, if you have ideas for the next chapter, I'm open to suggestions because I haven't got anything up my sleeve for a little while.

HV