My profuse apologies for being utterly lazy and taking so long to update. This happens to me sometimes. I'll have a creative lull if you will and just don't feel like doing anything.

Anyway. I'm back. I'm out of the funk and I'm ready to start writing again.

I hope you all had a good christmas and New Year. Mine was slightly shite due to the fact that I broke up with my girlfriend of over two years a couple of weeks ago. But I won't go on about it. I've decided my New Year's resolution is to give up women because I hate them. I hate them all and would be happy if I never had to speak to one again (no offense). It's just a shame that I have five sisters...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

It's mocking me.

I'm sitting on my bed staring at it and I can almost hear it's derisive laughter at my pathetic cowardice.

You can laugh all you want but I will conquer you in the end. I'm just biding my time is all.

Everyone knows Ashley Davies is the queen of strategy.

I'm not kidding anyone am I?

Okay, so here's the thing. I promised Spencer I'd call her sometime this week so that we could hang out this weekend but I haven't exactly gotten round to it.

And by that I mean that every time I pick up my cell phone to call her I almost shit a brick.

Problem is, it's Friday night and if I don't call her tonight she's going to think I don't like her and don't want to hang out with her and that's not the case at all. See my dilemma here?

I've also been anxious to make direct contact with her this week so have resorted to running, and by running I mean walking at a high speed, in the opposite direction whenever I catch sight of her around school. Unfortunately, I have not been blessed with the stealth that Taylor seems to possess so when I tried to duck surreptitiously into the girls' bathroom today I ended up walking face first into set of lockers.

Picking up the mirror on my bedside table I carefully inspect the impressive bruise that's formed just above my left eyebrow.

Glancing back at my phone I decide that it is now or never, leaping gracefully (read: clumsily.) from my position on the bed and all but sprinting (read: walking.) towards the cell phone that I have just spent the last forty-two minutes and fifty-three seconds staring aimlessly at.

When I reach my desk I swipe up my cell as quickly as physically possible because everyone knows that things are less painful when done at pace.

It's a shame that it's not true.

I'm feeling even more pained now that I have my phone in my hand and raise a shaking thumb to press the button that will lead to my contact list.

Just a I'm about to push it I'm interrupted as my door swings open and hits the opposite wall with a loud bang, Taylor strolling though it as though she owns the place.

She then proceeds to collapse onto my neatly made bed, which is when I also happen to notice that she's all sweaty and gross. No doubt having just partaken in some kind of exercise.

My day just gets better and better.

And how did she even get in here?

"How did you get in here?"

"Kyla let me in." Is her simple reply, of course accompanied by the infamous shrug even though she's currently horizontal.

"Do you think you could ask Kyla to let you out?" I ask in a particularly snippy manner.

"What crawled up your arse and died?" She turns to look at me, cocking the customary eyebrow.

Her squinted hazel eyes flicker from the phone clutched in my white-knuckled hand to my pale face and then to my slightly panic-crazed eyes, which are unsuccessfully attempting to send her a death glare.

"Finally calling Spencer are we?"

"No."

That was about as convincing as a cat shaving off all it's fur and pretending to be a giant naked molerat.

"Invite her to Jake Slater's party." Taylor suggests not even rewarding my pathetic denial with an eye roll.

"Jake Slater's a dick."

"I know." Taylor shrugs. "But Spencer's the new kid. It'll be nice for her to go to a big party, meet people, socialise and the like. And if you're lucky you might even get a dance out of it."

My mind drifts off to its happy place where Spencer and I are bumping and grinding on the dance floor and I'm pretty much sold.

"Ugh, fine!" I pretend to still be reluctant. "But don't think you can fool me. The only reason you want to go is because you want to fuck that redhead sister of his. I thought she got a restraining order on you?"

"Nah. It was only a threat." Taylor grins stupidly. "I know she wants me."

Normally when someone slaps you three times, gets someone to physically remove you from their house twice and threatens to get a restraining order on you, you realise that they might not be into you. Unfortunately, Taylor is not a normal person.

"Whatever you say Tay." I shake my head in slight exasperation as she hauls herself off of my bed and towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I ask as she reaches the doorway.

Now that she's here she could at least have the decency to make herself useful and give me some good advice on exactly what I'm supposed to say to Spencer.

She turns back with another one of those cocky grins.

"I'm going to ask Kyla to let me out."

With that smartassed comment she disappears from view and I can hear her abnormally large feet thundering down the stairs at high speed.

Taking a deep breath to compose myself I turn back to the device in my hand, closing my eyes as I press the contacts list button.

Jesus Christ Ashley! You're acting like you're about to make a decision about whether to cut the red or the blue wire on an armed bomb. Get a grip already!

I quickly scroll down the list until I find her name and let out a small chuckle when I notice that she's put one of those little smiley face things next to it. Such a Spencer Carlin thing to do.

Biting the bullet, I press the call button and wait as it starts to ring. I'd bet my Dad's guitar that she's the kind of girl who picks up after like two rings.

Ring. Ring.

"Hello?"

Told you.

"Hello?"

Oh shit. Say something Davies. Something smart.

"Hello."

Good start Ash. Now push through.

"I mean, hey, it's Ashley. Ashley Davies."

"Hey Ashley."

Is it me or did her voice just brighten considerably when she knew it was me calling her?

Nah. Wishful thinking as usual.

Okay. This is it. Play it cool Ashley, play it cool.

"So Spencer," I yawn for added casual affect. "I was wondering…"

I pull up outside of Taylor's house to find her already outside on the drive, her large form hidden behind the huge hood of the truck her Dad bought her last year.

She looks around when she hears me pull up and wipes her oil-blackened hands on a cloth before approaching the car.

I roll my eyes at her attire. As usual she looks like she's raped Shane Mccutcheon's wardrobe. I'm talking the whole black jeans, t-shirt and blazer combo. At least she isn't wearing a tie this time.

"You aren't coming anywhere near my car with those hands." I warn her as I dismount.

"My brake fluid's leaking." She tells me in a voice not dissimilar to one you would use when telling someone a close relative had died.

"Oh dear." I reply, patting her on the back in mock comfort as she glares at me. "Now go and wash your hands." I notice that there's also a big black smudge across her chin and add: "And your face."

Taylor huffs petulantly and flounces off to do as she's told.

"Go and get Spencer then." I hear her voice call back to me and I glance apprehensively over at Spencer's house, which has never looked so big and scary.

Shaking my head at my utter idiocy I march my way down Taylor's drive and straight up Spencer's before ringing the doorbell.

Oh shit. Why did I do that? I don't even know what to say. Oh my god. What if Paula opens the door?

Luckily, someone up there does seem to love me because when the door opens I'm met with the kind eyes of Arthur Carlin rather than the cold, harsh ones of the she-devil herself.

"Hello Ashley." He greets me and I'm pleased that he remembers my name.

But then why wouldn't he? I am after all the Ashley Davies.

"Hi Mr. Carlin." I smile at my second favourite Carlin.

"Spencer will be down in a minute."

"Thanks."

The silence isn't exactly what I'd call a comfortable one so I'm extremely relieved when I hear Spencer coming down the stairs.

Fuck. A. Monkey.

She looks hot.

Like really, really hot.

I study her closely from the feet upwards. She's wearing these cute little gladiator sandals that show off her cute little toes that are painted a shiny, metallic blue. My eyes then travel up her long legs to the hem of her short denim skirt and all the way up to where they linger longer than necessary on the cleavage that's peaking out of the top of her blue v-neck sweater.

When I finally make it to her eyes she's smiling at me and I briefly bring a hand up to my face to wipe away the drool that I'm sure must be present.

"Hey." She says sweetly, grabbing her jacket from the hook by the door. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

That 'yeah' by the way sounded more like 'Luh' because my tongue has chosen this moment to become the texture of carpet.

"Have fun girls!" Mr. Carlin calls after us as we make our way down the path towards the car, me stumbling along in Spencer's angelic wake.

When we reach the Cayenne a dirt free Taylor is moseying her way down her own path but stops dead when she sees us.

"Whoa!" She lets out a wolf whistle. "Spencer Carlin is that you? You look hot!"

Spencer blushes at Taylor's highly inappropriate bluntness as I glare at my douche of a best friend who's still running her eyes up and down Spencer's body.

"Er, thanks Taylor. You look nice too." Spencer stammers out.

"I try." Taylor smirks and does that stupid 'brush fake dirt off the shoulder' thing that no one's done since 2007. "Well, we better get going. Don't want to be too late otherwise all the good drink's gone."

She then proceeds to grab the door handle to the front passenger seat and attempts to clamber in. I say attempts because as she does so I grab her arm and yank her back.

"What do you think you're doing?" I hiss into her ear as Spencer stands on the sidewalk looking slightly puzzled.

"Er. Getting in the car?"

"Get. In. The. Back." I whisper as harshly as I can.

Taylor looks at me and then at Spencer.

"Oh. Okay." She steps back from the door and makes an over dramatic sweeping motion with her arm. "After you milady." She says to Spencer who smiles and climbs into the passenger seat.

Sticking out her tongue at me Taylor jumps in the back as I roll my eyes and clamber into the front starting up my car.

As I peel away from the kerb Taylor rests her head on the armrest between the two front seats, grinning impishly.

"It's party time."

Jake Slater's house is almost as big as my own and when we walk in the place is bursting to the gunnels with illegally drunk high school kids jumping on furniture, lobbing around breakable ornaments and throwing up all over the place.

This is my kind of party.

"See you later Ash." Taylor slaps me on the shoulder. "I'm gonna go and bag me a piece of hot redhead." She calls before being swallowed by the mass of moving, sweaty bodies.

I'll bet you my left (and slightly smaller) boob that the next time I see her she'll have a shiny red handprint on her face.

"You okay?" I turn to Spencer who's still standing in the doorway looking slightly daunted.

"Yeah." She has to shout over the deafening music. "We didn't have parties like this in Ohio."

I lean in close to her ear knowing that she won't be able to hear me if I don't.

"Welcome to L.A." I flash her a customary Ashley Davies grin before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards where I remember the kitchen to be located.

My hand is tingling like crazy as we reach the kitchen, which seems to be the meeting place for the horny teenagers club.

"Would you like a drink?" I ask her, reaching between a couple that are all but fucking each other to grab myself a beer.

"I'll have whatever you're having."

I manage to swipe another one, cringing, as my hand brushes against something I pray to god isn't what I think it is.

I pull the caps off of the beers and hand Spencer hers. You'll be surprised to know that I am quite the gentlewoman.

"Thanks." She smiles at me and we fall into a semi-awkward silence.

Why is it semi-awkward you ask? Maybe because we're standing in the middle of a room full of dry humping teenagers and not bothering to say anything to each other.

"Ashley!" I'm pleased when Taylor stumbles into the room a few minutes later, grabs a beer from the island and literally pours it down her throat.

I let out a chuckle when I notice that there's a shiny purple mark on her right cheek and my left boob sags in relief.

"Didn't go well huh?" I shout in her ear as she joins us.

"Nope." Taylor shakes her head. "First she slaps me and then she sets her bloody bugger of a boyfriend on me who threatened to throw me bodily from the building."

"Why didn't he?"

"Because I threatened to rip his right bollock off if he so much as laid a finger on me." Taylor smiles happily.

"Good for you." I roll my eyes and share a look with Spencer who from the looks of it, doesn't know whether to be scared or amused.

"Anyway, I'll leave you ladies to it." She finished off her beer and sets it down on the countertop with a loud bang. "I'm gonna go and dance with a hot redhead who does want to shag me."

"You can't dance." I remind her.

"I know." She shrugs. "But I can stand there and look hot while a girl grinds on my leg."

With a grin and a wink she departs back into the living room.

"Er…so…"

I question my intelligence sometimes, I really do.

"Do you want to dance?"

Nope. It wasn't me who worked up the balls to say it. However much I wish it were. It was Spencer. Sweet, innocent, angelic Spencer has way more nerve that badass Ashley Davies. How sad is that?

If I wasn't so happy that she just asked me to dance I'd cry.

"Sure."

I take her hand again and lead her into the crowd, the thunderous music vibrating in my chest as we begin to move together.

She's a good dancer. But then again, I didn't expect any less from a cheerleader. We dance about a foot apart at first but as both of us start to get into it I find my hands have a mind of their own as they come to rest on her slim waist.

Her eyes meet mine and she reaches up to wrap her arms securely around my neck bringing our bodies firmly together so that I can feel every inch of her pressed up against me as we continue to grind to the music.

Her eyes are smouldering into mine and it's either a trick of the light or her previously bright blue eyes have darkened to an almost navy colour. Her mouth is half open and due to our close proximity I can feel her heavy breaths against my cheek, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end and a tremor to run the length of my spine.

My eyes flicker briefly away from hers and down to her parted lips that look so shiny and inviting. I return to her eyes the exact same moment that she looks back up and my lips tilt up into a reassuring smile.

She smiles back and begins to lean in, with me automatically doing the same. Our faces are about an inch apart and my heart starts to pound in my chest in anticipation. I'm just about to close the gap when…

Oof!

Something crashes into me from behind and I feel something wet splash over me and for one absurd moment I think I've pissed myself.

Then I turn around and see that a small space has been made on the dance floor and a familiar looking girl is picking herself up from the floor, an empty glass clutched in her hand.

"You fucking idiot!" She yells at a random guy standing nearby. "You fucking tripped me!"

I turn away from the argument to see that Spencer has taken a massive step away from me and is standing there with a look of sheer panic on her face.

Uh oh. She's freaking out.

"Spencer…"

"I-I'm just g-gonna go." Spencer stammers out and before I can say anything else she's turns on her gladiator sandal clad heels and disappears into the giant moving monster that is the King High student body.

Fuck!

This is so not how I wanted my evening to go.

Someone is going to pay for this.

"Excuse me?" I turn back to the girl who just fucked up my night with her idiotic clumsiness my anger increasing as I begin to become more aware of the sticky substance that is now causing my shirt to cling horribly to my skin.

She ignores me completely and carries on smacking the poor boy that apparently tripped her in the chest.

"Excuse me?" I grab her shoulder and force her to face me.

"What?" She asks me in an annoyed tone wiping her shoulder as though I've contaminated it.

That's it. This bitch is gonna get it right in the jugular.

"You just spilt your drink all over me that's what, bitch." I half shout half growl at her. "And haven't even had the decency to apologise!"

"So?" She squares up to me, jutting her chin out arrogantly and getting all up in my grill.

"So?" I repeat, trying to remember where I've seen her scrawny ass before. "So I'd like an apology."

I make the slightly reckless decision of shoving her away from me a little bit and she blows a fuse.

Next thing I know she's all over me, pushing, pulling and pinching. Luckily, I know how to fight dirty and grab a handful of her hair and pull hard. She let's out a satisfying scream of pain and slaps me hard across the face.

Ouch. That hurt.

That's it. This bitch is going down.

I use my other hand to grab another hank of hair and pull it as hard as I can, feeling some of it rip away from the scalp as I kick her in the ankle. It's just a shame I didn't wear those steel-toed boots I have. Those could have caused some serious damage

I can vaguely hear the chants of 'Fight! Fight!' from around us before I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me away.

I reach out to shove Taylor away from me but find myself laying me hands on a much larger, firmer body as I look up and see Aiden looking at me in concern.

"You okay Ash?" He leans down to ask into my ear.

I push past him, shaking bits of long dark hair off of my hands before shoving through the tonne of bodies that are standing in a large circle around me and the unidentified bitch as though watching some kind of bull fight.

I slam the front door behind me as I storm out of the house towards my car.

So let's see, Spencer and I almost kissed, she freaked and now she probably hates me. I got into some random fight with some stupid whore who probably isn't worth my time and did I mention that Spencer probably hates me?

Worst. Party. Ever.

Thanks for reading!

Thank you to newest reviewers: Goose, danicullenkhoo, kahlelatara, BlackisnotEMO, CRaVeMe1991, GLEEGIRL2, 2012, IxHeartxGlee, KITTYCAT, Pyrobee xoxo, PMS, elle112u, and Charly.

Next update shouldn't take as long as my last one. Scout's honour.