Chapter 3

Seventh period is World History. I detest this class, and it's not just because the subject is just boring as hell. If there was any way for a World History class to get any worse, it'd be if Alex, Taylor, and Nick were in the class. Which they are. Nick is two people in front of me, Taylor is directly behind me, and Alex sits on the other end of the class. The only thing that is alright about this class is that the teacher- Ms. Addams- is super nice, and lets us listen to our iPods while we work, and I love her for that. She doesn't do much talking in the class, and we usually have a few minutes at the end of class to goof around and talk. Not that I do, I have nobody to talk to, and I'm usually completely engrossed in my music.

Today, the worksheet on World War II is super easy, and I finish within the first fifteen minutes of the period. My iPod is on full blast- John Mayer's "Heartbreak Warfare" (You can probably tell that I'm obsessed. Which I am.)- and I'm completely zoned out. I am subconsciously tapping my pencil against the table to the rhythm of the song, and I don't notice that everyone is staring at me, and whisper- yelling at me to stop tapping until I open my eyes, and there are twenty other people staring at me. My cheeks blush a bright crimson, and my face erupts into flames. I lay my pencil down quietly and mouth, "Sorry." People roll their eyes and look away. I close my eyelids again and go back to my music. The song has changed again, another John Mayer, this time "Friends, Lovers, or Nothing." His voice soothes me, and I can feel my muscles relax. I forget my surroundings, my problems, which I have quite a few of, all my troubles are out the window.

I turn around to look at something on the back wall, only to see Taylor's icy blue eyes staring at me. She looks away quickly, acting like she was never looking, but I know what I saw. And I know what I saw in her eyes. She feels lost, like something's missing in her life. She's confused. She has no clue what to think. Alex is trying to get her to think one way, but she knows what she feels is true. Alex is fake, a wannabe queen. She misses her old life. She misses me. She hates what she's become, the bitch she's become, the bitch Alex has made her become. And I know that I return the feeling. I miss Taylor, my best friend. I miss being able to spill all of my problems to somebody. I miss Taylor laughing at my jokes, even when they were horrible. I miss us giggling about nothing in particular, and having random people stare at us.

I can hear Taylor heave a heavy sigh behind me, and I automatically whirl around to look at her. She's looking- for once, not glaring- at me, and I can tell that she's making a big decision. She looks directly into my eyes. When she begins to speak, her voice is barely above a whisper.

"I miss you, Miles." She breathes, her eyes wide and bright. She glances over to Alex, making sure no one had seen her talking to me. Suddenly, despite everything I was thinking before, I am angry.

"You don't mean it. You don't mean anything you've ever said." I snap bitterly, turning back around.

Her gentle smile falters, and she looks on the verge of tears.

"I mean it, Miley. Your friendship meant so much more to me than Alex's does. She's a controlling bitch, Miles."

"I don't doubt it. But, how could you do that to me, Tay? Leave me alone while you go and become best friends with the new girl. I trusted you to be my best friend through everything, and you just proved me wrong."

"I'm sorry. I don't blame you for hating me, but consider what I said, Miley."

"You left me with nobody to turn to. All of you did. Was Alex really that special, that you thought it would be okay to turn your backs on me?"

"No, of course not-"

"I get it, Taylor. You were only friends with me because I was 'popular'." I said, adding air quotes around the word 'popular'. "And then, when Alex came to town, and you saw that she was gradually rising to fame, you ditched me, and jumped at the first chance to be her new best friend."

Taylor's eyes turned to slits. "Don't you know me better than that, Miley? Don't you know that I would never do that to anybody, especially not you."

"Then why the hell did you? Why did you leave me?"

Taylor sighs again.

"Just believe me when I say that it was the last thing that I wanted to do, Miley."

And, before I can question her to ask what the heck she is talking about, the bell rings, and the teacher dismisses the class, and Taylor is out of her seat without another word.

I mutter curses under my breath, then gather my belongings and walk out the door, trying to keep a safe distance from Nick, who is a few feet behind me. He's talking to Alex, and I don't think he even knows that I'm right in front of him.

My heart begins to throb. I put my hand to my head and run my fingers through my hair, rushing to my next class. He is still behind me. Too bad Nick and Alex are fast too. And Nick is going the same way I am- to my next class, it's Math. This is the last period in the day, and I'm glad that the day is almost over.

"You love him, Miley. You always have, you never stopped. It's just getting worse." I was going crazy. Well, I'd known this, but now I was actually talking to myself. I placed my History binder inside my locker, and walked into my Math class. Nick was already there, sitting in his chair that was three behind me. It's as if God was out to get me, and he put the people who I've been trying to avoid most right next to me in most of my classes. Alex and Taylor are not in this class, and I'm glad that it's not like History, where I have to face all three of them in one period. Nick barely talks to me, and I'm glad. Seeing him is enough to make me go insane, but talking to him, making him laugh, seeing him smile again, would be too much. I love him. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe it's his smile, but I just cannot get over Nick Jonas.

Our math teacher, Ms. Smith, is kinda a bitch. I mean, she can be nice, but then she goes all psycho and freaks out. It'd be safe to say that I'm pretty sure that she's bipolar. I snicker, thinking about it.

"Is there something that you'd like to share with the entire class, Ms. Cyrus?" Ms. Smith snapped. Great, she's in one of her moods.

Crimson flames arise into my pale cheeks, and I'm blushing furiously.

"Uh.. no, Ms. Smith. Sorry."

She glared at me.

"Good. Now would you kindly pay attention to the lesson I am giving instead of wandering off into your own world?"

I nodded meekly. "Yes, Ma'am."

She got on with the lesson for the day, then handed out worksheets. I hadn't been paying much attention to what she was saying, but this is all basically a review, and I know the answers on the sheet. I finish the paper, then get up to turn it in on her desk. As I approach, she glares at me once more, then snatches my paper up, pulling a red pen from behind her ear. Ms. Smith smirks once more at me before I turn on my heel and walk back to my seat.

I lazily rest my feet on the rack under the chair in front of me. I slide slowly down in my seat, closing my eyes partially. The end of the day, I think, sighing. It's Friday, tomorrow is the longly awaited weekend. I'm thankful that it's the end of the week, and I don't have to come back here tomorrow, and be reminded that I basically have no life, no friends. I'll be spending the weekend as usual, going to bed at four in the morning, after watching The Notebook, then waking up the next afternoon at two. I'll spend the day alone, chances are, my parents will be shopping or doing something productive with their time without me, rather than sulking at home all day. But, that's the way I prefer to spend my time. All by myself.

When the last bell of the day rings, I hastily throw my stuff together and scramble out of the classroom, eager to get away from Ms. Smith and her 'if looks could kill' stare. While I cram my stuff into the Abercrombie bag I carry to school, my phone buzzes in my pocket, so I pick it up and glance at the screen. The number is anonymous, so I have no clue who it is, until I read the message.

Fuck you, bitch. Stay away from my boyfriend.

I roll my eyes, snapping my phone shut, and sending a glare over to where Alex and Taylor are giggling, staring at the screen of Alex's iPhone. I mutter a curse under my breath, then quickly tap a text message on the keys of my Blackberry back to her.

I'm the bitch? I didn't go anywhere near your 'boyfriend', slut.

As expected, there was no response to that, and I glance back to Alex. She is staring at me, actually, glaring would be a better choice of word. Once again, I roll my eyes, unable to stop myself. I slam my locker shut, and twist the black knob to clear my combination. Without a glance backwards, I briskly walk through the sea of people, and make my way to outside of the school building.

I ride the bus home every day before and after school. I sit by myself in the very last seat of the bus, the music from my iPod is the only thing to keep me company. The music is drowning all the thoughts inside my head, and that's just the way I like it. Where the only thing I can here is my John Mayer, and even that's turned up so loud that the words are just screams in my head, unintelligible, the only purpose to block any stray thoughts from entering my head. My eyes flutter shut, but I'm not asleep. I'm relaxing, something that is hard to find with me now. The bus bumps around, and I am thrown around within my seat, but I pay no attention. I start to hum along to the music- "New Deep", this time.

"Numb is the new deep, Done with the old me, and talk is the same cheap it's been."

I think about what Taylor had said. Is it possible that she actually misses me, she wants to be my friend again? To have Taylor back as my friend would mean so much. I would have half of my former life back. It's completely true that I miss her, miss her with everything in me. But I just can't find the nerve to go up to her and forgive her. Not when she's hanging around Alex twenty-four hours of the day, seven days a week. If Alex saw Taylor talking to me, she'd do all but murder me, and that'd just be for fear of getting her nails dirty. I love Taylor, but I don't love- at all- what she's become. Maybe I was a little mean to her, but I think she deserved it after she left me like that. What bothers me the most is that I doubt that she feels any remorse for what she did to me. She doesn't know how I felt after everything that happened. She doesn't know how many times I've wondered why my life is the way it is. And she doesn't know that she's causing most of the pain that I'm feeling. I need to forgive her, for the sake of my sanity. I need her to be by my side, along with Nick, Joe, and Kevin. I need to know that everything will return to normal, but I also need to realize that that will never happen.

I hop off the bus steps, and start to walk home. Of course, Nick is walking home too, taking into account that he is my next-door neighbor. Yes, it's very awkward walking out to get the mail when he's on his driveway, playing basketball with his brothers. It's awkward the way he stares at me when he sees me, and it's definitely awkward when Alex comes over, and glares at me through my window.

Alex has ruined my life, and she doesn't know what I have planned for her. Commence operation, it's time to retaliate.

Review?? It would mean the world... Tell me how you guys feel about this story. Anything I could to to improve it? And, yes, Katie, I know your suggestion. I'm getting there.. :P