Nicola Dalton, better known as Nikki, would never tell anyone how much she hated the way people stared at her. She would never tell her Mom, who she'd inherited the genes from, how much she hated little kids commenting on her purple eyes. She would never tell her Mom that she used her waitressing money to buy herself a pair of contact lenses to see if she could just have normal colored eyes. She would never tell anyone that she wasted $200 on non-prescription, colored contact lenses that made her eyes look exactly like the color of puke.

"You'll learn to love them eventually, Nikki," her mom said daily as she watched her daughter avoid yet another mirror, anything not to remind her about her weirdly colored eyes.

And yet Nikki, at seventeen years old, still hated her eyes because she scared off little children who called her "Monster Eyes". She still hated the eyes that boys stared at because they wanted to know what the hell she did as a kid to get eyes in such a weird color. She still hated the eyes that got girls bullying her because she didn't fit in.

When she turned fourteen, Nikki met Kristen Gregory, a sporty dirty blonde who had perfectly normal green eyes. Nikki remembered seeing Kristen move in across from her, remembered being spotted by Kristen, who beamed and waved back. Nikki remembered the moment the Gregory's came over, the perfect blonde family, all beaming widely. And Nikki remembered that when they all saw her eyes, none of them gasped or asked, "What happened to your eyes?" Instead, they all beamed even wider, if that was possible, and said, "What a beautiful pair of eyes you have!" And when Kristen stared at Nikki for two whole minutes straight and said, "Man, I wish I had your eyes," she knew she had found her best friend.

She lost her first kiss in her sophomore year of high school behind a dumpster to a scruffy senior that she had met in the store of a gas station. She didn't even remember how she got there, just that she never wanted to recreate that scene for anyone ever again, especially after telling Kristen who didn't shut up about it and to this day called her "Whore by the Dumpster". Aside from him, Nikki had no real experience with guys and just gathered her information from the books she read. Boys were horny and only ever wanted sex. They only cared about eating and watching football every Sunday. Video games and cars were their main priority and you could count on them not to remember any special dates. Which was why Nikki knew she was never going to get a boyfriend. That, and the fact no one wanted to date her because of how weird her eyes were.

When Nikki was twelve, all the girls wanted lip gloss or skirts or trendy heels. Instead, she wanted a skateboard. Over and over, she begged her mom for the board, and over and over, her mom rejected it. "If you want something that expensive and dangerous, mind you, you're going to have to earn it yourself. I'm not going to pay for something that could end you up in a cast." So Nikki went hunting for baby-sitting jobs, even though she wasn't very fond of kids. But apparently parents set that as the number one requirement. So Nikki went without the skateboard for a few weeks until she went crazy.

Thankfully, Nikki had found an advertisement needing waiters for a catering company that she was familiar with called "Every Crooked Pot". She dialed the number, called when she got home and was given the job on the spot. She called Kristen right after and told her to check the company out. Surprisingly enough, Kristen called back fifteen minutes later, squealing into the phone that she was going to get the new pair of Nikes she had wanted so bad. They stuck with the job until their senior year, getting enough money for the beginning of their gap year after they graduated.

Every year since they were in the eighth grade, there was a special benefit that they always served at, an isolated palace somewhere in White Plains. The people who went were always snobby and dressed in high class gowns with their hair pulled up so high it almost touched the ceiling that was a gazillion feet high. And every year Kristen and Nikki had to serve there, making fun of the people every chance they got. And this year wasn't any different.

Nikki and Kristen parked right next to the company's van, a long white one with their name painted professionally on it, with the logo "Where nothing is ever too difficult" right under it. The owner, Denise Marr, a short, rounded woman with always rosy cheeks and her light brown hair always rolled in a bun, had become a somewhat mother to Nikki and Kristen. They hung out often, shared embarrassing stories and Denise had taught them how to cook their first dishes. Aside from Denise, there were three other cooks who were all siblings, all redheads with freckles and pointed ears. No one had ever really bothered with them, considering that their food was extraordinary and they always ended up whispering things to each other and staring at you.

Aside from Nikki and Kristen, there were three other waiters: two girls and a boy. One of the girls, Jessica something, ended up hating Nikki because she had accidentally thrown out her lip gloss. Even after rigorous apologies, the girl never forgave her. The other one, Sammi something, was nicer, a volleyball player who talked to everyone. Although she went to a Catholic school, she still seemed to want to get to know the two friends. Kristen and Sammi had been the ones to really hit it off, considering Kristen played on the girls' basketball team at their school. The boy, John Grasse, with hair so covered in hair product it made a crunch every time anyone tried to touch it, had a long-term crush on Nikki, who rejected him every time he came near. He was a few years older and always had a weird smell on his breath, nothing that was ever food-like. It never made any sense. Kristen teased him as Josh Greasy, because of his hair and his obsession with John Travolta.

Nikki groaned as she saw John already glancing into Kristen's car, waiting for Nikki to step out. She undid her seat belt. "Please, K, I beg you, just kill him already."

Kristen laughed. "And miss seeing you get embarrassed or die of annoyance because of him? No way, I totally root for you two to end up together. He's exactly what your mom would want." They got out of the car, Kristen still muttering jokes to Nikki who, although found them funny, ignored her and helped Denise get the food out.

She beamed at them. "Ah, it's been a while since we've worked together, hasn't it?"

Jessica came around, curly hair in a high ponytail, earphones stuck in her ear. She was in a pink polo, shorts and white tennis shoes. Sammi came bouncing right after, a huge grin on her face. She waved at everyone and began unloading large trays, carrying them into the kitchen. John waited for Nikki, who always found herself carrying in the cooler with wines and champagnes and ice. He chased after her, trying to carry a conversation.

"How've you been? I've missed you, you know. I can't believe the last time we worked with each other was a month ago, huh? You are so strong, I think that's so cool. Not a lot of girls can carry something by themselves, you know? And you're sure you don't need any help with that?"

Nikki puffed her cheeks and blew the air out. "No, John, it's okay, I really can carry this by myself. It's always what I'm stuck with anyway." She carried it in the spacious kitchen, Nikki's favorite place in the entire house. It had wide arches over the doors, wooden stools around the island and a refrigerator that could fit both Kristen and Nikki, something they discovered the first time they worked there. The trays of food were neatly arranged on the island. Denise started pulling off the plastic covers.

"Alright team, I've already got appetizers ready for them, but I've still got to create this menu. Now I want all of you to change, we've got two hours before the party starts and I need a ton of your help."

The next two hours would be the busiest they'd experience. The menu was harder than they thought it was going to be, full of Italian and French and other foreign words that only befuddled Nikki.

While Nikki tried studying the menu, squinting her eyes at all the different letters (at one point, she insisted they were called, "letter decorators"), Kristen smacked her on the head.

"Babe, you have got to get your act together!" she hissed, gliding past her with trays of wine. "Denise loves us and all, but you've been standing there staring at that thing for thirty minutes now! She's going to kill you!"

From the corner of Nikki's eye, she noticed Jessica murmuring something to Denise who was hunched over a huge bowl. Denise was wagging her finger at Jessica while stirring the thick yellow liquid in the pot. She had a feeling that Jessica was talking about her. Nikki put the menu down and busied herself by studying the list of foods that were going to be served.

The party itself was humongous—nothing she'd ever seen before. Of course the Blocks would throw something as extravagant as this. It was like walking into a celebrity benefit. Nikki's head swerved. Was that Simon Cowell?

Nikki and Kristen were passing knowing glances to each other as the people they served completely ignored them or turned their noses up. Nikki rolled her eyes as a snooty thirteen-year-old in a glittery off the shoulder dress snickered at her.

Kristen walked right next to her and murmured, "So much for sweet, innocent pre-adolescents."

Nikki smirked. "I stopped believing in them when I was a pre-adolescent."

The night was long and uneventful, aside from John still following her around and asking her whether or not she needed something. The course they were currently serving, something that sounded Greek and had a lot of garlic in it, was the last one Nikki had to serve for the next hour. All of a sudden, a hand grabbed the tray from her hands and replaced it with an ice bucket. John was standing there, smiling sweetly with sweat lightly dampening his forehead. "Denise wants you to serve ice and me to serve the food. Have fun!"

What happened next went by so fast it didn't feel like it happened at all. One moment she was talking to John and the next she had collided with a stranger's back and somehow managed to spill all the ice in the bucket into his shirt. If this didn't get Nikki fired, she wouldn't know what would. Lots of loud screaming and smacking happened and a lot of, "Cam are you okay?"s. Once the victim to Nikki's accident calmed down, she saw him. The first thing she noticed was his eyes.

One was blue and the other was green.

an: mehehehehe :) i don't really know nikki as a character, but i love cam and nikki. they're so cute. i don't even know what color her eyes are though, but in my head she has purple eyes.

review please? :)