I wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and my camouflage T-shirt then tied the laces of my white converse. I put on a cap to cover my messy hair and went downstairs. Kat was in the kitchen, fixing some coffee when she looked at me in surprise.753Please respect copyright.PENANAy9q4QbGDOX
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"Is this the end of the world?" She put her hands up in a dramatic gesture, "Why are you awake so early?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAppTNvl4vZP
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Kat works as a surgical nurse, so it's only normal for her to wake up that early. As for me, well...you know my story.753Please respect copyright.PENANAjgrO1Yd1OB
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"Ryan's taking me out for breakfast," I say with a yawn.753Please respect copyright.PENANALMC4I7cAg9
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"How romantic!"753Please respect copyright.PENANAZtk0So8jFl
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"Yeah, so romantic that I wanna slit his throat when I see him," I rest the side of my face on the cold counter.753Please respect copyright.PENANAuFSV1Epc5S
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"At least he's trying, right?" She sipped her coffee, "Just try to go easy on him. Coffee?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAh0djlpZDH8
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Ryan's car roars outside the house, so Kat peeks from the kitchen window.753Please respect copyright.PENANAcFz0D1AOAD
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"Your prince has arrived. Damn! Is that a Porsche?"753Please respect copyright.PENANABbBDhxGMJE
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"It's not his only one, you know," I walk to the front door before it rings. I open it to find Ryan leaning against the doorframe in a flannel shirt and dark jeans.753Please respect copyright.PENANAq1IFHPJRZ3
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"Good morning, Shadow," he greets casually.753Please respect copyright.PENANArbBBIbDdl1
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"He's so much cuter up close," Kat whispers from behind me. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who heard her.753Please respect copyright.PENANAfPD6ms389C
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"Hello, ma'am," he fixes his posture and nods at Kat.753Please respect copyright.PENANAofpx1XLCLW
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"Oh, please, I'm no ma'am," she swipes her hand down and snorts like it's the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard, and, honestly, it is. "Just call me Kat."753Please respect copyright.PENANAKnOEbZJlxz
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"Sure, Kat," he then looks down at me (yup, he's that tall), "You ready?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAF8CB6DRLY7
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"Ready to murder you that is," I say as I grab my school bag and put it on my shoulder, "Who wakes up at this time?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAdoqSe4Dkgm
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"Enjoy!" Kat waves her hands at us with too much enthusiasm in the early morning. We get in his car and he drives off away from the house and out of the neighborhood. I don't stop complaining about waking up early till we reach the coffee shop, order our food, and eat it. I kept on whining the whole time even though I'm pretty sure I could've just enjoyed this if I let it go.753Please respect copyright.PENANAeHmXhIzkjm
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"Do you know the struggle of waking up this early?"753Please respect copyright.PENANANmAz7QOY7u
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"Will you just forget about it? We're already here," he sipped on his mocha.753Please respect copyright.PENANA2C2siYq8wk
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"I ain't gonna forget about it, and you ain't tellin' me to forget about it," I look at him daringly, silently challenging him to say a word against that. He smiles, shaking his head, and continues to drink his mocha.753Please respect copyright.PENANA5dtS1g6GeD
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"Drink that or it's gonna get cold."753Please respect copyright.PENANAxoGcCjRPRm
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"It's a frappé, you idiot; it's supposed to be cold."753Please respect copyright.PENANAMFIBqhh2yE
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We have a "warm" breakfast before he drives us to school. We reach there with more than half an hour to spare before class starts. Cody calls me to check on me, and I told him about what happened. Apparently, Kat left before he was awake, as usual, and he didn't know I was out from earlier. Man, I should've been in his place right now—only in my room, not his.753Please respect copyright.PENANAt5TOqIULUy
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I find Dylan standing with a couple of guys from the basketball team outside the building. I leave Ryan and approach him to talk things through. One of the guys notices me walking towards them and taps Dylan then points his head at me. I notice Dylan's shoulders get tense and he straightens his posture when he sees me.753Please respect copyright.PENANAabRlillg21
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"Hey, boys, mind if I have a word with the captain?"753Please respect copyright.PENANATRwEXQUdc8
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"Not at all, Nicole," one of them say.753Please respect copyright.PENANAbwWvT9eR2v
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"He's all yours, Nic," another says. They leave us alone, giving us some privacy as the group walks away.753Please respect copyright.PENANA3abIBnt8bc
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"Hey," I say.753Please respect copyright.PENANA6Rc90qe7kI
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"Hey," he says back. Blank face—that's all he shows.753Please respect copyright.PENANANgP1KT3slD
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"Are we cool?"753Please respect copyright.PENANA1g71MVbASy
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"Why wouldn't we be?" Cold shoulder—that's all he gives.753Please respect copyright.PENANAiQ0fKlSZUs
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"Listen, I'm trying here. If you have anything against me, just say it."753Please respect copyright.PENANAxzpswIsbl4
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"Why would I?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAG782P5pY3l
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"I just feel like–ugh, forget it."753Please respect copyright.PENANAJLRXN2msiT
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"Fine."753Please respect copyright.PENANAK0RxGlurBN
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"Stop that!"753Please respect copyright.PENANAiAiw2a2hkz
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"Stop what?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAvC97YVEJCp
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"That—whatever you're doing. You're giving me the silent treatment like I wronged you or something."753Please respect copyright.PENANAKcgLStMiUN
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He stays silent. With a poker face, he stares at me with dull-eyed, showing no interest whatsoever. The lack of amusement is more vivid in his eyes than anything else. And it got on my nerves big time that I felt lie, slapping that look off his face.753Please respect copyright.PENANAoX7Tq0oF8q
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"You know what? Screw you! I tried," I stomp my way back to Ryan like a little girl. Carelessly, I pulled Ryan with me by the hand, causing him to stumble a couple times as he tried to match my pace. When we enter the building, Ryan pulls back and makes me stop.753Please respect copyright.PENANAH1m02e69T6
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"What was that about?" He asks.753Please respect copyright.PENANAc7GkM2u1WE
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"That was about some jerk face who wouldn't just let it go."753Please respect copyright.PENANAxUjD0MS6SX
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"Let what go?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAdDhZJLsXdH
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"Here's the thing, I have no fucking clue!"753Please respect copyright.PENANA7frqEKyq9M
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"Alright, you might wanna keep it down a lit—"753Please respect copyright.PENANA6TFB3IU5GI
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"Don't ask me to keep it down!"753Please respect copyright.PENANAb932meoGXX
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"Sure, babe, whatever you like," he looked a bit taken aback by my sudden burst, waving his hands up in surrender. I don't blame him, though, I scared myself a little, too.753Please respect copyright.PENANAQ9gJoKuNvU
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I have American Literature first class today, where I find Tyler and Cody and our dear friend Amber...sitting on Tyler's desk...in mini skirt...and fucking heels? What's wrong with this girl? Is she lost or something? Did she dislocate the club for the school? I narrow my eyes at Ty as I walk to my seat, at the far back in the class. Tyler smiles at me and offers me his fist to pump. Amber gives me this sick, sarcastic, close-lipped smile, which basically says, "Get away from us, bitch, or Imma pull your hair out 'cause I hate your guts."753Please respect copyright.PENANAdZOrDvyvAf
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I gave her one back that said, "The feeling is mutual, slut."753Please respect copyright.PENANAY7PNeLF5yU
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Man, girl language has its wonders.753Please respect copyright.PENANAf8SARYZ4Yq
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"How's your breakfast?" Cody asks, "I'm surprised you actually woke up before me."753Please respect copyright.PENANAuHxidfVffT
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"Let's just say he survived."753Please respect copyright.PENANA0zdzruC34A
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"What a bummer," he chuckles and plays with his pencil.753Please respect copyright.PENANAjpZTHrWatZ
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"So you're dating Hastings, huh?" Amber folds a leg over the other, exposing more skin than what's considered acceptable. I'm surprised she was even able to pass through the school gate without a warning or something.753Please respect copyright.PENANATJqpXxDXfu
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"Yeah, got a problem?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAUXxyRxPaaW
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"Not really. Just wanted to tell you that he's not the best guy, considering he's a player and all."753Please respect copyright.PENANANCjMPgFYzc
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"Of course, you would know," I mock her, causing her eyes to open widely and her nose to flare with anger.753Please respect copyright.PENANAiZpdaqcsfk
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"You bitch!"753Please respect copyright.PENANAasqhLcM9BL
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"you wanna go, slut?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAkWeHzat2w2
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"Hey, girls, girls," Tyler interrupts, placing his hand on her lap to calm her down. Cody, however, looked amused by what's happening. He's probably thinking, cat fight, cat fight, cat fight. Frankly, I'm more than willing to start a fight with this one.753Please respect copyright.PENANAR6HVbB5ekI
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Tyler once suggested that we might get along well if we just have one normal conversation. Of course, he wasn't able to continue his sentence before I shoved my foot in his mouth. I just assumed that's what he was going to say.753Please respect copyright.PENANAXa9cZZpJji
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If the earth cracked up, ate up all the girls except for Amber, and I had to have a girlfriend to survive, I'd rather jump in hell willingly than befriend her. It also seemed legit that the earth would throw up trash like Amber.753Please respect copyright.PENANA59j37A2uTg
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We glare at each other for the last time before the teacher enters and class starts. Other classes pass by quickly before lunch. I had Art last, and the teacher dismissed us early, so I had about 10 minutes before the cafeteria starts to fill up. I put my stuff in the locker and use the time to look at the activity and club board in the school hallway. My eyes fell on the dance club and only find two participants: Adam Dawning and Matt Siobhan. So Matt got the moves, I see.753Please respect copyright.PENANAk9Dabe4sDg
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"Find something you like?" A girl asks beside me. She had flawless chocolate skin and straight dark hair. She tied a bandana around the top of her head, with a bow in the front of it. A summer floral dress covered her tall, toned body with a denim jacket, matched with beige wedges. She had a girly style with a sense of edge to it.753Please respect copyright.PENANAx31gn4QhpM
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"I wasn't searching for anything specific."753Please respect copyright.PENANAiMxzQn33aA
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"Well, if you need anything, you can come to me," she said with a friendly smile, "Denice McQueen at your service. Student Council and Body President. I'm responsible for school activities, clubs, events, and really just students."753Please respect copyright.PENANAhNh2uYsOBS
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"Nice to meet you. I'm—"753Please respect copyright.PENANAI7ylSB1ZnM
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"Nicole Shadow, of course."753Please respect copyright.PENANAvWHJ5ECXsb
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"Heard about me?"753Please respect copyright.PENANABcUxx6Qhi0
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"Body President, darling; I know everything 'bout them students," she waved her hand like it was the most obvious thing. "Also, I read that article about you."753Please respect copyright.PENANAJfqs916zUl
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"Article?"753Please respect copyright.PENANAzDKgh4mqN6
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"You see, every Friday, Tammy, the school journalist, releases all the updates of the school in the magazine. She talks about upcoming school events, trips, sports games etc, etc. There's also a whole section that talks about students: the new ones, the old ones, relationships, rumors, you name it. And guess what, girlfriend, you have 2 golden pages about you in it. Golden pages, sister!"753Please respect copyright.PENANAXYanpNOGgJ
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She is just way too excited about this.753Please respect copyright.PENANAF2g6eDcMcr
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"What golden pages?"753Please respect copyright.PENANA8ViEglAe0M
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"A golden page is like the VIP class in the magazine. Only important people get to have their picture in it," she hung her arm around mine and started walking towards the cafeteria as she talked. "I was on one golden page, myself. You also got Amber as the hottest chick in the building, elected by all. Jordan Carter, ultimate high school prankster. Dylan Stafford, basketball team captain. Kyle Jann, the Virginator. And Amber strikes once again, only with her boyfriend Tyler, as the golden couple; the basketball jock and the hottie, what else? And for this week's golden pages, you'll have a headline of your own."753Please respect copyright.PENANA3q5nSkHCth
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"And what is it?" All I had to do was ask questions, and she would just light up with enthusiasm.753Please respect copyright.PENANAuUWmKjnJ2M
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"Tammy hasn't decided yet, but she's getting there. Can you believe it? You got two whole pages for yourself! I'm not gonna lie, though, Ryan shares them with you. Well, only a paragraph."753Please respect copyright.PENANAFgGhtOz8cW
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Of course, they'd mention him. He is my boyfriend after all. He's also the reason I got so popular easily. It's only been the second day, and I already guaranteed myself a spot in the school magazine. Apparently, it's an important spot too. Things escalate quickly in this school.753Please respect copyright.PENANAbejuG2WFcc
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Denice McQueen is some chirpy, hip girl, and despite our differences, I feel like somehow we'll get close. And who knows? maybe she'll be my first girlfriend ever. After all, I did invite her to sit with us at lunch today.753Please respect copyright.PENANAVs0Vz9plYe
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Things do escalate quickly in this school, and I'm starting to get used to it.