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It all began with walking into school. After parking the Mini Cooper, Josh opened my door for me like a true gentleman and grabbed my hand. As he pulled me out of the car, a light blush spread over my face causing him to laugh lovingly. He kissed my cheek.

"Don't be nervous," he said, but I was shaking like the leaves blowing around my heels. I nodded and looked at the ground. Josh squeezed my hand.

"Wanna come sit with me and my friends? We sometimes sit at that table in the courtyards, but recently a lot of us started smoking. We usually do that under the bleachers," he said. I shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, but my heart was racing. He really did want me to meet his friends! The only thing keeping me from smiling like a weirdo was the fact that I was utterly petrified by the popular kids. And smoking! What if we got caught?

Josh led me away from the parking lot and slung an arm over my shoulder. For once I was tall enough in my heels that he could do that. We walked into the school to stop at our lockers, and that is when the whispers began.

"Wait, he's with her?"

"Who is that girl?"

"Crystal and him were cuter together."

"Wow, she's hot."

"She doesn't deserve him, stupid bitch. She's always off reading like she's better than everyone else."

The whispers said between students, as well as all the eyes on me and Josh, caused my knees to shake. I wobbled on my heels, feeling nervous as hell, and wished I had let Josh walk in alone so I could retreat to the library in peace like always. Josh continued walking along. He looked so casual--like he couldn't hear the whispers-- and I realized it was probably because girls whispered about him every day. He was used to the attention.

Finally, we reached his locker, and he let me drop my bag in there for safe keeping. Taking my hand again, he led me to the back doors I never used and into a little lane that ran alongside our school. Right in front of me was the football field, as well as a series of bleachers, an allyway, and a big cement slab that hid the smokers from the prying eyes of teachers. In the light, I could see tendrils of smoke rising into the air. I swallowed hard.

"Guys, meet Adira," said Josh as we approached his super model friends. All eyes were on me. The whole group of five were spread out, with three guys sitting down, a girl leaning against the slab, and another girl crossed legged. In their hands were black, pink, and white cigarettes. The first girl eyed me cautiously.

"I'm Alexis," she said. I saw her eyes roam over my outfit and she smiled approvingly. Alexis had long brown-black hair, a round face, and beautiful brown eyes. She smoked a pink cigarette.

"Hey, I'm Tad," said the guy on the ground with a black cigarete and curly afro hair. I smiled kindly and he smiled back. So far, so good.

"Jessica," said the cross legged girl. She shot me a peace that completed her hippy look-- wavy blonde hair and sky blue eyes.

"I'm Rob, he's Joey," said a super hot guy with blue-green eyes and brown-blonde hair. He jabbed his thumb at a moody looking guy with long dark hair and piercing eyes. I felt a little intimidated by them until Josh came up and gave Rob a bro-hug.

"This is the gang," said Josh with a laugh. He seemed so proud. I couldn't help but smile. Josh sat down next to Tad and took a long, black cigarette. I sat beside him awkwardly in my dress.

"These things are illegal in America, but I love them," said Tad, while lighting another cigarette. I nodded politely "Want one?" he asked. I paused. No way! was my immediate thought-- even if the weird colored cigarette did smell good, even I knew they were bad for me. I looked down, unsure how to reject it without seeming uncool. Before I could speak, though, Alexis came to my rescue.

"Ew, no one wants your gross cigarettes Tadley! Here, have one of my pink ones, they taste like cotton candy," said Alexis, holding out both a pink cigarette and a lighter. I took them both cautiously. The lighter was innocently adorable with a picture of Bart Simpson on it. Noticing my hesitation, Alexis plopped down beside me.

"This your first one?" she asked. I nodded shyly. From the corner of my eye I saw Josh watching me intensly, a pleasantly surprised look on his sexy face. See! I can be a cool kid just like you! I wanted to yell and stick my tongue out at him. In the back of my mind I heard a little voice yelling at me to not do it, but it was overpowered by my need to fit in for once in my life. Alexis stuck the cigarette in her mouth and lit it for me. Letting out a puff of smoke like a dragon into the already smoking air, she held out the burning drug to me.

"Make sure you don't inhale-- besides, it will taste better that way. And don't stick your lips out and you flick it by just pushing the edge with your thumb like-like this!" said Alexis, flicking the ashes like an expert. I stuck the cigarette in my mouth, took a puff, and blew the smoke out with a grin. It really did taste like cotton candy. Around me, the others cheered and Tad slapped Josh on the back approvingly, muttering something about being a "brave little nerd." Tad went over and playfully punched Alexis.

"Look at you, little miss bad influence," he said with a laugh. Alexis punched him back.

"Don't listen to him Adira, I used to be super innocent before I started hanging out with these weirdos," she said. I nodded. Jessica scooted closer to me and I took another puff of the tasty cigarette. I gave a little cough.

"Bullshit, you totally slept with Mr. Walburg long before you met us!" said Jessica with a cheeky grin. Alexis gasped and her cheeks turned pink.

"Jessica! Dude, I wanted Adira to like me, you guys make me seem like the bad guy!" said Alexis only half-kidding. Jessica rolled her eyes.

"You know I'm just kidding Lex-Lex. Chill out, you need another cigarette," said Jessica. At this the whole group laughed. Finally, I couldn't contain myself anymore.

"You slept with a gym teacher?" I asked quietly. Alexis rolled her eyes and nodded, looking sort of embaressed. I felt bad-- I didn't want to embaress her-- but I was also glad they let me in on this little group secret. It was well worth the smoking. Glancing to my side, I saw Josh was talking with Rob and Joey about sports, but when his eye caught mine he gave a secretive grin. Inside I applauded myself for containing my nerdiness around the cool kids.

"He wasn't that great in bed," said Alexis, causing Tad, Jessica, and I to laugh.

"Not as good as me baby!" said Tad, leaning over to kiss Alexis passionately. Oh. They must be married. Soon their making out got a bit more intense and Alexis straddled Tad, kissing in public in a way I had only observed from afar before. Jessica gave a disgusted noise and faced me.

"Gross," she said with a chuckle "So, how are things going with Josh, Adira? Him and I dated before, just forewarning you, but don't worry it lasted for like a week freshman year," she said with an eyeroll. My stomach dropped-- did she sleep with him? I didn't mind so much in the jealousy department since she seemed nice and I got the vibe she was telling the truth when telling me not to worry, but one look at her told me she looked way better than I did naked. I was dying to ask her but I didn't want to seem like a freak.

"Good," I said. Seeing her interested eyes, I went on "He gave me this." At this I showed Jessica the ring and her beautiful blue eyes went wide.

"Wow! He must really like you! Congrats Adira," she said genuinly. My heart swelled and I gave a silly grin. I really hadn't expected Josh's friends to be so nice. I could see why they were popular now. Not only were his friends rich and beautiful, but they were pretty friendly despite the badass vibe they gave off to strangers.

Of course, this all came crashing down as soon as The Harpy walked over to our little pow wow. Immediatly, the mood began to change.

"Oh, hey Crystal," said Jessica, adverting her eyes. Immediatly she scooted away from me. Of course, Crystal wasn't paying attention to her or any of the other half-assed greetings from the others-- instead she was looking at me intensly. In her hand was a coffee, which she sipped without breaking eye contact. My stomach twisted.

"Oh my God, Alexis, get the hell off of Tad you slut," growled Crystal. Alexis pulled away from Tad sadly and slumped beside me. Why was she listening to her? Just a minute ago Alexis had confidently showed me how to smoke; ufortunately, now she was acting just as shy as me. I looked over at Josh in worry, but he was still talking to Joey and Rob.

"What are you doing here, freak?" asked Crystal. At first I didn't respond as my eyes roamed over the others in desperation. None of them said anything, they all just focused on smoking their cigarettes and avoiding my eyes. With a sigh, I flicked the ashes off my cigarette like Alexis told me and tried to gather my thoughts.

"Nothing, just hanging out," I said as casually as possible. At this, I saw Alexis snicker, and I wasn't sure if it was at me or the horrified look on Crystal's face. Either way, Crystal shot her a whitering look before returning a glare to me.

"Yeah, well you aren't welcome," she said. For a moment, I saw Tad open his mouth, but he shut it with an icy look from Crystal. To my shock, though, Alexis managed to speak up after blowing a long gust of smoke in Crystal's direction.

"Yeah she is, Josh brought her," stated Alexis boldly. Crystal turned to her, her heels scraping loudly against the concrete.

"Alexis, hows the herpes treating you?" asked Crystal coldly. At this, I actually saw Alexis's eyes begin to water, and she looked down at her lap. My stomach flipped. Not only was I shocked that poor Alexis had herpes, but also the fact that Crystal would stoop so low as to use that against her. With a haughty laugh, Crystal turned to stare at me. She began to walk foreword, and right as I was about to scoot back, I was assaulted by a hot liquid splashing all over me. I gasped along with the others. Crystal had dumped her coffee on me!

"Oops,"said Crystal with a sneer. Josh turned and gasped when he saw my coffee drenched state. My eyes filled with tears as the searing pain took over. Blisters were already beginning to form on my arms and I wiped off the rest of the scalding coffee with my dress hasitly. Tears were already falling from my eyes. But all of the paled in comparison to the complete and utter embaressment that burned up my face and squeezed at my heart.

"Crystal, what the hell?!" screamed Josh, rushing to my side, pushing past Jessica. I saw a bunch of concerned eyes around me, when Crystal began to laugh. When no one laughed with her, she shot them all angry looks, causing Alexis and Jessica to give fake giggles laced with worry. Even so, my heart felt like it was being stabbed by the noises they made.

"Sorry Joshie, I spilled a little coffee there on your girl thing of the week. So how's she in bed? Pregnant yet like the bitch she is?" asked Crystal with a smirk. Josh shot her an angry glare, holding on arm out to me that I didn't accept. Instead I leapt up out of my heels, running out from under the bleachers in a rush. Tears rolled down my face as I ran through the allyway, hearing Josh and the others yell from behind me along with Crystal's laughs. I kept running with no real thought, running away from the bleachers, then away from the school, all the way down the street. Panting, I found myself at home, sticky with coffee, covered in blisters, and aching from my broken heart.

I would never fit in with Josh's friends.

A/N-- Sorry for the unexpected hiatus. I was very busy over Spring Break since the film I was in pemiered. Thanks for all the support guys, I promise to update everyday but Friday this week since I plan on taking a personal day for private reasons. Thanks all.

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