"It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story."
-Patrick Rothfuss

Smile ✔

Laugh ✔

Charming personality ✔

These are all part of the mask I pull on when I enter the halls of Conrad High. Is it fake? Maybe on some level but is it necessary? 100% Life has expectations and this is just one of the many I have to adhere to.

Here at CHS, I'm held to a kind of standard no one should ever be held to, and it's all thanks to my loving older brother Liam stabbing me in the back before he left for college. Because of who he was when he walked these halls and the way he left, I'm now the go-to girl for all matters, large or small. No matter who they are, jock, geek, stoner or even mean girl, if someone needs help I'm totally there to lend a hand.

Here I'm KP. Think of me as Kim Possible except my purpose isn't to save the day but to keep the peace. It's the persona I managed to create out of the rubble Liam left behind. I want to say it's all my own doing but if my brother hadn't been such a prick before leaving I wouldn't be where I am now.

A whistle rings through the hallway above the chatter of high school students hitting my ears at the exact time a male call does.

"KP!"

I don't have to look up to know it's Aaron Douglas from the football team. Even so, I stop, turning around to throw him my classic one-hundred-watt smile.

"Hey, Aaron." I greet in an innocent bubbly voice. After four years as KP, nice is my default setting within these halls.

He chuckles as he reaches me and leans casually into the lockers. "Gorgeous as ever." He winks.

My cheeks heat slightly, but who wouldn't blush in front of him? It's Aaron Douglas standing there telling me how beautiful I am. With his dreamy blue eyes and that sandy colored hair, he's the picture-perfect All-American boy here at CHS. The whole female body lusts after him.

"We'll have to catch up sometime, maybe milkshakes?" The words are casual as they flow past my lips. Unlike my female classmates, I don't have a problem asking him out. Aaron and I have milkshakes together quite often together so it's not a huge deal.

"It's a date."

Giving him one last smile I continue my mission, getting to class early. I may be a bit of a celebrity at school but at home, it's a different story.

If my grades slip my fathers will look at me in that disappointing way that says 'maybe if you spent more time studying this wouldn't happen and by the way, you're grounded'. I make it sound like Sean and Christopher are slave drivers, which they aren't. Most of the time. We have our differences but for the most part, they are pretty cool parents and I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Seating myself in an almost empty history class I begin to set up for today's lecture. The Mayan Civilization. Mr. Zabriskie kindly gave me his lesson plans so I can read up ahead of time. Another perk of being me or rather holding the top stop academically in my graduating class.

I may have built my KP status from the ground up but Liam laid a sturdy foundation for me before our falling out. Four state championships, two MVP titles, most three points in a season...he's a big deal when it comes to basketball in this school. Every banner hanging in the gymnasium holds his name and some title on it.

As popular as he was, he ended up being cruel in the end and because of that, I haven't truly gotten along with him since. He had a dark side that he only let a few individuals see, me being one of them. His anger issues had never been bad but maybe that was because I had never been on the receiving end of them. It hadn't always been bad and I try to remember the good times but in the end, it didn't matter. He broke my trust like it was nothing and when I lashed out at him he hit back harder.

That day Liam uttered the last words he's spoken to me in four years, stop acting like we're related because we're not.

I sometimes wish we were speaking but it wouldn't change the lingering question that crosses my mind when I think of our tattered relationship.

Why?

"You're literally going to die from overexposure to ink vapor."

Morgan takes the seat in front of me, so she can gaze longingly out the window and daydream rather than pay attention. Her dark eyes give me a sarcastic look from behind her thick lashes as she leans back in her seat, tossing her raven locks over her shoulder.

I roll my eyes as I continue to scribble down notes on my paper. "Better than death by lack of socializing." I tease pausing momentarily to peg her with a serious look of my own. "Your mom is going to ground you till you graduate if you don't pass your classes."

This time Morgan rolls her eyes and turns around, hopefully, to prepare for the start of class. "Like it matters. We graduate in five months. I can take withdrawals."

I sigh and go back to my scrawled out notes. "Not if you're a super senior," I mumble, more to myself than her but as Morgan stiffens in front of me I know she hears me. Good, maybe now she will take this year a little more seriously. The last thing I need is to have a best friend who has no desire to study. I actually want to graduate and top of the class at that.