"Hey."

I stiffened in place at the sound. I turned and let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's only you guys."

I shouldn't be so paranoid, not right now anyway. It's only been a day since the website shut down and already I've been getting the evil eyes, slight shoves in the hall, and whispers behind my back. I knew it was coming back, but I didn't know this fast. But it's best to ignore it while it's still small.

"Only?" Jordan asked offended. "We're the Three Musketeers, we're the one and only." He said with a grin.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" I asked him.

"Besides that we're free from the girls' clutches?"

"And whines."

"And errands."

Declan shivered. "She made me eat chocolate." He looked at me and repeated it. "Chocolate."

"It isn't that bad," Bennett muttered.

"Try saying the same thing when you eating strawberries next time."

"Or vanilla," Jordan added.

I shook my head and asked them, "Did she sign them?"

Jordan snorted. "What other choice did she have? Of course she signed them."

Declan nodded. "Yeah, they're right here." He said as he held out the contract to me.

I took it and looked through it.

"You know, for a girl she has terrible handwriting," Declan commented.

I eyed him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh c'mon, you of all people must know that girls have handwriting by hearting their "i's" and all of that cursive stuff. But guys scribble when writing and even an archeologist won't be able to decipher them."

"Okay, most of its true, but there are some exceptions," I defended.

"Really?" Declan countered. "Like what?"

"Did you know that only smart people have crappy handwriting because they're going too fast to write perfectly and want to write everything down? If you're taking your time writing so pretty, you get less information and not even trying. Also, some people ust don't care if they're handwriting looks good, as long as it gets the job done."

"T-that's not true," Jordan retorted. 

There was a long pause as we all stared at Jordan.

"Let me see you handwriting."

"No."

"Jordan."

"No."

I gave up. Jordan is an enigma to me. It was then I heard the distinct sound of high heels clicking down the hall coming towards us.

"Oh no," Jordan said.

Bennett backed up. "It can't be."

"It's them," Declan said in realization.

"Oh boys!" Abby's voice called out to us.

"Do you think they can catch us in those high heels?" Declan asked us.

"A girl on a mission can run as fast as she wants to," I answered. "And they can always take off their high heels."

They all cursed under their breath.

"Oh look, they arrived."

"Where have you been, Decky?" Hannah purred.

"Avoiding you," Declan replied.

"Yeah, I've been trying to call you, Benny," Abby said.

"I got a new phone," Bennett answered.

Candice asked Jordan, "How have you been, honey buns?"

"First of all, I am no one's honey buns. Don't ruin anymore food for me. And I'm good without you out of my life."

"Why are you three here?" Bennett asked them.

"Can't we see our boyfriends?" Abby asked.

"No, you can't see your ex-boyfriends," Declan said, emphasizing on that word.

"Don't say that," Abby whined. "We only had a little disagreement that's all. Couples always have little quarrels now and then."

"We're over. Done. Finished." Jordan told all of them with no sympathy.

"We're only having a little break, that's all."

"Stop doing this," Bennett said. "You guys are actually trying to pretend nothing happened when you know that we only used you to know who was behind the website."

"Don't worry sweetie, we'll forgive-"

"We don't want your forgiveness," Bennett cut in.

Abby stomped on her foot. "You can't use us. Only we can use people. We're not going to let you use us and get away with it. So we're still together whether you like it or not."

"Sorry, but we all changed our relationship status to single," Jordan said.

Declan looked at him. "You actually changed it to 'in a relationship'?"

"No, I just said that to make the final blow. I never even changed it."

"I did, Abby forced me," Bennett said. "I deactivated my account in the end."

"Me too, I don't trust the internet because of you," Declan said, glaring at Jordan.

"Good," Jordan said with a smile. "Now the internet is all to my-"

"Hello? We're still talking to you," Hannah said, snapping her fingers to get their attention.

"No we're not, this conversation is over," Bennett said. "Now what were you saying Jor-"

"Wait, we're not done here," Abby said. "We want to know what happened to the website. Didn't it happen to you too?"

"What happened?" Jordan asked innocently.

"Well I was checking my Facebook and something was wrong with it," Hannah said. "All my pictures, the private ones, were sent to everyone. Even my messages were somehow shared. So many people kept on asking me about it, I can't handle it!"

"I know right?" Abby agreed. "I tried checking my other accounts like Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr..." This went on for a while, so I skipped to the end. "And none of them worked. All my accounts were deactivated, the passwords changed, they're all gone."

"I also checked my account in the Nerdy Naomi website," Candice said, looking at me as if acknowledging my existence that I've been standing there the whole time. "And there was this message on this saying that some virus came from the website."

"Can you imagine that some virus came from that girl's, Evie, Lenny, whatever her name is, website?" Hannah asked us.

"Her name is Evelyn," I said quietly. "You've been working with her for three years, and you still don't know her name?"

Abby's eyes narrowed at me. "What's it to you, Nerds? It's not like you knew her name either until you now."

She was right about that.

"And I know you guys had something to do with the virus or whatever, maybe with Bennett's money or something-" Jordan coughed at that "-But you're going to regret ever shutting down the website and ruining everyone's virtual social life. Everything will get worse for you," Abby smirked and nodded to her right, "like her."

Just as she said that, I watched as Evelyn ran right past us then stopped in front of a locker that was probably hers.

"There she is!" Someone yelled.

Suddenly we heard the sounds of pounding feet and saw a group of kids running down the hall. Two things came to my mind. One, they have a death wish with Principal Barnes for running in the halls. Second, I was thinking that they coming for me. But instead, they ran right past us too and crowded around Evelyn.

"It's your fault my accounts don't work!"

"I can't check my Facebook! Or my Twitter, Flickr, Instagram..."

"What am I going to do now? Actual schoolwork?"

"...Snapchat, Tumblr, Vine, email..."

"It's because of that virus that came from your website!"

"...MySpace, PinInterest, Ask.fm..."

"I-I'm sorry," Evelyn stammered, but her voice was nothing compared to the yells and curses coming from the others. "It wasn't my fault with the virus, I swear.  P-please don't hurt me."

As she was saying this she was opening her locker and taking out her books and stuff out of it into her bag. But as she was reaching for another book, the door slam shut, almost catching her fingers. Before she could do anything she was shoved backwards and slammed against the lockers. I watched as someone grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up. Her hands held onto the person's arm as she pathetically kicked in the air. He was yelling at her, but it seemed to tune out to me.

"Where's my homework?" He demanded.

"I-I'm sorry," I stammered, backing away. "I had an essay and project to do. I didn't have time to work on your homework."

"You caused me a grade, Nerds!"

"T-then you should have done it yourself," I retorted.

He was silent for a moment then suddenly grabbed my collar. "Are you trying to be smart with me?"

I cursed silently to myself. "N-no, I'm sorry. I'll do the rest of your homework for the rest of the month, no year! The rest of the year!"

"That's not going to help," he growled, gripping my collar tighter.

"No, please, please," I kept on saying again and again.

And again.

Before I knew what was happening, I was pushing the guy away, letting him go of Evelyn. He was confused for a second, but then raised his hand only to be held back by Declan. The three of them pushed the people away, acting as a wall between the angry mob missing their torches and pitchforks, and us. Evelyn blinked, not knowing what to make of this, what to do. She slowly opened her locker and went back to putting her stuff into her bag. Then she stopped when I held a textbook out to her.

She looked at me. "Why are you helping me?"

I told her the best answer I could think of.

"Because I'm human."

And just like that, the both of us continued what I now figured as cleaning out her locker. Then she told me what had happened.

"Besides being grounded for life, I'm also moving."

"To a new school?" I asked.

"YNo of course not, to a new city," Evelyn said. "They know my address, remember? It was something when an angry mob of kids came to my house, what makes it worse is that they're bullies." She sighed. "My parents called 911 and had police come over to get the crowd to go away. It took a long time to explain everything."

"Thanks for ruining my life," she said, he voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "We just gave you the chance to start a new one."

Evelyn scoffed. "You're just saying that so you wouldn't feel so guilty."

"I still am," I confessed, handing her a notebook. "I don't know it was the best way for payback, maybe you're never supposed to get payback. I'm not saying I could just forgive and forget, not something like that. Beating up someone won't do you anything, just get you in trouble. The better effect is if you make them feel sorry for ever doing that for the rest of their lives. I should have done something else rather than... all of this."

"So you're sorry?" She asked, taking out a poster from her locker.

"No," I said bluntly, "at the same time I'm not, you deserve it. But would you really live your life with the guilty conscience of ruining someone else's? If you're bullied, you're the last person to bully someone because you know how it feels."

"I'm not a monster," Evelyn said quietly. "Every post I wrote made me regret it the moment I clicked enter. The posts were twice a week, so I clicked enter 312 times, I counted every single time. That's 312 times I posted something about you, 312 times I ruined your life even more, and 312 times more things I had to live with in my conscience."

"Sorry to cut in ladies," Jordan said with a grunt as he pushed someone's face away. "But I'm going to have to live with 312 bruises if you don't hurry up."

"Here, this is the last one," I said, handing her a small teddy bear plush toy which she stuffed into the bag before closing it.

"Than-" She stopped herself. "Don't expect me to thank you."

"I'm not."

"Because I won't."

"Okay."

"I really won't do it."

"I know."

"Fine, you don't have to force me," she said before muttering, "thanks."

With that, she ran off. The boys tried their longest to hold the crowd back. Some kids gave up and left to get to class. The rest though pushed them away and tried to catch her. I'm hoping they won't.

"Hey Naomi!"

Knowing the voice, I turned and smiled at Parker. I haven't seen him since... he dropped me off which was last Saturday.

"Hey-"

I was suddenly shoved from behind. I stumbled forward, about to fell flat on my face and meet the floor I know all too well. But Parker caught me just in time, and helped me back to my feet.

I let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry, I guess I'm so clumsy."

"Are you okay?" Parker asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright."

I could feel the guys eyes on me, knowing what happened and what I did. But I ignored them and smiled at Parker. He took my hand, moving close to me.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"You guys just saw each other in the morning," Jordan pointed out.

"And every minute I sat in each classroom until now was pure torture when I really wanted to see you," Parker told me.

"Aw," I said. "I-"

"-so how was that game last night?" Declan asked loudly.

I sighed. "Really?" I turned to Parker. "We'll finish this later."

"So did I miss anything?" Parker asked me, all smiles.

Before the guys could answer that, I cut in saying, "Nope."

Parker eyed the guys. "So I heard that you broke up with the girls."

"Yup."

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear-"

"We never liked them," Declan told him.

He let out a sigh. "Okay good, because you had to be crazy to be able to put up with them, much less want to date them in the first place. Guys dated them for their looks, but ran away from their personality."

"Like they always say," I said, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

"Speaking of covers, as in costumes," Parker began, "Halloween is coming up..."

"Wow, I haven't realized it has," I said to myself. "A lot has been going on."

I mean, have you read the last couple of chapters?

"Well, I was wondering if you'd want to go to a party with me," he offered shyly to me, looking cute. "It won't be like the other parties, something small-"

"-or how about you go to one of our parties?" Bennett cut in.

I raised an eyebrow. "One of yours?"

"I'm not hosting one, if that's what you're wondering," Bennett asked. "I've been to way too many parties to want any of the damage to happen to my house."

"Condo," Jordan coughed.

Bennett glared at him.

"It's from someone else back in my old school," Jordan explained. "There's no chance anyone here would go this party, not in his. They're better, way better, and we'll be there." He said, smiling.

"Knowing that last part, how about you go to my party?" Parker asked.

But I knew what the guys were doing. Parker didn't know it, but they did. They knew very well that my bullying was coming back, slowly but surely. They wanted to make sure that I'll be going to a party that no one in school is going to. A party that no one that I'm "Nerdy Naomi". It was pointless because it was going to come sooner or later. But I guess they just wanted the peace to last as long as it could.

"I want to give their party a try," I said slowly, "if that's alright with-"

"Of course it will," Parker interjected, smiling at the guys who smiled back at him. "Oh, and I was thinking we could do a couple costume."

My face lit up at the idea. "There's so many to choose from."

"Like cookie monster and a cookie," I said.

"Or Mario and Princess Peach," Parker countered.

"Percy and Annabeth?"

"Peeta and Katniss."

"Augustus and Hazel."

"It'll be something watching you drag an oxygen tank around."

"How about Peter Pan and Wendy?"

"I'm not wearing tights."

"Okay, how about Mr. and Mrs. Pacman?"

"There's always Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas."

"Danny and Sandy from Grease."

"Ron and Hermione."

"Romeo and Juliet."

"Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass!"

"Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker!"

"They're brother and sister."

"Princess Leia and Han Solo!"

"Wow, there really is so many to choose from."

"We're going to need some time to think about this more," I concluded.

"Yeah, I know," Parker agreed. "This is the real horror of Halloween, choosing a costume."

"What did you dress up before?" Bennett asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't bother dressing up. Why set myself up to be made fun of. And though I strongly believe you're never too old to go trick or treating, I usually just spend my Halloweens giving candy to kids while my parents trick or treat."

They all chose to ignore the last part, I was grateful for that. 

"What are some popular costumes do girls wear," Jordan asked before adding, "un-slutified, of course."

"Maybe if you choose a costume, you can find something to match with Parker," Declan offered.

"The most popular girl costume?" I snorted. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Really? Try us," Jordan challenged.

"Me."

Jordan blinked. "What about you?"

"They would dress up as me, Nerdy Naomi."

For what felt like a long time, the boys said nothing.

"You're kidding right?" Bennett said in disbelief.

"Parker, tell them."

"She's telling the truth."

"And the funny thing is, they're actually better Naomi's than me. Not saying they can always pull of the original, since they're popular is already a huge disadvantage. I mean at being really... nerdy, really creative."

I wanted to change the subject badly now, so I turned to the guys, "Have you guys thought of a costume?"

Declan snorted. "I'm not going to dress up."

"Don't even look at me," Bennett said.

Jordan sighed. "I won't bother if they won't."

I blinked. "I thought you of all people would," I told Jordan.

He shrugged. "The advantage of having three friends is trio costumes. If they're not up for it, then I won't do it either."

"Please, you have to," I begged. "There are so many costumes to choose from!"

"Like what?" Parker asked me.

"Like the three blind mice, the three little pigs, the three stooges, and Alvin and the Chipmunks," I offered. "There's also Snap, Crackle and Pop; Newton's laws of motion; stop, drop, and roll; Mario, Luigi and Bowser; the Deathly Hallows: Elder's wand, Resurrection stone, and Cloak of invisibility; the-"

"Stop or else you'll have a heart attack," Jordan said.

"Or how about the flavors!" I exclaimed in realization. "Your flavors: chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla!"

Jordan said, "There is-"

"-no way-" Declan finished.

"-I'm going to wear that," Bennett finished.

I groaned. "Oh c'mon, you should wear that at least. Please, wear costumes, for me."

Jordan eyed me then said brightly, "Okay."

Bennett and Declan looked at him. "What?"

"But only in one condition," Jordan said with a smile, holding out his index finger.

"I'm going to regret this," I muttered to myself. "What is it?"

He grinned. "We get to choose your costume."

Okay done. Phew.

So I've been thinking when reading comments. A girl commented: "Wow, they actually need a contract to be friends?" Do you think the contract is necessary? I've been thinking about that a lot. But then I thought that the contract is a metaphor, when you become friends with someone, it's like you're making a contract. You promise to always be there for them, thick or thin, rain or shine, and all of that stuff. Give me your opinion on this. And I've also been thinking I seriously need to rewrite some of the story because I'm getting tired of some comments about the plot. Sigh.

I keep thinking and people keep telling me that I shouldn't be trying to satisfy everyone. I'm the author, this is my story and I can write it anyway I want. But I want to satisfy everyone, I want everyone to be happy when reading this. If people don't like this type of genre or the story entirely, they can just leave and take their rude comments with them. I think they're the reason I sometimes dread checking my Wattpad, the comments waiting for me. There's good ones of course, and then there's criticism. I know I should be mature when taking them, but they hurt too. Actually, just today, when my group finished our oral report, kids made comments about the bad points. Then my teacher cut in saying, "Before they go suicide themselves-" the class laughed at this "-can some of you at least give them some good comments? I thought they made a thorough study of the articles. I know they needed work on their presentation, but they know that already. But there's also good in their report too." I don't want you guys to say "Oh don't listen to them, I still think you're a great author and the book is great". Your comments always make my day, thank you for that. It's just, as a new writer, the criticism is something I should be getting used to now. That's all I want to say I guess.

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