Next time I see you,

I'm giving you a high five.

'Cause hugs are overrated, just FYI

✝ Chapter One | S.O.S ✝

It was a day just like any other.

The sun was blocked by clouds, but it wasn't cold. In fact, the warm spring breeze wrapped around me like a winter coat.

The walk to school was ordinary. I left the house just minutes to nine as usual. And I was late, as usual. I didn't care about being tardy in the slightest because, well, my teachers were used to it.

Almost right on schedule, my next door neighbor trudged out of his house, lugging a stack of hefty books. Once he saw me, his eyes lit up with excitement and he instantly ran down his driveway, trying to catch up to me. "Lex, wait up!"

I let out a sigh as he bolted down the driveway. The same sigh I let out at the beginning of the year, when he'd insisted on walking me to and from school, and the same sigh I've let out every day since.

I didn't stop or slow down, of course. I continued to walk and kept my gaze on the sidewalk ahead of me. Regardless, Adam ran after me until he was at my side, still catching his breath.

Adam and I have been going to the same school ever since elementary. Over that period of time, I've realized he had developed a weird liking for me. The only problem was, the feeling wasn't mutual.

He wasn't unattractive. Actually, he had a smashing head of dark wavy hair, a straight nose, chiseled cheekbones, kissable pink lips and big, bright blue eyes to top it all off. No, it wasn't his looks that bothered me. He was simply annoying.

Adam pushed his wide-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose and exhaled heavily. "Why don't you ever wait for me?"

I tossed my pin-straight dirty blonde locks over my shoulder. I've pretty much kept my hair the same since middle school, and I wasn't really the type for change. "Sorry, but the person you are trying to reach doesn't give two shits. At the tone, please get away from me and when you are finished, don't come back or ever bother me again," I spat bitterly. "Beep!"

He only chuckled, obviously not getting the hint. "Have I ever told you how funny you are?"

"Hmm..." I trailed off as I pretended to think. "I think that would be the millionth time." His response was only a cheeky smile. Defeated, I fixed my attention on the sidewalk again.

"You know, one day, you'll actually be early to school." His thin lips pulled into a satisfied smirk.

"Doubt it."

For the rest of the walk, I ignored him.

✝ ✝ ✝ ✝

East River High was filled with cliques.

I never truly understood how it was possible to maintain such a hierarchy but I didn't care enough to ask questions. I didn't fit into any of the cliques, so it really didn't concern me.

Adam used to belong to the chess geeks' clique. That was until they found out he was friends with me. They kicked him out of the chess club and all his chess friends shunned him.

That's how severe it was.

I would blame Stacy Bradmoore for all the cliques situated at East River High. She was the president of the school and the daughter of the principal.

Stacy made many changes to our school during the four years she had been president. One of those changes was organizing the lunch tables to accommodate different clubs and sports. The system stuck and ever since then, people would only talk to their teammates or club members.

She even organized Homecoming in a way that each clique had their own section of the dance floor and could only dance in that section.

After years of social structure like this, no one dared to break the tradition.

Stacy graduated last year and her younger sister Stephanie took her place as president. If there was one thing that I was absolutely sure of, everyone hated Stephanie.

She enforced the rules so much so, that there were cameras installed into the locker rooms and bathrooms to make sure no one interacted with people outside of their clique.

I complained to the principal because Stephanie ridiculed me in front of the whole school after asking a football jock for a pencil. Of course, the principal didn't do anything about it because he would do anything to keep his daughter happy.

East River High was a full-on tyranny, with Stephanie Bradmoore as our ruler.

As Adam and I walked through the double doors of hell, all eyes were instantly on us. Most of the school had grown to hate us for breaking the status quo. I'd like to believe that my fellow peers were better than that, but Stephanie brain-washed them so much that I couldn't be sure of anything.

I didn't care about the looks. I didn't play a sport and I wasn't involved in any clubs either. If I had my way, I would be the soccer star, but I wasn't going to give in to this school's sick twisted game.

I was a lone wolf.

There was a clique for loners like me, but I found that to be a bit counterproductive.

Adam swallowed a lump in his throat. It was something he always did when they stared at us.

"Are we still getting breakfast?" I asked him as I looked over at him inquiringly.

"Y-yeah," he choked out.

Our routine went on, as usual. We ate breakfast in the cafeteria, then headed off to our classes that we were always late to.

The day proceeded as normal.

Much like every other day, I avoided talking to people. Part of it was because I didn't want to be harassed by Stephanie but I also know if I were to be engaged in a conversation that pissed me off enough-which happened to be most days-I would tell people off.

By the end of the day, sleep hung heavily in my eyes. This was a feeling I knew all too well.

As I headed out of the parking lot where I usually met up with Adam, a boy who was rushing to catch the bus crashed into me.

The force of the contact knocked me to the floor. I cursed under my breath and turned the face the boy. I could tell he was a freshman just by the way he looked at me with such fear. "What the hell is your problem?!"

The boy's words got caught in his throat.

"Well?" I questioned as I stood to my feet. "Don't freaking run around like that! I could have gotten hurt!"

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered. He gathered his belongings and dashed past me without saying anything else.

I watched him run away and shook my head in disbelief. "Stupid kid," I mumbled. I brushed off my clothes and fixed my hair.

"Lexi!"

I snapped my attention to the source of the voice to see Adam running towards me. "Lexi!"

I rolled my eyes out of habit and sighed.

"Lexi!" he yelled once more when he was at my side.

"You said my name three times! What the hell do you want?" I stared at him with dead serious eyes.

He paused for a moment, breathing heavily. He was definitely out of shape. "Did...you...see..." Each word was followed by short breaths.

"Speak!" I shouted.

He pointed towards his phone. "Did you hear about the-hashtag-dot-net?"

Everything inside me told me I should slap him. "Is this one of your stupid games, again? This is the last time I'm telling you. I don't want to play!"

"No!" He shoved his iPhone in my face, pointing at the screen. "Look!"

I snatched the phone away from him and set my gaze on the illuminated screen.

On the page, there were different colored text bubbles, each with a different name on it. Preceding each name was a pound sign. Some of the names I recognized instantly.

There was Elizabeth Birmingham, who was a preppy cheerleader with a weird obsession with cleanliness.

Beneath her name was Stephanie Bradmoore, the current school president.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Click on a name."

Obeying, I pressed on Stephanie's name and a drop-down box appeared. Inside the box, was a list of comments.

"Uptight little bitch...uses way too much perfume...always gets what she wants because daddy buys everything for her," I read aloud. Snapping my gaze to Adam's, I playfully shoved him. "What the hell is this?"

"Hashtag-dot-net," he notified. "People can anonymously comment on a person."

I flared my nostrils and tossed his phone at him. "Don't show me stupid stuff!"

"Everyone is talking about this! It's like the ultimate diss book for everyone at East River High. I'm pretty sure every student is on it." Adam snorted unattractively as he scrolled through his phone.

"Am I on it?" I didn't really want to know. People didn't even know me by name and if they did, they wouldn't care. I wasn't anyone special. If people decided to comment on me, it would be to say I had the most unbelievable sense of humor.

And that's a compliment.

"Uh...let's see." His eyes narrowed as he scrolled down the list. "Here it is! Lexus Lennon."

Despite my not-caring attitude, I leaned in and peered over Adam's broad shoulders.

He pressed the text bubble and read the words aloud, "She's hot."

Scratch that. It wasn't a day just like any other.

A/N: Woo hooo! I'm so excited to start writing this book. So, vote, comment and add this to your library and I might just start this a bit early? Ciao!