"How was school? Did you have any problems? How did you feel?" My mother asks back to back as she drives down the street.

"It was fine. I feel the same."

"Well, sometimes it takes a while for the medicine to work today is just the first day." She says. "How was stem?"

"It was good. We picked out the wheels for the robot today."

"That sounds fun." She says with enthusiasm in her voice. "So do you guys have competitions and stuff?" She asks.

"Yeah,"

"Well, let me know when your first competition is. I want to be there, your father and me." She says.

"Okay." It's been a while since my parents have come to something for me. Something other than family day at the faculty. They were there every week.

When I played volleyball in middle school, they were not able to come to many games. Out of the whole season, they may have attended one game...separately. They rarely were in town at the same time.

The rest of the car ride to the mall is silent. My mother has asked me a few questions, and I responded with one-word answers. I can't stop thinking about what Olivia and Selena told me.

I didn't believe them at first; I still don't. I mean, I didn't hear anything about Ryder and Ashely getting back together if they really did I'm sure the whole school would've talked about it. But I heard nothing.

Olivia and Selna said that they heard Ashely telling some cheerleaders in the bathroom that she and Ryder are back together.

I wonder why he would go back out with her. This time I really thought they were not going to go back out, I mean why would she even take him back, after what Ashely told me about how he broke up with her right after sex, she seemed really hurt by it, but yet she forgave him and took him back. I don't understand.

I'm not mad; that they are back together. I'm kind of happy, relieved. Maybe now he'll leave me alone— for good.

...

"How about this?" My mother pulls out a short purple dress. I shake my head, no. She puts the dress back on the rack.

"Okay Okay, what about this?" She pulls out a light blue dress with a yellow belt around the waist. I shake my head no again. She sighs. "Jayda, you have to pick something, we've been here for almost 2 hours, and this is the last store in the mall."

I stand up from the fancy white chair I'm sitting in. "I don't see anything I like," I say.

"You haven't looked," she says.

I groan.

"I still have to find something for me, so you go on and look for something you like while I try to find me something," she instructs me. We both go our separate ways in the store.

I look on the rack, dress after dress, and I see nothing that I like. Why can't I just show up in jeans and a sweatshirt? Maybe not a sweatshirt that's understandable, Okay jeans and a fancy shirt, like one of the shirts my mother wears to work. I would rather wear that than a dress.

I continue to flip through the hundreds of overly expensive dresses on the rack. I reach the last dress. It's crimson red, long, but form-fitting around the waist, the back is long and the front is short, it has a V cut at the chest part.

I take it off the rack and look at it more. It's nice. I like it. It's not too formal, but it's not too sporty. This will do. "Mom!"

...

"You guys are back— finally." My dad says when my mom and I walk through the door. "Did you find anything?" He asks me.

"Yes."

"And she found it herself." My mother says enthusiastically.

My father's eyes go wide. "Really? A dress?"

"Yes, a dress," I say.

"Well, I can't wait to see it Saturday," My dad says.

"Go upstairs and wash up, dinner will be ready soon. Oh, and hang your dress up so it won't get wrinkled." My mother says.

"Okay." I walk past my father and up the stairs.

As soon as I get into my room, I take my dress out of the bag and hang it up in the closet. I walk over to my desk and take my notebooks and homework out of my bookbag.

I need to finish my essay for Mr.Brook's class, and I have homework from my science and math teacher. Plus I have to study for that history test. I grab a pen out of my pencil and start working.

...

10:00, and I'm still doing homework. Dinner was longer than I expected it to be. My mother was very talkative Tonight. My father was too. He asked questions about my medication and how I was feeling today, and then he asked a few questions about Stem and what we were working on. After that, my mother asked me about Caleb.

That's the second time today someone has asked me about him, first Violet, now my mother. I'm happy they did, though. I feel bad because I forgot all about him. Not like I forgot he existed, but I just been so distracted this week, I haven't even called him to see if he is okay, last I talked to him was when he dropped Katie and me off at the house. I haven't called him, and he hasn't called me since.

I pick up my phone and search for his contact. The fact he hasn't called me makes me kind of nervous. Surely he would've called me to check on me. Why hasn't he? I click his contact, and the phone rings.

"Hello," he answers. My body warms at his voice.

"Hey," I say. I should've thought this through. I don't even know what else to say.

"Are you okay?" He asks me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to talk to you," \

"Caleb." a female's voice says.

I swear the air leaves my body. "Oh, you're busy... sorry... um, It's fine I just wanted to see if you were okay. I'll talk to you later" I quickly hang up the phone before he can respond. I place my hand on my forehead and take a deep breath.

Why is he with another girl? Should I even feel some type of way because he is with another girl?

I shouldn't, I ended things with him, well there was nothing to end because we weren't together, I think, but I just made it clear that I wanted to be friends. He and I are friends. I shouldn't be mad because he is with another girl. I'm not his girlfriend. I'm just his friend, so I shouldn't be upset.

But I am.

...

"Okay, so I'll be here at 3:15 on the dot. Rachel is taking you early. She's going to see you at 3:30 she said you should be finished about 4:15." My mother says.

"What time is our flight?" I ask as she pulls in the school drop off spot.

"6:00, the airport is about an hour or two away depending on traffic. Your suitcase is in your room?"

"Yes"

"You made sure you had everything, right?"

"Yup, I packed it last night, and I double-checked it this morning," I say.

"Okay, good. Alright, love you." she leans over and kisses my cheek. "Remember-"

"If I start feeling weird or something, call you immediately," I say, cutting her off, saying what I know she was gonna say. She rolls her eyes jokingly at me. "I'll see you later, mom." I open the door and get out.

It's been weeks now and people still stare when they see me, it's so irritating, but I don't get all nervous anymore, at least not as much as I used to.

I walk up to the front doors. When I get closer, the door flies open, causing me to stumble back, I don't fall, but I have to regain my balance.

"S- Sorry." The girl stutters out. It's Jessica, she has on a black hoodie covering her face, her brown eyes are red and wet, she must have been crying.

"It's okay," I say. She walks past me and down the stairs.

...

"Jayda," Mr.Brooks says as I walk into the classroom. "Ms. Rodriguez wants you to go to her office right after class," he says.

"Okay," I say. I walk to the back of my class to my seat.

"I guess that's back on," James says from in front of me. I follow his eyes. I look past Violet and see Ryder and Ashely, she's sitting on his lap, he's whispering something in her ear that is making her laugh. When he stops, his eyes go directly to me. I quickly look away and back at James.

I shrug my shoulders. "I guess so. God, I'm tired of everybody mentioning them. Does the whole freaking world revolve around them?" I say angrily. James looks shocked at my words. I know Violet is too, I'm not looking at her, but I see his eyes shift to her. I don't even know where that came from, I didn't mean to say that, it just came out.

The bell rings. James turns around. "Everyone to your seats," Mr.Brooks says. Everyone who is standing takes a seat.

"Okay, so you guys homework should be finished. You had class time yesterday to work on it. Just a reminder this is a quiz grade. Presenting is a part of that grade. If your name is not called to present, you will turn your essays into me after class. And you will get an A if I feel your essay is up to part. Remember to leave it on my desk after class" He walks behind his desk and grabs the cup of popsicle sticks.

"So the first one up is..."

Please don't be me

Please don't be me

He pulls out the stick. "Cheryl."

He calls on one of the cheerleaders. She gets up and walks to the front of the class.

"Well, the poems you picked, Mr. Brooks, was really depressing, so I picked a poem about death that will not make us sad but happy." She says eagerly.

A happy poem about death. Zach laughs.

Shut up. She growls

Make me. He says back. All the football players start to make weird noises encouraging whatever sexual thing Zach meant by saying that.

"Okay Okay. Mr. Brooks says stepping in. Let's hear it." He says. She opens her mouth to speak before she does the door come open. Jessica enters.

"Your late Ms. Brown," Mr. Brooks says. She hands him a pass and then takes a seat. A few quiet laughs are heard throughout the class including one from Cheryl, the way she looked at Jessica as she walked into the class passing her. She looked at her just how Predators look at prey before they attack.

(So someone just pm'ed me and said how they really thought my book was just going to be just another cliché bad boy, good girl romance and then they was like they was so surprised that its so more that that. And they said they love it because its VERY diverse and different and it tackles a lot of real world problems and things that actually go on in high school besides the romance. I smiled so much guys because that's was exactly what I wanted it to be. That was my exact view for this book!)