After getting dressed for school, I walk out of my room and down the hall to my parent's room; I knock on the door. Hard. My father opens the door quickly. He has a frantic look on his face. His white shirt is unbuttoned, and he has on his black dress pants.

"Jay?! Are you okay?" he asks, clearly panicked by my hard knocking.

"You know mom's gone, right? Did you know she was leaving early for the trail?"

He turns around and walks over to his dresser. "Yes, I knew," he says with his back facing me.

"And you didn't say anything?" I yell.

He turns around to me and finishes buttoning his shirt. I talked to your mother, and she said she wanted to tell you herself."

"Why did she leave?"

"She wanted to get there and settle in," he replies.

"How long will she be gone?"

He buttons the last button on his shirt and then throws a light blue tie over his neck. "I don't know, trails don't really have a scheduled end date." he doest seem as upset as I am. I mean, that's his wife; shouldn't he be a little disappointed at the fact she's going to be gone for almost a month or two? Did he even see her before she left?

"So, everything's alright?"

He walks away from me and goes rummaging through a drawer. "Everything's fine,"

"Are you guys having problems?"I come out and ask. No need to beat around the bush, I hold my breath and wait for a response.

He turns back around, "Jay, we're married." He tilts his head to the side. "There's always going to be problems." His phone rings; I look over at the bed where it's at. "You go ahead and get out of here. You don't want to be late for school," he says. I turn around and head for the door. "Oh, and go see Ms.Moore before your first period."

"Why?" I ask.

"She wants to talk to you."

"About?"

He rolls his eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Nevermind," I say.

"Bye!" he says, drawing out the word.

I grab my book bag out of my room, walk downstairs, and leave. Once I get into my car, I take my phone out of my bookbag and call Travis.

He answers after the first ring. "So, you call when you're ready to call?"

"Do you need something?"

"Yeah, we need to talk," he says sternly. "Meet me now."

"I can't."

"Why the hell not?" he growls.

"I have to go to school. I started back today."

"Well, skip," he blurts out.

"I can't skip." Even though I'm tempted to skip, of course not with him, then again, I can't skip school Ms.Moore is expecting me. "I have-"

"Just meet me across the street from your school. At 12."

"Okay." He hangs up the phone. I unzip my bag and take out the envelope of money. I put it into the glove department. The last thing I need is for me to misplace that. I turn my car on and pull off.

...

I'm down the street from my school; I've been sitting here at the stop sign for about five minutes now. I can't bring myself to drive up the hill. I'm so scared. I'm nervous. What will people say? Have they been making rumors about me? I'm sure they have. Violet told everyone I was sick. I doubt they believe it. Maybe I should've told Violet and James I was coming that way; they could've been at the front waiting for me, so I wouldn't have to walk into the school by myself. Everyone goes in at the last minute, so I know there are still endless kids outside of the school. I rest my head on the steering wheel.

I didn't think this through. I should've asked my dad if I could stay home. I'm not feeling school today. All I can think about is my mom... and my dad. They're having problems again. I just want to know how It started. I mean, they have been fine all this time; they haven't had an argument or fight since that day my mom left me in the house by myself. That was the reason then. What's the reason now?

A car horn honks. I lift my head off of the steering wheel and drive up the hill. As I turn into the school lot, I see everyone looking directly at me, well at the car. They can't see me. My windows are tinted, thank God. They probably think I'm a new student or something.

I don't know why everyone gets excited when there's a new kid. I guess it's because this town is so freaking small. Everyone either goes here or to Harrison Prep, and no one leaves Harrison Prep to come here, so if you're new, you must be from one of the other forty-nine states, which is the most exciting thing that could happen in this town.

I pull my car into an open space. I look into the rearview mirror. People are standing around eager to see who will get out of the car. I laugh to myself... they're going to be mad when they see it's me. I can see Violet and James standing out there too.

I take a deep breath and then open my car door to get out. Everyone's eyes widen with shock. Violet and James look extremely surprised to see me. I hope they aren't mad at the fact that I didn't tell them I was coming. I can already hear the whispers from everyone as I walk up to them. I try to push them out. But words slip through.

Pregnant.

Jail.

Boarding School.

"What are you doing here?" Violet says.

"I'm back." I simply say.

"For good?" she squeals.

"Mhm."

James puts his arm out in front of Violet. He moves her out the way. "Uhn Uhn, I know you didn't just pull up here in a Range Rover."

I laugh.

"Who got it for you?" he asks.

"Her dad, of course." Violet rolls her eyes and pushes him back out the way. "I wish my dad owned a dealership," she says.

"Pfft." James blows and rolls his eyes.

"Nice car, King!" Matt yells. I turn to my left. He is standing with Zach and Ryder; Monica and Ashely are with them too. "Now, we don't have to fuck in my car!" Everyone around me starts to laugh, including Ryder, which doesn't surprise me. Ugh, I wish I can just walk over there and smack that stupid grin off his and Matt's face.

"Let's go!" James says. I follow behind them into the school.

We walk into the school and go straight to our lockers. I put in my combination, and the locker comes open; I throw in my bookbag and take out my books for my first three classes. It's weird doing this. Around this time, I would still be asleep, curled up in my bed, hugging my sheets, not grabbing my books for class. The school bell rings, first period is starting. The people in the hallways start to disperse.

I forgot I have to go to Ms. Moore's office before class. I wonder what she has to talk to me about—my phone rings in my back pocket. I pull it out; it's Caleb.

"Hello."

"Hey."

"Are you okay?" I ask him.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure you were alright," he says.

"Oh, well, I'm okay." I don't think we are at that stage where we can discuss personal things just yet.

A locker startles me from down the hall. From here, I can see who it is. Ryder is grabbing something out of his locker. I can't see what it is. I can't make it out.

"Last night, did you want to tell me something?" Caleb says, and I am snapped back.

"Uhhh." I can't tell him what I wanted to tell him. "I um, I just wanted to say I had a nice time."

He laughs. "Me too," he says.

"Well, we should do it again...soon," I say.

"Do what? Go see a movie again, or..."

"A movie!" I say in a high pitched voice. I wasn't even thinking about the other thing.

"Oh." he sounds disappointed.

"And other things," I add. I can picture him smiling now.

"Good." He says. "Are you at school?"

"Yeah, I'm actually on my way to a meeting with the principal."

"What? You? I didn't peg you for a bad girl." he mocks.

I laugh. "I'm not." Ryder's locker slams shut; he is walking this way. "Uh, Caleb, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Alright."

I hang up the phone just as Ryder gets within five feet of me. I expect him to stop and say something, but he doesn't, he walks right past me as if I'm not even standing here, I know I told him to stay away from me, but I didn't actually think he would.

I close my locker and walk the other way to the stairwell. I head downstairs to the main office. The office is empty. Ms. Gatsby isn't at the front desk; I walk over to Ms.Moores suite and open the door.

My eyes go wide. "Oh, he- hey,"

"Hey," Jessica says back.

I look around the office, "Where is she?" I ask.

"Uh, she went to the copy room."

"Oh." I wonder why she needs to see both of us. I take a seat in the chair next to her.

After a few minutes, she says. "Don't worry about Matt,"

"Huh?" I turn my head towards her.

"Matt... I heard what he said this morning."

"Oh, you heard that?" My face feels flushed.

"Yeah, but don't worry about him; he's an ass." I give her a small smile. "And so are the rest of the elite," she says.

The Elite. She calls them what we call them. It's weird to think that she used to be one of them, I haven't talked to her much, but from the brief conversations I have had with her, I don't see how she could hang with people like them.