"Ellie!" an all too familiar voice screeched into my ear. I slammed my locker shut and turned to address my best friend, Beth Autumn.

To say she was pretty would be an understatement. Yes, this phrase is so cliche, but it's the truth. She was absolutely gorgeous, with hazel eyes, a slim figure, and jet-black hair that cascaded down her back in perfect curls. She was a Senior, a year older than me, and knew almost everyone in this school.

"Beth! I missed you so much!" I said, grinning at her. She returned the grin and proceeded to squeeze the air out of my lungs by giving me a bone-crushing hug.

"You saw me the day before yesterday, idiot," she grinned while crushing me.

"Let me breathe woman!" I squeezed out and pushed her off me. She just laughed and steadied herself, glaring at me playfully.

Beth was kind of in the popular ladder in Western Heights, the High School we both attended. Every girl wanted to be like her, and every guy wanted to be, well, with her.

Sometimes, even I got slightly jealous of her perfect looks. Well, it was more of wistfulness than jealousy... I'm just being honest. But I get over my wistfulness almost as soon as I even think about it. We've been best friends since diaper days, and I love her a lot. She's like the sister I never had.

My parents were both doctors, (My dad used to be, before he passed away) and so was Beth's Mom, which was how we even knew each other. Even her older brother was studying to be a doctor.

"El, you look different today," Beth said, looking me up and down. "Almost lady-like." She burst out laughing at her lame joke, and I rolled my eyes at her. She was laughing hysterically now, holding on to my arm for support. I pulled my arm away from her grip, and glared at her.

"Hey Beth, you look like a deformed monkey on drugs," I replied. Much to my dismay, she laughed harder, clutching her stomach as if she was in pain. She might as well be, considering how hard she was laughing. I couldn't take in her silly position anymore.

I burst out laughing as well, both at our lame jokes and at her laughing and clapping her hands like a retarded seal. We probably looked like utter fools, but I didn't care. We both finally calmed down eventually.

"You know, I actually meant it when I said you look different," Beth said, actually looking serious.

My eyes widened. "You mean I didn't look like a lady before?"

"You know El, I sometimes wonder, if you really do have some knowledge, or you just pretend to be all smart. Idiot, I meant that you look really nice. Not that you didn't look nice before, but, as in nice nice, you know?"

"No, I don't know Beth. What are you trying to say?" I exclaimed, exasperated.

"You look drool-worthy."

My cheeks flushed bright red at her comment. I squirmed uncomfortably. "What the heck, Beth! Who uses words like that? That doesn't even make sense, anyway. You saw me almost every day during the summer! I can't suddenly change and be 'drool-worthy.' "

I always admired Beth's bluntness, but at times like this, I wished she wasn't so frank.

Beth just laughed at my expression, and said, "I use words like that. And it does make sense. You're beautiful, and you've never acknowledged that fact. You just look more grown up than last year, is all."

"Um...uh, thanks...I guess. I have no idea why you're suddenly bringing this up." Nevertheless, I was blushing furiously at her compliment.

Beth laughed again, and pinched my cheeks. "You're cute, El, you're cute." I slapped her hands away and glared at her. There was no point in arguing with her, she always wins. So I shut up, and asked to see her schedule.

She held it out to me and I took it, checking if we had any classes together. I squealed like a little kid when I saw that we had six out of eight classes together. Technically, it'd be seven periods together, if you count lunch. I've only had either one or two classes with her in the past two years, and this year, I had almost all of them with her.

In case you're wondering, our school has all the years mixed up together. That is, only if the other grade years chose the class that the others picked. I was the school "popular" nerd, with straight A's, no absences, and the student who never failed any test. So, of course I took the advanced classes that usually all the Seniors took.

"We have almost all the classes together!" I squealed again and hugged her, and Beth laughed at my childishness.

"God, El, there's no difference between you and a Kindergartner."

I whirled around to see Jason, my older brother, leaning against the lockers casually. I glared at him, and turned back around to face Beth again. She was amused by my behavior towards Jason. I usually didn't act like that towards my brother. Beth knew how much I loved my him.

"Hey, little sister, don't be mean," Jason grabbed my shoulder and made me face him. "I'm sorry, okay? I just forgot that I had to drop you off as well," He gave me a puppy-dog look, which he knew I couldn't resist.

"What do you mean, as well? Who else did you drop off?" I asked, confused.

"I'm not the only one who forgot something then, Hah! I had to drop off Ulises too, remember?" Jason said, smirking at me.

"Oh. OH!" I smacked my forehead. How could I forget? I have two brothers, Ulises, and Jason. Ulises was the oldest, and he went to college. He was 23 years old, and he still lived with us, since the college he went to was pretty close to our house. His car had broken down yesterday, and he had to be dropped off by Jason for today.

"Yeah, Oh!" Jason mimicked me, and ruffled my hair. I wasn't bothered, though. I don't mind when people ruffle, or touch my hair. I had soft brown hair, that was naturally straight, that reached up to my waist, and I loved it.I never had bad morning hair. It always stayed straight. I always tie it into a messy bun, with the ends sticking out everywhere. I liked it that way, no matter how much Beth complained about it.

"You act like an old lady with terrible memory, El," Beth complained. I glared at her yet again, and adjusted my bag on my shoulders.

"Shut up," I muttered, embarrassed.

"Alright, I'll see ya guys later, I have to get to class," Jason said, and left for his class.

"Let's get to gym, you don't want to be late in Ms. Kim's class," Beth said, grabbing my arm and pulling me with her.

"I can walk, you know," I hissed at her, trying to gain my balance while a few students turned to look at us as we passed.

We got into the girl's locker room just as the bell rang. We changed into our gym clothes and Beth walked ahead in front of me. We usually had gym outside, and we rarely used the gym, even in cold weather.

I kept walking, when suddenly, I saw two guys pushing each other playfully into other students right in front of me. My eyes widened and I stepped back, but one of the guys succeeded in slamming the other guy straight into me.

I stumbled ungracefully, my book bag sliding out of my shoulders and dropping to the ground. I followed right after it, my back hitting the ground. To my horror, the guy who bumped into me stumbled on my book bag and fell backwards right on top of me.

My breath was knocked out of me, and the guy immediately rolled on his side and got to his feet. He turned around and offered his hand to me, muttering profanities under his breath.

I looked up at his face, only to get lost into the beautiful hazel eyes with little flecks of gold in them. I've never seen this guy before, and I couldn't do anything but stare at him, drinking all his features in.

His short, dark brown hair was messy and sticking up in every direction. He had a strong jawline, with a hint of stubble on it, and he had pink, full lips. Ellie, snap out of it before he classifies you as a creep.

He cleared his throat, which finally snapped me out of my thoughts. I ignored his outstretched hand and scrambled to my feet. I saw his friend trying to muffle his laughter in the background but I ignored him too.

I grabbed my book bag and practically flew past them both and outside, even as the guy tried to say something. It was pretty embarrassing, if you ask me. I kept walking outside, looking for Beth

It was then that I noticed all the boys filing out of school and into the field. Wait, what? Boys? No. That's not possible, we can't have gym with the boys! I turned back to the guy with hazel eyes, to see that he was already looking at me.

A heavy blush dusted my cheeks and I turned away, walking to Beth who was all the way to the back of the field.

I know this is very late and I apologize, but I'm so happy that I finally did it! Thank you for the amazing cover above^ And so so sorry for uploading it so late! Thank you! ;D

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