Monday rolls in and I'm more grumpy than ever. I was not a morning person and the thought that I'd have see Ryder in my first class today didn't help my mood much.

"You look like shit," Sam comments raising an eyebrow at me.

I roll my eyes as I take my books out of the locker, "Thanks so much for the boost to the self esteem my best friend. Don't you have anything better to do? Like play hide and seek with Mason?"

She glares at me, "One word about that to anyone and rest assured that your body will be buried six feet under in one hour."

I smirk and wave at Chloe who has just seen us and rushes towards us.

"Hey Chloe! Do you know Sam likes to play kinky games with Mason-"

The rest of my sentence is muffled my Sam's death grip on my mouth, "What the hell? I just told you bitch-"

I smack her hand away and tut, "Nope. You told me to don't say one word to anyone. I didn't say one word! I said lots of them!"

Sam looks like she's about to jump on me and do some serious damage when the bell rings.

Dragging a confused Chloe by her hand, I dash for our classes.

"Lisa!" Chloe protests, "I didn't even get my books out!"

"What's more important to you? My life or your books?"

"Well," she gives me a pointed look.

I groan,"Fantastic."

She laughs, "You know I was just jocking, right? I love you."

I smile nodding, "Yeah, yeah. But I don't swing your way. Sorry."

She smacks my arm chuckling and we sit down on our sits. The teacher hasn't come yet so everyone is engaged in conversations. I glance around the room but don't spot Ryder anywhere.

A strange mixture of relief and disappointment floods me. I try to shake the thoughts away.

Lisa, don't act like such a child!

Chloe sees my expressions, "Hey, you okay?"

I grin at her, "Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

I've gotten really good at masking my emotions over the years. Since my old school's incident, I vowed that I'd never again let myself show my weakness and sadness to anyone.

I'll always be the happy-go-lucky girl. That way I can blow off every insult that is thrown at me like a joke.

No matter how much I want to cry, I'll always put on a smile.

And hope that someday, that smile just might turn into a real one.

She smiles buying my act, "Nothing. I was just worried. Because you know...You'd have to see him?"

After we left the shop yesterday, I had to physically hold back Chloe from barging in there and chocking Karin not to mention from giving Ryder a piece of her mind too.

Gee, too much TV Chloe.

Besides I'm not the main character. I was never supposed to get the guy. Small crushes on him are fine but hoping for something greater than that?

Ha!

He's obviously meant for someone much more beautiful and qualified person than me like Chloe or even Leah.

A better person than me.

Karin might be a good person too. I can't judge her without knowing her. Maybe she was just really dense and genuinely thought it would be inconvenient for me to sit with them.

Pfft. I bet that's the way people thought before they voted for Trump. See how it turned out?

Shut up stupid voice!

With a view to change the topic and assure her that I'm completely comfortable with talking about Ryder I ask her, "Hey, you know the other guy that was with Ryder? Andrew?"

Her mood instantly deflated, "How can I forget? He's like a gross image that I can't get out of my head."

I laugh, "Yeah, well he said he was officially starting school from today."

She scrunches up her nose, "Ew. I thought that the one day will be the first and last time I see him!"

I nudge her shoulder, "You know..."

She glares at me, "I swear to God, Lisa! If you utter one word about-"

I clap my hands excitedly, "This is just like a story!"

She groans and slams her head down on the table, "For the love of God! Shut up Lisa!"

"No, wait! Listen!" I interject excitedly, "You hate the guy. He called you a conceited bitch. So he doesn't like you much either! And there's a very fine line between love and hate!"

She repeatedly hits the desk with her head as she listens to me.

God, she's so dramatic!

Look who's talking!

"Attention class," Mr. Hart, our English teacher enters effectively silencing the students along with me, "We have a new student. Though he attended one class on Friday but he couldn't officially be admitted till today due to some technical difficulties."

I grin as Andrew saunters into the class. He smiles at me but notices who's sitting beside me and his smile soon turns into a scowl.

Fan girl squeal!

Between their glaring match, Mr. Hart interjects telling him to introduce himself. He's really handsome with sandy blonde hair and slightly tan skin. So it doesn't take long for the girls to flock around him.

Oh and you know what's the best part?

Mr. Hart pairs Chloe and Andrew for a Jane Eyre project because apparently the newbie will need guidance from a professional.

Chloe's murderous state doesn't prove her of much of a delightful company so I leave her to find Alexis after class is over.

Besides she's the only one of my friends who'll be interested in shipping random people you've only known for ten minutes tops with your best friends.

I don't show it but my eyes constantly search for Ryder throughout all day.

I don't see him anywhere.

I should feel glad and relieved, shouldn't I? But I feel disappointed and worried.

Stupid crush! I can't wait for it to go away!

I see Alexis leaning on the lockers as I go to retrieve my books for the next class.

I halt in my tracks as I take in her expression, "Alexis?"

She looks dreadful. There are huge bags under eyes. Her cheeks are puffed and her nose looks like she has been crying for hours. Instead of the imported clothes she usually wears, she's wearing a sweatshirt and baggy jeans.

In short, she looks like an average teenager.

Not alarming enough? Let me rephrase that, Alexis, the girl who can differ between the 30 shades of red and who looks like she's shooting a movie even when she's sleeping looks like an average teen.

Now you see why I'm worried?

I rush to her, "Alexis? Oh shit. What happened to you?"

She looks up at me, her lips quivering, "Lisa?"

I sense something terrible has happened and she desperately needs a friend. So I hug her tightly whispering comforting words. She breaks down in tears whilst clutching onto me. I don't ask her anything. I know she'd tell me when she'll be ready. No need to remind her of what happened by asking her again.

After filing a report on how my friend was sick and I'll be taking her home, I get her into my car.

By now, she has calmed down a little. But still I knew it wasn't enough.

I maneuvered my way throughout the traffic with the goal of taking her to the one place I knew would be perfect for her.

No, definitely not her home.

And no, in a pizza shop either. God, no. She hates carbs.

Guessed yet? Simple.

To the mall.

************

I knew I'd regret my choice later.

I sigh as I watch Alexis jump around from one shop to another gleefully. All previous thoughts had vanished from her head, just as soon as she saw a designer hand bag.

Then she saw a pair of branded shoes, a couple of imported cosmetics, some Prada dresses and so on.

"Oh my God! This dress is the best!" Alexis squeals as she twirls around wearing some short dress that looked exactly like the one she wore before.

"Isn't this great?" she asks me grinning.

I give her a thumbs up, "Pink looks great on you!"

Suddenly her face falls. Her lips quiver as if she's about to cry, "W-why would you say that?"

My eyes widen, "What did I do? Okay, okay! Stop crying! Pink looks bad on you! Disgusting, okay?"

She sniffs,"How could you? I thought you were my friend!"

I stand there dumbfounded as I comprehend the situation.

I don't even know what I did!

She looks up at me with hurtful eyes, "You- You said-"

"Yes?" I ask timidly.

"You said this dress is pink when clearly its magenta!"

Silence.

Can someone kill her?

********

"You just had to blow off all of your money in buying meaningless clothes, didn't you?"

"Oh so now its my fault you didn't refuel your car?"

"If you had just saved twenty dollars, Alexis! Then we wouldn't have to walk home!"

"You knew I would blow off all my savings if you took me to a mall! Still you had no problem about bringing me here!"

"I was trying to help!" I say exasperated, "And how was I supposed to know that the car will run out of gas in the middle of the road?"

She throws me a glare, "And who is supposed to keep track of the amount of gas in your car? The Easter Bunny?"

"And if you would've just bought what you wanted instead of trying on everything in a two mile radius, we wouldn't be walking home at 10 pm!"

Confused? Let me explain. The mall that I took Alexis to today was in the next town. It was the biggest mall in all of the towns around us so I thought it would be perfect for cheering Alexis up. As you've probably deducted from earlier banter, because she blew off all her money on stupid things and took her time doing it, it was 10 pm at night.

Oh and my car ran out of gas in the middle of the high way.

Oh and that's not the worst. I didn't bring my phone and her phone died just after she called for a tow truck. Not knowing how late it might be till the truck actually shows up, we decided to walk in case we can hitch a lift.

But not even one single car thought about stopping so far. Just our luck.

"And if you hadn't kept posting updates on your phone to complete strangers all throughout the day," I glare at her, "Then maybe it would still have some battery left and we could call someone."

I huff and walk faster. I notice a few convenience stores around us but the sketchy looking people that are peering out from its windows doesn't really scream welcoming. I look around hoping too find a pay phone from which we can call our parents and stop them from freaking out.

Now, I know what you're wondering. This is probably when some thugs attack us saying they'll show us a good time and some hot guy will come to our rescue.

Like the perfect 'it' story or a cliche romantic-comedy movie.

But as I've already mentioned before, shatter all your stereotype views while reading this story.

I halt in my tracks as my eyes fall on the scene.

"It's your bloody fault you forgot your phone," Alexis grumbles. I clutch onto her arm to shut her up.

"What?" she asks me annoyed and slightly surprised.

But my eyes aren't on anywhere near her.

"That's Ryder!" I whisper at her frantically, "And shut up or he'll see us!"

Alexis' eyes widen as she snaps her head towards him, "Seriously?"

There's no doubt about it. Ryder and Andrew are standing under a street lamp, only half a block away from us. We can see them clearly but I don't think they can see us as we are covered by darkness. Still taking no chance, I grab Alexis' hand and pull us into a narrow alleyway just beside us.

I peek my head from the alley, "I'm sure it's him. See that guy he's with? He's Andrew. He just enrolled in our school."

Alexis licks her lips, "Yummy."

An weird burning sensation fills my stomach as I think about her doing that because of seeing Ryder. I won't blame her. He's obviously worth checking out.

But then why are you feeling like this?

I shake these thoughts away as I try to focus, "I-I know."

I can't see her because we're both peering at them from the shadowed alley and her head is placed on mine, but I can hear a smirk in her voice.

"Jealous?" she asks smugly, "Don't worry. I was talking about his friend."

Thank you God for making it dark enough to not let her see my huge blush.

"No!" I snap loudly but quickly lower my voice as I remember them, "Of course I'm not jealous! It's just a small crush! It'll go away soon enough!"

She chuckles, "Keep telling yourself that sweetheart."

"Besides," I try to diver the attention away from me, "Should you be going around calling random people yummy when you have a boyfriend?"

I immediately regret the words as her hand clenches into fists and she suddenly goes quite.

Shit.

I think I know what might have happened.

"Alexis," I start, "I didn't realize..Shit. I'm so sorry-"

She cuts me off, "Look they're leaving!"

I know what she's trying to do. She's buying some time to ready herself so I give it to her.

And anyway, it's not like my curiosity will be satisfied till she knows what Ryder's up to by missing school.

Specially when he's very serious in his studies.

I turn my attention back to them. They seem to be hurrying to someplace.

"Maybe they're going home?" I propose stupidly.

"Not unless they reside in some dingy looking alley," Alexis rolls her eyes.

I bit my lip, "Well it doesn't matter. We can't do anything about it. Besides what the hell are we doing now? It's creepy."

She's silent for one moment. Then she says something I never would have imagined in a million years.

"Let's stalk them."

"What?" I spurt out not believing if I heard correctly.

"Let's follow them to see where they're going," she says so easily as if she's describing how her day was to her mom not how we'll be committing a felony.

"Are you crazy?" My eyes widen as I try to back away, "Obviously not! Look how narrow and empty the streets are! They'll see us!"

She shrugs, "So? Maybe then you'll get a chance to profuse your undying love to him."

I ignore that, "I...We...No...Can't...But...what?"

She makes a ticking noise, "Hurry up or we're going to lose them."

I turn my eyes towards their way only to see that they're almost disappearing. If I take even a minute longer to decide, they'll be gone.

Oh, come on! You know you want to.

I sigh, "Damn it!"

Alexis smirks dragging me behind them, "Just be quiet, don't trip on your feet and we'll be fine."

I heave out a hopeless sigh as we blend into the shadows following them, "I can't believe I'm stalking my crush at 11 pm in the night in a unknown alleyway inside who knows which city with no money or phone with my shopaholic friend!"

"Oh shush. Don't you know that friends who stalk together, stay together?"

That's the last thing she says before we both fall into silence.

But not my heart, oh no. I'm pretty sure with how fast its beating, they'll have no problem seeing us.