Chapter 1 – Ordinary Friday Today started off like every other, with my alarm shrieking and my mom yelling at me to get up. “Come on, get up! You’re gonna be late.” “I’m going.” I answered, annoyed. It doesn’t take much to piss me off these days. I stood up and glared at my reflection in the mirrored closet doors. I felt no connection to the person that was staring back at me. I neither loved nor hated her; she was just there. I looked into her eyes, which were so pale they were almost white, and at the pale white color of her skin, which seemed even whiter then it really was next to her long, jet-black hair. She was small, only about 5’3, and she had a thin build. I reached out and gingerly touched the ring in her left eyebrow. I had gotten it pierced about a week ago, but it seemed to be healing pretty well. I turned away from her and got ready, my mom nagging at me the whole time. Like I said, today was no different from any other Friday. I wish I had known then what the day would bring; then I could’ve just stayed in bed. I got to school and wandered around until my two best friends, Jesse and Karen, showed up. Karen was wearing her usual, a dark blue sweatshirt and black pants, with her short blonde hair down around her face, framing her dark brown eyes. Karen’s great, she’s one of those people that always seems to be in a good mood, no matter how bad the day is. I can talk to her about whatever happens to pop into my head, which is good because I hate having to watch what I say around people. And we’re so much alike; it’s not even funny. I swear, she’s like the sister I never had. Jesse on the other hand is, well, Jesse. He’s awesome, I mean, he just has a really great personality, and he’s always such a smartass, it’s hilarious. I feel the same way around him as I do Karen, but lately I’ve been kind of avoiding him because, I think I’m in love with him, and it hurts every time I see him because I know he doesn’t feel the same way about me. But hey, that’s the story of my life. He walked up wearing long beige shorts, a white T-shirt, and his favorite white Nike sneakers, which he refuses to get rid of, even though they’re falling apart. His wiry brown hair hung down over his forehead and his bright green eyes shone when he smiled. “Hey, Lily.” I talked with them for a few minutes, and then made up an excuse about forgetting my book in my locker so I could leave. Karen knew I was lying, but she also knows about the whole Jesse thing, so she kept him busy and let me go. I walked down the hall away from them, with my headphones turned up to block out the sound of all the people around me. Things have gotten so complicated lately that I’m not sure where I fit in anymore. Actually, I’m not sure where any of us fit in. Someone yelled at me. I turned around to see who it was. Karly, I thought, Great . Karly’s not exactly my favorite person, and on top of that, I just wasn’t in the mood to talk to anybody right now. I guess you could say that I’ve always been a little jealous of her too because she has been totally open with Jesse about how she feels (she likes him too), which is something that I could never do. She was wearing a short skirt, a halter top, and tall, black boots. Slut, I thought. Her short, chestnut-brown hair flowed gently as she walked over to me, with this week’s obsession following her. I forced myself to look into her green eyes, which were barely visible because her pupils were so dilated, and smile. “Hey Lily, what’s up?” she asked me. “Hey Karly.” I said quietly. The bell rang and the guy spoke up. “Hey I gotta go Karly, but I’ll see you later ok?” “Ok, I will definitely talk to you later.” She answered, letting go of his hand and batting her eyes at him. He walked away. “Isn’t he hot? Oh my gosh I love him.” she said. That’s pretty much how conversations go around Karly. In a week or two she’ll get sick of him and find someone new to obsess over. It’s different with Jesse though. She still likes him. It really pisses me off sometimes. I walked away from Karly and continued down the hall. “Hey Lily, what’s up?” Why do these fuckin people keep talking to me? Do they think I’m actually interested in hearing what they’ve got to say? I looked up at Craig, the guy who’s hopelessly obsessed with Karen. I gave him a very evil look, which I guess he mistook as sadness. Craig’s not exactly the brightest crayon in the box, by the way. “Damn Lil, you look like your best friend just died… Holy shit! She didn’t did she? Is Karen ok? Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me anything!” Stupid person. Must escape. “Shit Craig, calm down! Karen’s fine. I think you need to lay off the caffeine though. And it’s Lily , don’t give me that Lil shit.” Only important people are allowed to call me Lil. I feel bad for Craig though, I really do. He will die a virgin. The rest of the day was pretty much the same as every other day. Went to class, forced myself to answer people when they talked to me, did last nights homework in the library during lunch, you know, the usual. Finally free, I headed for the bus. Karen caught me on the way out. “So you goin to the dance?” “What dance?” “The one tonight.” “There’s a dance tonight?” “Well if there wasn’t, I probably wouldn’t be asking you if you were going to it.” “Good point. You going?” “Yeah. Jesse too.” “K. I’ll be there.” “Cool.” "Oh my god! Karen!” Craig yelled as he ran up to us. He grabbed Karen and put his head on her shoulder. “I thought I’d lost you,” he said hysterically, sounding like he was about to cry. Karen and I exchanged weird looks over his head and laughed hysterically. Cuz that’s just the way things go when Karen and me are together. There’s lots of laughing at other people. I went home, caught my favorite show, and then got ready for the dance. I don’t usually go to school things, but every once in a while a dance or somethin will come up that seems worth going to. Anyway, Jesse and Karen were going, so it couldn’t be too bad right? Wrong. I was sitting off to the side. Jesse and Karen were dancing. I had already taken pictures of everyone and I was getting extremely bored. I looked up and saw my friend, Haley, walking off the dance floor. Finally, I thought, someone I can have a decent conversation with. Haley’s usually kind of… Out there. Way out there. She’s just so… random. It’s really funny though. Like, you could just be sitting there talkin to her, and all of a sudden she’ll just say something that’ll make absolutely no sense, but you’ll still end up laughing your ass off over it. And I think it’s really cool how she doesn’t let things get to her and she doesn’t take shit from anybody. She’s just an awesome person; everyone loves her. She came over and sat next to me, and her boyfriend sat down next to her. I couldn’t tell what the guy looked like; it was too dark in there. She was wearing her usual, a T-shirt and jeans. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was pulled back so her earrings, which went all the way up her ears, were clearly visible, and her tongue ring flashed in the dim light when she talked. “Hey Lil, what’s goin on?” “Not much. I’m so bored.” “Yeah, this dance kinda sucks. But I’m throwin a party later, so you can come to that if you want to, everyone else is.” “Is Jesse gonna be there?” “Yeah, and Karen.” Even though it was dark, I could still see the look on her face as she said that. “You really don’t like her, do you?” “No. I’m sorry, cuz I know she’s you’re best friend and everything, but I can’t stand her!” “Well you’re not exactly her favorite person either, so I guess it works out, huh?” I said, smiling. Haley and Karen have hated each other for as long as I’ve known them, so I didn’t expect that to ever change. “If you don’t like her then why did you invite her to your party?” “Cuz Jesse wouldn’t leave me alone about it, and you know how hard it is to say no to him.” “Yeah…” I guess I should’ve figured out then that something was going on, but the thought never even crossed my mind. I guess when you don’t want to believe something you just block it out and think, that could never happen. Not to me… But it can happen, and chances are, it will. I went to the party at Haley’s. It wasn’t like most parties; this one was actually fun. There were people dancing, music playing, and even a few drinks. Damn, I guess Haley wasn’t kidding when she said everyone was coming, I thought. There was a whole bunch of people; I didn’t even recognize half of them. It was fun at first, but after a while it got old, so I started looking for Jesse and Karen. I walked from room to room. I finally found them in Haley’s room, sitting together on her bed. I started walking over to them when I saw Karen leaning in towards him. I stopped dead.