Ps; do not judge bc this is only the 1st chapter! Chapter 1 I walk through the hallway, looking for Jaquie and Keria. I look to my right—the girls’ locker room. They’d usually be there. I hear Ms. Riley. She’s calling me. I quickly turn around, but she shouts my name again. Great. “Sienna! My girl! Come here!” My face turns red because at that point everyone is looking at me. “Ms. Riley. Haha, how are you?” “Aw, I’m great, you know–” “I should go, you know! Class starts now!” “Wait! Class starts in 20 minutes–” I run while she screams, looking for someone to chase me. I stop. Finally! Keria and Jaquie! And they are with Darren Moss. Okay wait, Darren is not the type of guy who is kind and charming. He’s a complete jerk. I didn’t know Keria and Jaquie liked Darren. In fact, Keria talked the most bad about him. Jaquie looks back and I signal her what the hell is going on. She doesn’t get the sign. So one more thing left to do. I walk up, my back aching because, who wouldn’t feel like I do when you just ran from your 2nd grade teacher then spotted your trio with a guy—a jerk, who everyone hates. “Hey guys. What’s up?” I say, but deep down? I want to scream and insult Darren as hard as I can. Keria too, a little. Jaquie looks uncomfortable, like really uncomfortable. You cannot imagine. “Ahem, ahem, Sienna,” Darren says.“Hello, Darren. Ugh.” “Sienna!” Keria says. I know she’s going to yap. “Sienna! Darren is cool, I told him about everything we said about him. He was mad at first, but Jaquie and I calmed him down.” Jaquie gives me an uncomfortable look. “Yeah, Sienna, Darren is… nice.” Jaquie sighs. Okay, this is not normal. It’s literally the first day of school and I need to deal with this. Do you even know what he did to me last year?! So I stood on the assembly hall’s stage with the head teacher giving something. I don’t remember why and what it was. Then he stood on his chair; there were chairs because it was an ‘important’ thing. He screamed something bad about me. Then everyone booed. I did nothing. It's lunch now and Jaquie and I are in the library. She’s painting around, her hair falling on her face. Today she tried a messy bun: not her style. “Sienna!” she says worriedly. She shakes my shoulders to make sure I'm listening. “I’m listening, Jaquie! And I'm worried too. Like, what if Darren uses Keria? Oh gosh…” I pause to create suspense. “What, Sienna! Spill!” “Keria… She told everything to him!” “That backstabbing girl!” Jaquie pulls a chair for herself and sits down, a frown on her face. “Sienna, he said I have a boy’s name! That I'm useless, that I'm a boy, and so much more.” “That’s really deep. Don’t listen to him. His last name is literally Moss!” We burst out laughing. “Stop! I can’t feel my stomach!” Keria walks in. “What the hell, Keria!” Keria puts her hands up, you know, like she’s getting arrested. “What? I’m sorry!” “Why would you hang out with Darren Moss!” Jaquie said, her voice cold. “Jaquie! Oh gosh… I didn’t! I swear, I promise, triple promise! Sienna, you know, right? I talked the worst about him! Why would I hang out with him? Why!?” Everyone paused. We all knew something was wrong. Because Keria did hang out with Darren Moss. Jaquie turns her head around, embarrassed. “Sorry..” “It’s okay, Jaquie—” “YOU DID HANG OUT! YOU JUST MAKE EXCUSES DAY AND NIGHT!! DON’T YOU GET TIRED?!” Jaquie screamed. A teacher rushes in. I take a few steps away from Jaquie because I’m genuinely scared. The teacher takes Jaquie. Keria and I glance at each other, worried. “No! I screamed!” I blurt out. The teacher doesn’t listen. He says he’s been through this covering thing a million times. That he doesn’t want kids to get away again. Jaquie. Jaquie. She never gets in trouble. No. Jaquie goes, frustrated. Keria looks at me. She’s having a moment. In these moments, Keria texts because she doesn't have any words to say–or is too scared to say anything. I look at my phone. 20 texts from mom. 20 text “YOU DID HANG OUT! YOU JUST MAKE EXCUSES DAY AND NIGHT!! DON’T YOU GET TIRED?!” Jaquie screamed. A teacher rushes in. I take a few steps away from Jaquie because I’m genuinely scared. The teacher takes Jaquie. Keria and I glance at each other, worried. “No! I screamed!” I blurt out. The teacher doesn’t listen. He says he’s been through this covering thing a million times. That he doesn’t want kids to get away again. Jaquie. Jaquie. She never gets in trouble. No. Jaquie goes, frustrated. Keria looks at me. She’s having a moment. In these moments, Keria texts because she doesn't have any words to say–or is too scared to say anything. I look at my phone. 20 texts from mom. 20 texts from dad. I look at Keria, typing. A heavy feeling fills my chest. Something is seriously wrong. Like seriously.
