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~Thirty-five minutes later~

The bell finally rang and Julie and Gina led me out to a courtyard I assumed was strategically placed to be accessible by most parts of the school. Seriously, how big is this place??

"Your locker is 738, right?" Gina asked. I nodded as I once again looked at my trusty schedule. That thing was saving my life today. She pointed next to me at a tall blue locker with a little silver plate mounted on it that read "738". After looking at all those numbers in what was the most BRUTAL math class ever, I didn't even notice. I saw Mel walking up to me out of the corner of my eye with two other girls: one I recognized as the girl I sat behind in Mr. Selmon's class. Small world for such a big school, huh?

"Hey! I couldn't find you after class." she said breathlessly as the girl I didn't regognize opened a locker behind them.

"Yeah, um.." I pulled on the door after dialing in my combination but the thing wouldnt budge. Damn it. "You know, new day. Just slipped my mind." That was the truth.

Her face slackened for a moment before brightening up. "No problem, dude. So, I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?"

"Yep. Moved - here - a - few - days - ago." I said as a struggled to open my locker door, finally getting it open with some help from Julie.

I nearly gasped at what I saw in the locker. Or rather, the tiny cubicle of a locker. The thing must have been built when people in school didnt have to carry 20 pounds of books. Mel saw the look on my face and laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about the locker situation. All the newbies get the rejected lockers 'cause we dont have nearly as much as we need."

"I'm sure I'll survive." I responded.

"You look familiar... Like I've seen you before..." she trailed off, looking me over.

"You're not famous, are you?" she asked suddenly, giving up on her quest to place me in her memory.

Oh shit. I quickly shook my head. "Not that I know of," I laughed, a shaky laugh, a sort of warning like to not get any ideas.

"Are you sure?" she asked again, reaching up into her mane of red hair and pulling out a black scrunchie.

She looked as if she was racking her brain to try and place me somewhere as her hair fell down to her shoulders. Something told me racking her brain wouldn't take her long.

"Oh! Now I remember!" she exclaimed. "You look like that girl I saw in US Weekly the other day. She was with Aaron Carter." I almost dropped my history book on my foot.

I grasped the heavy thing just in time, before it slipped out of my grasps, just like my reputation was bound to be once this get out.

I jumped forward to clasp my left hand on her mouth, signalling her to not shout by bringing my right index finger to my lips. She nodded, and I slowly let go.

"So you are her, huh?" she asked excitely, thankfully keeping her voice down.

I slowly nodded. Oh shit...

She gazed in admiration at me. "Wow," she breathed, "I can't believe I know the girl who is dating Aaron Carter! I can't wait to tell my family, and LD, and..."

While she was rambling whatever she was rambling, I was mentally stabbing myself for letting this happen. Not that it was my fault anyways. Wait. Rewind.

"What did you say?" I asked as calmly as I could. Best to keep her under control.

"That I was gonna post it on LD, Myspace, and -"

"No, the other thing." I told her, casually closing my locker door. Damn thing didnt shut, and I rammed my shoulder against it to make it click. Ouch.

"You're dating Aaron Carter!" she squealed. She seemed to remember my request to keep quiet just then, but she closed her mouth too late.

A bunch of sophmores were already looking at me.

"Oh fuck." I muttered.

"Are you, Amy?" Julie asked from behind me. I almost forgot she and Gina were there. Thank God Mel's friends walked away before she said anything about this. This day was going great.

"No, I'm not," I stuttered. But then Aaron's smiling face popped up into vision, the way he licked his lips before kissing me, the way his eyes smiled before he spread his lips. "I'm not," I assured them.

"Oh." Mel said, sounding disappointed. "But you do know him?"

"Would it matter if I didn't?" I asked, my mind racing. We were in a magazine?? I flashed back to the man in the car that day at lunch. Oh God. Mel frowned for a moment, unable to come up with a response. Do I smell wood burning? I sighed. "Hes my neighbor."

"Wow!" She said, managing to keep her voice quiet enough to not draw any attention over to us again. "Thats awesome!"

I sighed again. Now I probably looked like an old lady suffering from exhaustion with all this sighing. "So you're gonna be my friend just because I know Aaron Carter?" The smile on her face disappeared as shook her head, apparently searching for the words she probably thought I'd wanna hear. If thinking was breathing, this girl would be dead on the floor by now. "Listen, you seem nice, but if your only reason for talking to me was because you thought I'd help you meet Aaron, I'm sorry you wasted your time." I said. Just then, the bell rang. "I'll talk to you later, though, I hope." I said.

Her lip quivered and eyes widened, like she was about to cry. I tried to block my sympathy with a dam to hold it back, but it seemed to be on lock. "Look, I'm sorry." I added. "I just dont really need anything else to worry about okay? I was hoping that you'd want to be my friend for myself, but if you weren't, then I guess I'll see you in class." I turned on my heel and started walking away to my next class, Gym, when I heard clattered footsteps behind me.

I felt Julie tense up at my side. She really didn't like Mel. I wonder why...

I felt a hand on my shoulder that stopped me from moving ahead with Julie. I turned around to see Mel, an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry. I got a little too excited and I guess I stopped thinking." Stopped? When did she start? "Maybe we could all sit together at lunch." She glanced past me at Julie, who nodded sweetly. Fake sweet, but sweet nonetheless. Julie pulled me with her by the hand as she continued down the hallway.

"I dont like her," Julie announced once we were in the Gym. "She's a weirdo."

I made a muffled noise in response. Don't say anything. "So, uh, where's the P.E. teacher?"

She gave me a look. "Dont avoid the subject. Don't hang out with her."

Well, excuse me, Queen Julie.

I stopped walking and waited before she turned around and realized that I'd stopped keeping stride with her.

"Amy?" she called, as if I were a puppy.

"What makes you think you can tell me who to hang out with?"

"I don't, I just-"

"Yeah, she made a bad impression, but until she gives me a really good reason not to, I don't see why I shouldn't give her a chance. Do you even know her? Well enough to decide you don't like her?" I added before Julie had the chance to answer.

"No, I guess not."

"Well, maybe you should try." I said softly. "Give her a chance. I know I'm going to."

~Afterschool~

I looked up overhead at the dim, blustery sky. Damn. I must have done something sinful in order to deserve a threat of thundershower. And yay for me. No ride. Dad must have been so wrapped up in his new job as a business accountant, that he forgot about me. Just effin great.

I finally made it to my house and plopped down on my bed as soon as I got up to my room. I groaned as I heard my phone ring. Too... tired... can't... reach phone... in pocket...

As the ringing stopped, I let out a deep breath. Whoever it was could leave a message, even though I could only think of about five people who knew I even had the darned thing: My mom, my dad, Aaron, Julie, and Gina.

I heard the front door open downstairs. "AMY!" my mom called.

"Yes?" I managed to call.

"Someone's on their way up to see you!"

"Okay!" I said. I jumped up as I saw Aaron at my door, looking at me as if I'd been gone for years.

"Hey! How was it?"

"I thought I'd never get out of there."

"That bad, huh?"

"I did manage to make a few friends..."

"Thats good."

"Yeah... I guess..." I trailed off.

"Whats wrong?" he frowned, searching my eyes for the hidden answer. Hadn't anyone told him we were all over the tabloids?

I pulled him onto the bed, letting him rub my hands for a moment before answering.

"Some girls saw my picture with you in the magazine."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry, Amy, I didn't find out until after you'd left for school."

"Its okay..." I said, kissing him on the cheek. "I told them we weren't dating, though." I hung my head, not wanting to see his reaction.

"Its okay," he said, "Its none of their business anyway." he picked up my chin and kissed my lips. "Just please tell me they didn't treat you like a lepper."

"No, not at all. I actually had made 2 friends before anyone even mentioned you."

"Great!" He said.

"Yeah! They're cool."

"Gotta be to hang out with you..." He smiled. That smile!

"Forget about me. How was your day?" I asked, instantly warmed up just by Aaron's empowering presence. "Did you have fun?"

Aaron's face darkened a moment as he turned his head to look out at the pouring thunderstorm. He looked back at me to see if I'd noticed. I pretended I hadn't.

"Well..not really." he mumbled.

"Aaron, you're totally lying right now."

"Okay, fine." Aaron sighed, "My label dropped me."