"Guys, wait up!" I yelled, placing my bag over my shoulders before slamming my locker shut.

Angel and Rain slowed down and turned around to wait for me, laughing at some shared joke. Rain pushed the red curls that fell exasperatingly onto her face behind her ears and placed her hands on her hips, glancing at Angel with a giggle.

Angel explained something then burst out laughing, leaning on the locker closest to her for support as she bent over and placed her hands on her knees

I walked hastily towards my best friends, pulling down the annoying blue blouse that had been riding up my belly all day, and ran a hand through my blonde curls. I slowed as I neared Angel and Rain, who were bent over in laughter.

"…you should have been there, Rain it was awesome" Angel said as she wiped a few stray tears from her cheek. I smiled and pulled the blouse down once more before crossing my arms over my chest.

"What are you guys talking about?" I said as they linked their arms through mine and we walked down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

"Angel was just telling me about Diana and Hillary's fight in the bathroom" Rain said as she turned to look at Angel, a laugh threatening to burst from her.

"It was epic" Angel said as she chuckled once more, before running her left hand through her hair.

Today, she had gone for an 'Elena' look as she called it, Elena being the character on the television series "The Vampire Diaries" which was also one of our favorite TV series of all time. I giggled as we walked through the doors of the cafeteria and walked towards the line to get our lunch.

"Hey guys," Sydney, a shy girl in the grade below us, murmured as we approached the line. I smiled at her and ran my hands through my hair again, placing my left hand on my waist.

"Hey Sydney" I said as the line moved forward slightly. My friends did the same, waving at her before launching into conversation once more. Sydney blushed and turned towards the cook, who had asked her what she would like to get.

"Hey Claire," the three of us greeted the cook as we stretched out our trays for lunch. Claire smiled and placed servings of lasagna on our plate, before waving as we walked away.

I grabbed a bottle of ginger ale and trailed my friends to our usual table that was smack in the center of the cafeteria. We placed our trays on the table and sat down, and then I turned to Angel who seemed to have the scoop on what had gone down between Hillary and Diana.

"I was just re-applying my make-up in front of the bathroom mirror. Hillary came out of one of the stalls and started making conversation with me…" I looked around the cafeteria as Angel explained, hoping I would spot Hillary. She had become one of our friends and I had to make sure she was okay.

"So Diana walks in with her friend, you know Chloe, and she's bragging so loud about how she hooked up with Darrel last week at Alex's party"

I dragged my gaze back to Angel in shock, and she nodded eagerly, glancing briefly at Rain who was smiling at Angel's enthusiastic behavior "I know poor Hillary. Anyway…"

Hillary Swan was a new transfer student that had resumed at Moundville High almost four months ago; I had been a.s.signed by the Princ.i.p.al to show her around and that was how we had become friends. A week later, we had gone to hang out at a barbeque hosted by the football team at Justin Hall's place and that's where she met Darrel, who was a wide receiver on the team. A few days later, he asked her out and they had been dating ever since. I just didn't understand why Darrel had done it because I was pretty sure he liked her. Or at least, I thought he did.

Diana on the other hand had a reputation for stealing other people's boyfriends. Rain blamed it on her ridiculously large b.o.o.b job and wiggly b.u.m.

"Then Hillary starts full out yelling at Diana that she's a s.l.u.t and that's why no one never wanted to date her and that they all just want to sleep with her," Angel is doing this crazy and dramatic hand movements with her hands "so Diana gets so angry and pushes Hillary who stumbled into me. The whole time, I'm just standing there in shock right?"

"Why didn't you stop them?" Rain asked, as she placed a piece of lasagna in her mouth and glanced up at Angel. Angel wiggled her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest in defense.

"Well, I didn't know I had to! It was just a push and I didn't see what happened next coming" she jutted out her chin and took a quick sip of water.

"What happened?" I asked as I cut into the pasta with the plastic knife. Angel smiled and turned towards me, putting the cap back on her bottle of water.

"Well, Hillary flung herself at Diana and knocked her down," Angel smiled and placed a piece of lasagna in her mouth "I started laughing then"

"You could have stopped them then," Rain said matter-of-factly and Angel rolled her eyes at Rain, completely ignoring her remark.

"Diana looked completely hopeless but Hillary just kept throwing punches. I'm not sure who told but Miss Ratzinger burst in then and split them up" Angel said as she gulped down her water "I say Hillary should have thrown more punches."

I laughed and shook my head, before cutting into another piece of lasagna

"Who should have thrown more punches?" a voice asked then and I swallowed, glancing up just as Alexander Morris placed his lips on mine.

I smiled into the kiss and returned it.

"Hey guys, eating here" Rain said, scrunching up her nose as she sipped her chocolate milk. I rolled my eyes and pulled away from Alex, before sticking my tongue out at Rain.

"Hey," he said as Angel made s.p.a.ce for him next to me. He sat down and placed his tray on the table. He turned to me and poked my dimple, causing my smile to stretch even wider.

"Who missed me?" a very infuriating voice said, causing my smile to falter slightly. I glanced up and stared as Justin Hall, as well as all the other guys on the football team, a.k.a. my friends approached the table.

"How about no one?" Angel said, rolling her eyes and placing a forkful of her lunch in her mouth to keep herself from throwing insults at Justin. Ever since his party the weekend she had moved here, she had detested him. Especially after he spread the rumor that she put out for anyone and everyone.

"I know you, if not anyone else, missed me the most" Justin said, placing his tray next to Angel's and taking the seat next to her. He placed his arm around her waist and snuggled his face into her neck.

"Eww, get the h.e.l.l away from me Hall, or I swear I'll make you up with this pasta sauce" Angel threatened, her face going red with frustration as she shoved Justin's arm away from her.

"The day both of you confess your undying love to each other, I would not be surprised" Tony, the team's center, said with a wide smile as he placed an entire brownie into his mouth. Angel looked at him in disgust and sighed irritably.

"Don't even joke," her voice was low and threatening, causing the rest of us to sn.i.g.g.e.r, Justin smiling at her in amus.e.m.e.nt.

Alex placed his hand around my shoulders and I s.h.i.+fted closer, intertwining my fingers with the hand that was draped over me.

I placed another piece of lasagna, glancing at Angel who had moved across me to get away from Justin, but he had just followed her.

"Where's Lolita?" her boyfriend Shane asked me as he approached the table, his bag hung loosely over his right shoulder.

Rain shrugged and nudged her head in my direction "Ask Shay"

"I think she's on the track" I said with a shrug and rolled my eyes as he glanced at me, shooting me a pleading look.

"Thanks," he said, a grateful smile on his lips as he turned and strode out of the cafeteria. Alex smiled and b.u.mped me gently.

"I'm glad you didn't give him the cold shoulder"

"I just don't like him," I said, shrugging slightly as I turned back to my food.

"You don't like any of the boys who have a thing for Lolita" Alex laughed, stabbing a piece of my food with his fork, and completely ignoring my protests as he placed it in his mouth. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest.

"That's not true," I said, jutting out my chin stubbornly. He laughed and kissed my temple before removing his hand and turning towards the guys. I turned towards Rain, who was sitting on my other side.

"Do I?" I asked Rain, who tore herself from the conversation she had been involved in and glanced at me.

"Do you really what?" she asked confusedly, placing her fork down.

"Do I dislike anyone that has a thing for Lolita?"

"Well, yeah you do, but it's understandable because you care about her and want to protect her" Rain shrugged, smiling warmly at me before turning back to Leo, the running back in the football team, and continuing whatever she had been saying.

I nodded, even though Rain wasn't paying attention to me anymore, and turned back to my food.

"I'm throwing you a birthday party," Justin said, glancing across the table at me. Angel sneered and looked at him.

"You just need an excuse to get drunk"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Justin shrugged, his lips turned up in a smirk "besides," he turned to me "it's your birthday, I'm your friend," – Angel scoffed – "and we should celebrate."

I glanced at Alex, who nodded slightly at me and smiled sheepishly. He ducked his head and placed his lips close to my ear.

"It was my idea."

I chuckled and rolled my eyes at Alex before glancing back at Justin.

"Sure."

Justin smiled contentedly and went back to annoying the h.e.l.l out of Angel.

"So who were you guys talking about when I walked in?" Alex asked Angel, interrupting her in the act of slamming her plate into Justin's face. She cleared her throat, composed herself, and slowly put down the plate. She glared at Justin, who smirked back triumphantly, before dragging her gaze to Alex.

"We were talking about Hillary and Darrel," Angel said, leaning forward slightly to lower her voice "and Diana"

"I heard about that," Ryan said as he closed his bottle of Gatorade.

"Yeah, Darrel is in the library talking to Hillary so she doesn't yell at him" Randy sn.i.g.g.e.red, placing an entire cookie in his mouth.

The way these boys ate was beyond me.

"He was drunk," Justin said exasperatedly as if that was an excuse "what you chicks don't understand is that when guys get drunk, we get h.o.r.n.y"

"Well, that doesn't mean you go around making out with anyone in skimpy clothes and a protruding bosom," Angel said, scrunching up her nose as she glanced at Justin "Especially not Diana"

"I happen to like Diana. She is the only one who understands guy code! The rest of you are just emotionally wrecked and you always want what you can't have" Justin said, rolling his eyes as he stabbed a meatball on his plate "especially you Angel."

Angel gasped and her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. She took in a deep breath, clenched her fists and turned to face Justin.

"One. Diana is the biggest wh.o.r.e in this school and she is the only girl in the right state of mind that would sleep with you," Angel said, holding up a finger "and that is the only reason you like her." Angel raised her second finger, the rest of the table watching her in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Two. The only reason you call me especially wrecked, is because of what happened the night I moved here" Her face had turned pink as she glared at Justin.

"I like Diana because she doesn't ask any questions," Justin said but Angel scoffed and cut him off.

"Because she's a harlot"

Justin ignored Angel and continued "and I spread the rumor because it's true"

"What?" Angel shrieked, her fists balled into tight fists. She looked at Justin as though she were about to murder him "You claimed I put out for anyone and everyone! How the h.e.l.l is that the truth?"

Justin rolled his eyes and the two of them continued yelling at each other, the rest of the table getting bored with their constant fights. This was pretty much the same scenario every day so we just ignored them until lunch was over.

"Where's Heaven?" I asked Rain, her expression nonchalant as we walked out of the cafeteria. She shrugged, blew Alex, and I a kiss, before walking off. I laughed, yelping when Alex yanked my arm and pulled me closer to him.

"I got you a birthday present," he said as he snuck his arm around my waist. I sighed, feigning annoyance as he walked me to my locker.

"I told you not to get me anything" I said, giggling when he poked my side as we neared my locker.

"Yeah well, I'm your boyfriend so I don't have to ask your permission" He leaned on the locker next to mine and smiled cheekily at me. I rolled my eyes and punched in my code, before pulling the locker open.

"Knock yourself out," I said with a teasing smile as I put the textbooks I would not need in my bag "Are you sure the whole party thing is a good idea? Justin's parties tend to get a bit too wild and chaotic"

"It's going to be fun," Alex said, slowly wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him "besides, I get to spend time with the birthday girl"

I laughed as he ducked his head and kissed me.

At that moment, all my worries and doubts flew out the window. Turning seventeen would be awesome and I had everyone I cared about to celebrate it with me. Besides, it was just a birthday party.

A birthday party organized by Justin Hall.

What could go wrong?