This story begins on the first day I laid eyes on her.

I started school in the middle of the first semester of the school year. Awkward. My mom had always promised never to do this to me. This time I had agreed to go along without a fight under a few conditions - not that I really had a choice. No more moving until I finished off my junior and senior year at one high school. And I could go to the local high school of my choosing.

I chose a school with a population of over a thousand students. This might be every day for you but for me, it was as exciting as going to Disney World.

The school was in a new state and I didn't know a single person. The first day the dean introduced me to a student to show me around, an obligatory assigned friend for the new girl. We will call her Katie. She is an overachiever-type, pretty in the way that most blondes with blue eyes are. Not a bombshell by any means, she had the slim body type of a runner. A long-distance runner is more accurate since that was her position on the track team. She was also in the school band and part of the student council, like I said overachiever.

Yet, in a school this large with so many different types of people she blended into no particular group. She was slap dab in the middle of the high school hierarchy. I knew right away I'd fit into her friend circle. They were right in my comfort zone. This story is clearly not about her.

At lunch she introduced me to her friends, there were about five of them sitting at her table. Her boyfriend, whose name I can't remember and don't feel like making up, was also in the band and participated in an unspecified sport. And her best friend Kris, he was in theatre and captained an all-male acapella group. Her other three friends were fillers like me, I won't introduce them.

Kris and Katie were tighter then PB&J in a sack lunch on a hot day. They would always quote Mean Girls. I can't remember how many times I'd walk up to them, sitting together their heads bowed giggling and gossiping, for them to look up and exclaim, "You can't sit with us!" Only to have them pat the seat next to them or pull a chair out for me.

They were also the biggest gossips I'd ever met. Real life gossip girls. They seemed to know everything about everyone. It was through them I learned about her, or at least how everyone at school viewed her.

She was the first topic of gossip for them to discuss after introductions. It was, "Hi, everyone this is the new girl", after which everyone introduced themselves. They asked me a couple of questions about myself. Where was I from, what my hobbies were, and if I was dating anyone. I made a couple of jokes and tried to be as charming as possible about my uneventful life.

I mentioned I was a dancer, classical nothing hip, I didn't have a boyfriend, and wasn't from much of anywhere-yadda yadda, same ole, same ole. I was met with approving smiles and then it was on to the real conversation. The Dirty.

Most high schools have a formal newspaper or newsletter, run by students and supervised by the powers that be. Sunny High was no different; however, Sunny High also had an online "newsfeed". One unknown to the grown-ups. It was called, "The Dirty".

It was a place where students could post what was going on in RL. And anyone could post if it was dirty enough. You could upload the link or photo you'd taken and then follow it with a description. It was users choice to post anonymously or loud and proud. Then you would wait, if it was juicy enough the admin approved, then it was posted for the world to see. Students posted pictures of fun parties with blurbs about each person. Jilted lovers posted dirty secrets about their exes.

There were stories of cheaters, and love triangles and scandals. It was a parent's nightmare and a snooping future employers treasure trove. For the students of Sunny High, The Dirty was a badge of honor. You only got on The Dirty if people cared about what you did and were worth mentioning. Kris and Katie claimed they'd uploaded several tidbits. Though to me it didn't seem they were running in the right crowd to get the deets.

I'm vaguely listening when my new lunch buddies began to discuss The Dirty. I'm not all that into gossip, I find it shallow and mean. Still, I couldn't help but be intrigued by a few phrases here and there.

Kris leans in close to Katie; her cell is in hand. "She slept with...."

My eyes drift across the cafeteria room. I'm fascinated by the sheer amount of students in one room, maybe three hundred. A number that didn't include the ones sitting outside around benches and picnic tables.

"OMG, another one!" Kris exclaims.

I try to define how the students flock together and categorize themselves. The different cliques are subtle, unlike the teens on TV or in movies. I can barely tell the cliques apart. Some of the students drift from table to table and interact with other students from different groups. Labeling them nerds, jocks, hipsters, and band geeks would be next to impossible.

"...I bet she has slept with the whole soccer team." Katie says.

My attention is pulled back to the table. Slut shaming is never cool, but it's how Katie had said it. Dripping less with venomous spite but sickly sweet with envy.

"Who are you guys talking about?" I ask.

They look at me and then at each other with so much joy, I know I'm in for it. It's as if they'd been waiting their entire lives to spill the tea on this one person. They can't get the words out fast enough. They speak rapidly and on top of each other. It's a jumble of words I can't comprehend. I learn later, this is how they spoke when they were pumped. This being my first experience I don't catch a single word except for a name.

"Aurora?" I ask, "Like the Disney princess?" I smile jokingly.

Katie grins. "Yes, actually. Princess is her nickname on the soccer team. She's the star player. She's more princess Jasmine if you ask me. Very exotic. There's no way she could pull off blonde." She flips her hair back over her shoulder dramatically, which gets a chuckle from everyone.

Kris leans forward and lowers his voice, "She is also the star player on the boys' soccer team, if you know what I mean. Aye Oh...Lucky biatch." He does a z-formation snap and an imaginary hair flip which also elicits more than a few chuckles.

I can't resist a small giggle either despite the cruelty behind the joke. He was an infectious person. Kris was gay, the first out of the closet homosexual I'd ever met. I've lived a sheltered life. Kris isn't what you would call flaming. He usually wore flannel button-ups, shorts, open-toed sandals, and his iconic baseball cap. He wore the cap backward and over his short-cropped hair.

You'd never know Kris was gay by appearance alone. Unless of course on the first day of high school you saw him in the hallways switching his hip and singing Lady Gaga in his high falsetto. "Gaga, Oh la la..." At least that was my first clue. It was always fun to see Kris express his inner diva because of the contrast of his appearance.

"Okay she's behind you, don't look." Katie whispers.

I swivel around to look. Subtlety was never my game. Katie hisses at my lack of high school girl etiquette, but I continue to stare. I know who she is talking about. Even in a crowded room, there is no mistaking it. What was the word Katie had used...exotic? A teenage girl is standing a few tables way, by a table of guys in varsity jackets.

She is facing me but staring down at one of the guys. Aurora's skin is light tan, olive in complexion. Her smooth and unblemished skin gives off a healthy golden glow. Her raven hair cascades in natural waves past her shoulders and hangs above her waist.

She is the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen. Kim Kardashian or Kylie Jenner popped into my head, but it wasn't the same kind of beauty. Aurora's beauty is seemingly effortless and nothing overtly sexual. She has the body any teenage girl would kill for and boy's drool over. Yet, you couldn't say "wow this girl has really big...fill in the explicit".

Aurora is wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans and a black tank-top. She isn't wearing jewelry or accessories. She appears to be wearing very little make-up; if any at all. Hashtag nomakeup. Her face was unique. Her nose is slightly larger in proportion to her features, her eyebrows thicker than normal, and her bottom lip a bit too plump compared to the top.

But even these imperfections serve to intensify her uniqueness and only make her seem more ethereal. She has the face of movie stars and supermodels. It isn't forgettable. Aurora turns away and I can't see her anymore. I turn back around in my seat. Kris and Katie are scowling at me.

"What?" I ask.

Kris tsks, "Could you be more obvi?"

Katie shakes her head in disapproval, "I said don't look. You could've shifted your chair or looked through your hair. What if she'd seen you, gawd!" She rolls her eyes at me but then peers over at me with a questioning smile. "So?"

"So...yeah, she's pretty." I mutter, "Is she the Queen B around here?"

Katie and Kris say simultaneously, "Oh Gawd, no." They look at each other and laugh.

"No, we don't have one of those." Katie pauses thoughtfully, "I guess Sarah or Ashley could be. No one would vote Aurora as prom queen or some shit like that. She runs with the 'in-crowd'." She makes air quotes over the words in-crowd. "But she is def her own thing."

Kris gasps in excitement. "You know who she is, she is the Serena van der Woodson of Sunny High. Can that be her title?"

"You're right Kris. She's always on the Dirty being scandalous," Katie ticks of one finger, "...is always traveling out of the country." She ticked off another. "Her family has money, and everyone loves her. Random strangers, your teachers, your parents, and your boyfriend. Except she is also captain and star of the girls' soccer team..."

"And the track team," Kris adds.

"Yes, and track," Katie repeats.

"And a snowboarder and a skater," Kris adds.

Katie rolls her eyes at Kris. "Snowboards, and skates..." She pauses then throws her hands up. "This analogy is failing. She is her own thing. Either way, watch your back girl and your crush. She'll never settle down and pick a guy, she dates them all."

"The guy she was talking to." Kris sighs. "That blonde Adonis is the hottest guy in school and her best friend. The poor fool is in love with her, and she strings him along."

Katie nods. "Agreed James is tots into her. She is selfish to keep him to herself. She should set him free then the rest of could have the chance to..." At this point, Katie's boyfriend interrupts her. They start to bicker, and I do my best to tune it out.

I make it a rule not to believe in gossip and to not to let what others tell me about a person influence me, but I'm intrigued. I turn around again, subtle using my hair as cover, and I peer over my shoulder. Every guy at her table leans in towards her, they are watching her every move.

Aurora casually pulls her hair up into a messy ponytail as she speaks, and their eyes follow her movements. They gaze at her as if every word she says is air and they can't live without it.

I can't help but feel the green envy monster peaking it's head out to play. Deep down I know I'll never have what she has and yearn for it. Especially, after I glance at James, the boy Kris and Katie mentioned. He is the hottest guy I'd ever seen and he was equally as hypnotized by her as the others.

The feelings I'm having are shallow and superficial. And it's easy to hate her.