"Brendaaaan," Shelby whines, grabbing onto his arm as we walk away from the store.

"What do you need?" Brendan sighs. 

"Uh, I never said I was okay with that girl coming with us," she pouts, clasping his bicep. "Someone could see us in public with her."

"Right here, thanks," I shake my head.

"She's way underdressed to be here. Come on, Brendan," Shelby frowns with her overly glossed lips.

"Really? I think she looks fine," Danny, who's been fairly silent, says. "Who ever said you need to be in some short skirt and heels to be considered looking good?"

"Amen, brother," Drew laughs.

"But really, imagine someone seeing her hanging out with us," Shelby whines. "Everyone would think less of us."

"The same could be said for you," Brendan removes her hand from his arm and walks faster.

Shelby stands there a moment, mouth hanging open in shock, hands on her hips. Then she slowly turns towards me and glares. It's strange, how someone can look so aggravated but stay beautiful the entire time.

She comes towards me and shoves me against the wall, clasping my shirt in her hands. "Who do you think you are?" She hisses, face turning red in anger.

"I'm sorry, Shelby, but I really don't need to answer to you," I tell her, calmly removing her hands from me.

Drew is at my side in moments, standing between She-devil and I.  "Gosh, Shelby, is that necessary?"

Shelby gives me a death glare and mouths, 'watch your back.' What a psychopath! I didn't do anything to her! Is she that self-conscious?

"You okay, Lili?" Drew asks, grabbing my arm and catching me up with everyone else.

"I'm fine," I nod.

"Yeah," Drew nods. "She's a little.... Well, you know... You get used to it, I guess."

"How long have you guys been friends?" I ask. How does she have friends, is what I want to ask.

"Since eighth grade," Drew looks over his shoulder at her. "She wasn't so rude back then."

"What happened?" I ask curiously.

"She decided she was better than everyone," Drew shrugs.

"I figured that much out for myself," I grin at him.

"Yeah, well," he nods, giving me a sly smile as well.

"Where are we headed?" I ask, checking my phone for notifications. Alas, I must be a loner nerd face because I haven't gotten one for eight hours now...

"Dunno," Drew shrugs.

"Very helpful," I roll my eyes.

Brendan is stopped by a group of four girls, whom are wearing far too much makeup, to flirt. Brendan flashes a smile and runs a hand through his brown hair before replying. I shake my head in disbelief. This kind of thing must happen to him at least three times a day.

"Brendan, move it along," Drew calls, hitting him on the shoulder as we pass.

"I'll talk to you later!" I hear one of the girls yell to Brendan as he catches up with us.

"Payton, Leslie, Randy and Tracy. Clingy. Touchy. Ugh," Brendan runs his hand through his hair as he steps into line next to Drew.

"If you aren't into any of them, why do you flirt with every girl you come by?" I raise my eyebrows.

Brendan stops walking altogether, his eyes find mine and stop. My legs are glued to the floor, and his deadly stare is shooting lasers into my eyes.

Brendan approaches slowly. "You know nothing about me." His look would be threatening, but this pretty-boy doesn't scare me.

"I'm pretty sure I do, actually," I cross my arms.

"Yeah?" Brendan stops three inches away from me and stares me down, obviously trying to be intimidating.

But I hold my ground. "Yeah, you're quite flirtatious, egotistical, athletic, attractive, I'll give you that, and fairly arrogant. From what I've seen."

"You think so, do you?" Brendan says in a deadly quiet voice.

"Mmhm," I nod. "Pretty sure."

"And you're just a loser who is lucky enough to have been stuck in detention with us, so now you can walk around with 'friends' you've never had," Brendan walks away. "From what I've seen."

Drew and I both stare wide eyed, in disbelief. Shelby is snickering and Missy is lost in a daydream.

Before Brendan can get that far, Drew grabs his wrist and wrenches him back to look him in the eyes. "Brendan, man, that was a low blow and you know it."

"Yeah? You're just gonna go agree with that new girl and go against me? That how it is?" Brendan shakes his head in disbelief.

"Man, I'm just saying that you're being a jerk," Drew says.

"Whatever," Brendan says before turning around and walking away from everyone angrily.

Being the annoying, clingy girl she is, Shelby runs after him in her five inch high heels.

"Listen, I'm sorry, Lili," Drew says. "He gets in this mood sometimes. He's kind of bipolar, I guess..."

I try to smile but it must come out to look more like a grimace. My fists clench together at my sides. "I'm fine, Drew."

Anger is fuming inside me, lit up by Brendan's words. No, I'm not sad. I'm pissed off like nobody's business. Who does he think he is, assuming he knows me? A small part of me is telling me I'm being a hypocrite, but the larger part tells me I'm completely sensible to be furious.

"Hey, Lili," Drew catches my wrist. "You alright?"

"I want to strangle him," I reply through gritted teeth and my insides are burning with rage.

"Listen," Drew whispers. "I hardly know you, but I know you aren't some nerdy loser with no friends. You're pretty awesome. If my opinion doesn't count for anything, I don't know whose does."

I laugh, my anger subsiding momentarily. "I'm not sad, Drew. At all."

"You had to ruin my comforting moment?" Drew smiles. "Hey, I need your phone number."

"Really? You think it's that easy?"

"Want me to bow down on my knees or something?" Drew asks with a snort.

"Yes, I would love to see that," I reply.

He hands me his phone and I enter my number before handing it back. "We're watching a movie at my house Friday. You should come."

"Is everyone going?" I ask. The question really going through my mind is, is Brendan going?

"Yeah," Drew nods. "But it'll be fun. I promise. Please just come."

"Okay," I say. "We'll see."

•••

"Hey, honey! How was it?" My mom asks me from the kitchen as I walk through the front door.

"Fine, I guess," I start to walk up the stairs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, missy. Get back down here," she motions with her finger for me to get back into the kitchen.

"What?" I groan and fall into a chair like she instructed me.

"I didn't know those were friends of yours! I thought Caleb was your only friend," my mom flips the page of her magazine, tilting her glasses down to get a better view.

"I'm not that much of a loner, mom," I sigh. Deep down, she and I both know I'm lying... But you know what? I don't want to get into that conversation right now.

"How'd you get home?" Mom asks, walking to the sink to fill up her water cup.

Choose words wisely, Lili... "A friend took me."

"A friend, hm?" She stops and quirks an eyebrow.

"Yeah, a friend." I nod in confirmation.

"Does this friend happen to be a boy?" She smirks at me.

"Maybe..." I avert my gaze.

"Aw, my baby girl has a crush!" My mom squeals, throwing the magazine off the counter in the process.

"Moommm," I groan, "I said he's a friend. Why are you like this? And I barely know him!"

She winks at me. "Alright. Fine. Okay."

"I'm going upstairs now," I shake my head in annoyance.

I kick my shoes off by the door and run up the stairs. Once into my room, I throw my bag onto the ground and jump onto my very comfortable bed. My phone begins vibrating, so I pull it out of my pocket.

'Hola, señorita.' -unknown

'Who is this?'

'Your super-sexy best friend.' -unknown

'I don't have any of those...' I smirk at my phone. And then I enter Drew as one of my contacts.

'Hah, ha. Funny. You're coming Friday, right?' -Drew

'Clingy much?'

'Possibly. Are you coming, though?' -Drew

I sigh and rub my hands over my face. I just talked to these people for the first time yesterday, and now I'm being invited to hang out with them? I spent this entire high school experience going against them and now all of a sudden I'm hanging out? What would Caleb say?

Of course, Drew's a lot nicer than I had expected.

I guess I'm just worried about Brendan getting all upset and flipping out on me again.

But why should I be afraid of him?

'Yeah, sure.'

It's official, I'm going insane. Two days ago I would have shot my future self in the forehead if I found out this is what lay ahead.

•••

"Hey, did you get problem six on the math homework?"

"Ah, no, sorry Caleb," I put my phone onto the dresser, turn it on speaker, and pull my brush out of the drawer.

"It's okay. Just finishing up the last of it," Caleb sighs.

"I hate school," I groan, flipping through my history notes.

"Hey, how was detention?" Caleb asks.

Ah, the dreaded question. My stomach lurches and I take out the last knot from my hair. "Ah, it was fine."

"Is that all the detail I'm getting?" Caleb laughs.

"The cheddar rolls aren't too bad, actually," I shrug.

"Not that bad," Caleb snorts.

"Um, yeah." I bite the edges of my nails anxiously.

"What did you put in your cereal this morning, Lili?" Caleb shakes his head.

"Nothing," I sigh. "It's just, they aren't... Like... They're kind of funny. And nice."

"Nice? Lili, this is Brendan Marks we're speaking of. The guy who is so full of himself that he refuses to look at anyone else in an accepting or respectful way."

"Maybe not him," I agree, "but the rest... Well, not Shelby. Or Missy. But Karen's okay. Danny and Drew are nice."

"I can't believe you, Lili." I hear Caleb sigh. "These people aren't nice."

"We didn't really know them, Caleb," I defend.

"Yeah? And you just know them so well now?"

"I saw a new side of them," I explain.

"This is unbelievable," Caleb says. "Unbelievable."

I stay silent.

"Any other exciting news for me?" Caleb asked, agitated.

I bite my lip and twirl a lock of my golden hair around my finger. "Uh, yeah, if you hated that information, this is going to send you off a cliff."

I hear Caleb draw in a long breath.

"I'm hanging out with them this Friday."

There's a long pause.

"You're kidding me, right? This is all a joke, isn't it?" Caleb asks.

I stay quiet.

"Friday is when we were going to go to the ice skating rink with my cousin, Lili," Caleb says.

My eyes widen and my mouth hangs open. I completely forgot about that.

"Look, Caleb, I'm sorry. I forgot about that. I can cancel-"

"No. I'll go by myself," Caleb says firmly. "Have fun, Lili." And he hangs up the phone.