The Other Girls

Chapter One: The Deal

"Hey, watch where you're going, weirdo!" Diana swiveled around to the source of the sassy voice that had spoken. There stood a tall blonde girl with an obviously fake tan- Karoline Stevenson, one of the most popular girls in school. Diana glared at her and walked away before she could say anything else. Diana hated Karoline with a burning passion. First of all, her name was Karoline with a K. That in itself was annoying. But it wasn't just that. Karoline was the epitome of a stereotypical popular girl: long blond hair, blue eyes, dressed in revealing pink clothes, topped off with a perfect body and a face covered in makeup. She strutted away, her high heels clicking loudly against the floor. Diana continued in the opposite direction, hunching into her baggy grey sweatshirt. She was the complete opposite of Karoline: pale, short, chubby, brown eyes with glasses, dressed in baggy, lazy clothes, and she never wore makeup. Plus, her hair was a wild mess of black curls which she had recently cut in an attempt to try and manage it (it didn't work). And unlike Karoline's huge gang of cronies, she had no friends.

"Hey Diana!" Diana looked up from the floor. Oh, well, she did have one friend. Danny Rodiguez smiled and headed towards her on his skateboard. Yes, in the middle of the school hallway.

"Daniel! Stop that right now!" shouted a teacher, who seemed to have been running after him for a while.

"I will when I want to!" Danny gave him the middle finger and kept riding until he got to Diana. "Come on, let's go!" He grabbed her hand and led her out the nearest door, his skateboard under his other arm. A small blush bloomed over her pale, freckled face, and she couldn't hold back a smile.

"Danny, we have class in 5 minutes! We can't be late!" she exclaimed as he led her around to the back of the school.

"Oh, loosen up, goody-two shoes! We can manage to miss the beginning of English! Mrs. Brown never does anything in the first 10 minutes anyway," Danny said, letting go of her hand and sitting down on his skateboard. He let out a breath and leaned back. He had brown skin and a head of black curls. He wore black eyeliner around his eyes and was skinny as a beanpole, and Diana was positively in love with him. She had been for around 3 years, and they had been friends ever since middle school. He had always been her only friend, but he had his little skater friend group as well, although most of them lived a little farther away. She didn't know why he even still hung out with her.

"So, what are we going to do for 10 minutes then? You'd better give me something worthwhile or I'm going to class," Diana said, sitting down on the ground next to his skateboard.

"I dunno. I really just came here so that teacher wouldn't get me in trouble. Although I'll probably end up having to go to detention again anyway."

"You're lucky I still stick around with all this crap you put me through," Diana said with a small laugh.

"Shut up. I know you love me." She looked at him. He didn't know, though. Well, at least she hoped he didn't know. Diana started to say something, but all of a sudden she was interrupted by a loud giggle. She turned her head and saw Karoline walking by with Brad, the captain of the football team. She was laughing at something he had said. Diana wondered if they were dating. Probably. But then she turned back around towards Danny to see him staring at them, with a look that could only be described as a mix of longing and jealousy. Diana's heart dropped. When the two had passed beyond earshot, Diana turned back to Danny.

"You like Karoline, don't you?" she said.

Danny looked stunned for a second, and he stuttered, his eyes still wide, until finally spitting out, "Uh... yeah?"

Oh, shit. Diana looked away. She had suspected, but she hadn't wanted to believe it. She had caught him looking over to her table at lunch a few times, and he always wanted to go to the football games for some reason; of course it was because Karoline cheered at them.