Dear Diary

1. UGLY ON THE INSIDE

Thursday, August 15th (20 hours earlier)

S A M A R A

"She's the most disgusting bitch I've ever known."

The comment draws my eyes from the diary page I'm reading and over to my best friend, Sidney. She's not looking at me, far more focused on admiring herself in the cheval mirror. She nonchalantly runs a hand through her hair as if she hadn't made the disparaging remark.

"Can you believe her?" she says.

I sigh from my place on her bed. "You're truly disturbed writing this stuff."

"You're reading what's there yet you conclude I'm the disturbed one?" She continues posing in the mirror. Practice, she calls it. Necessary for when she eventually goes into fashion modelling. Though, I see it as just another excuse for her to ogle herself. "You know, you should really paint a portrait of me one day."

I disregard her suggestion, intent on discussing what I've just read. "You expect me to believe Tori hooked up with Rome's dad? For God's sake, he was our history teacher last year."

"She likes 'em older and wiser now apparently. Quite the contrast, considering the loser jocks she usually goes for," she says.

"Sidney . . ."

"You know how Tori is. I'll give it to her though, Mr. Rhodes is hot." Sidney pulls out her cellphone, tapping the screen. She makes a face before her thumbs start rapidly typing.

"Who're you texting?" I ask.

She looks at me and smirks. "No one." Setting the phone aside and turning back to the mirror she says, "I need new clothes."

"Good luck getting money from your parents."

"I don't need them. I have my own ways."

I roll my eyes, then settle them on the page in Sidney's diary where I left off.

Sleeping with your boyfriend's dad? Gag me. I guess it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. It's always been clear Tori was insecure and desperate. I wonder how I should break it to Jerome. The look on his face would be priceless. His family just got over his father's first infidelity. At least that was with someone his own age.

I stop reading. "Does anyone else know about this diary of yours?"

"Nope," she says. "Just you, bestie."

"Good. I don't want you going around spreading rumors about people."

She comes over, sitting down next to me after fulfilling her nightly dose of self-indulgence. "Everything's true."

The thing is, I don't believe Sidney's being truthful. She's notorious for starting rumors to spite people, even going as far as spreading a lie about a girl sophomore year saying she had chlamydia. The crime? Sidney was caught cheating off the girl's test, and the girl informed the teacher. So as far as I know, Sidney's documenting nonsense for personal entertainment purposes.

I do scold her, but not nearly as much as I probably should. It's crazy she and I have managed to be best friends since sixth grade considering how different we are. There's appearance, of course. My skin is dark, hers isn't. She has emerald green eyes, mine are a deep cocoa brown. Her black hair flows in waves down her back while I'm rocking dreadlocks that go just past my shoulders. But the starkest differences definitely lie within our personalities. On the outside looking in, it's a wonder how the two of us are close at all. But through all her misdeeds, I've grown attached to Sidney.

Even more so after the passing of my father.

"Yeah. Right. Well, can I read more?" I ask.

"I can't let you know all my secrets," Sidney says.