Paige stretched her hands high above her head and heaved her exhausted body out of her snug bed. It was Monday, September first and Paige was determined to make this year a good one. The last week had flown by and Paige was beginning to get a grasp of the new location.
She hadn't met anybody since her interaction with Chloe Lukasiak, the girl at the coffee shop, and was rather nervous about making new friends. She was sixteen, and it wasn't as if everybody didn't have their own little "clique".
"Paige," Josh's gruff voice yelled up the stairs, "get up."
"I am up," Paige muttered, trudging down the stairs.
"Morning Paigey," Kelly greeted. Paige rolled her eyes, she was just trying to make her feel better.
"Where's Brooke?" Paige asked, "wasn't she meant to go look at collages today."
"There's been a little change of plan, Brooke will be staying home today," Kelly explained.
"What's up with her?" Josh said, "like seriously Brooke usually never shuts up."
"Well guys, eat up. You'll have to get going soon," Kelly exclaimed, hopping onto a different subject.
Ignoring her mothers abrupt topic transfer, Paige poured a bowl of cereal and dug in. She finished quickly and bolted up the stairs to get dressed.
This was it. Her outfit defined her personality. She could go all typical and wear her usual converse with skinny jeans, but really, that was who she used to be, it was time to shake it up a little.
She searched frantically before finally pulling out a pair of combat boots. They were a impulse buy from around a year ago and she had only wore them about once, though she did have quite a liking for the look. After several minutes of rumaging through her wardrobe, she eventually had a pair of denim jean shorts, a worn belt and a brown tank top with tiny little giraffes on it in her hand. She slipped on the outfit, tucking the tank top into the shorts and smiled. The clothes fit snuggly around her body and for once she felt like she had her own, unique style. To complete the look she pulled her hair into a messy side braid and applied some light make up.
Perfect.
She hopped down the soft carpet and waited for Josh at the door. It took several minutes for him to finally arrive but Paige was glad she waited.
Josh was freaking wearing chinos.
Josh was wearing chinos. Not any old boy, Josh.
That never happened. Josh hadn't stepped out of his baggy jeans since kindergarten. Turns out, Paige wasn't the only one changing her fashion sense. Just like Josh wasn't the only one changing his ways.
The siblings got into Josh's car and began to drive.
"Um Paige, can you maybe not mention anything about my past, I kinda want a fresh start?" Josh questioned sheepishly.
"No bother, and same for me?"
They looked at each.
Deal.
The entrance to the school was terrifying. There was hundreds of teens barging up and down the corridors and neither Josh nor Paige had a clue about where to go. After several minutes they stumbled across the office which they entered to find a short woman in her late forties flicking through a celebrity magazine.
"Excuse me," Paige whispered, biting her nails.
The lady looked up.
"We're new, do you have our timetables or anything?"
"Names?" She sighed drastically, as if we had interrupted her.
"Paige and Josh Hyland."
"Okay, um. Paige here you go and Josh this is yours."
She immediately lost interest and returned to browsing through her magazine.
The sheet contained a locker number and a timetable. They exited the room together and stood puzzled her again.
Where on earth was locker 86?
Fortunately, Chloe Lukasiak showed up, alongside a small brunette.
"Hey," she waved, "it's Paige, right?"
Paige nodded. "Chloe?"
"Yep, this is Maddie." The brunette did a little twirl and threw her hands up the air as if it was a big celebration. Paige laughed, she reminded her of Natasha.
"This is Josh, my brother." Josh smiled and Chloe blushed.
"Well, you two better get to your lockers. Maddie will you show Paige? I'll show Josh." The other three nodded and they each headed their way.
"I'm so glad your here, like really. Life has been getting boring," Maddie laughed, Paige could already tell she was of the talkative sort.
"Anyways, Chloe totally fancies your brother so that might be a little weird, she always crushes on the most random of guys, like one time she was falling for this guy she saw on the other side of the street and she practically stalked him for weeks, weird shit like."
"Sounds messed up."
"It was, but better than the time she flirted with Kendall Vertes's boyfriend Zack for like an hour, she isn't a slut though, she's still a virgin so don't get the wrong idea. Like she just tends to creepily obsess over guys, just warning you like."
The pair arrived at another row of lockers and Maddie stopped.
"We're here."
Paige set a code before dropping off some of her books.
"I'm in English now, what about you?" Maddie asked.
"Maths," she replied, managing to speak for the first time in minutes.
Maddie showed Paige the Math room, telling her about the popular group on the way.
"Oh and by the way," Maddie added. "I'm loving those shoes."
Paige smiled as Maddie walked off. She gathered up a bottle of courage and stepped into the classroom.
All eyes were on her.
"Hey...um..." Paige stammered.
"Paige?" The teacher said.
"Yeah..."
"Okay, sit down next to Adam," she ordered.
Paige sat next to the boy who was waving his hands in the air, jocking. He looked like one if jerks, you know the really cliché ones. He had light brown hair, kind of poofy, a typical smirk and daring eyes. He had swung back on the chair and was almost teasing Paige.
He was hot.
Paige tried to shut her mind up, she had a boyfriend.
Back home where nobody knew about.
Okay, maybe she could lie about the whole boyfriend thing. No relationships or anything, but still be single, you know?
Big mistake.
×××××
First four classes whizzed by and before Paige knew it she was sitting at a table with Chloe, Maddie and another brunette called Kalani.
Kalani was certainly a lot shyer this Maddie but had a really good sense of humour when she did speak. With luscious chocolately brown hair, Kalani really was stunning.
"How's your day going so far?" Chloe wondered kindly. She hadn't been in any of Paige's classes so far and she was interested in how she got on.
"Good I guess," Paige stated simply, "I met this guy called Adam."
"Off limits," Maddie snapped, messing.
"Well sorry."
"He's single as a Pringle, but he's in the popular group and the popular don't date anybody but the populars," Maddie explained.
"Unspoken rule," Chloe added quickly.
"It's not really a rule but all the popular guys date all the popular girls. Everybody usually ends up dating their bests friends exes in the end," Maddie said, broadening the theory.
"She's right," Kalani agreed, "don't get too attached."
"Guys, I talked to this guy once, I don't remember saying I liked him," Paige told them.
The others nodded and began to defend themselves. Paige immediately blanked out when Maddie began yet another rant. She looked over at where Adam was sitting. The table was full of couples, almost all the girls were sitting on a dudes laps. There was about a dozen of them and Paige couldn't help but notice just how short the girls skirts were. Sluts.
Paige pulled out her phone and noticed she had two text messages from Natasha.
Natasha:
Hey babe. Missing you bitch. How's da 1st day going?
Natasha:
Abi here xxx My phone is being dumb, hope you're getting on okay, miss you Paigeyyyyyy!
She typed a quick reply to both of them.
Paige:
Missing you gals too! School's ok I guess, same stuff as back home. Hope you pigs are getting on okay xxx
She slipped her phone back in her pocket and moments later the bell rang. She waved bye to Maddie and Kalani but stayed with Chloe as they had Art together next.
As they exited the cafeteria, Paige couldn't help but notice Adam staring at her.
Creepy much?
×××××
"How'd it go?" Josh said as Paige clambered into his car.
"Good, you?"
"Same. Make any friends?" Josh asked, being the caring brother she never knew.
"Yeah, Chloe and Maddie who you met and another girl called Kalani."
"Cool. I made a couple of friends too."
The conversation stopped there, the rest if the journey an awkward silence.
When they arrived home Paige skipped upstairs, pulling her bag behind her. She swung the denim schoolbag across her bed and flopped down on top of it, exhausted. As she lay in a heap she couldn't help noticing her favourite picture of Harry and her making them look a little more than friends. Looking behind her to make sure nobody was watching, she slipped the frame off the wall and slipped it into a drawer.
Nobody would ever know.
×××××
Surprised?
Opinions on Maddie/Kalani/Adam?
Wrote this listening to 1989. You just never get bored of that album.
Xxx
Dxncemoms_
