Secrets to Keep

The Popular Kids

Main Characters

Sapphire Antoinette Prescott

Graham Austin Smith

Zachary Isaiah Tucker

Alex Presley Prescott

Austin Reed Tucker

Notice the initials of their names stand for something. Hint: Zachary Isaiah Tucker is ZIT. Each of these will give off a trait if the character. KEEP TRACK OF NEW CHARACTERS BEING ADDED BECAUSE SOME ARE NOT MAIN CHARACTERS. MANY "SECRETS" WILL BE REVEALED THROUGH NAMES.

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*****Sapphire's POV*****

I had the first half of my day with Graham and the second half of the day with Zachary. Graham had avoided me until lunch. He was probably weirded out at see me in my room and my dad seeing that too. I was happy he started to talk to me before Zachary arrived. Zachary was with a new guy.

Zachary introduced me to someone named Austin. Apparently he went to the public school up the road, but he was shadowing Lemoine Academy because he was considering coming here. He said he hadn't come before because of the tuition. I hoped everything worked out for him.

I saw Blain, Lance, Cameron, and Max walk towards me. They seemed only focused on me. I started to walk away when they pulled me back. They forced me to sit by them and the other popular kids. I was enjoying myself and everyone seemed nice, but I wanted to be by my real friends.

I occasionally glanced over to Zachary, Graham, and Austin to see what they were doing, but they were not there. Thoughts were swirling around in my head thinking of the possibilities of where they could be because they were my only escape. Blain took my attention away from the empty table where my friends used to be. I was annoyed on how they could leave me like that, and not think about my feelings. I was also annoyed at how selfish and rude the popular kids can be...especially the girls. I then realized how self centered my thoughts were getting, and I turned my attention back to the conversation. They were talking about ME, how could I have not noticed this?!?!?!???!?!?

"She seems a bit strange, don't you think?" Alexa asked. It seemed as if she was trying to make me hear that. I kept silent to hear what they were going to say next when Kelly chimed in.

"What kind of clothes does she wear? She looks like she's from the 60's!"

"Yeah, totally more drab than fab!" Crisiti caustically said.

"Stop embarrassing her. She's should already be embarrassed enough," Lance said nonchalantly.

This is when I decided to make presence known. I could already tell that they meant to say those things in front of me so I ran of to an unknown side of the school. I expected to be alone, so I could assess my feelings, but to my surprise my friends were there. They all looked up to me in unison with a mixture of confusion, surprise, and relief on their faces. My emotions were colliding with each other, and I suddenly didn't know what to think or feel.

"Sapphire! What are you doing here?" Zachary exclaimed. He was the first to break the silence. I was unsure of what was going to happen next when Graham spoke.

"I thought you were with your friends. Did you decide you needed more or do you finally feel bad for leaving us?!" Graham said rudely.

"Hey, don't be so harsh on her," Austin defended, "She just moved here and probably didn't expect this newfound popularity."

*****Graham's POV*****

I couldn't believe Austin was sticking up for her. She chose to go with the popular kids instead of us, no one forced her to do anything. I tried to think rationally and noticed that Sapphire was unsuccessfully fighting back tears. I immediately felt bad, but I was still frustrated with her.

"Hey, guys, I never expected this, and I just want you to know that they forced me to sit with them," Sapphire said as the tone in her voice quivered.

"I'm so sorry Sapphire. I didn't know." Zachary said with guilt in his eyes. As I remained silent battling whether to believe her or not. I tried to read her body language, but she was difficult to figure out and hides her emotions well.

"I don't believe you! You're just lying to get sympathy!" I yelled. I hadn't realized how hurtful my words were until Sapphire's expression turned to hurt. Now that I think about it, I don't know much about Sapphire. She was a mystery to me.

"Graham! You're being insensitive!" Austin scolded me like I was his child.

"Don't be my mom Austin! I already have one and I don't think you have the capability to become one," I responded. Everyone looked shocked, and without warning, Sapphire burst into tears. I don't know why she cried at my insult just now because it was pointed towards Austin. He didn't need to be acting all nice like the protagonist of the story.

"Graham, I don't think you're helping the situation, so I think you should go right now," Zachary said after a short silence. I shot him a confused look and decided to just walk away. I don't know why everyone sided against me. My closest friendships were being torn away from me because of this new girl, I knew she must be special.

*****Austin's POV*****

How rude could they be? Graham decides to judge Sapphire after she was admitting what happened. I knew Graham liked her by the way he looked at her. All that seemed to be thrown out the window just now. How can life seem so complicated at the age of fourteen? We must seem so young and immature to other people in terms of this stuff. The age we live in is not the same as our parents. Our parents don't know how we feel at all. They shouldn't compare our lifestyles to theirs because our society has completely changed. I wish dealing with this wasn't this hard, but then again, where's the fun in that?

"Um.....Austin. Are you okay?" Sapphire said seeming concerned.

I nodded my head and gave a small smile. I have an idea! I should invite everyone to come over to my house without telling each of them that the other will be there and we can build our friendship back up again. I know Sapphire just joined our friend group, but it seemed she had been here as long as the rest of us. I hope this all turns out alright, but it always works out okay in the movies, right? I did exactly as I had planned to do and they were supposed to come over at 6. I invited Sapphire to come 10 minutes early to apologize to her for what would happen tonight. We all went to our classes, and I silently thanked the school for not putting Sapphire in any classes with Graham after lunch. The school day ended, and I anticipated the arrival of my friends (Mostly Sapphire).

Sapphire arrived right on time. She began babbling about how we lived so close and how she hadn't noticed me before. I had to get her to stop talking, but how?

"Hey, Sapphire, umm can I tell you something?" I said awkwardly.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" Sapphire questioned.

I explained my whole plan to her and apologized ahead of time because of what might happen. I expected her to get mad and go back home, but she stayed calm and gave my an understanding nod. I was about to ask her why she stayed calm, but I was interrupted by a knock on the door. I walked towards the front door when Graham and Zachary entered arguing. They both stopped when they saw Sapphire walk to the foyer up next to me.

"It's about time you got here!" Sapphire said joyfully.

The other two exchanged confuse looks when Zachary said, "Sapphire, I didn't expect you to be here. I was going to call you about something, but you didn't answer your cell."

I clapped my hands together taking my cue and said, "All of you are probably wondering why the other is here. Except Sapphire and I. I invited all of you here so we can end our argument."

"I think it's weird that I messed this tight knit friendship up. I never expected to do this, so I want to say sorry for almost, maybe ruining your friendship," Sapphire said with remorse.