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Chapter Four

 Lunch. My favorite part of the day. Noel grabs me and pulls me into a hug as I step out from the lunch doors; Martha was waddling not far behind. As I pull my brown lunch bag out from my backpack and spread out the clear plastic containers I notice our usual three some of Noel, Martha and I (occasionally joined by Michelle Wardell or Avery Pierce) had grown to at least 3 or 4 other girls. We were officially the lost and found for the new kids. A girl named Vivian Stewart sat cross-legged at the end of the table biting her lip and reading: Charlotte’s Web, a strange read for a girl wearing black lipstick, Vivian's eyes kept darting towards the table in the center of the caf, it was Sammie's table. Another newbie, Katherine McGregor, sat adjacent to Vivian. Her tiny nose was slightly slanted upward and she had deep brown eyes with glossy, wavy chestnut hair. If you saw Katherine out of the corner of your eye you'd think she was one of Sammie's girls, but there she was...sitting alone eating applesauce and a PB&J. The last, and possibly worst, new girl was Amy Braun. Her eyes were practically glowing with rage, and with her sitting next to me, you couldn't help but get in on the gossip and fury she was spitting out.

"Sammie? Please! I was the Sammie Hills of Brookfield Middle School!" Amy said rolling her eyes "I used to be popular!" Amy went rambling on about Sammie and her friends, about how they wouldn't mean anything to anyone if SHE became queen bee. But "YA RIGHT!" Amy, it’s not going to happen. I glanced down the table and noticed Nikki Leigh sitting at the end of our table, next to Vivian. Nikki was still gorgeous, she could be hated by the whole school but anyone could tell: Nikki could over rule Sammie if she tried. It was true, ever since Nikki being kicked out of the group, Nikki only wore a little lip gloss and no other makeup, she had also let her bleach blonde hair wear off and reveal the dirty blonde natural color.

In a sad way I kind of felt bad for Nikki, she went from popular to NOT-ular by making a stupid mistake. Karen Dailey passed the table giving Nikki and dirty look and then glanced my way and laughed to the two other girls following her. I wanted to yell: "You should hear the trash Sammie has been saying about you!" right at Karen, but of course I wouldn't. There's this thing about Karman Girls, each one of them THINKS that they're all-that, the only ones that were, were the ones that didn't talk about it. Amy laughed "Who’s that bitch?" she said as Karen passed us laughing. "Ugh, just another Sammie wannabe!" Martha said looking down at Nikki to see if she heard. All four of us looked over at the Center Table. By now (and since sixth grade) I had memorized everyone who sat there. There was Chelsea, Amanda, Valerie, Ashley, Kalyn, Geneva, Jessica, Ally, Lauren, Savannah and Sammie, a.k.a the Top Ten Karman Hotties, according to the list. Oh and minus Jessica.

The only food on their table was a bag of Ruffles and a tray of fries...both were practically full.  Every year they took another girl at their table, they hadn't chosen yet but everyone expected Katherine McGregor or Reina Jefferson (Karen's friend). "Jordan!" I heard a low voice yell. There was no way one of the guys was calling my name, so I continued to eat my ham sandwich.

"Jordan Phillips, hey! Luke's talking to you!" a familiar girl’s voice yelled. I turn around to see dusty blonde hair and bright blue eyes...oh my gawd, it's Luke Maxwell. Luke struts over to me shaking his spiky hair. "Heard your hanging out with Sammie now?" he says with a flirtatious smile on his face. "What the heck? Jordan?" Martha says standing up. "Um, just once" I shrug. Luke nods like he understood "Well rumors going around that they're going to recruit you the sit at their table and, you know, become one of them, a hottie". I choked on my apple juice and managed to not start coughing. I didn't want to say anything in front of Martha or Noel so I just shrugged again. "See you around Jordan" Luke says winking and then heads back to his table. Martha looks at me as if she was saying: "what the heck was that about Jordan?" "Ok I can explain," I started "Sammie and I hung out at her house with Savannah and Ally and Lauren, but I didn't tell you guys because, well, I don't expect you to understand".

"But what if Sammie, you know, recruits you?" Noel asks in a shy, sad voice. "She won't...she's SAMMIE HILLS, remember?" I give Noel a little smile. Noel nods but Martha is still a little upset. Amy, who sat across from me, dropped her jaw and narrowed her eyes. Grumpily, she got up and moped over to the end of the table next to Katherine and sat. "Hey Jordan!" Sammie yelled as she gestured me towards her. I looked at Martha and Noel. "Go ahead" Noel muttered picking up a fry. Carefully I walked over holding my brown lunch bag and scooting on my flip-flops.

"Uh, h-hi S-S-Sammie" I said suddenly embarrassed. The other girl at the table stared at me with shocked and confused expressions. I even heard Ashley whisper: "Why her!?" Practically everyone was saying that with their expressions. "Sit sit," Sammie says patting the spot with her hand next to me "Jordan, this is Savannah, Ally and Lauren, and...The others and everyone this is Jordan!" Sammie said it like I had never heard or met them. But as my middle school years passed I started to learn everything about them, er, the "others". "Hi Jordan" Ashley sneered but everyone else stayed quiet. Jessica waved at me and Chelsea smiled.

"Oh my god! What the hell is Michelle Wardell wearing!?" Ally spat as a short redhead passed them at the center table. "Oh shut up!" Savannah said playfully hitting Ally's arm "It's not like what you’re in is any better!" Savannah was the only one who could do that without being questioned, and she wasn't even defending Michelle Wardell...she was just insulting Ally's choice of black leggings and a bright pink mini skirt. "If anything's wrong with Michelle Wardell it's her hair. What? Does her pet rat live in there?" the side of Savannah's mouth curled into a smile as she pointed at Michelle's red messy bun.

"Yeah! Al, Michelle's orange skirt isn't HALF as bad as Karen Daily's ugly blue dress she wore to school last week!" Sammie laughed raising her low-fat banana smoothie in the air and flicking her golden hair over her shoulder with the other hand. Savannah just rolled her eyes. Sammie flashes her blue eyes towards Lauren. Lauren shrugged as the side of her mouth drooped down. I sat next to Sammie, hanging on their every word.

Sammie pursed her lips and looked at me as if she was saying "Well?..." "Nah!" I said "I've seen worse on Martha George!" "Yeah! A butt as big as hers need something a little bigger than an EXTRA EXTRA large" Lauren whispered. The other girls nodded and grinned at me. I looked behind me at the other tables; all the eyes of the popular boys, the nerdy boys, the sports-obsessed boys and the gamer boys were staring back. It was pretty much all the boys staring and of course the wannabes like Karen, Reina and Parker, AND even the lost-and-found table with Martha and Noel and even Nikki Leigh stared at us. Just as I was about to get up after I was done eating my ham sandwich, Sammie pulled my arm. "Hey, you doing anything Saturday? Me and the girls were gonna go to the mall or something, I mean Cleo's is having a sale on Armani tops and stuff" Sammie spoke shyly.

I glanced at Jessica who was by the trash cans. "I'm free, I just have to cancel a few plans" I smiled back. "Great," Sammie said back in her usual confident and a little bit frosty voice "PS: Luke is totally into you, I mean I thought he liked Savannah but I guess I was wrong...did you SEE the way he checked you out?" Luke? The hottest guy at school (at least to me) likes ME? Sammie HAD to be wrong, I mean...I was Jordan Phillips, not Savannah or Ally or Lauren or SAMMIE. "Oh, I didn't but he is pretty cute" I say shyly biting my lip. Sammie laughs tossing her hair out of her way coolly. She grabs my arm and we glide arm-and-arm across the cafeteria.

"Did you see Karen Dailey today?" Sammie said abnormally loudly. A few girls glanced at us. Worried, I just muttered "No" back. "She's wearing Savannah's old Dolce mini skirt, ya know they're neighbors right? Savannah used to actually go over to Karen's house but not anymore now that Karen THINKS she's more popular than Savannah..." Sammie laughed and a few other girls that were listening in laughed too. I checkout Karen who seems to have overheard and is rolling her eyes. "Bitch" Karen mutters glaring at Sammie and I. "Whatevs' Kare Bear," Sammie sarcastically says using her best Karen/Valley Girl imitation "Those shoes TOTALLY don't go with that skirt either, you really gotta start asking for Savannah's SHOES TOO! TTYL hun!" Sammie waves at a very pissed off Karen Dailey, tears were bubbling in Karen's eyes. I have to admit it, Sammie could be kind of a bitch. A perfect bitch, but she wasn't being mean to me so I was just fine. Karen turned around and skidded to the bathrooms. "Pathetic!" Sammie smiled as she grabbed her beaded wallet and headed to her 6th period class.

(AN- Ariana Grande, also known as Ally Millington(: ->)