Help Me Believe

Moving In

Alex's POV

A month had passed since the dinner when I realized my mothers old best friends son was the player and most popular guy in school. Jared. Everytime I saw him in school I would head the other direction or ignore him completely. If he caught me looking at him from across the cafeteria he would give me a smirk or nod. I would just look away, blushing at being caught.

My mother became closer to his mother day by day. When she wasn't working she would talk to her on the one, gossip or go over to her house. I loved Karen (a/n: Jareds moms name). She was fun to be around. I found myself liking her more and more. Thank god Jared never came over when she did. He was annoying. I can't say I hate him because well, I can't judge people without getting to know them. But he was trouble, that's why I stayed away.

Rebecca would never stop bothering me about it. She couldn't get over the fact that 'The Jared Bradley' was my family friend. She gushed over how cute he was. Like now.

"Alex what the hell is wrong with you? How can you not admit he's hot?"

"Becca, stop fangirling over him. He's an annoying prick with nothing better to do than bang sluts and throw them away like dirty napkins," I groaned.

"A hot annoying prick at least," she couldn't help but chime in.

I bit back an insult and proceeded to ignore her.

We were currently sitting in my room on a Saturday night at 1:30a.m. , gossiping, watching movies on my laptop and stuffing ourselves with junk food. Rebecca was staying over for the night because well we sort of had a tradition that we would stay over at each others houses at least twice a month.

"His mother is so down to earth," she commented after a while.

I glanced at her,"Yeah, same with his dad. I wonder what happened to him."

I looked at her. She looked at me. Both of our lips wobbled and we burst in laughter. We always did that. Nothing abnormal.

She had met Karen a few times before and both of them had warmed up to each other. I had never been to the Bradley's house though.

My mother seemed happier these past few days. After my father left us she always seemed down and it seemed that ever since she reunited with Karen, she was better. I noticed how she suddenly seemed to be more social. She had cut herself off from her social life too. Seeing her happy made me happy. Luke also noticed her mood. Whenever he saw my mother laugh, he would join in even if he didn't know why she laughed. They both seemed carefree. I was glad of that.

"Should we invite Layla to our next sleepover?" I randomly asked.

Rebecca froze. She turned to study me. After a while she finally spoke,"Why didn't we think of that before? Could've invited her over today."

I sighed with relief. I thought for a second Rebecca might refuse and get angry. With her, you never know.

Layla Night was our new friend. She had just moved from Australia two months ago and Rebecca and I had befriended her. To any stranger she seemed a total typical quiet nerd. She wore huge glasses, which covered more than half of her face. She tied her hair in a tight bun on top of her head. She wore jeans and huge sweatshirts everyday. Everyone ignored her but a few cheerleaders were always found sniggering at her appearance when she walks by. In reality, in front of her friends, she was the craziest and funniest person you could know. When she wasn't in school she wore floral dresses, tons of jewelry with her hair flowing everywhere. She was beautiful. The reason she dressed like a nerd in school was because her parents were huge actors and she looked exactly like them. People in her old schools only befriended her for that reason. She was sick of fake friends and didn't tell Rebecca and I the truth until two weeks ago. To say it was a shock is an understatement. Rebecca couldn't get over it.