XO

Chapter 26

As soon as I sprinted down the stairs with my phone in clutch and my half-eaten breakfast wrap in my hand, I hear my name being called outside. I sprinted out the door to see my best friends waiting outside for me as we are about to take on our first day of high school here in Hollywood Hills High. The day was bright, with a few tall palm trees swaying in the distance. Of course I'm the last one to get ready, I always take the longest of my friends. "Hey Britt, my fav bitch!", Brooke exclaimed as she ran up to me and dramatically embraced me. Her makeup could best be described as natural glam, her golden blonde hair was in loose bouncy curls, and she wore a form-fitting ribbed nude crop top, faded light blue denim shorts, and and light colored wedges. "Whoa babe, I love your whole 'first day of school' look!", I replied with a smirk.  "Thanks girl, but you look hot yourself!", Brooke marveled, as she scanned my outfit which I had carefully put together the night before. I wore a low cut lace-up gray top with ripped jeans and white converse. "C'mon guys we're late", Angel said restlessly as she checked the time on her iPhone. Roxy rolled her eyes and in an annoyed voice replied,"Who the hell cares?  Do you really want to get to school that badly?" "Whatever, lets just go", Sal insisted as she grabbed her bag and began walking. Of course, Sal pulls out her "emergency joints" as we hop in the car and leave. Roxy received her license at 15, but had to lie about the fact that she just turned 16 when she was really just turning 15. "Yo Sal, pass me a joint?" Roxy said concentrating on the road. "No way! You can get your own. Just hit my sister's boyfriend up" Sal said with a slight un phased shrug. "I'm the driver, so that means that I get to tell all of you bitches what to do" Roxy said smirking as she looked at us through the mirror. The car was filled with nervous and exciting energy as we gossiped about who holds the best parties and the hot upperclassmen. Sal was finishing a sentence, "if was his girlfriend, I'd like to see what he could do in bed"...then laughter. But I stopped listening. I wasn't laughing either. All I can think about was Ashton, and who I thought he was. The first guy I ever fell in love with. I was so stupid to actually think that a guy would fall for me, and take a relationship seriously. As all of  my thoughts were spinning drastically, the car pulled into a parking space for student drivers. Roxy turned the car off which then lead us to hop out. Standing in front of us was a miraculous building, newly built and for the riches of Palm Springs only. In middle school, we were used to being the top tier of our peers. But now looking at the size of the school and the students entering, there's definitely going to be a lot of hot upperclassmen and competition in regards to social standing. "Holy shit, I don't think I'm ready for this", Angel mumbled as we all approached the front doors of the massive building. "Really, I'm hella ready for high school", Brooke insisted as she confidently walked up to the door. The guy who was walking in front of us, caught a glimpse of us, and held the door open for us. He was of an average height with long layered dark hair and lightly tanned skin. He looked like he was either in our grade or a grade above. "Thanks", I said with a smile as I looked into his hazel eyes as I walked passed him and into the school. "No problem", he replied, raising his voice a little, so that I could hear him. After we were all inside the building, we continued to walk straight, down a long hallway. I briefly scanned my surroundings, and was shocked by all the lavishness of the building. The whole architecture, interior and exterior, was like a modern masterpiece. I was actually surprised that a building so stunning could be a high school. I immediately snapped out of my amazement, when all of my friends suddenly stopped walking. "Okay, so I guess this is my locker", Sal noted as she read her schedule and walked up to a locker. "Ugh, my locker is so far away from you!" I exclaimed to Sal in disappointment. "Ugh, does anybody have a locker in the 2,000s?" Angel responded anxiously. All of us were looking at our locker numbers and where to go from here. Brooke practically screamed before saying, "omg Sal we're in the same homeroom and our lockers are right next to each other!" Roxy and Angel, as well as I, exchanged annoyed glances. "How is that fair!? Angel protested. "I mean, how can you guys be so lucky enough to be 'right next to each other for lockers'. oh it's just so perfect isn't it?" Angel continued in a mock tone. After seeing that Brooke was staring at Angel in disbelieve of what she said, I decided to step in. "Angel, chill. We may not be near each other's locker but we still have the whole day to figure out if we have classes together. We already know we have lunch. I mean, that's a plus, right?" I said as I tried to get a reaction out of my friends. A moment of silence went by went a group of girls, maybe seniors, side-slammed Sal in the shoulder. They looked as if they could belong in a porno mag. "Hey you bitch, why don't you just fuck yourself if you can't decide to at least be nice on the first day!" Sal practically screamed through the hall. "Ugh now I have to compete with pretty girls now. Correction, pretty senior girls!" Brooke cried. "Whatever, we just have to show that that we're better than them. Just give this school all you've got". Roxy turned to me, "life advice right there". "Whatever, let's just find our stupid classes and get this shit over with", Sal said in a pushy tone. "But my question is where are we supposed to go?" But before we could figure things out, I spotted Ashton. My stomach hurt just to take one look at him. I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it through this one day, let alone this year. As soon as his eyes  made their way over to my direction, I quickly turned away. "Are you okay, Britt?", I heard Brooke ask in a slightly confused tone and with a look of puzzlement. At first, I tried to pretend like there was nothing bothering me, however, Brooke knew me way too well to not see through my shit. "Okay something's definitely up", Brooke stated as she raised her eyebrows and stared directly into my eyes. I knew she was trying to get me to break, and of course, it worked hella well. I immediately but slyly shifted my eyes towards the direction of Ashton, who was standing on the other side of the hallway, his slim yet muscular body draped across a group of lockers. As soon as Brooke caught sight of him, she narrowed her eyes icily and whispered a few curse words under her breath. I could hardly hear them, but the ones I did hear made me laugh the slightest bit. I guess Ashton must have seen Brooke look over at him, or maybe he just saw all of us, because he pried himself from the locker and suddenly began walking straight towards us. "Why is he coming over here?", Angel whispered warily. Before any of us could even think about a reply, Ashton, Cody, Jason, and Blaine were all standing in front of us. Although I could tell that Angel was obviously hurt when she saw Jason, I was more focused on my pained feelings towards Ashton. "Hey", he said as a fucking adorable smile came across his face. At first I wondered if he was talking to me, and I even got a little hopeful. However, I then realized he was looking straight at Brooke; my heart immediately dropped. "What the hell are you  doing here?", Brooke replied with a death stare that was so intense that it even scared me a bit, "Hey now, I just wanted to say hi", Ashton insisted in a fake offended voice and a little smirk. "Fuck off douchebag", Brooke retorted as she gave him a little shove,"And stay the hell away from us." I could tell that he was a little taken aback by Brooke's response, although he tried to act unphased by it by flipping us off and walking away, "Why are you still friends with that asshole?", Brooke questioned as she looked at Cody who was standing next to her with his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Cody just shrugged, and there was a really awkward silence. Luckily, Roxy broke the silence by saying, "Say goodbye to your boy toy, Sal, we got to get to class eventually". Sal just rolled her eyes. "Speaking of class, what classes do you have, we might have something together?", Cody asked as he took Sal's schedule out of her hand and read it over. "What the fuck?", Cody randomly blurted out as his eyes darted from the paper up towards Sal's face. "What?", Sal questioned with confusion. "You're a fucking freshman?!", Cody asked with a raised voice as he shot an expecting look towards Sal. There was a major silence between all of us, so Cody continued. "Why didn't you fucking tell me about this!?" Cody's face distorted each time he spoke. His eyes were directly on Sal, and no one else. All of us were standing looking around awkwardly as this situation was growing more intense. "Maybe you could've mentioned that you go to Hollywood Hills" Sal mumbled in response. "Oh, is that all you have to say? I had sex with a freshman! Do you know how much trouble I could get into? That's statutory rape Sal!, Cody practically screamed. Everybody starting looking over, and I was getting worried that this would escalate even more. But Sal's face expressed that she was unfazed as she was staring at the ground. "So, no apology?" Sal finally said practically in a whisper. "What?" Cody questioned obviously getting annoyed of how this was turning out. "So you're just going to stand there lashing out on me, blaming me for things that couldn't compare to the horrible action you did over the summer? You broke my best friends heart", Sal said with confidence turning towards Brooke with a sympathetic expression on her face. Cody just rolled his eyes dismissively. "I don't want to get into this, Salina. Not here, not now. What happened I st the summer happened. It has no importance to me whatsoever. So you can either make yourself look bad continuing to talk shit about me, or you can shut the fuck up about and forget it ever happened." Sal practically stood in Cody's face and seethed, "let's be clear here. I want you to apologize right now, or I tell the whole entire fucking school you take advantage over underaged girls". I could see hatred in Cody's eyes as he clenched his jaw and demanded, "You wouldn't dare!" Just as Sal opened her mouth as if she was going to do just that, Cody added,"Because if you do, I'll tell everyone how much of a skank you really are. And may I add, a shitty friend?" The sly expression resting on Sal's face quickly contorted to one of anger, "So much for not caring about the past!" While the rest of us stood there awkwardly in disbelief, I noticed that there were groups of people nearby, entertained by the live drama. A smug look appeared onto Cody's face as he hissed, "Don't ever try to threaten me again. I have so much dirt on you, some your closest friends don't even know about you. I own you now, bitch. And crossing me now, will just hurt you and all your little 'friends.'" And with that, Cody began walking away with a smile of pure satisfaction. I was so relieved that the encounter was finally over, but then Cody turned around and took a few steps back towards our direction. With a serious look on his face, Cody remarked, "Besides Sal, you have no reason to blame me for the shit that went down with Brooke. You were the one that came onto ME. The way I see it, you're more guilty than I am. After all, I am just a dumb guy, you're supposed to be her best friend. You know... hoes before bros and all that shit?" After that, he stood there for a few seconds awaiting a response. Finally after a long time of awkward silence, Brooke exclaimed, "What the hell are you still doing here asshole?" The rest of us agreed and backed her up, finally getting Cody to leave for good. Ashton, Jason, and Blaine left almost immediately after him. I wanted nothing more than to punch his perfect little face, when Ashton winked at Brooke before leaving. Did that little fucker really believe he still had a chance with her after all that went down between us? And after he found out we're freshman? Blaine, took the opposite route, by politely telling Sal that he hopes they can still be friends and talk without things getting awkward and shit. I thought it was actually kinda cute, but I knew that Sal would most likely not take him up on that offer. The last one to follow Cody was Jason. He awkwardly walked over to Angel and said, "I'm sorry Angel, I really am. I didn't mean for things between us to turn out the way they did." Angel's face turned bright red and at first i couldn't tell if she was more angry or sad. "Well they did... you really screwed things up", Angel replied plainly with a heartbroken expression written across her face. Just as it looked like she was about to cry, the sadness in Angel's eyes shifted to anger. She preceded to lift her right hand up and whipped it across Jason's face. The result was a big red mark on his pale skin, and we were all shocked by Angel's impulsiveness. Angel was never this bold. "Sorry" Angel practically whispered while staring at her hands in horror, then at Jason. Jason looked just as shocked as we were. However, Jason did not seemed phased by the situation, so he continued. "Angel, I understand if you don't want to talk to me again, but I really like you and I hope we could start something again. Angel's face lightened, but some sort of recollection was expressed on her face. "But how could you really want to be with me when you know you've made a huge mistake? You broke my heart, Jason. And I don't know if I can forgive you for what you did to me". "Ok, like I said, I wouldn't expect for you to speak to me again. I don't even deserve you". Right as Jason turned around and headed the other direction, we all expected for Angel to say 'wait' or at least run to him. But nothing like that happened, and I couldn't blame her. "We're really sorry Angel. He honestly seemed like a nice guy", I admitted as I gave Angel a little hug. "Yeah, I thought so too", Angel replied with a look of emptiness ruminating in her saddened eyes. "Well I think he's a dickhead for hurting you like he did", Roxy confessed matter-of-factly as she turned away and began to walk down the hallway. All of us held back the urge to laugh or agree, and instead, exchanged quick glances before following Roxy down the hallway.
***
By the time all of us had gotten to our lockers, threw our shit in them, and met back up, we were already late as fuck. However, it was the first day, and no one really gave a shit. "Okay I think this is it", I noted as I inspected the numbers on the door to make sure they matched up with the numbers printed on my schedule. "Yeah, it is", Brooke replied as she pointed over to a piece of paper withour teacher's name printed on it and taped to the door. "Wow, that's so lame", I responded with a laugh. Brooke and I were the last ones of our friends to get to our class. Our first period class was social studies, and although it is a super boring class, we were so lucky to have it with each other. Brooke and I quietly opened the door of the classroom and entered the relatively quiet classroom. As soon as they saw us, everyone began to look at us. The classroom seemed to be mostly filled, I think that we were probably the last to arrive. Prior to entering the room, I had assumed that the teacher would be at least a little mad considering how late we were, however, all she said was,"Okay, two more students... you must be Brittney and Brooke, the final students on my list. You may take a seat anywhere with an open desk." Brooke and I nodded our heads in agreement before heading towards the back of the classroom. However, there weren't any open desks towards the back of the class. But in the middle, there were two empty desks, side by side. It was as if they were saved for us. Brooke and I both walked over to the desks, set down our books, and sat down next to each other. I had just moved my head to the left, to see what time was on the clock, when I saw an all too familiar face. To my surprise, sitting in the desk on my left was Chantelle. I could feel her eyes on me the whole time as Brooke and I entered, but with a bit of anger showing. We haven't spoken to Chantelle since the whole situation from the summer, and I doubt she would want to hang with us after the things we have done. As soon as all of the realization was coming through, I decided to tap Brooke and indicated that she was in our class. Brooke rolled her eyes and whispered, "what should we do, pretend nothing happened or make up?", she said giving a nervous glance. I just shrugged as I looked her way when her eyes met mine. Class was a drag, and we only got through one topic the whole hour and thirty minutes that we were in there for. By the time I was getting my books, I quickly caught up to Chantelle who was heading out the door. As soon as I approached her, her smile from her previous conversation dropped as soon as she noticed me. "Hey" I said while trying to manage a smile. "Hi" was all she replied. As Chantelle continued to walk out the door silently, I realized that I had to say or do something or she would just walk away. Without thinking, I sped up, and stopped right in front of her path. She halted to a stop, and by the look on her face I could see she was annoyed. "Please Chantelle, I understand why you are mad at us, but please hear us out", Brooke, who had walked up behind me, insisted genuinely. Chantelle sighed while holding her books close to her body, and with an impatient tone said, "Fine, make it quick." I quickly looked at Brooke as if to ask her which one of us should begin. In response, Brooke silently motioned her head like she was saying that I could start. "Ugh, you guys are just wasting my time", Chantelle declared, starting to walk in the opposite direction. "Wait stop!", I exclaimed with a concerned look on my face,"I'm - we're really sorry how things went down. I know that we were assholes to you, but we do really care about you. And we hope that there's some way that we can put this behind us, and be friends again." Chantelle immediately stopped in her tracks, stood still for a second, before turning around hesitantly. "I'm not sure exactly it happened, but what I do know is that everything went to shit. I did some undeniably shitty things that hurt my friends. And I know that it seems like we all did something we now regret. I know that we turned on each other, and after all of you were mad at me, I was completely alone. I realized how much you guys mean to me. I can't imagine my life without you guys. And I'm sorry for ruining that", Brooke explained, with a serious expression on her face. Chantelle sighed lightly, and started to smile. "So, does that mean you'll forgive us?" Brooke smiled in a sly way. "I mean, what you guys did to me hurt my feelings, but if Angel can forgive you guys do can I". "Ugh, good because this guilt is killing me" Brooke replied with a laugh. Chantelle playfully punched Brooke in the shoulder. I quickly embraced my friends in a hug which lasted forever. "I honestly really needed that" Brooke admitted as we pulled away. "Same, especially after everything that happened" I agreed. "So ladies, should we go to class or skip?" Chantelle asked with a mischievous smile. "Skip, duh! Plus the fact I have no fucking idea where to go anyway!" Brooke laughed dismissively. "Let's go then, bitches" I said while opening the door for my friends. "Wait, before we leave I have to do one thing" Chantelle mentioned sneakily. "Um, what?" Brooke said with a just as confused face as me. "Oh you'll see", was all Chantelle responded. Right before we walked out of the door, Chantelle screamed "fuck this school!" and quickly ran out of the building laughing  along with the rest of us.

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