Love and Fame Games (Book 1)

04

Alexa Javier was already at Starbucks when I got there. She was waiting outside, at one of those tables with the giant umbrellas. She didn't see me right away, as she seemed engrossed in some type of reading material.

I smiled; just seeing my gorgeous friend a few feet away, idly playing with her high auburn ponytail as she continued to leaf through whatever it was that held her attention so, made me feel like things were starting to return to normal. Like I was returning to normal. She had always had that effect on me. When I was with her, I didn't feel nearly as out of place as I usually did.

As I had mentioned, she moved here in fifth grade and, next to Seth, had been my closest friend ever since. She couldn't have come at a better time. Before she came along, I primarily hung out with boys, and, at that age, didn't really have much use for them—not that I had much use for them, now.

Alex taught me how to dress, how to party, how to be around people and basically, how not to be a freak. It worked most of the time. Thanks to her, I learned that—even though I wasn't among the lucky ones who turned hot overnight—I could manage to clean up nicely.

It was better than nothing, and besides, I had bigger problems than my appearance. There were a million things I would change about myself, and the way I looked was way down in my list of priorities.

I made my way toward her and, when I got there, placed a hand on the back of a chair beside hers so I could pull it out. She looked up, saw me and smiled.

"Hey, been waiting long?" I asked. This seemed to puzzle her until I directed her eyes to the almost empty drink in her hand.

"Oh, I got this on the way," she replied, shrugging. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Seriously? "Beth and Erin are inside, placing our orders."

"Oh, okay. Let me just..." I trailed off and reached into my purse to get some money, but she stopped me and said it had been taken care of. I arched an eyebrow at this.

"Why do you look so surprised?" She asked, tilting her head sideways. I started to deny it and she laughed. "Relax. If it makes you feel better, I paid with a gift card someone gave me." She turned to the direction of the coffeehouse's entrance. "Here they are, now."

I followed her gaze and saw the other two girls in my immediate circle of friends: straw-haired, ladylike Beth Dawson and dark-haired, semi-Goth Erin Warner. I waved to them, all excited, and they did the same. They both carried two drinks each.

Among the three of them, I had known Beth the longest—maybe as long as the boys of Off-Kilter. We had been going to the same school for as long as I could remember but she was one of those really dainty little girls who took ballet lessons, had tea parties in the garden, and hung out exclusively with other girls who were like her. Before Alex, I just didn't make the cut and so, we weren't really friends until middle school.

Nowadays, she was still like that, but her main interests were photography and film. She watched a lot of movies, and almost as much TV as I did—common ground. I could almost always get her references, and vice-versa, and so, a bond was formed.

Erin was a grade above us and we met her at the start of our freshman year. She and Beth were both in the school paper staff; Beth took pictures and Erin was a writer. Despite their personalities being as different as night and day, they naturally just hit it off and—even though I first found it strange that she would rather mainly hang with us than other kids in her grade—we welcomed Erin into our fold with open arms.

Erin, smiling, handed me a cup with my name scrawled on the side. I eyed it tentatively. Usually, I was a huge fan of anything super-sweet and loaded with caffeine, but I always ordered the same thing from Starbucks and liked it a very specific way. I lifted the straw to my lips and gave a delighted sound. It was exactly what I wanted. I couldn't even remember what I was so worried about; both of them were smart cookies, after all.