Damn them, I was supposed to get my picture taken for my permit tomorrow. How the hell am I going to cover up these bruises? I stared in the mirror contemplating the best way to make the purple and blue splotches that covered my face go away. Just powder wouldn’t do it; I would have to use liquid base and a lot of it. Great now I will look like an emo. I sighed and started applying the makeup gently, trying not to push too hard. Once the base was on I repainted my eyes and lips. Yep definitely emo look. My black hair and blue eyes were bad enough, but the pale makeup and heavy eyeliner topped it off. Groaning I walked out of the bathroom into my bedroom. It was as much a wreck as me, my stuff scattered everywhere, broken glass, a hole in the wall. I glanced at the clock lying on the ground, amazingly it managed to stay plugged in. It was 7:00, I was late. I picked my way across the catastrophe and slid open my window. Tori was already in her car. I hopped out the window and ran over to the blue bug. “About time” she said pulling into the street. “Sorry” I mumbled “had to do my makeup.” Tori had been my best friend since the first grade when she punched the guy who made stole my snack. Ever since then we had been inseparable. She was much prettier than me, with classic blonde hair and sky blue eyes, mile long legs and no fat on her body. But I didn’t envy her; I would rather have attention on her than me. “Yeah about that I think you may have gone a little overboard with it today.” Tori said glancing at me. “Huh?” I said stupidly. “Your makeup” once again she looked my way “You look gothic, not that gothic is bad, but…..” I tuned her out, I loved Tori but she could talk a vampire to sleep. I immediately thought of the new vampire movie coming out Friday, we were supposed to go see the premier at midnight. I would have to sneak out of course but it was definitely worth the risk, besides my dad was usually too drunk by eleven to tell his hands from his feet. My mom on the other hand would be an issue, if she found I was missing I would be dead. “Hello?” Tori snapped her fingers in my face “earth to Jade.” I shoved her hand away, “keep your hands on the wheel; you’re a bad enough driver as it is.” “Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed” She said in a mock hurt voice. I rolled my eyes “you know it’s true you just got your license a week ago!” She stuck her lip out “I am a perfectly good driver.” I ignored this comment and stared out the window. “Are you okay?” Tori asked glancing at me and I wished so bad that I could tell her. I wished that I could explain to my best friend how I was never okay, physically or mentally. But I knew that it was my burden to bear and nobody else’s. I smiled at her “I’m fine.” I could tell she was about to argue, but luckily we hit school traffic. We had a huge high school with a huge parking lot full of crazy teenage drivers, so understandably it took all of ones concentration to navigate. By the time we had pulled into our spot and started the ridiculous hike to the school Tori had forgotten about our previous conversation. She immediately picked up in a relentless stream of babble “Remember we have a choir performance tomorrow morning which kinda sucks because we’re going to see Eternal Thirst at midnight, which puts us at home at, like, three o’clock, and you know Mrs. Hill was telling us we needed a full night’s sleep before a performance,” she paused for a breath “So I guess were just going to have deal with- CAMERON!!!!!” I leaped in the air as she screeched with excitement. Cameron Roberts, Tori’s dorky and annoying boyfriend was slouching our way. “How did you sleep?” she gushed, I walked off knowing there was no point in trying to communicate with Tori while he was around. I glanced behind me and sure enough they were completely engrossed in each other doing their usual “I couldn’t bear being away from you for an entire night” ritual. I sighed and made way for my locker. I was in all Advance Placement or AP classes so visiting my locker before and after every class period was mandatory unless I wanted permanent back problems. Of course even that presented a problem since the usual gang of preppy “cool” kids hung around there. Oh my God it’s Zac, okay act cool act cool. Zac Smith an 11th grader and the single cutest and sweetest guy in our school was inches away from my locker. I did my best not to gape but in trying to look at him while appearing to not look at him, watch my feet, and navigate through the hordes of teenager I fell, spilling the contents of my bag everywhere. I could feel my face flush red. You idiot now everyone is staring. I tried shoving various books and binders back in my bag as quickly as possible but this just resulted in papers spilling everywhere making it look like some recycling plant had exploded in front of my locker. “Need some help?” I slowly looked up and saw Zac standing above me with an amused smile on his face. “Ummm” I just stared. Everyone around me was sniggering, but he just calmly bent over and started gathering papers that had gotten out of my reach. When I stood up he handed them too me. “Thanks,” I mumbled and sped off as fast as I could. Great not only did I look like an idiot in front of the whole prep squad; I looked like an idiot in front of Zac. Inwardly I cursed myself.
