Lily

Chapter 1

The door opened as soon as I rang the bell. Mrs. Skies opened the door and beamed at me. Then she looked inside and called out, "Meg! Lily's here!"

I grinned up at her. She was a slim woman in her early forties, with a warm smile plastered on her face. I had grown so familiar with her over the last sixteen years that it seemed weird that I was seeing her after so long.

"Mrs. Skies! How are you? It's been so long!"

"Oh, Lily dear, you bet it was. I'm fine, catering to your best friend's needs while she's holed up in her room all the time," she laughed.

I scoffed. "Meg doesn't really have to push herself so hard, you know, she will get straight A's anyway, and the academic year hasn't even started yet."

As if on cue, Meg walked out, looking as bored as an eighteen year old can possibly look on the first day of high school. "I do not want to lag behind like the rest of you," she answered; clearly she heard my last remark.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, nice to meet you too, Meg."

"Let's go, I don't want to be late on the first day," she said, without a hint of happiness of seeing her best friend after one whole month. "Bye, mom," she nodded at her mom and walked away, leaving me staring behind her back.

"Jeez, that was indeed warm," I mumbled and started following her. Mrs. Skies waved us goodbye as we approached the Ford that was waiting for us on the road. As soon as Meg saw that Justin was at the wheel, she stopped in her tracks. "Please don't tell me he's going to drive."

"Jesus, Meg, what's wrong with you?" I couldn't help but sigh. Meg had never liked Justin, more so when we started dating last year. She had tried convincing me that I was too good for him and stuff like that, but I knew it was because of her personal vendetta with him. That one time he accidentally spilled juice all over her in the cafeteria in front of hundreds of people back in the 10th grade was enough to get Meg angry on Justin. It was so childish and I had tried talking her out of it, but she wouldn't budge. Apparently it had bruised her 'image and reputation' in front of the whole school.

Justin, on the other hand, just laughed. "Hi Meg, you look good today." He had always been polite towards her, and had just given up after she wouldn't accept his apologies. He knew she was just dragging the issue unnecessarily so he let it drop.

But I knew Meg better. She couldn't stand any boy who dared to date me. That was absurd, really, I never understood why. She had always been like that since we were kids. I remember when she pushed a guy down because he tried to give me a rose, when we were five. I smiled at the memory. Meg, oh Meg. Always keeping an eye out for me, in case I got hurt.

Sometimes I wondered how we ended up together, let alone as best friends. Maybe this rooted back to the time when I shifted to Oakheart. We happened to be neighbors, which made it easier. But the fact remained that we were polar opposites. Meg – Megan – was the tall, sleek heartthrob of most of the guys in our school. Her short, unruly jet black hair and huge thin rimmed glasses just made her more attractive. I on the other hand was shorter, and a little chubby, with dirty blond hair which reached to my elbows. I looked like a kid beside her. Meg carried this aura of authority with her- which I had come to appreciate- wherever she went. Being the captain of the basket ball girls' team of St. Adelaide, she indeed had a reputation to maintain.

"Earth to Lily," Meg snapped her fingers in front of me.

"Sorry, what?" I blinked.

"I said, why didn't you tell me that Justin was coming?"

I cocked my head sideways and stood with my hands on my hips. "Well, maybe if you had bothered just enough to look through the hundred messages that I sent last night, you'd know that he was, in fact, coming to pick both of us up today." I paused. "And, that I clearly mentioned for you to wear the yellow summer dress because both of us were supposed to wear yellow today!" I practically yelled the last part.

Meg closed her eyes for a moment and breathed out a sigh of exhaustion. "Are you serious, Lily? I thought we dropped that stupid thing of wearing color coded dresses last year."

I scowled. She seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today, and the presence of Justin just seemed to fuel it. But that was just how she was. I never actually expected her to wear that dress. She never listened to whatever I said. But if anybody could pull off a simple khaki shorts with a plain black t-shirt and a pair of worn black converse nicely, it was Megan.

"Are you two going to fight over your clothes now? I thought bringing me was enough an issue to fight over," Justin chuckled. "Get inside!"

"Fine, but I forbid you to talk to me," Meg spat at Justin.

"Like you need to tell me twice," he shot back.

I got in the front seat while Meg got in the back. I saw her plugging in her earphones on the rearview mirror. I looked out of the window and sighed.

What an amazing start to the first day of high school.