The Same Mistakes Club

Chapter Five

The first day of school.  I wasn't even at school yet, and I already had to face the enemy.  Not Kevin - he was gone.  But Kevin's kind.

"Aw, can you believe my baby brother is in high school?" Margaret gestured to the backseat of her car, where her brother Mordecai was blaring his iPod.  "And you know, Alissa, I don't see any horns on the top of his head."

"Yet." I smirked at her.

Little Mordi Jesslin was a freshman... a guy... one of them.

I wondered when he would start acting like every other guy at Isabelling.  Was there some sort of secret class where they taught boys to become himbos?

As Mordecai got out of Margaret's car, I couldn't help but notice how much more alike than they ever looked, with their dirty blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and round-shaped faces.

Margaret looked me up and down.  "Alissa, those shoes are adorbs.  You look smokin' hawt today."  She applied a fresh coat of lip gloss in the rearview mirror.  "Looking to impress anybody in particular?"

I groaned.  "No - I just wanted to look nice for me."

Margaret gave me a look that said she didn't believe me.

I didn't care.  This was going to be the start of an amazing year.  I opened the door to school, excited about getting a fesh start, minus all the boy craziness.

The smile on my face quickly vanished when the first person I saw was Daniel Walker, wearing the letter jacket I'd "borrowed" when we were dating.  How fitting that I would be greeted by a reminder of hideous boyfriends past.  I was just thankful that Kevin was miles away back in Miami.  I turned the corner to get away from Dan and saw Matthew Willikers, who was apparently still too cool to give Margaret the time of day.

My frustration grew as I continued to survey my classmates.  I'd walked these hallways thousands of times, but it was as if my eyes were open for the first time.  All I saw were girls falling over themselves to flirt with guys, couples walking hand in hand, guys being... well, guys: loud, obnoxious, egotistical.  They didn't go to girls; girls came to them.

My bag vibrated and I pulled out my cell phone.  I stopped dead in my tracks and Manuel Dupart bumped into me.  "Watch it!" he yelled as his girlfriend, Taylor, glared my way.  Heaven forbid they weren't able to hold hands 24/7.

I snapped out of my daze.  I was convinced there was some sort of mistake.  But no - the phone cruelly confirmed the truth: It was a text from Kevin.  Of course he would find a way to torture me even though he wasn't around.

Have a good first day.

What? First, he knew I wasn't talking to him.  Second, it had only been two weeks - did he think I'd forgotten?  Third, could he have been any lamer?  I deleted the text and shoved my phone back into my bag.

I refused to let Kevin McKenzie ruin one more day of my life.

"You're in so much trouble, Madison!"  Gabriel Smithers was leaning against his locker, arms folded, with a mischievous grin on his face.

Fabulous.  I was so not in the mood to deal with his crap.

"What is it?" I asked impatiently as I opened my locker, three doors down from his.

Gabriel looked at me, confused.  "Um, never mind."  He grabbed my class schedule from my stack of books.

Gabriel Smithers was one of those guys with a clingy girlfriend whose life revolved around him.  He was the biggest cliche at our school: a star athlete with good grades, who just happened to also be gorgeous.  He was over six feet tall with a lean build; he had amazing hazel eyes; and he was always flipping his swoopy, brown hair.  Naturally, he was also one of the biggest flirts in school.  I used to go along with it, but this time I didn't have any desire to further feed his ego.

He was a guy.  A guy guy.  As far as I was concerned, he probably had the dead bodies of small children and puppies hidden in his locker.

I almost didn't recognize him without Maishely Creston (pronounced Michelle-ee. I know, right?) hanging on his every move.  Gabriel and Maishely had been dating since forever.  Well, technically seventh grade, but in high school that was forever.  Maishely was the classic girlfriend for an overachiever like Gabriel: wavy long brunette hair, deep dark brown eyes, voluptuous frame, short, and always, always put together - your standard Cheerleading captain type.

"Man, it looks like we only have World History together."  Gabriel was saying to me now.  "Jacob is in that class, too.  That totally sucks."

"Yeah, sucks." I didn't even try to hide the sarcasm in my voice.

"Hiya!" I looked down the hallway and saw none other than Miss Maishely Creston walking toward us with a huge smile on her face.  She probably had some sort of sixth sense telling her that Gabriel was talking to another girl.  I tried not to roll my eyes as I started fishing my books out of my locker. "Happy first day of school!" she said.

I slammed my locker shut and tried to head to Spanish class - but my path was blocked by Maishely, standing in front of me with her smile getting even wider, which freaked me out somewhat.

"Hey, Alissa." she said.  "How was your summer?"  Her eyes were practically sparkling with enthusiasm.  It was almost enought to make me gag.

I looked at her in confusion.  Why was she talking to me?  We hadn't spoken in forever.

"Uh, hi, Maishely."  I didn't understand why everybody felt the need to bring up summer on the first day of school. It was so annoying.  Summer was over.  There wasn't a need to think about it.  Ever again.

"So, notice anything?" Maishely started to twirl around.  Everything about her screamed perfect - no big changes there. - so I just shrugged.  "Alissa."  Maishely looked stunned.  "My outfit - don't you remember?"  I scanned her clothes.  fitted navy blue blazer with a white shirt underneath, khaki skinny jeans, and white airwalk heels.  I shrugged.  Clearly, I didn't remember.

"Alissa!"  Maishely's eyes opened.  "We had planned to dress like a guy from One Direction on the first day of school.  Now do you remember?"

My mouth dropped open. Yeah, when we were thirteen... and on speaking terms.

"Um, sorry," I said.  "It's been a long time."

Maishely's shoulder slouched.  I wasn't giving her the response she'd been hoping for.  What did she expect?  The last time we'd planned an outfit for the first day of school was in eighth grade.  That was the day I'd been late for school because Maishely hadn't come to my house to get me like she always did.  That was the day my best friend forgot to wear her outfit.  And it turned out to be the day I'd finally realized our friendship was over.  We had been best friends for almost ten years.  Our mothers had met at a local store when we were in diapers and had decided to make regular playdates for us.  Her mother would pick us up from school and take us to the park, or we'd go back to my house and play in the backyard.

But none of that mattered.  Nothing else had mattered to Maishely once Gabriel came into the picture.

Maishely had decided she only had room in her life for one person.

It had been between her best friend and her boyfriend.

Guess which she'd picked.