Despite It All

Chapter One

"Bitch, be gone!" Jessica said waving her hand in the air dismissively. The girl was all red in the face, and for a second I felt bad for her, but her second was over. She balled up her fists and stormed off and we all broke out in laughter.

This was actually average for us. Jessica, Kitty, Jamie, and I sat this lunch table almost every day, and there was always someone coming over to start some argument they couldn't finish. It was pitiful.

"Like she stood there like she said a legit argument. Yes, he is your boyfriend and no you didn't keep him on a leash. And it's my problem? Bitch, evaporate." Jessica said with a sneer. She was a loud mouthed female Casanova, that was all there was to it. She was never looking for a relationship with anyone, not to mention she never asked the guys who she fooled around with were they in one. Technically, it wasn't her fault. They had their chances, but they never took them, so when shit hit the fan, their girlfriends came for blood and Jessica stood her ground. I respected that.

"I don't know why you said anything, you should've just punched her ass." That was Kitty for you. She never liked to argue, she just came in swinging. That's where she got the name Kitty from. Her real name is actually Alice, which fit her blonde hair and blue eyes, but after that she was all Kitty, claws out.

Jamie took a few jabs in the air, then laughing before she was back picking at her french fries. I adored her, not to mention she kicked the stereotype of only white people had red hair and freckles. Her hair was wild, frizzy, and she loved it that way, but not always. When we first met her, she always had a hat shoved on her head and makeup covering her face. It was like she was ashamed and we never understood that, she was absolutely beautiful. But that didn't matter now, she was out and loving herself and that's all that matters to us.

We were still eating lunch, discussing whether we were actually going to last period when I heard my name. There was no denying who is was, so of course I rolled my eyes.

"Nicole, take off the hat." And there he stood with a grimace on his perfect little face, how tragic. In ways he was kind of perfect, stunning blue eyes, that 'I woke up like this' lazy blonde hair, and a jaw line that had to be carved by God himself. So yeah maybe I thought he was cute and I probably thought about him way more than I should. But after that, he was a pain in my ass.

"We do this almost everyday Tyler, just leave me alone, saftey patrol!" I groaned, hoping he would just leave. But of course he didn't. He just came closer, folding his arms across his chest, making his shirt grab at his muscles like a fantasy. It was actually a disservice to me and all the girls, and a few guys, that he always wore long sleeved button downs. Yes, it looked so professional, and it kind of fit that he was President of Student Council, but still.

"If we do it everyday, why don't you just not wearing the freaking hat!"

"Because my beanies are a part of my outfit, you are murdering fashion!"

"Give me a break, just give me the hat."

"You can kiss my narrow, black ass thinking that you're going to get my beanie."

"Now you know you don't give a damn about fashion." Jessica butted in before letting out a laugh. I would have noticed them giving each other high fives if Tyler and I weren't having a stare down.

Tyler looked me up and down with a sneer before huffing off. As soon as his back was turned I held up both my middle fingers, rolling my eyes.

"He's an ass." I said, slumping down in my seat, folding my arms across my chest.

"But you like that ass." Jessica said with a smirk on her face as I sneered.

Jamie gave me a pat on the shoulder and shrugged. "He's just following orders, lame ass orders, but orders nonetheless."

That didn't lighten my mood at all, so lunch was a bust. The bell rang, and after going through the pros and cons, we finally decided to go to last period. It was a class everyone needed to graduate, and honestly, I didn't make it to senior year not to.

I didn't like anything science related, so I pressed my forehead on the desk, just waiting for it to be over. It took than I expected, so Jessica had to shake me awake. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as she practically dragged me to the school buses before they left. Jamie lived right near the school and Kitty's dad always came, so it was just me and Jessica, smushed together on the big cheese.

My face was pressed against the window for a while before I looked over at Jessica who was texting. You would think she and I were related in some way. We both had the same warm skin tone with full lips. We both cursed like sailors and considering we lived in the same neighborhood, people thought we lived together. But Jessica was more hair done, nails done, everything big, while I slid on whatever I found in the morning, not giving a damn if it even matched.

"Who're you texting?"

"Damien Lowe."

"From third period?"

"The one and only."

"You know his girlfriend is Tiffany Daniels. She's good people." I added at the end with an arch of my brow.

"That son of a bitch! I asked him and he gave me this 'nah baby all I see is you' bullshit. Why you have to lie?" She whined before shoving her phone in her pocket. "Why is it so hard to find a guy that's single and just wants to make out all the time?"

"Because in the end, someone catches feelings and fucks it all up." I said with a small shrug. It was the truth though. You can't just kiss a guy, hell, even be his friend without someone wanting more. And with that truth, Jessica wasn't going to get what she wanted.

For the rest of the ride, we rode in silence. She was back on her phone and I was staring out the window at the cars that passed by.

The bus finally stopped and everybody scattered out, Jessica and I trying to push our way through since we sat on the back. When we finally got off, we waved our goodbyes, and going our separate ways.

I hopped up the steps before pushing open the door.

"The party is here!" I exclaimed, my little brothers, Leo and Jason, squealing in excitement as they rounded the corner from the kitchen. They hopped on me, screaming about something that happened in school. I couldn't catch it all, so I just laughed before pushing past them to see my mom at the kitchen sink.

"Hey ma, what's cooking, good looking?" I said, lifting lids off pots to see what was for dinner. She was wiping her hands on a towel as I dipped my head into the fridge.

"How was school?"

"Same old, same old. I need to find a year book quote. I was thinking either 'Aint nothing but a gangster party' or 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That's why its called the present'." I said, stuffing an orange in my pocket.

"The second one." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Got it from Kung Fu Panda." I snickered as I ran up the stairs, passing my room, to land on my younger sister's bed. She was in the stage of life where her thumbs were attatched to her phone. I spent more time here than my own room. It felt wrong after all this time getting our own rooms.

"What's shaking?"

"Nothing." She said in a monotone voice. But as soon as I started peeling my orange, her head perked up. "Give me some!" I made a face at her before tossing a few pieces in her direction.

We sat like that for a while until mom called everyone down for dinner and it was a race to the head of the table. Leo got to it first, making my sister groan in annoyance. We chatted away while eating, talking about school, the news, anything really. We were always like this, just a big happy family.

Dinner was over, and being full as I was, to shuffled to my room, sprawling out on my bed. It didn't take long for me to clock out, though in the back of my mind there was homework in my bookbag that wouldn't get done.