A year to remember

1. Sam

At my school, you needed to know one thing and one thing only; Alyssa Vanderbilt was the Queen bee. Her dark hair was long and silky, her eyes, a contrasting pale blue and spattered with yellow, like the sky at sunrise. She was nothing short of stunning, her looks drew you in and captivated you. If she bumped into you accidentally, you didn't wash that body part for the rest of the week. If she made eye contact with you, you would all but melt in a puddle of her glory.

The rest of the school had their chance at fame through other means such as cheerleading or joining the school's basketball or football team, but since both were team sports, there were only a certain number of spots to be filled which made the A-List limited and exclusive. Alyssa and her friends stuck together, and although they mingled with the other popular people, no one was of their calibre. They knew it, and so did we.

Alyssa had been born into old money but her father had died when she was young. Her mother didn't work, she had no need for it. They owned two homes; a penthouse apartment near school and a vast, incredible home which would have been about 12,000 square foot. It was tucked away privately on 2 acres of land and overlooked the river and surrounding mountains. It was almost always vacant, except for when Alyssa threw a fabulous party that needed enough space for the socially elite. I may have been there once or twice to check it out. Not because I was ever invited to one of her parties, but because the mansion was almost always empty and I was curious. My mother had worked there as a maid for a short period of time. She told me it had an underground carpark which held an array of old vintage cars worth millions that just sat around, their covers collecting dust that she had to wipe off twice a week. The cars had been her father's guilty pleasure, but Mrs Vanderbilt had never been able to sell after his untimely death. The house also had an impressive infinity pool and jacuzzi outside to soak up the incredible views and a very well stocked wine cellar. But why stay there if you had a sprawling penthouse apartment walking distance from school to live at instead? I sometimes wondered if she ever got lonely, as her mother was never around. But a person like Alyssa would ever know the utter emptiness and despair that came with loneliness. She was surrounded by people who loved and adored her.

Alyssa's right hand women were Scarlett Livingstone, a blonde bombshell, and Mila Hermaan; who had dark hair, dark eyes, and smooth brown skin. Mila had inherited her mothers long legs; legs that any model would kill for, let alone any high school student. Sometimes I wished my mother had been a model so I had at least a shot at the popular genes. 

Where Alyssa had Mila and Scarlett, I had Paige. It wasn't exactly the same, because Alyssa, Mila and Scarlett were really close. They went shopping together, had sleepovers, threw amazing parties and went on holidays and weekend getaways together all of the time. Paige was my closest friend- or rather my only friend- but we never hung out outside of school. Paige was the only person at school who spoke to me, other than the teachers of course. Alyssa had people falling at her feet to speak to her, and she was selective with who got even a moment of her precious time. Paige often said those girls were destined to be alcoholic housewives and that was all they would ever amount to, but she didn't know how badly I craved to have even a minute of the attention they got.

The final member of the fabulous four was Jared Lennox; the love of my life. His looks were breathtaking. He had soft dark, curly hair which he let grow just a little too long between hair cuts. He had straight white teeth and the most kissable lips I had ever seen. I often watched him goofing around with the others from afar, admiring the way his perfect dimples popped out of his cheeks and enhanced his good looks even further.

I overheard Alyssa and Mila joking about Jared only being so good looking because his father was a successful plastic surgeon. But his mother was a stunning trophy wife, so there was no question as to where his looks really came from. I always thought it was a real shame they had never had more children, because Jared was a blessing for everyone. He was charismatic and I wasn't the only person to notice him. The whole school swooned as he walked past, both girls and boys. One moment in his presence was enough to bring light to even the darkest of days. 

Unfortunately for me, he almost completely ignored my entire existence.

In freshman year, I noticed him on the first day. So did Alyssa. After all, he was wealthy and incredibly good looking; he was born to be popular. Together, they found the others who measured their stature in wealth, class and looks and the four of them had become inseparable ever since. Paige said that they were afraid to leave their elite pack or be different for fear of being judged, that ultimately they were sheep. But I didn't believe that for a moment. They were confident, sexy and the kind of wealthy I could only ever dream of. They were everything I wasn't.

In Sophomore year, Jared threw a note turned into a paper plane at Alyssa, but it missed her and hit my head instead. He said "Sorry, that's meant for Lys." Internally, I died because he spoke to me. Two months later, he was flirting with Alyssa by her locker, which just happened to be above mine. Then the best thing happened. He touched me! Well, he actually stood on me. I usually got stood on by people who hovered around her, but they never seemed to notice. Jared was different though. He looked down and apologised with a quick "oh shit, sorry!" But his green eyes really saw me. I could hardly believe it. Paige told me not to be moronic; she said anyone who stood on another human being should apologise. But that just proved to me that Jared was better than anyone else in our school, because I had been stood on by a lot of people before and no one had ever apologised, let alone looked me in the eye and apologised. It just proved to me how perfect he truly was.

In junior year, I noticed Jared kissing a cheerleader by his locker, his hands on her waist, squeezing her hips intimately. My stomach dropped and I felt a sudden lump in my throat, making it impossible to breathe. I had heard the rumours that he hooked up with a new cheerleader every day, but seeing it with my own eyes had hit harder than hearing about it. I ran to the toilets and cried all afternoon. It was the first time I had ever skipped class.

Paige found me later and I told her how crushing it was, and all I wanted was to be popular so I could have a chance with Jared. Paige said popularity was conformity. She was right, to a degree, because the cheerleaders and jocks stuck together at all times, like the perfect barbie dolls and ken dolls that they were. But the fabulous four didn't seem to be conformed to anything. If anything, the whole school revolved around their centre of gravity. 

It hurt me to love a man so adored, but who could blame him for sleeping around with the cheerleaders; they basically rubbed their perky tits up and down his body as they passed him in the halls. I told Paige it was like they were trying to have sex with him with all of they clothes on. How could any man, even one as perfect as Jared, say no when sex was literally being throw in his face every day? No one had that level of willpower! I decided then and there that it wasn't his fault. It was the slutty cheerleaders. They were all supposedly friends but fell over one another to hook up with Jared when their best friend had just been there yesterday and would likely go there again tomorrow. They never learned. The only thing that helped, was knowing they meant nothing to him. He didn't really date and he had never liked a girl enough to make her his girlfriend. Not even the prettiest, sexiest, richest or sluttiest of them could lock Jared Lennox down.

In Senior year, the principal wanted to shake things up; mainly because he had an issue with social exclusivity. So according to his new rules, phones were banned during class and we were assigned seats in most of our classes. In four out of my eight classes, I lucked out. In Chemistry, we were randomly assigned seats and I got paired with some dumb cheerleader that I would no doubt have to carry academically, but the good news was, Jared and Scarlett were sitting directly in front of me. In Algebra, I was sitting one row in front of Mila, which was perfect for subtle eavesdropping. In English, I was assigned a seat next to none other than Alyssa herself; close enough to breathe in her floral perfume and bask in her glory. But best of all, in History, I was assigned a seat right beside Jared.

This year they would notice me. This year would be different. 

This would be a year to remember.