I eyed the girl next to me skeptically. "Uh," I muttered. "I'm sorry but do I know you?" I was trying not to sound bitchy but failing miserably.
"I'm Gabby," she told me, smiling. I grabbed the hideous, oversized black gym shorts the gym teacher had given me earlier. "My mom works for your Aunt Jamie."
My body went stiff and my fingers locked around the drawstring of my shorts. A worry lap shot through my nerves, afraid she knew about me. I quickly tied my shorts, reaching down to grab my top when I felt my body sudden jerk into the metal locker beside me. Pain stung up my side and I gasped out for air.
"Whoopsie, my bad," a newly familiar voice laughed out. I turned around to find Piper standing in front of me with a mini minion to each side of her. One was blonde with curls similar to Piper's and the other had a full head of black hair pulled into a low ponytail. They were both sporting different colored plaid mini-skirts similar to Piper's. The fact that someone was striving to be like Piper was scary and I was worried for their mental health. The three brats burst out in synchronized laughter like they practiced it for sport daily. I looked down at my side noticing the ripped skin and redness where it came into contact with the locker.
Quick correction: Piper was not like Cher; she was pure Regina George, maybe worse.
"Leave her alone, Piper," Gabby said tightly, jumping in between the two of us, still in only a bra and panties.
"I'm sorry, but this doesn't concern you, homewrecker," Piper mocked back. Her little sidekicks giggled in the background like hyenas.
"Actually it does," Gabby fired back, putting her hands on her hips. "She's my friend so you need to back off." Huh? We had just met, but if she got Piper off my back, we were definitely going to be friends.
"Why does that not surprise me," Piper muttered under her breath, snapping her fingers. Yes, she actually snapped her fingers like some bad eighties flick. Her little sidekicks scurried away behind her out of the locker room without another word.
The girl who had just saved me from another Piper verbal smack down sighed beside me, grabbing my arm and raising it up. "Damn girl," she said, eyeing the large, red mark running down my side and whistling loudly. "She got you good. Isn't this only your first day here?" She asked me, pulling her shorts on. I nodded. "How did you already manage to piss off Queen Bitch Face already?" We both pulled our shirts over our heads at the same time. "She usually saves that for girls who hook up with Keegan."
I paused at the mention of his name. Of course, my pain in the ass neighbor was already causing me problems. Regret set in, I wish I had declined the ride. Piper wouldn't have been on my ass if my uncle took me to school instead.
"He's my neighbor and he gave me a ride to school today," I told her, rolling my shoulders and slipping on my tennis shoes. "I guess she didn't like it too well that he made her sit in the backseat."
Gabby's eyes went wide and she burst out in laughter. "Oh my god, I would have loved to see her face when he told her that." She shut her locker grabbing my arm. "Come on, we’d better go. If we are late, Ms. Appleberry makes us run extra laps." I followed her out the same door Piper and her minions left, which meant we were most likely about to have gym together. Yay! More icing to my non-existent cupcake.
Goosebumps pebbled up my arms walking to the freezing gym. A large group of girls were congregated in the middle of the room talking and laughing amongst one another. I squatted, getting ready to sit down when a loud voice boomed through the room. "Give me five laps, ladies! Get it moving!"
The group dispersed and everyone around me started to run up the stairs to the left. The overweight gym teacher that had handed me my uniform earlier was standing in front of the room with a huge megaphone clasped in her fingers.
"Welcome to gym class," Gabby huffed, rolling her eyes. We turned around, following the group of girls taking one stair at a time until we reached a huge, circular track that overlooked the gym. I groaned, breaking out in a slow jog.
"So what do you think of Atlanta so far," Gabby asked me, pulling her ponytail tighter, while we jogged in sync with each other.
"It's not too bad. I actually just got here yesterday so I haven't had much of a chance to do anything yet." I could feel my side already beginning to cramp up and my legs were starting to tire from my lack of being in shape. I had worked out with Tanner sometimes, in more ways than one, but all physical activity had been cut out of my life since he left me.
She looked at me and her smile started to grow until it covered her entire face. "Well, you're all everyone has been talking about since you got here this morning," she informed, eagerly, picking up her pace. "You're new and hot. Today's juicy gossip."
Chills ran down my spine and I shivered. "Great," I muttered, my voice laced with sarcasm. I had no interest in being the day's juicy gossip. My plan in Atlanta was to just go by unnoticed, graduate to make my parents happy, then figure out what the hell I wanted to do with the rest of my life after that.
She went quiet beside me and I glanced over at her from the corner of my eye. Her face was unreadable and she slowed down, breathing hard. "So uh," she muttered, stopping completely and looking around the gym struggling to find the words to tell me whatever it was. Girls passed us by quickly without a second look. Her eyes shot back to mine when she was ready. "I know what happened to you," she whispered softly, "at your last school." The chills I already had were magnified by a thousand. "The only reason I know is because my mom had to work extra hours to cover for your aunt when she left to go to the funeral. I'm pretty sure I am the only person who knows and my lips are sealed," she used her hand to zip her lips. "I promise."
A huge burden of pressure lifted off my back and I exhaled a large breath I didn't know I was holding in. "Thank you," I said, quietly, glancing down at my feet.
"Nobody has to know anyways," she chirped up. "We can just tell them you are from somewhere else? What about Brazil? You have that whole dark hair exotic look going on."
My eyes quit studying my shoes and moved back to her face. "You know they have accents and speak a different language there, right? It might be a sure sign I'm lying."
"Oh," she answered, scrunching up her lips. "Well shit, where do you want to be from? I will totally back up your story." The girl was growing on me already. She reminded me of Tessa and how we always had each other's backs.
"Might as well tell them where I'm really from. There's so many schools there I doubt they could put two and two together."
She nodded in agreement. "True and I'm pretty sure half of these people don't watch the news around here anyways. They are too worried about everyone’s business here."
"Ladies," we heard the booming voice through the mega phone again. We walked over the railing, looked down to see Ms. Appleberry standing in the middle of the gym pointing at our stationary bodies. "This is physical education, which means you need to start moving."
"Yeah skank, you need to move much faster than that if you want to burn off all that extra ass you have," Piper sneered, running past us and bumping me in my shoulder. She laughed, taking off away from us in full sprint.
"Don't ever take advice from a girl who bedazzles her gym uniform," Gabby shouted, loud enough for Piper to hear. In return, Piper spun around and flipped her off.
"Well, let's get moving," I grumbled and we both started jogging again.
"H
EY
G
ABS,"
I glimpsed up from my salad finding a tall, willowy strawberry blonde with a fishtail braid down one side of her head, lay her try down at our table. She was wearing a white, floral summer dress and had Georgia Peach written all over her. The chair screeched as she pulled it out and opened up her drink. "I'm Cora, it's Daisy right?" She asked, sending a warm smile in my direction. I gave her a quick nod and looked around the lunchroom that was growing busier.
After we finished gym class and got dressed, Gabby dragged me from the lunchroom, complaining how physical activity made her ravenous. Relief hit me, realizing I wouldn't have to be that one awkward new kid who had nowhere to sit during lunch.
"I heard Piper has got it out for you, girl," Cora said, opening up her fruit cup. "Ignore her, she will eventually get bored and go away. She's like one of those demon creatures in the horror movies that feed on fear. Starve her and the bitch dies," she informed me, shrugging her shoulder and popping a strawberry into her mouth. "Piper is under the impression that she has some claim to Keegan," she continued, "when everyone and their mom knows that Keegan Montgomery does whatever the hell Keegan Montgomery wants. He's practically screwed every girl in this room and then some." Her face twisted into a look that resembled disgust.
"She's not his girlfriend?" I asked, confused. They both looked at me like I had just grown another head.
Cora laughed. "Uh no. Keegan will never have a girlfriend or any type of serious relationship," she told me matter-of-factly. "He has major commitment problems and Piper is just his number one booty-call."
"She is acting way bitchier towards her than usual, though," Gabby chimed in beside me. "Which just shows that she definitely feels threatened by you." She took a bite of her pizza crust and tossed it back on her tray. Threatened by me? I could hardly stand to hold a conversation with Keegan, let alone screw him.
"Doesn’t matter," I said, waving off her comment, "I'm not interested in Keegan, so Piper has nothing to worry about."
Gabby choked on her drink, spewing it all over the table and Cora pulled her arm over slapping her on the back a few times. "Who in the hell wouldn't be interested in that?" Gabby screeched when she regained control of herself. She gestured her head to the left and I followed her gaze to a table a few down from us. Keegan was planted into a seat at a rowdy, overly crowded table with Piper's skinny ass plastered in his lap. Barf. I could care less how attractive he was. I wasn’t interested in having a relationship, especially with a player like him. My heart was sealed in a casket stuck in the ground.
"I would willingly hand over my virginity to that boy with a huge red bow tied around it," Gabby said, pouring dressing over her salad.
"Whatever Gabby," Cora protested. "You're not that stupid."
"Hi baby," a guy with shaggy dark hair tucked under both of his ears and wearing a football jersey, stooped at our table. He pulled out a chair next to Cora. He grabbed her by the sides of her face planting a firm kiss on her lips. "What's going on?"
"Just listening to Gabby tell us about how she wants to gift wrap her v-card and hand it over to your slut bag cousin," she replied, putting her finger in her mouth and making a vomiting noise. I studied the guy and I could see a tiny resemblance of Keegan. They both had the same dark hair but this guy's grey eyes were no match to Keegan's emeralds that had been taunting me all morning.
He shrugged his shoulders. "That's nothing new.” He grabbed a handful of fries and shoved them into his mouth. "Who is this," he asked, moving his thumb in the air and signaling towards me.
"Daisy, she's the new girl," Cora answered, before I had the chance to introduce myself. "This is my boyfriend, Lane." She tilted her head towards him.
He gave me a penetrating look and a sly smile spread over his face. "You're the chick my cousin was telling me about, the neighbor girl. I must say I am somewhat disappointed," he said, and I frowned. My muscles tensed up certain Keegan had told him about me watching him.
"I thought girls named Daisy were supposed to wear little blonde pigtails and wear those tiny shorts. What are they called again?" A rush of relief rushed off me as he looked around the table, waiting for someone to answer him.
Jesus, these people and my damn name.
"Daisy dukes," Gabby answered for him and he snapped his fingers.
"That's it. Daisy dukes. I see you don't have the blonde pigtails but are you wearing those cute little shorts?" He asked, grinning and instantly reminding me of his jackass cousin. Yep, they were definitely related.
He winced when Cora slapped him upside the head before I had the chance to tell him no. I did own short shorts, though. I had loved wearing them to all the country concerts I used to go to and when Tessa and I would sneak into the football team's camping parties.
"Try not to scare her off with your damn creepiness, Lane," Cora instructed, giving me an apologetic look. "Please excuse my boyfriend, he never really learned the concept of manners."
"It seems your sexy as shit cousin has his eyes set on Little Miss Daisy here," Gabby said, singing out my name like it was some cheap hillbilly movie. I was definitely making a trip to the Social Security office and applying for a temporary name change pronto.
"I wouldn't let Pathetic Piper hear you saying that," he said, taking an overlarge bite of his pizza.
"You wouldn't let Piper hear you say what?" A deep voice asked behind me and I already knew whom it belonged to before I twisted my body around to face him. He was standing directly behind me with his arms across his chest, raising an eyebrow. He glanced around the table and a broad smile spread across his face. "Ladies, it's always nice to see your beautiful faces."
Gabby's face turned into a lovesick puppy while Cora rolled her eyes grimacing. "Shut it, Keegan," she spat, narrowing her eyes at him. "You know the only reason I even put up with your ass is because of Lane." She pointed her finger his way. "Don't you dare think I have forgotten about my cousin."