1 Chapter One

The sun in my eyes is what finally woke me up. Peeling open my eyes, I took in my surroundings. This was not my bedroom. After a moment of confusion, and making sure my clothes were still on, I remembered I passed out in one of the spare rooms at the party last night after drinking too much to drive. I found my phone and checked the time. Eight-thirty great I'm late for my first day at a new school and I've got a massive hangover. That's what I get for deciding to go to a party on a school night.

We moved here a few days ago. It's an hour away from my old friends, so we drive halfway to meet at parties and stuff to hang out. I've spent the last few days helping mom unpack the house before she had to leave on business. She didn't use to travel because she wanted to stay home and raise me after my dad died. Now that I'm seventeen she says I'm old enough to look after myself. Now the first day she leaves me on my own I'm going to be late great.

I had to change out of my party clothes before school, so I drove home in my piece of junk car. I have a cute punch-buggy but I don't take it to parties in case I have to leave my car somewhere if I'm drunk and can't crash at the party. After driving twenty-five minutes I'm finally home.

I run to my bedroom and wash my face before slipping on some school clothes. I grab my Green Day t-shirt and a pair of ripped skinny jeans. I grab an aspirin for my head while shoving my feet into my converse and hoping in my bug.

I finally arrive at Lincoln High School but it's 9:45 I've missed my first class and about half of my second. I groan annoyed with myself but walk in anyways better late than never right? I walk through the front doors of the school and into the office.

" Hello, I'm new here, can I have my schedule please?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't mention anything about my tardiness.

"Sure, can I get your name?" she asked, typing away on her computer. She was a really old lady but super sweet even though I'm pretty sure she was printing me a late note with my schedule.

"Jennifer Williams."

" Okay Jennifer, you're also going to need a school ID. You'll use your id to sign in if you're late, for lunch, for access to the library and checking out books. Don't lose it or you'll have to pay for a new one." She said handing me a schedule and pointing out a smaller office in the back where I would get my id picture taken and my ID printed. I nod and walk over, greeting the woman setting up a camera. Great, my school id is going to have a picture of me hungover on it. I sigh and sit on the stool in front of the white backdrop.

"Jennifer, Right?" she asks. I nod, and she quickly takes a picture and starts up some sort of id printer. She hands me the id and I'm on my way to class. There are only 15 minutes left till lunch but I'm not big on skipping. Even though I like to have fun, I still care about my grades. I want to be a doctor and you don't get there by slacking off and ditching.

Walking into the class, all eyes are on me. Great. I walk over to the teacher nervously. Most kids have gone back to what they were doing, but a few are still staring at me. "Hi I'm the new student Jennifer." he obviously was expecting me because he smiles and nods.

"Ah yes, Miss Williams. Pleased to have you. I'm Mr. Burke. Please take a seat in the back by Mr. Miller." he points to the only empty seat in the room. It's next to a boy with dark hair and a leather jacket. I didn't know people wore leather jackets in anything besides books. As I walk over, I suppress the urge to laugh at him and his jacket.

"I'm Jennifer," I say to him with a smile and a wave as I take the seat next to him. He gives me a bored look and rolls his eyes. Rude much? I sigh and take out my notebook. This is going to be a long year next to Mr. Assface. It's hard keeping up halfway through the semester but if I don't do anything I'll fall behind.

After what feels like an eternity of note-taking Mr. Burke hands me a packet of notes from last week as the bell rings, saving me from having to ask Assface. I smile in appreciation and start walking to try and find the cafeteria. I'm starving. All I had for breakfast was an apple on my way to school. After realizing I have no idea where I'm going, I move the side of the hallway, pulling out my phone to look up the map posted on the school website. Still feeling lost I look around for room numbers or anything to give me some sort of location when a girl with sandy blonde hair walks over to me.

"I'm Lily!" She excitedly stretches her hand out to me. I shake it, a smile growing on my face. "You're the new girl?" she questions

"New and a little lost. I'm Jennifer, but my friends call me JJ." I say before turning my phone towards her, "Could you point out where we are and where the cafeteria is, please? I'm kinda lost." She looks at me with a huge grin.

"You have lunch now! Me too you can so totally sit with me and the girls! We are so gonna be best friends! Don't worry about the school map, it's all wrong since they remodeled last summer." She holds my arm and starts leading me down the corridor. I let her. I'm enjoying her over the top energy and I'm glad to have made a friend the first day. "Let me see your schedule, maybe we have classes together!" She says as we enter a large cafeteria filled with catering students. "Yay! We have all but the first two classes together!" She squeals, grabbing the attention of a bunch of students. I give them an awkward smile and shrug before walking to the lunch line.

I grab a slice of pizza and make my way to the table with Lily. Two other girls are already seated there, so there are only two seats left. One between Lily and the girl with black hair and green eyes, and one between Lily and the girl with sandy blonde hair a few shades darker than Lily's and the same bright blue eyes. I chose the seat closest to me, by the girl with black hair.

"JJ this is Olivia," she points to the girl I've just sat by. She gives me a nod of acknowledgment and turns back to her phone. "And this is Maddison, my cousin." Maddison smiles at me with a quick wave. Cousins? Well, that explains the similarities between them. I smile back and introduce myself.

"Jennifer, but you can call me JJ." Remembering I'm starving I grab my pizza and dig in. We sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes, each doing our own thing before Lily turns to address the group.

"Did you hear that Jackson is throwing a party this Friday! I just saw a post about it!" This seems to be a big deal because both Maddison and Olivia join in on ear-piercing shrieking and giggling.

"O. M. G.! Jackson? His parties are always crazy! Are we going to go?" Madison sends a pleading look to Lily, who grins.

"Mads, of course we're going. You really think Lily would let us miss a party this big?" Olivia says with a smile as she rolls her eyes.

"Just making sure you won't chicken out Via." Maddison replies, stealing one of Olivia's fries. To this, she just scoffs and sends an elbow softly into Maddison's side.

"Would it be cool if I tagged along with you guys?" A smile breaks across my face as they all smile and nod at me.

"Of course dummy! You are part of the group now! We can all get ready together too!" Lily says jumping around in her seat. I laugh at her enthusiasm.

"Okay, cool, we can get ready at my place my mom probably won't be home, so we'll have the place to ourselves." They nod in agreement. We are going to meet Friday at 7 to get ready together. Now I just have to get a new outfit. Great. Don't get me wrong, shopping is fun just not alone. Maybe I'll ask the girls to shop with me.

The rest of the day goes pretty fast. Lily and I sit together in all three of our classes. Which is great but "Mr. Miller" aka Assface is in all my classes as well. Fun… not. Lily and I sit pretty far from him, so I only have to worry about him in the second period.

The final bell rings and I make my way to my car while texting the girls' group chat to see if they want to come too. Mads and Via instantly reply with a yes. Lily has swim practice, so she asks Mads to pick her a dress. I smile, as I drive to the mall to meet the girls, glad to not have to shop by myself.

After 2 hours at the mall, we all have our outfits. Mads chose a black high waisted denim skirt that stopped mid-thigh and a long-sleeved baby blue off the shoulder top. Via chose a navy blue spaghetti strap dress that was tight on the top and loose at the waistline to the knees. And for Lily, we got a purple off the shoulder swing dress. I decided with a one-shoulder cropped tank and a red leather skirt that stopped just about mid-thigh. I even found the perfect pair of black boots to match.

We had so much fun we decided to have a sleepover. The girls went home to grab some pj's and stuff while I headed to the grocery store to get some movie essentials. I grabbed popcorn, Hot chocolate, marshmallows, and ice cream. I wasn't sure what flavors the girls would want, so I got a bunch of different types hoping they would like one of them. I decided to also grab a bunch of candy because what's a movie without candy? I have a ton of movies, Netflix and Hulu, so I wasn't worried about that. So I checked out.

When I got home I had just enough time to bring the groceries in and shower before the girls showed up with ten pounds of blankets and pillows to make a fort. Lily even brought fairy lights. We spent half an hour preparing our fort and food before deciding to watch the hunger games and divergent. We watched and talked about how hot the actors were as we ate. Eventually, we passed out in our fort. I was worried I wouldn't like it here but I'm starting to feel at home here and that was the best thing ever. These girls are awesome.