Before you start to read, I want to apologize if this book seems to be moving a little slow. I promise you'll be seeing some changes in Maya, but it will happen gradually because Maya is so complex.

Also, she's taking a step forward and two steps back for a reason. I promise it will become clearer as the book goes on.

_________________________

Beep, beep. Beep, beep.

I groan and roll over to turn my alarm off. Sunlight is streaming through the curtains over my windows. I rub my eyes and slowly open them to get them adjusted to the brightness. When my eyes are finally adjusted, I slowly get out of bed.

I turn on my lights and walk over to my closet. I open the door and walk inside, staring at the clothes on hangers. I begin to look through my closet, finding nothing that suits my mood.

"Maya! Please hurry down as quickly as possible!" Emma's voice calls.

I groan again and roll my eyes as I yell, "Sure thing!"

I yank a pair of colored jeans and a graphic tee out of the closet. I change out of my pajamas and slip on the jeans and shirt. I rummage through my shoe pile and find a pair of black boots. I slip socks on before slipping the boots on.

"Maya, You're going to be late!" my uncle calls.

I roll my eyes and walk out of my closet, turning the light off as I go. I go into my bathroom and brush my hair and pull it up into a ponytail. I walk out and grab my backpack and jacket before turning the light off in my room and walking downstairs. I walk to the kitchen and see someone sitting at the kitchen island.

The person turns around and I'm surprised to be greeted with Nick's face. "What're you doing here?" I ask.

He laughs at my response and pats the seat next to him, telling me to sit next to him. "You're uncle invited me over to have a meeting during breakfast. It just so happens that we've already finished the meeting, he's gone, and I can now chat with my favorite neighbor."

I roll my eyes and reluctantly plop down in the seat next to him. Emma places a plate of eggs, sausage, and a biscuit in front of me. I thank her and pick up my fork to eat.

"So," I begin after I take my first bite, "Nick, I want to know why you're actually here."

Emma walks out of the room, and Nick replies, "I'm not lying. I had a meeting with your uncle to discuss the signing event. Just like I said, it ended early, and he had to leave for his office. I was hungry, and Emma offered to give me some food, which, by the way, was delicious."

I sigh and stare at my plate. "Why do I have a hard time believing you."

"I have no idea," he states.

I ignore his statement and quickly finish my food. Without acknowledging him, I place my dirty dish into the sink and pick up my backpack.

"I'm leaving," I call out to Emma.

She rushes into the kitchen and hands me my lunch, saying, "Have a great day."

I just nod and walk through the second kitchen and then out the back door. I saunter down the path, not eager to go to school for many reasons. I keep walking down the path slowly, but I still enter the main part of town too quickly.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I stop to get it out and read my notification. Once again, it's from the online high school newspaper, and it's another article about me. I tell myself to not look at the article, yet I hesitate to put my phone up.

I'm saved from opening it up by Nick's annoying voice. "You walk as slow as my grandma."

I groan and turn around to face Nick, demanding, "Why do you keep following me wherever I go? It's getting really annoying."

He flashes a smile at me and slips on the baseball cap and pair of sunglasses he has in his hands. "You're my favorite neighbor, and I love to annoy my neighbor."

I scowl and begin to walk away from him, but I know that he's not the kind of person who will just let me walk away, so I find myself not surprised when he catches up to me and begins to talk. "So, I've heard a lot about the high school, but I haven't been able to visit it. If I get the administration to allow me to visit, would you show me around?"

"You do that, and I will kill you," I state, quickening my pace.

He matches my pace and teases me further. "Man, you are touchy. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Nope."

He just laughs and keeps following me. As we get nearer to the school, I hope he'll go away and let me have some peace. Unfortunately, he's not that type of person, so he just stops when I stop. I sigh, and I notice that people are beginning to glance over at us, giving me glares and whispering even more than usual.

Cassandra walks by me and stops to whisper, "Tramp." She quickly walks away and laughs with her clique.

Nick must have heard her because when I look it him, he doesn't seem too happy. "Who is she?" he asks with irritation.

"Nobody I want to talk about. Now, could you please go away before people begin to recognize you. I'm pretty positive you don't want these girls to recognize you. You'd never be able to escape," I say, trying to scare him off.

He laughs. "And why would that be so bad? I happen to love getting to know all my fans."

I smirk. "Yeah, you must love the fans with posters of your face all over their walls, the ones who talk about you constantly, the ones who know where you live, and the ones who pretty much try to stalk you so they can catch a glimpse of you. I'm sure they're your favorites."

"W-what did you say?" he stammers.

"They are dying to meet you and will literally tackle each other and possibly you just to get to meet you," I reply.

"You can't be serious?"

I laugh. "Why would I lie? I promise you that they would definitely do that."

"There can't be very many of them," he tries to state, but it comes out more like a question.

"Trust me, there are. They're like flies who won't leave anyone alone, and they swarm around their source of food, or in this case, you," I say, pushing even more because I know I'm getting closer and closer to getting him to leave.

"Flies?"

"More like bees or wasps."

"Oh, um, I just remembered that I have a meeting I have to go to," he says quickly.

"What? Are you sure you don't want to meet your adoring fans?" I tease.

"I'm sure. Bye, Maya," he manages to reply before jogging away from me, leaving me laughing.

I manage to stop laughing by the time I reach first period, but I know I'll probably begin to laugh randomly throughout the day because I'll be thinking about that moment. His face was priceless; he looked throughly terrified.

"Hi," a quiet voice greets me.

I don't even have to turn my head to see that it's the nerd girl, so I just mutter, "I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"You did, but it doesn't mean I have to give up," she replies.

I frown and ignore her for the rest of the period. When class is over, she still tries to get my attention, but I keep ignoring her and walk out of the classroom. Luckily, even though she's in more of my classes before lunch, she doesn't bother speaking to me. When she does look at me, I ignore her.

I feel kind of bad that I'm ignoring her, but I've learned to be cautious with everyone I come in contact with, especially girls. I haven't met one girl who doesn't have some agenda behind their kindness.

I snap out of my thoughts and walk into the last class before lunch and sit down in my usual seat in the back. The nerd girl isn't in there, and I don't speak for the whole class period. It's great.

Finally, it's lunchtime, so I rush out of the classroom and hurry out to the courtyard to get to my favorite spot underneath the tree. I open my lunch and take my sandwich out, along with my notebook.

I am writing something down when I hear someone sitting down across from me. I look up and see the nerd girl opening her lunch, signaling she's going to eat lunch with me.

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask.

She looks at me cheerfully. "Eating lunch with you. It's a beautiful day today. Don't you think it's a beautiful day?"

"It was until a few seconds ago," I mutter.

I know she heard me, but she brushes it off by replying, "Well, I think it's a beautiful day and that it has been a beautiful day the whole time."

I sigh. "Please just leave me alone."

"I want to eat lunch with you, and I don't think I'm going to go away because I'm not someone who gives up easily. This is no exception," she says.

I groan and stand up, gathering my things up to leave. "Well, I would give up if I were you." I walk away, and she doesn't follow me.

"Maya Walker! You're needed in the principal's office," the school secretary tells me as she runs up to me, panting like a dog.

I groan and reluctantly follow her to the office, wondering why I would be called to the office. Not once have I been called to the office despite my 'bad girl' image. I don't want that to change, so I really want to know why I'm being called into the principal's office.

"Maya, thank you for agreeing to come meet with me," the principal greets cheerfully as though I had a choice of whether or not to come.

I resist the urge to groan and mutter, "My pleasure." I sit down and wait for him to speak.

"Maya, as you may know, Nicholas Caldwell is visiting town. He came to me a few minutes ago and asked if he could have a tour of the school. He even asked for you specifically to be his guide. At first, I was surprised, but it seems to me that you're a pretty perfect choice for this. I've never seen you in my office, and your grades are great, so I'm informing you that you're going to be showing him around tomorrow," the principal explains to me.

I stare at him in disbelief. "Nick came and asked you if he could have a tour?"

The principal looks at me with surprise. "Yes. Do you know him?"

"As a matter of fact, he's an acquaintance of mine," I tell him, and then mutter so he can't hear me, "And an idiot."

"Well then, you giving him a tour tomorrow shouldn't be much of a problem. Tomorrow's Saturday, so only I should be here. Please get here around ten o'clock. I'll be here to let you in," he states.

I stand up and calmly reply, "I'll be here."

"Alright. Thank you, Maya. I'll see you tomorrow," he says, gesturing for me to leave.

I just nod and walk out of the office as quickly as I can. In the hallway, I feel myself wanting to scream and go find Nick. I'm basically fuming at the mouth because of how angry I am at him. I resist the urge to scream as the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch.

I hurry to my locker and gather my books to go to class. When I reach the classroom, nobody is in there, allowing me to calm down a bit and get my thoughts together.

"Ah, here she is; the tramp. It's a wonder that she can actually show her face. Where's your stupid hood that protects me from your ugly face, Maya?" Cassandra mocks upon entering the classroom.

The classroom begins to fill up, so I don't respond. Instead, I just ignore her, and she keeps calling me names and insulting me. She doesn't get a response from me, so she soon begins to get frustrated.

"Miss Beckham, I'm going to have to ask you to please take your seat. Class is starting," the teacher says to Cassandra.

Cassandra rolls her eyes but sits down in her seat. Still, she manages to call me names for the whole class period. Her clique also joins in. They're so annoying that I can barely understand what the teacher is saying. That's how it is for the rest of the day because I have Cassandra in every single class with me.

By the end of the day, I'm so annoyed and emotionally drained that I'm about to explode. When I explode, it won't be pretty, so I pray that Cassandra won't come after me because I really don't want to have to deal with her right now.

"Maya Walker! You better stop walking or I'll make you regret it!" Cassandra yells at me from across the parking lot.

People stop in their tracks at her voice. I groan and turn around to see her walking angrily in my direction. People stare at the scene, and I don't blame them. Some look at Cassandra with amusement. Others stare at her with fear, and some stare at me with disgust, wondering what I could've have possible done to their precious Cassandra.

"What?" I demand, not backing down in the slightest.

She pushes me as soon as she reaches me. I land on my bottom on the concrete. She has way more strength than I thought she did. Still, I know that I'm stronger and that she won't try anything worse, especially since her clique isn't with her to back her up.

"How dare you go to the principal and ask him to let you show Nick Caldwell around the school! You're such a desperate loser! Stop trying to be someone you never will be," she screams at me.

I don't cower under her words because I've learned that cowering won't get me anywhere. Instead, I stand up and give her a hard glare. "Say and think whatever you want, even though it's not true. You're the one with the problems, not me."

She stares at me, and I just walk away. When I reach home, I go up to my room and lie down on my bed, letting my thoughts drift away.