Don't forget to vote and comment!

(If you don't, you'll step on a lego)

Follow me to become a member of #TEAMBLOSSOMS!

I walk through the doors of Glenwood High expecting a normal day. Why wouldn't I be? It's Monday, it's slow, I'm tired and honestly? I could care less about school. Just give me until Wednesday to officially wake up, all right?

It's not that I'm lazy...Okay, yes. I totally am. But I do care about my grades and other important stuff. It's just, at this point in my life, I'm a bit too preoccupied with staying out of the natural radars and making it to my eighteenth birthday.

Oh, I'm "social" enough. I make friends easy and have a positive attitude towards others. But I'm not a sell- out slut and I don't spread my legs out to every asshole I come across. If that's what it takes to be popular, I'll stay on the edges. But it's not just that, and trust me, if it was I'd be glad of it. I have a much bigger purpose behind throwing a shroud over my head in the hallways and avoiding all unfamiliar human contact.

Coasting it out till college just seems like a much better option, when you really think about it. At least it is for someone in my predicament, and I don't think you'll find many people with the same problems as yours truly.

Stay out of the limelight, out of trouble, and out of drama. That's the only way to be safe.

As is so obviously evident, I have my plate full trying to juggle out all the variables being flipped throughout my life, and if you knew me, you'd say that's the understatement of the century.

But you don't know me. And that's the thing right there.

I lean against the wall for a moment, thinking about my pathetic existence and something profound-like the ultimate meaning of life-when a crash snaps me out of my stupor.

Astrix LeBlanc, my best friend since who-knows-when, struggles with her locker combo. She exasperatedly smashes her dial against the locker door, attracting attention to herself.

I sigh and start to pull her away by the shoulders, laughing under my breath.

"Senior year, and you still can't work out that thing?"

She pouts. "The god-damn dial will not spin! It's not my fault it's so...Difficult!"

I sigh. "Here, let me do it."

I effortlessly tap in the little numbers and spin the tiny circle until I hear a click. "It's not that hard you know."

She rolls her eyes at me. "For you maybe. Everything always works out for you."

I shake my head. "You know as well as I do how untrue that is."

Astrix opens up her locker and smiles. "What? Did you have a loose strand of hair when you woke up this morning?"

I sigh. "I didn't wake up this morning because I didn't go to sleep in the first place! I was too busy working on that stupid literary essay."

Astrix nods sympathetically. "Sucks you have to have Mr. Vern for Language Arts."

I pout. "And you get Ms. Wayne. I swear you have the best luck ever."

Astrix grimaces. "Oh trust me. You wouldn't be saying that if you saw my grade in that class."

"I'm sure."

I pull my hair away from my face and haul up my backpack. "Well, here's where we part. See you at lunch later?"

"Totally."

I smile and pull on the strap of my bag. At the same time, Astrix ends up dropping all the books in her hands.

I stop to help her pick them up.

"And this is precisely why you need to splurge a bit and buy yourself a carrier."

Astrix shakes her head. "Gummy bears. I rest my case."

I roll my eyes. It's so like Astrix to spend all her pizza delivery tips on candy from 7/11.

When she's done balancing her textbooks in her arms, she waves me another goodbye and the last I see of her is a blonde bun dissolving into the crowd.

I shake my head and turn away to walk towards my Calculus class.

 But I don't make it there. My nose bumps into a solid wall and I take a step back, alarmed by the intensity of the impact.

I inhale deeply and scent a head- on assault of mint. Spearmint to be exact, my favorite type of gum.

I look up into a pair of clear green eyes and realize that it's not a wall I bumped into, but a boy. And the hard, solid thing? Yeah, that was his chest.

I blink a couple of times and then apologize. "Sorry about that."

He doesn't say anything for a moment. He chews on his strip of gum and stares down at me. Then he folds his arms together and smirks.

"Sorry about what?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Um, running into you?"

He pretends to look surprised. "Really?"

I shake my head and scoff. "All right then...Whatever. I'll be going to class now, so if you could just..."

He doesn't step out of the way. He continues staring down at me, impassive and unmoving. I bite my lip and frown.

"Hey...You're new, right? I've never seen you before."

He chews on his gum, blasting a whiff of mint my way.

"Yeah. Transferred from Attaway. Why?"

I shrug. "Just an observation."

He smirks again, and I suddenly look at him differently. I place in my mind where he'd land on the social lists.

Well...He's tall and muscular. So definitely a jock. His hair is thick and brownish-blonde, growing out perfectly on his head, and just the way he carries himself...Yeah, he'll fit in here just fine.

But he's not the type of guy who'd usually hang out with a girl like me. This is the trouble I was talking about. Associating with him will bring me nothing but it.

I smile politely and side -step him.

"Okay...Bye now."

He steps back, blocking me again. I look up at him and my mouth tilts questioningly.

He sighs. "Never mind."

I shake my head and walk past him. What was that?

I watch him turn around and follow me into Math out of the corner of my eye. Oh, great. We'll be sharing a class together...

Mrs. Casper stands at the front of the room as we all settle into our seats, and I notice the new guy standing next to her. All eyes are raised to stare at him, but he seems used to it. Must have been popular at his old school...I only know too well how kids like him think of themselves like  untouchable gods who are apparently better than everyone else. I don't and probably won't ever understand what notions go through their heads, or how this entire stupid system works.

Who's the grand master behind all this? Who decides who's pop and who's not? Why do the bad ones with terrible grades and no real future get to sit at the top, while the protagonists that actually possess the brains and ambitions have to chew it out at the bottom?

How is this fair?

But what do I care? I'm just a fraud. In theory, I should be scraping a bathroom floor right now and waiting in the wings for people who'll never show up. I'm not supposed to be here, and beggers don't have the option of choosing.

Whatever.

When we all finally settle down, Mrs. Casper clasps her hands formally in front of her and gestures at the boy.

"This is Jack Travels and he'll be joining us for the rest of the year. We're short on textbooks, so he may share with another student...Hmm..."

She pauses for an extended period of time. A number of other girls raise their hands to volunteer, and Mrs. Casper nods at Jack.

"Take your pick."

He surveys the room for a moment, and his eyes finally land on mine. I rest my chin on my fist. What?

He walks over towards me with a corner of his lips tilted up and pulls a chair over to my desk.

I sense a number of my peers, mostly the females, turn around and glance at me jealously.

I widen my eyes and stare at Jack. He stares back at me and continues chewing that gum.

I sigh. "You know chewing gum isn't allowed on school grounds, right?"

He shrugs. "I know."

His mouth tilts up in another smile and I get a sniff of mint. I try to ignore him and the spear gum, but it's kind of hard.

The entire lesson on algebra and his eyes aren't focused on the board. They're focused on me. And it's impossible to concentrate when someone's staring at you.

I snap my fingers in front of his face. "Stop that," I whisper furiously.

He shrugs innocently. "Stop what?"

"Staring."

"How would you know I was staring, if you weren't staring at me?"

I open my mouth. "You try to consciously ignore someone's gaze."

I say the last part louder than I mean to, and Mrs. Casper spins to face me.

"Anything you want to share, Oaklyn?"

I shake my head. "No...I'm sorry..."

Under my breath, I mutter some expletive curses I'm happy she didn't quite get.

To my relief, Mrs. Casper continues the lesson and the class soon forgets my infracture.

Jack teasingly clicks his tongue. "Oaklyn, huh?"

I don't reply, and neither does he.

I'm so grateful for the end of class that I leap to my feet and race out the door. I can sense Jack behind me, and I walk faster down a side hallway, using the fact that he's new and I'm more acquainted with this place to my advantage.

Well...Things sure got a whole lot more interesting around here.

                                                                                          ...

It feels like an eternity later, but noon finally rolls around and it's lunch. I do what I do on any normal school day and instinctively find my way to the far corner of the cafeteria, where everyone is visible to me, but I'm not so exposed to them. Just like I like it.

I unwrap my brown paper bag, and just as I'm about to take a bite into my juicy, red apple...I'm interrupted by Astrix who's sporting a big grin and an even bigger tray of food.

Damn...She's decked out her plate with literally everything on the lunch list!

I open my mouth to comment on her overdosage of proteins, but before I can get a word out, she drops her tray on the table and exhales deeply.

"Isn't it amazing?"

I raise an eyebrow, confused. "What's amazing?"

"The new guy. Haven't you heard?"

She stabs her milk cup with her straw and looks at me over the top of her pile of pasta.

"Um...Jack?" I question.

She nods vigorously. "Oh, so you have heard! Well...What do you think?"

I shrug. "He's not all as great as you work him out to be."

She scrunches up her face. "And what is that supposed to mean? Everyone is talking about him! I saw him in the hallways and man...Is...He....-"

"Shut up," I say, pointing at Astrix with the stem of my apple. "He's a total bottle head."

She scoffs. "How would you know that?"

"I ran into him. Literally. And I'm telling you straight up, by the day's end he's going to find himself part of the "crew" and treat the rest of us like the gum on his shoe he chews so much of."

Astrix rolls her eyes. "Okay. Whatever. So he's a jock. But he still has the body of a Calvin Klein model, so I think we can look past his errors."

I cluck my tongue. "You, my friend, are insane."

Astrix chuckles. "I just found some fresh meat to fan over. I swear, every guy in Glen Wood High is an asshole."

"So...That includes Jack?"

She shakes her head. "Well, we need to give him some time to shed his true colors. Let's not come to any conclusions right off the bat."

I rest my head on the table and close my eyes. I swear, Astrix lives off the erotica and romance novels from the library. She doesn't even exist in this world anymore!

But as much as she drives me crazy, she's still my friend. And as I myself am a good friend, I will look past her own craziness and continue to sit here and engage in this one-sided conversation in which she rambles on and on about her life.

She finally drops the topic on Jack and branches off into a full -on rant about how stupid and sucky her life is, and how unfair the high school justice system racked out to be.

"...Stupid teachers, and the stupid homework, and the stupid grading system. It's just so-o-"

"Stupid?" I finish for her.

I smile and get to my feet with the paper bag clutched firmly in my hands. She smiles back at me and takes a slurp from her milk bottle.

"Sorry...It's just pressurizing."

I nod. "I know."

"School's never as hectic for you. You're a natural at this stuff"

I shrug and get ready to walk away. "Trust me. It's much harder."

I make my way over to the trash bins on the other side of the cafeteria and walk past a cluster of tables harboring the "crew."

They're basically the group of people around here who are the elite of the elite. Somehow...Best of the best, and snobbiest of the snobbiest.

The three main cheerleading chicks have it in to make the rest of our lives hell, I think it somehow makes them feel better about themselves.

Paige, Kelsy and Peyton are currently and practically hanging on every word coming out of Jack Travels mouth.

I can't say I'm shocked to see him sitting there. I knew it was only a matter of time before he found his way to them.

I stare as he sits on the edge of the table, gesturing in the middle of a story. His eyes catch mine across the cafeteria, and he smirks, holding up two fingers in greeting.

I sigh and look away. I never like to associate with any "crew" members, but I can't pretend I'm not attracted to him.

I mean...I'm attracted to all the jocks. (It's impossible not to be) But that doesn't mean I like them one bit.

I continue moving my feet towards the bins to throw out my food, but I stop short, my arm smashing into an elbow.

I look up and my eyes meet a pair of icy blue ones. Uh-oh. Cody Parker. Big no-no.

I purse my lips and step back. "Oh, sorry."

He crosses his arms and hisses back at me. "Watch where you're going blondie."

I squint my eyes. First of all, I'm not a blondie. I'm brunette. Secondly, it was as much of his fault as it was of mine.

I hesitate for a moment, torn on whether to correct him or not when he flips a hand in the air and raises his voice, suddenly commanding attention from all corners of the cafeteria.

"Nothing to say? Did you suddenly go dumb? Or were you just born like that?"

I bite my lip and stay silent. He continues chastising me.

"Maybe one day you'll grow the brain cells to move out of the way when someone walks towards you."

I can't keep quiet anymore. I'm aware that everyone's watching me, but I no longer care.

"Funny it's you calling me mentally challenged, Cody. Have you seen your own grades?"

I can hear the low exhales of everyone surrounding us, but I ignore them. Cody steps forward.

"Now you listen to me you little b-"

"No. No, your dick belongs in your pants, not your personality. So stay the hell away from me, because you're depriving me of my precious lunch -time, and don't think being the senator's son gives you anymore leeway than anyone else. Clear? You're just a speck of insignificant dust on this planet. Act like it."

At this point, the room goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Cody seems to be collecting for himself an intelligible response (which he obviously can't.)

And in that moment, I hear a voice cut through the silence. A voice I don't expect to hear.

"Hey, Cody? She's got a point you know. Come over here...Not worth it..."

I turn around and see Jack positioned with one foot propped up on a bench, and an arm resting on the table. He flashes me a smile and then looks back to Cody.

Cody clucks his tongue and makes his way towards the table, making sure to physically elbow me on his way back. "Stupid bitch..."

What a jerk.

                                                                                         ...

A few hours later and the bell rings, signaling the end of the day and home...Free at last. But it's not like going home is any better than staying here...

I meet up with Astrix at my locker, and all she has ears for is my little episode with Cody.

"What happened to staying under the radar?"

I shrug. "I'm sorry. I just lost it. But it's true you know, what I said."

She nods. "Yeah, so? You don't just announce it to a "crew" member. That's begging for trouble. He'll now forever hold a grudge against you, and you can never live a peaceful high school existence."

"Still totally worth it."

Astrix rolls her eyes, then glances at me mischievously.

"And...What about Jack? The way he headed off an attack on your person? Maybe he's better than you thought!"

I shake my head. "It was more for Cody's sake I'm sure. They're all still not people you want to mix with."

I leave the conversation at that, shutting my locker, exiting the school doors and walking across the parking lot.

I have to head over to my house, to change for some bar party Astrix will be leading me on to later on. My only reprieve is that Noah will be there. (Her cousin and my hopeless childhood crush.)

When I finally spot my car, I sigh deeply. My amazing luck. It's Jack Travels, his car parked at the spot right next to mine.

He's currently leaning against his car's fender and going through something on his phone. At first, I think I can walk past without initiating conversation, but just as I'm opening my car door, he smirks at me.

"Hey there, Oaklyn West. Or should I say Hazel? Do-Do you prefer that? Or..."

I stop, stunned. He said my name. My real name. No one knows my real name!

Literally. No one on planet Earth, or, anyone that's still alive of course. Who could have possibly told him? I feel a little light-headed.

I spin around. "How do you about...That name?"

He shrugs. "I did my research."

He smiles, and I catch the familiar scent of spearmint radiating out of his mouth. I stop and cross my arms, shifting my weight to one foot.

"Why?"

My heart-beat picks up. If he knows my name...There's no telling what else he could have unearthed about me...

Jack seems to enjoy my annoyance.

"No reason. Why does it bother you?"

Oh...You have no idea. But there's no way I'm telling him of all people about it.

To put it simply, I just say, "I don't like that name."

He chews his gum and looks at me with cool, calculating green eyes.

"Why not? It's a pretty name."

I sigh. "It is, isn't it? Just don't call me that."

Jack peels himself away from his car and steps right in front of me, forcing me to look up to face him.

"Hazel," he whispers into my ear.

I shove him away from me, hard, and jump into my car.

"Jackass."