I moved to march past him when he said, “Hey, Vicky?”
I stopped at looked at him. “What?”
He stepped towards me until we were really, really close. I wasn’t tall for a girl, and Will was way taller than me, so he had to look down at me as he said, “Leave Damien and Fiona alone, Vicky.” He said it like he was telling me a big secret. “Damien…well, Dame won’t like it if you cause problems for them.”
My eyes got big like they do when I’m surprised. “I’m not causing problem for them. I’m trying to get him to leave my friend alone.”
Will shook his head. “Leave it alone, Vicky,” he said again before he took off towards the basketball courts.
I wanted to run after him, but I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. He was right. Damien was his friend, not Fiona.
I ran towards the library and, as soon as I got inside, I saw Fiona waiting at one of the tables for me. I looked at my friend and felt sad for her.
Bad things shouldn’t happen to good people.
Her pretty face looked up and, when she noticed me, she started waving her arm for me to go over there. I smiled and quietly made my way through the library. When I reached the table, I sat down. “Hey,” I whispered.
“Hey,” she whispered back. “Everything okay?”
I wanted to tell her about talking to Will, but I didn’t want to make her feel bad because I hadn’t fixed anything. “Yeah,” I said. “I just had to stop and go pee really quick.”
Fiona smiled, and I wanted to beat up Damien Greystone. Only, this time, I wanted to beat up Will Creston and Jake Everol up, too.
“So, do you want to show me the book?” she asked.
I nodded. “How about we check it out for the weekend?” I liked drawing and making up things, but Fiona was the one who really knew how to draw. I loved all her pictures. “I can ask Momma if you can stay the night Friday, and we can use the book to help draw new things.”
Fiona looked excited and that’s when I knew what I had to do as her best friend. I couldn’t stop the boys from being mean to her, but I could try to make her happy every time they made her cry, right? If I could make her laugh…well, then…she could forget all about stupid Damien Greystone.
“Oh, that sounds like fun,” she whispered-yelled. “When I go home on Saturday, I could even pretend to my mom that I left my art bag at your house. I could tell her that I’m keeping it there for when I stay the night at your house.”
And just like that, I was mad at Damien, Will, and Jake all over again.
But I had to make my friend laugh. I couldn’t let those jerks make her sad. “That sounds like a great idea, Fee,” I said. “She’ll never know and…and maybe we can save up our allowance money to buy a new one.” I didn’t get a big allowance because I didn’t do a lot of chores, but I would start now.
For my friend.
Chapter 2
It was just a dance.
Victoria – (13-Years-Old)~
I was so nervous.
I was trying to act cool, but this was our first dance, and I was fairly sure Tommy Granger was going to ask me to be his girlfriend tonight.
After Christmas break, he started talking to me more and walking me to my classes; things like that. We even texted after school sometimes.
He’s also extremely cute and tall. I’m only 5’2”, so to me he was tall. He’s blonde with blue eyes, and he’s just so cute. He’s really smart and plays football. And I see him play soccer, sometimes, when he’s not playing football.
“How do I look?” I asked Fiona for the bazillionth time. I was really nervous about possibly having my first real boyfriend.
“You look gorgeous, Vee,” she said, but I knew she’d say that no matter what. She was my best friend; she had to say things like that.
Fiona and I were the same height, but while she had beautiful chocolate-colored hair with bright brown eyes, I had dark red hair. My mom called it auburn, but I called it red. And with my hazel eyes and freckles, I was officially a Ginger, no matter how much Fiona said I wasn’t.
I played soccer and basketball which kept me skinny, but I secretly wished I had the