THE ALARM CLOCK BLARED, louder this time than before. Begrudgingly, I forced myself out of bed, knowing that hitting the snooze button for the third time that morning wasn't an option. Sunlight filtered through the windows and as I reached out to draw the embroidered curtains shut, I caught sight of a sleek, black Mini Cooper. Crap! My best friend, Athena, was already here to pick me up.

Throwing on the first clothes I could find and attempting to brush the curly mess that was my hair, I rushed out of my room, just in time to hear my mom shriek, "Hurry up Sadie! You're going to be late!"

I ran down the stairs, grabbing my bag and some loose coins on the kitchen counter, nearly slamming into my ten-year-old sister, Aria, in my rush.

"Watch it!" she said rudely, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes. Somebody needed to teach that girl some manners. "Bye mom!" I hollered as I practically ran out the door to a very annoyed Athena waiting in her car.

The inside of Athena's car smelt strongly of leather and cheap perfume, which nauseated me a little.

"You're late," she stated, annoyance lacing her tone.

"I'm sorry, ok! I sort of overslept," I replied, peering over nervously to gauge if she was angry or not. Athena was the kind of person you did NOT want get on the wrong side of.

"You should be!" she exclaimed as she pulled out of the driveway. "I'm not mad, though," she said, seeing my frightened face, before adding, "at least I'll have an excuse to sit next to Carter in English." I smiled at that.

Athena was the epitome of perfection. She had beautiful dark brown hair, ocean eyes and long, thick eyelashes that she inherited from her Greek mother. She was the kind of girl who'd turn heads in the hallway and know it.

So, when she'd first told me of her 'infatuation' with Carter Jameson, to say I was shocked would have been an understatement. Carter was DEFINITELY not like any of Athena's exes. He wasn't very popular or athletic and while he wasn't too bad looking, he most certainly didn't look like a model. He almost always had his sandy blonde head stuck in a book somewhere and had no interest whatsoever for girls. Although he was amiable and easy to talk to, he had few friends and most of them weren't in his classes, so he'd usually sit alone.

I glanced at Athena who was smiling just at the thought of him. They'd only ever exchanged pleasantries and Athena was already falling madly in love with the boy. I laughed to myself. Athena could have stolen any boy's attention and she'd chosen Carter Jameson, the one boy who didn't have eyes for her.

The car ride to school was mostly filled with Athena's incessant chatter and me nodding along to whatever she said. By the time we reached school, my ears were sore from her talking. "Come on, you slow coach, we're already late" Athena said, dragging me into the air-conditioned building.

The moment I entered school and glimpsed the crowd of people gathering around my locker, my heart began pounding furiously. Heads turned toward me as I inched closer, trying to get a closer look at what the commotion was all about.

"What's everyone staring at?" I whispered to Athena, but I found my answer as soon as I saw the large picture taped to the front of my locker. The photo was from a few nights back at a party Athena and I had attended. It was blurry, but I could just make out the faces of two individuals. It was a picture of Elijah Jones, a boy at our school, kissing a girl.

Except Elijah Jones was my boyfriend.

And the girl wasn't me.