Chapter Three

      We entered the cafeteria, my eyes quickly taking in everything. There were large, circular tables placed everywhere with chairs placed at them. It was the normal scene; I could easily tell where the “popular” kids sat, and where everybody else did. Nothing out of the ordinary—just like any other high school.

      “Do we really have to do this?” Aiden asked with a sigh.

      “No, the question is do you really have to do this, and the answer to that is no. I’ll go by myself, I don’t care,” I said, beginning to walk away from the “sweetheart” who was showing me around.

      “There is no way that I’m letting you out of my sight!” he said, catching up to me.

      “And why not?” I demanded.

      “Because I’m supposed to spend the day with you, duh,” he rolled his eyes as if his reasoning was the most obvious thing in the world.

      “Look, I’m going over to the corner table to sit with Izzy; you can either join me or not,” I proposed bluntly, as I spotted the girl I was looked for. She was sitting at a table alone, munching on a sandwich as she glanced down at something (probably some homework or whatever). She wore her hair in the low ponytail I remembered, and possessed a neutral face—neither happy nor any other specific emotion. I began my journey over to her with a step.

      “Oh, I’m definitely coming with you,” Aiden said, following me as I went on my way. In a matter of seconds, I came to the table at which she was situated, and sat right down across from the girl I presumed to be Issabelle, at what appeared to be her table. Aiden was right beside me. At the sudden presence of others, she looked up, giving both of us a rather confused look, and continued eating her lunch. Yeah, it was Izzy.

      “Hi,” I said, offering up a smile that may have been percieved as slightly “too enthusiastic.”

      “Umm… hi,” she said, the perplexity still about her face.

      “Do you remember me?” I questioned, lowering the grin down twelve notches to not scare her.

      “Um… no, should I?” she gulped uncomfortably.

      “Well, considering I’ve changed quite a bit, no,” I laughed, recieving another apprehensive grimace from the girl before me. “Let me reintroduce myself: I’m Jules, Jules Tylers.”

      “So, how do I know you?” she took another bite out of her nutrients—some kind of thinly-sliced meat placed between two pieces of bread.

      “Well, you don’t. You did, however, know the old me, who went by the name of Julia Tylers,” I said, aware of how much weight was applied when mentioning my name. It was awful, really.

      “Wait—you’re telling me that you’re JULIA TYLERS?” she questioned skeptically, her eyes growing wide.

      “The one and only,” I confirmed with what I hoped to be a friendly smile.

      “Why are you talking to me?” she mumbled.

      “Do you remember the type of person I was two year ago?” I grimaced regretfully at even the thought of it.

      “Umm, yeah. You were friends with Emily and Taylor,” she nodded slowly.

      “That I was. Man, was I stupid!” I shook my head at my own, blind stupidity.

      “Why aren’t you over there talking to them?” she asked, pointing a finger over to where I assumed they were seated. With a swift turn of the head, I saw where she had gestured to, and, sure enough, there they were. Slut and sluttier. Emily and Taylor. My former best friends. 

      “Why aren’t you?” I inquired after turning back around.

      “Because they’d never talk to me, and I have no interest in talking to them,” she said blankly.

      “Same as me.” 

      “But they probably would talk to you,” she pointed out.

      “Oh, they have. They just don’t know whom their dealing with anymore,” I said, trying to bury the memories that popped up as I spoke.

      “And with whom are they dealing?”

      “Jules,” I smirked proudly.

      “Aiden Heath’s new girlfriend!” Aiden butted in, reminding me that he was sitting beside me.

      “Oh, are you two together?” Izzy asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.

      “Absolutely not!” I said firmly.

      “Well, not yet, anyways,” Aidan added as if to clarify.

      “We’re never going out,” I stated.

      “Never is a strong word,” he said.

      “So, Issabelle, I basically wanted to apologize for I what an awful person I was two years ago,” I said. I wasn’t the same person. Not even close. Being yourself was so much better than pretending. I hated that word—pretending. It described my life back then perfectly and who I was. I pretended, and I shouldn’t have.

      “Izzy,” she corrected. “And, I’m sorry, but I’m still confused as to why you’re talking to me.”

      “Do you still play the guitar?” I asked, veering the conversation elsewhere.

      “Yeah,” she blinked.

      “We should play together sometime,” I said casually.

      “You play guitar?”

      “For a few years now, actually.”

      “Are you talking to me because you think we should play the guitar together?” she scrunched her brow together.

      “No. I’m talking to you because the first time I did this, I did it wrong. I hung out with the wrong people. I’m back, and I want a second chance to do this right.” I wanted to start fresh (not that I expected it happen, but still). I wanted to at least try.

      “I don’t get it,” she shook her head.

      “We should be friends,” I said simply.

      “Why? I’m more than positive you could go over to the middle table right now, and completely rule the entire school,” she rolled her eyes, lifting a bottle up to her mouth and ingesting the contents.

      “Yeah, but that’s not who I am anymore. Besides, where’s the fun that?” 

      “Of course,” she mocked lightly.

      “So, who are your friends?”

      “Why?”

      “Because, unlike me, you have good judgment.” I had an awful sense of judgment back then. Emily and Taylor. Only I would have the lack of brainpower to pick them as friends.

      “You probably don’t remember them,” she sighed.

      “No, come on, who?” I pressed.

      “Logan Evans, Owen Hudson, Kim Aarons, and Mia Bentley.”

      “Okay, Logan, if my memory serves correct was a hot skater dude, Owen was a quiet geek, Kim was Kimberly, and into playing the flute and poetry, and Mia was Amelia, your best friend, and she was into drawing maybe?” I said. I remembered the kids to be outsiders and people with whom I never really spent too much time. They were always cooler than me, but, in a school built on popularity, their definition of “cool”, wasn’t the same as everyone else’s. 

      “Nice memory. I guess w-we weren’t totally invisible to you after all,” she looked down, avoiding my gaze. She had to be joking.

      “Hey!” someone said, sitting next to me, so that I was squished between Aiden and them.

      “Umm, hi,” I said, recognizing the individual to be none other than Chase Ryan. “You know Izzy, right?”

      “Totally! We go way back!” Chase said, laughing, as he nudged me in the side.

      “No, you so don’t,” I allowed my eyes to roll about.

      “Yeah, you’re right. Hi, Izzy!” he grinned, probably scaring the poor girl just as much as I had.

      “Hi,” she said quietly.

      “So, Jules, I was thinking we should go out tonight,” Chase said. For about half a second I considered his abrupt offer, but then an image of Josh flashed through my mind, wiping any notions of accepting. Also, my prior knowledge of Chase, his actions, and his decisions surfaced, making it even clearer. 

      “No. Oh, and, to answer your statement Izzy, you were never invisible to me. I always envied you. You got to be yourself while I-I pretended,” I gulped at the end.

      “What do you mean?” she questioned.

      “Every single day I lied and faked to be someone I wasn’t,” I explained. Who in their right mind would act like I did? Honestly? I was an incredible actress. Everyday, I plastered a fake smile on my face, and acted like a total bitch. It was hard to keep it up, but I was young, stupid, and wanted to keep my “friends.”

      “Why’d you do it then?” her face was set in confusion.

      “Because I was granted the opportunity to befriend those people, and, being the idiot that I am, I accepted.” Sometimes, I wish I could rewind time and change some of the paths I chose.

      “So, you want to meet my friends?” she asked as a weak smile tugged at the edges of her mouth.

      “Yes, I do,” I returned the friendly gesture.

      “Okay then. Tonight, we’re chilling at my place, want to come?” she offered.

      “Yeah, totally!” I said, happy that I had just had a conversation with someone actually from my planet of mind.

      “Can I come?” Chase asked.

      “Why the heck would you want to come?” I turned to face him sharply.

      “Why not?” he shrugged lightly.

      “Because you’ve probably never even talked to this group of people before today, so why would you suddenly start caring?” I huffed on the heated side.

      “Well, you haven’t talked to Izzy since today, either,” he pointed out astutely.

      “I’ve been in CALIFORNIA for the past two years!” I practically yelled with a dark laugh.

      “So? You could have kept in touch. Why are you suddenly talking to her?” he falsely accused.

      “Because she’s one of the coolest chicks in this school, that I stupidly overlooked that the first time I was here,” I defended.

      “You think I’m cool? You barely know me,” Izzy said, biting the edge of her lip.

      “Look, Izzy, anyone who has as much talent as you, and isn’t dumb enough to try and be in the Emily and Taylor clique, is epic in my book,” I proclaimed as it was the truth.

      “Thanks,” she said, her expression a full-blown smile now.

      “So, how ‘bout it, Iz? Can I come too?” Chase asked.

      “Umm… I guess?” Izzy said hesitantly. There was no way she would stand up for herself and say no to Chase. To be honest, he was pretty impossible to say no to—unless of course you happened to me.