Chapter Two

      “Julia?! Oh. My. GOD!” Taylor screamed. “I cannot believe you’re, like, back! This is so great! You look, like, so amazing!”

      “It’s Jules now, and, uh, thanks,” I said. In any normal circumstance, I would have replied back with a compliment to counter hers, but didn’t feel the need to voice anything false and lie in regards to her appearance.

      Taylor had never been the classiest girl in the world, and, seeing her now, really showed how taste (or a lack of) can truly escalate with age. Her trashy, discolored blonde hair looked, well, trashy and discolored. She wore a shirt that was pulled down way too low, and, though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the term, she looked slutty. I couldn’t believe I was ever friends with her. Scratch that—best friends. I was so unaware—so naïve.

      “Jules? Whatever. Your hair is, like, so different! You look so…” she scanned over my being, searching for the correct terminology.

      “Hot?” Aiden filled in with a guess

      “Exactly!” Taylor snapped her fingers, clearly having found the word. “So, Julia, how were the California boys?” 

      “I don’t know,” I responded, my mind a hive of commotion. I was doing the one thing I promised I wouldn’t when coming back: communicating with Taylor Kennings.

      “Oh, come on! Dish! I want to hear about all the hotties you saw out there!” she blabbered on.

      “They’re boys. Same as here. Just boys,” I sighed, thinking of Josh once again. Somehow he always managed to be floating through my mind constantly.

      “How many did you make out with? I know in seventh grade we were keeping score! I think I may have you beat by now!” she said. At this, I covered my mouth to keep from laughing at the memory. We used to keep score on how many guys we kissed. It was pathetic, really. Though I kept myself from laughing, Chase most certainly did not and started cracking up.

      “I don’t know. I didn’t really… hook up a lot,” I finally said, recomposing my mentality fully.

      “It’s L.A.! How did you not hook up with all the hot surfer dudes there?” she gasped.

      “She was clearly waiting for me to be her knight in shining armor and sweep her off her feet,” Chase said, sending a corny wink my way.

      “Yeah, that’s why,” I snorted. I had absolutely no interest in Taylor finding out about Josh, nor anyone, for that matter.

      “Oh, I get it! It was some insane number, so you’re embarrassed to share!” she nodded, as if figuring me out like jigsaw puzzle.

      “I don’t keep track anymore,” I said evenly, wondering if conversing with Taylor would earn me a heart attack or a gold star for being a good sport.

      “Hi, are you Julia?” a lady with untamed, darkened hair asked. She couldn’t have been much older than Adam, but had a presence about her that made me think otherwise.

      “Yeah,” I said.

      “I’m Ms. Hennings, but you can call me Ms. H.,” she smiled down at me warmly.

      “You can call me Jules,” I returned the kind gesture, though it was somewhat forced.

      “So, you’re with Taylor for the day?” she questioned, dubiously glancing over to the blonde girl.

      “Aiden, actually,” I corrected her.

      “Oh! Mr. Heath, please don’t scare her too much,” the woman laughed, her eyes illuminating as she did so.

      “Oh, I won’t,” the teenaged boy smirked.

      “Don’t worry, Ms. H., we’ll take good care of Jules,” Chase assured her.

      And that was the end of that. I carried on throughout my day, bumping into people, all of whom said I looked “strangely familiar”. Aiden proved himself to be an utterly idiotic moron, something I never once doubted. It was really a shame when such an attractive guy had no brains.

      I was walking with Aiden to the next class, when someone tapped me on the shoulder abruptly.  Slowly, I rotated my body to face none other than a boy I knew far too well for my own good: Mason Wilmington. His ashy blonde hair was not much longer than the last time I had seen him, and his perfect face still made me want to melt. The only difference I could discern about him was his height. He was was tall—really tall. Why hadn’t we kept a long distance relationship? Oh, that’s right—Josh.

      “Uh, hi. Sorry I-I thought you were someone else,” he said, looking me over, his eyebrows scrunched into a thoughtful expression as he stared at me.

      “Oh?” I said.

      “Who did you think she was?” Aiden prompted, adding a very important thing to my “To Do List”, that being to kill him when I had the chance.

      “Well, I know it’s crazy, but do you remember Julia Tylers?” Mason questioned.

      “Yeah,” Aiden said.

      “I thought you were her,” he shook his head as if the idea was ridiculous, still gazing at me. 

      “Who says she’s not?” Aiden asked. I swear, the kid was trying to get himself killed.

      “Julia?” Mason said, astonished.

      “Um, yeah,” I smiled meekly. Honestly, what was the worst he could do? Ask me out again? Kiss me?

      “I-I’ve missed you so much!” he said, picking me up and twirling me around in a hug.

      “Yup,” I managed to get out, once he had put me down.

      “How was California?” he asked, beaming brighter than the sun.

      “Good,” I gulped nervously.

      “Yeah? You glad to be back?” the grin was still etched across his face

      “Not really,” I shook my head truthfully. “Look, I think we have to go, right Aid?” I looked over to Aiden for even an ounce of support in getting away from this kid politely. 

      “No,” Aidan said to my lack of delight.

      “Yeah, we do,” I said slowly, hoping he received the message I was mentally sending him through telepathic waves.

      “Oh, well, I’ll see you later!” Mason said, hugging me again and walking off as it was nothing.

      “Maybe,” I muttered under my breath as I watched him leave.

      “So, you two were going out in seventh grade, right?” Aiden asked, as we stepped into a classroom.

      “Yeah, I guess,” I said, thinking about all the memories Mason came with. They weren’t bad memories, but they weren’t real either. I wasn’t real. Mason deserved better than me back then. Besides, we were kids. It was all fake.

      “But you’re not going out now, right?” he questioned.

      “Nope,” I sighed.

      “Was he your first?” Aiden suddenly asked.

      “My first what?” I kept my tone calm.

      “Ya know…” he let a smirk appear, not allow me the the insight as to what was going through his mind.

      “Kiss? No,” I shook my head dismissively.

      “No, was he your first time?”

      My eyes widened as I figured out what he was implying. “No! See, what you and everyone else never understood is that, sure, I dressed like those girl, sure I acted like those girls, but I was never really one of them. So, to answer your question, no I didn’t lose my virginity to Mason Wilmington in  seventh grade!” I raged. I was thirteen. The thought was ridiculous for someone just entering the early stages of adolescence. Crazy, really.

      “So are you still… a virgin?” he quirked an eyebrow, my cheeks growing a faint pink as I realized the reputation I had left with.

      “Wouldn’t you like to know,” I said cryptically, rolling my eyes.

      “Yes, actually, I would love to know,” he said densely.

      “You know what, I’ll let you in a little secret,” I proposed.

      “What?”

      “While I was in California, I did have my first time,” I said. It was the truth, though I just neglected to mention that it was first time was falling love, not having sex, which I didn’t plan on doing for a very, very long time.

      “So, you’re not a virgin?”

      “What class do we have?” I attempted to divert the conversation into safer territory.

      “Health,” he smirked.

      “Cool.” Heath and Health. What. A. Blast. As my eyes scanned the ordinary classroom, they came in contact with none other then my new best friend, Chase, and my ex best friend, Ms. Taylor Kennings. Wonderful!

      “Bro! Over here!” Chase called. I followed Aiden over to the table Chase was at, sitting down.

      I then heard a cringeworthy, “Julia! Over here!” I turned and spotted Taylor across the room, waving her arms frantically to attract my attention.

      “Sorry, I really need to catch up with Chase!” I said unapologetically, as she merely nodded.

      “So, you really need to catch up with me, huh?” Chase asked.

      “I just really don’t want to catch up with Taylor,” I said, tapping my fingers on the edge of the table, my minor traces of ADHD, and the inability to sit still kicking in. At all times, I had to be moving. Whether it was tapping my fingers, or swaying back and forth (when I was younger, it was the best excuse to chew gum), I needed to be doing something. I was still a relatively calm person, I just couldn’t be still.

      “That’s what you claim,” Chase scoffed skeptically.

      “I did have a question, though, is that girl—what was her name, Isabelle, maybe, is she still here?” I asked vaguely.

      “Who?” Aiden said.

      “Girl, curly, light brown hair, quiet, played the piano and guitar, sang; is she still here?” I elaborated.

      “Probably. I honestly have no idea,” Aiden shrugged indifferently.

      “Yeah, she’s still here,” Chase said, nodding his head.

      “I’m eating with her during lunch,” I proclaimed.

      “Why?” Aiden asked, confusion spread throughout his face.

      “Because she just got herself a new best friend.”