N O

S U C H    T H I N G

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"Mom, have you seen my top?" I shout from my walk-in closet.

"Gotta be more specific hun!" She shouts back, soon after finally gracing me with her presence.

"Which top?" She asks.

"The one that's white and kind of see-through, that goes down to my butt." I try to explain, hoping the vague details will jog her memory.

"Ah, yes. I think I borrowed that the other day, hang on." She got up to head over toward her bedroom, and I sighed while exiting my closet.

"You didn't even ask." I comment as she re-enters my bedroom.

"You never ask me for my clothes." She challenges.

"Touché." I smirk, taking the top from her grasp.

"This will go perfect with my light blue-jean shorts and white tanktop underneath." I smile wide, pulling the long cardigan over my shoulders. I then pull on my white sandals and smile at the finished product.

I straightened my hair super fine, as it hangs around my shoulders and put just a touch of mascara on my eyelashes, not bothering to do anything more. I rubbed some bubblegum chap stick onto my lips and then tossed the tube into my bag.

"You look great hun, but aren't those shorts just a little too short?"

I laughed at my mom's attempt at being authoritative. The truth is, she is my best friend first and my mom second. I suppose that isn't how a lot of mother/daughter relationships go, but I'm grateful for our close bond. Some people would argue that a parent should always be just that, a parent, but I disagree. A parent can also be your friend; you just have to find the right balance between the two.

"If I get in trouble with any of my teachers, then we'll know they're too short." I smile smugly, leaning upward to kiss my mom on her warm cheek. She is much taller than I am, as I wasn't lucky enough to receive that gene.

She shares my long brown hair and bright grey eyes, and I'm thankful I didn't take after my father's looks as much as I did hers. I mean, I do have some of his qualities, but I try not to think about it. I try not to think much about him at all, for that matter.

"Have a great first day, my senior!" She smirks, following me down the stairs and waving goodbye as I reach the front door.

"Will you be home when I get out from school?" I ask before pulling the front door open.

"Nope, another late night for me kiddo." She sadly smiles, while I wave goodbye and close the door after me.

While my mom did inherit a lot of my dad's money when he sent for divorce, she still finds herself working long hours at the local Wal-Mart; doing anything she can to stay busy. I guess I can understand that, despite feeling sad for not having more time to spend with her. Then again, if the love of my life suddenly vanished without a word, I'd feel pretty messed up too.

As I start to walk down the driveway to my car, I stop dead in my tracks upon seeing the familiar black ford rumbling near the curb.

The window suddenly rolls down, and the boy behind the wheel pops his head out of the window, smiling at me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, still not understanding why James Ryan is currently blocking my car.

His eyes sweep over my body, causing me to shiver, and then he turns his attention back to my eyes.

"We're friends this year, remember? Friends give each other rides." He casually says, motioning for me to hop inside of his truck.

"Is this a trick?" I wearily ask, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"No." He rolls his eyes. "Just get in Sky."

I sigh but find myself strolling towards his truck anyway. I don't mind saving some gas money for the day.

Once I get inside the truck and shut the door after me, I turn to the side a little to get a better look of the driver. He is wearing dark-washed jeans and a simple black T-shirt with a black jacket over top. He has the sleeves of his jacket pushed up to his elbows, revealing the numerous tattoos that cover both of his arms.

"Enjoying the view, Sky?"

My eyes shoot up toward his, and I notice the deep smirk resting on his lips.

"Shut up, just drive." I scowl, turning toward the window to lean my head against it.

"You could at least say thank you." He laughs.

"For what?" I turn my head to give him a look.

"For the ride." He says in a duh tone.

"I didn't ask for the ride." I challenge.

"God, why are you so uptight all the time? Loosen up some." James comments while putting on the blinker to turn right.

I gave him an incredulous look. "I'm uptight?" I glare.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" He smiles.

"Stop the car." I demand.

"Oh come on, relax. I'm just having a bit of fun." He apologizes, leaning forward to turn on the radio.

"I'd rather walk the rest of the way than hear your mouth." I sigh.

"Ouch." He laughs.

I couldn't stop myself from smirking.

"Ah! A smile, ladies and gentlemen we have a smile!" James dramatically shouts even though we are the only two people that can hear him.

"I did not smile." I reply, bringing my lips back into a straight line.

"Okay a smirk, but still improvement nonetheless." He shrugs, turning right again as the school building comes into view.

"You're weird today." I comment.

"Just being myself, Sky. As always." He smiles genuinely. I pulled my gaze from his perfect, dimpled smile because I knew that if I stared too long, my cheeks would soon turn red.

As we pull into the school parking lot, James takes his famous spot near the front, where he parks his truck every year. It finally hit me that I am about to get out of James' truck, where everyone can see us. I didn't want people to get the wrong idea, but sure enough, as soon as I showed my face everyone began whispering and staring.

"Typical." I sigh, annoyed by the unwanted attention.

"What?" I hear from beside me. I look up into the smiling eyes of James Ryan himself, wanting nothing more than to... okay, never mind. Not finishing that thought.

"High school equals gossip, which can equal social annihilation." I deadpanned.

"Who cares what they think?" He shrugs.

I look over and see Elena and Abby smirking in my direction. I roll my eyes but head in their direction, not bothering to say bye to James.

"See you Skylar!" James shouts, causing heads to turn yet again. I look back at his smirking face and for a second, think upon returning to him only to punch him in the arm.

"Did you just arrive at school, with James Ryan?" Elena smiles wickedly.

"Yeah? So?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Don't act all nonchalant with us. Since when does James Ryan give you rides anywhere?" Abby asks, not at all trying to hide the smirk on her dolled up face. Her makeup was exquisite, I must say.

"I don't know and I don't care. I walked outside with full intentions on driving myself to school, but he was in my driveway. He wouldn't take no for an answer." Though I didn't tell them how I so easily agreed to the lift.

"Someone took a dose of bitch this morning." Abby sang with a smile.

"I'm sorry..." I give a sad smile. "He just irritates me."

"I know, it's cause all you wanna do is either punch him in the mouth or kiss him in the mouth. One of the two, right?" Abby says, causing my eyes to widen.

"Maybe the first one yeah, but never the second one!" I quickly reply, causing both Lena and Abby to laugh.

"Right. Well let's head inside. We still have to pick up our class schedules." Elena smiles, linking her arms into both mine and Abby's before pulling us towards the front doors to the school.

I tried not to notice the overwhelmingly high amount of eyes on me as the three of us strolled through the hallways. We stopped at the admin office, taking a spot in the long line of students eager to see who has the same classes together. As long as I have at least one class with Abby and Lena, I think I'll be able to manage this year no problem.

What I wasn't expecting, is to have absolutely no classes with either one of my best friends. The only time we will be able to see each other, is lunchtime. I frowned when I found out that Abby and Lena both share three classes together.

"Awe, this is so stupid." Lena pouts. "I can't believe we don't have any classes with you. How are we going to survive all year?"

"I guess you'll just have to make do without me." I frown. "Whatever you do, don't forget about me." I dramatically cry while holding my hand over my heart.

Abby laughs and Lena only rolls her eyes. "Well, I guess we'll see you at lunch?" Lena smiles.

"See you." I say, turning to walk in the opposite direction of the only two people who know how to keep me sane.

As I enter my first period class, I notice a few students already in their chosen seats, none of which I really recognized. I went straight to the back of the classroom and took a seat in the very last row, not wanting to add extra attention to myself.

"Greetings Skylar!" I perk up at the mention of my name and lock eyes with Ian Adams. I try not to frown and curse when he happily strolls over to the seat beside me.

"Of course. I don't get any classes with my best friends, but low and behold, here you are." I comment, turning my head to meet the gaze of Ian.

"Gee, thanks for making me feel wanted." Ian frowns.

I almost felt bad. Almost.

"Well, as long as it's you and not-", my sentence is cut short as his annoyingly sweet voice rang into my ears.

"Not who Skylar? It couldn't be me in which you were referring?" James smiles arrogantly as he takes a seat on the other side of me, leaving me right in the middle of both Ian and James.

This is not going to be a good way to start my morning's every day.

I look to my left and glare at James' smug expression.

"Yippie. I get you both for first period." I sarcastically cheer.

James snatches my class schedule from my desk and begins to give it a look.

"Seems as though we have three classes together, Skylar." He draws my name out playfully, placing my class schedule onto my desk again. Ian suddenly snatches it up, reading it for himself.

"Well, James and I share the same two classes with you, and that's it for me. The third one, you're on your own." He sadly smiles, as I shoot him a glare.

"You mean I have to sit through an entire period... alone... with him?" I point my thumb towards James while keeping my gaze on Ian.

"Afraid so." He says.

"I'm sitting right here ya know." James interjects, causing Ian and I to give him a glance, before turning back to each other.

"So Ian, tell me, how was your summer?" I ask with a smile, ignoring James on purpose.

"Oh it was great, thank you!" He says in a high-pitched voice, obviously playing along with me. "The girls and I all had mani/pedi's and even spent a few days at the spa! I have never felt so relaxed." Ian coos, giving me a wide smile.

James rolls his eyes, but you can still see the small bit of amusement dancing behind them as I did a quick glance over toward him.

I laugh, and then shake my head. "No really, how was your summer Ian?" I smile.

"It was good. Mostly just hung out with lover boy over there." He smirks towards James.

"More like you wouldn't stop calling me ever day with something new to do." James comments, smirking back to Ian.

"Whatever. You know you love me." Ian gets up to sit on James desk, crossing one leg over the other like a girl would. The other students laughed at the show, but suddenly it died down once the teacher walked in.

"And you are?" The teacher says towards Ian.

"Ian Adams, Sir." He gets up to bow.

"Ah yes, I've heard about you. Please, take your seat, or would you like a cushion to better accommodate you?" The teacher sarcastically says, though Ian doesn't seem to notice.

"Oh I'd love one! Do you have one in blue?" He smiles.

"Actually, I don't have any colors or any cushions. Take your seat or get out." The teacher deadpans, causing some of the other students to snicker.

Ian just mumbles under his breath as he takes his seat.

"Now that that's taken care of..." The teacher begins. "My name is Theodore Briggs, but you can call me Mr. Briggs, or Mr. B – whichever tickles your fancies." Ian laughs at that, but Mr. Briggs ignores him.

"Welcome to English class." He unenthusiastically drawls. "Since this is your senior year, I expect nothing short of perfection from each one of you. I don't want to have to explain assignments more than once, and I expect you to follow all of the guidelines for each assignment. If you ever get stuck on an assignment, feel free to phone a friend. I do not allow food or drinks in the classroom, so if you're feeling parched, feel free to go out into the hallway and use the water fountain. Other than that, you are to wait until after class to eat."

Mr. Briggs went on for another ten minutes explaining the rules of the classroom. Let's just say, this teacher is a perfectionist and I already know I will disappoint him at some point this semester.

After he explained the rules of the room, as he so called it, he began passing out textbooks, which we will have to carry into class every day. Thank God for lockers because this book weighs a ton and I would hate to have to carry it all day, every day.

Soon after every student had a textbook, the bell rang signaling class is over.

"See you tomorrow for our first lesson, be prepared!" Mr. Briggs shouts over the chatter of the students as they head towards the classroom door.

As I make my way into the hallway, I feel a presence beside me.

"We don't have second period together, you don't need to walk me to class." I say, glancing over at James.

"But I want to." He smiles. I try not to swoon.

"We're being friends this year, remember? Stop trying to push me away, Sky." He sadly smiles, stepping a few inches closer to me.

"Jamesy-poo!" I hear the vile voice from behind. I silently curse to myself, praying that it isn't who I already know it is.

James' body tenses beside me, only he doesn't see me notice as he turns around with his face expressionless. "Avery." He sighs.

"Where have you been all summer? Why haven't you called me?" Avery pouts, not even bothering to acknowledge my existence.

"I didn't call you, because we aren't together anymore." He says just loud enough for our peers to listen.

Avery laughs a fake laugh, and then settles her gaze on me. "Um, can you give us some privacy?" She snaps.

"No Avery, she can't. We are actually headed to class. Feel free to glare at us as we walk away." With that, James places his strong arm around my shoulders as he pulls us away and into the opposite direction.

I notice every pair of eyes on us as we walk down the hallway toward my second period class. We stop before the door and James gives me a smile before suddenly pulling me into a warm embrace. I try not to inhale his delicious scent before I look up and see Avery from down the hallway, shooting daggers at me.

I reluctantly pulled away from James and said goodbye as I went inside my class. James left to head to his, and I couldn't help but think about why he would cause such a big scene like that. He never shows interest in me around the other students, but for some reason, he's changed. He's different this year and I can't figure out why.

One thing I know for certain, I need to make it my absolute mission to avoid Avery Stiles at all costs, especially if I don't want to meet my expected demise anytime soon.

Lena, Abby... I need you.