Oakwood High School was an ivy feeder school, so it would make sense that the students here were over the top ambitious. Lola wished she was one of them but her grades had always been average at best. 

Her best friend Nalini however was a whole other story. The girl had it in her genes, her mother was a pediatric dentist, father an orthopaedic surgeon and both her brothers had gotten into Brown and Caltech respectively. 

Lola saw her tall skinny Indian friend standing by a bench under a tree. She was wearing loose denim overalls and a stripped t-shirt and her long wavy black hair was jutting out in all directions like she'd been running her hands through it the whole morning. 

"Nalini! We need to talk privately. I need your help," Lola rushed over to her friend who was sorting through sheets of paper on the school bench. "Have you seen, Hanna?"

"Nope, haven't seen her. Lola, I haven't slept all night. My paper's due first period and I feel like crying. I'm really not ready for today."

Lola peered over her friend's essay for Social History and sure enough it was five pages longer than hers was. She shook her head and grabbed her friends shoulders.

"Girl, you're fine. Now listen to me. I need to talk to Damien and you need to help me figure out a way to do that."

"Damien?" At hearing her crush's name, Nalini deflated like a balloon, her gaze now starry eyed. Damien had been Nalini's crush since middle school, throughout freshman and sophomore year and counting. 

Unlike her, he'd had multiple girlfriends but Nalini remained loyal to her long time crush -not that she had much of a say in the matter, guys weren't exactly falling over themselves to date Lola and her friends.

"What? Am I hearing things now? You said you needed to talk to my Damien? Why?" 

Feeling paranoid and almost like a boiling pot of water that was about to burst, Lola whispered out her worries to her best friend in a flurry of words.

"Julian's in my house, I believe he's innocent and I need to talk to Damien to help him." 

Nalini just stared at Lola with her huge brown eyes before she burst out laughing. She leaned against the bench and continued laughing like a hyena while Lola frowned at her. 

"Having a nervous breakdown already? It isn't even first period," Eva Maximus Simons passed by the girls with her troop of followers by her sides. 

Lola spotted Natalie among st the group, she was staring at her nails looking bored and for some reason it made Lola angry. How could she be so indifferent after all that has happened to her ex-boyfriend?

"There's no need to be jealous, Eva. Some of us can still laugh without all the botox in our faces," Nalini stood up straight and countered back effortlessly. This was routine for her.

"As if I would ever. It's an illegal procedure for minors, idiot." Eva subconsciously touched her pretty face. Nalini had a way of getting under her skin.

"Ya, well I bet that's never stopped you before."

Eva glared at Nalini while all the other popular girls shuffled on their feet wanting to leave but no one dared say anything or walk away from Eva. 

"I see you haven't handed in your paper yet. I emailed mine in yesterday," Eva smiled smugly when she saw Nalini's Social History assignment on the table.

"I know. I saw your graded paper on Mr. Duval's table. You got a 'B'," Nalini said and Eva's face paled.

"Your're lying!"

Nalini grabbed her papers and walked away while Lola hurried after her. This feud between Nalini and the most popular girl in school was getting old for everyone except the two of them. 

"She didn't get a 'B' right?" Lola just had to ask and Nalini laughed while shaking her head.

Lola rolled her eyes as she thought about Eva the bulldozer. That's what her friends called her and there was no better name to describe the girl. Eva was of Colombian descent and was the adopted only child of Ivan Maximus Simons, business tycoon and the richest man in their county, maybe even the entire state.

You would think someone with a father that rich and a face that pretty would be somewhat relaxed about their already bright future. Eva didn't have to do anything, she was tall, tanned and gorgeous and the richest girl in school but somehow she didn't seem to get the memo about how lucky she was. 

Instead, Eva used her status to bulldoze her way in becoming the editor in chief of the school's magazine, she beat out the seniors and became head cheerleader, she held high posts in the drama club and community service club and she was one of the top students in the entire grade last year, second only to Nalini.

That was where their feud came in. Eva could never stand anyone beating her in anything and Nalini and her had competed for the top academic spot for years. They took turns beating out each other and sadly this rivalry had lead to Eva's bitter resentment towards Nalini and her friends. 

It was one of the biggest reasons why they were never invited to any of the coolest parties. 

"Hey girls!" Kang Hanna met up with them in the hallway right outside their classroom. "My mum packed jajangmyeon today but you girls are going to have to eat it because I'm on a diet."

Nalini grabbed her friends by their wrists and dragged them to the nearby toilet. She checked all the cubicles and then locked the door. 

"Oh God, not another intervention. Girls, I'm obviously overweight and I really want to drop a few pounds before senior year," Hanna complained. "You can have the noodles Nalini, I told my mother not to put pork in it."

"Hanna, Lola here has some crazy joke she wants to share with us," Nalini leaned against the wall and stared pointedly at Lola. "Please tell me what you said just now was a joke."

Lola gulped loudly and pulled at the neck of her t-shirt. "I wish it was."

"Have you lost your mind! Do you know the kind of trouble you could get in for that? He's a freaking murderer," Nalini hissed the last few words, looking frightened.

"What is going on?" Hanna asked and Lola explained the situation to them in detail, starting from last night when she found Julian in her bathroom to this morning. She left out the boner part though.

"Wow, this is like a movie," Hanna stated in awe. 

"No, this is nuts. Lola, you have to turn him in," Nalini insisted. "He was charged for MURDER girls, it doesn't get more serious than that."

"But what if he didn't do it? What if he was framed?" Lola asked. "If this happened to you wouldn't you want someone to give you the benefit of the doubt? Besides, if he really was a serial killer, I wouldn't be standing here right now. It's too late, if you girls report him, I'll be guilty for hiding him in my room last night."

"Oh my God, you guys slept in the same room!" Hanna gushed and her cheeks turned red. "How was it?" 

"Umm, he slept on the floor obviously," Lola didn't know what to say. She thought about how she had jumped on top of him to shut him up and how close their faces had been. 

"Your'e blushing," Nalini's eyes narrowed on her face. "Did you two make out or something?"

"No, what the hell, Nalini. Anyway he's leaving tonight but I've promised to tell Damien about him, maybe he can help him out somehow. What do you guys think?" 

"I think if you believe he's innocent, then maybe he is," Hanna, ever the supportive optimist said.

"I think we should interrogate him a bit more. Make sure he isn't bullshitting us before we even think of helping him. Remember girls this guy used to be the biggest bully during our first few years of high school, he was an asshole," Nalini added. "Why don't we carry forward our sleepover to tonight? Are your parents cool with that?"

Lola smiled, it felt better now that she had her support system on the same page as her. 

"When have they ever said 'no' to my favorite girls," She answered and the three of them shared a group hug for no reason.

The bell rang outside signalling that first period was about to start.

"Come on, we have to get to class before Eva and her minions take all the best seats." Nalini unlocked the door and rushed out while Lola and Hanna rolled their eyes at their friend's competitiveness before following in tow.