"Hey Zara," I greet as I walk into the warm and comfortable atmosphere of the local book store. It's not a huge Barnes and Noble like they have in the city just a few-mile drive down the interstate. It's more like a quaint little place that always smells like fresh paper and coffee due to the coffee house right next door.  

The Corner Street book store has always been my favorite place in the world, back when I didn't work here and even now that I do. Even when I'm not scheduled to work, I'll still come in and sit on the recliner that my boss, Zara, has dubbed to be mine, and read a book or two before I go home. I've read pretty much all of the books that sound somewhat interesting to me-it's the romance books that really get me-and so every day I come in all excited over what books have been delivered. 

Back in eighth grade when Zara Moore decided that I spent too much time here to not be paid, she hired me and said that since I wasn't old enough, she'd slip me a few twenties at the end of every week. For a few years my heart would jump in my chest every single time that a police officer walked through the door. 

We never got caught, though, and the moment that I turned sixteen-the legal age to work in this city-Zara drove me down to the bank and helped me set up a checking account. That same day Lucas threw a surprise birthday party for me at his house, complete with a cold chocolate cake (my favorite) and a mix CD of all of my favorite bands. 

But it's not really time to think about him, I realize, as I watch Zara wave to me in response as she hunches over a cardboard box that is filled with new deliveries in the back of the store. Since not one customer is in the store, which is pretty usual for this place, she calls out to me, "Come shelve all of these! You can read the backs and decide which ones you want to steal for yourself while you do." 

I give her a guilty smile, that familiar feeling of an excited child on Christmas morning starting to peep through. This right here, in my little book store with the one person that I can honestly say has never been anything but good to me, is my happiest place. I absolutely love it. 

So I practically skip down the rows of books to where she's standing and yank the pair of scissors out of her hand. I smile, "Thanks Zara." 

She pats me on the shoulder as she rises to her feet, her maxi skirt going back to draping its way down to the floor. Zara has always been somewhat of a free spirit, what with her three facial piercings and tattoo on her wrist, but if you talked to her one the phone you'd never know. She's only different by the way she dresses, not the way she acts. She's so down-to-earth and so fiercely loyal, two things that I admire so much in people. She's practically my best friend. 

In response to me she says, "No problem, you're my best customer here, even with your twenty percent employee discount." 

"Got to love that discount," I joke. 

She shakes her head at my complete addiction to books and says, "You'd be broke without it." 

Thirty minutes into the afternoon, I'm sitting with my back propped against one of the book shelves, reading yet another back book cover about a girl falling in love with her best friend and the two of them living happily ever after. I make a face at the book, wondering why on earth people believe that best friends can always fall in love, and then shove it onto the shelf in its rightful place. 

I'm so sick of people thinking that best friends are automatically soul mates. They're not. I learned that in the hardest way possible. 

"Don't hurt the book," Zara says dryly from behind me, making me jump in my spot. I hadn't even heard her sneak up on me. 

"God, Zara! I had no idea you were right there." 

She laughs, "Obviously. But why are you so angry at that book? What'd it do to you?" 

The irritation from reading about ten book covers with the same plot line finally making its way from my brain to my mouth, I start to rant. "It's the same story over and over again and it's not even a good one! Like come on, seriously, not all best friends fall in love. Some best friends can take that as their main weapon and then stab them in the back with it! Friendships like that, friendships that consume your whole life, are doomed for failure and..." 

With a calming hand on my shoulder, Zara says in a calming tone, "I know that Lucas hurt you, Naomi, but you've got to forgive and forget. This hate that you have for him, for the whole situation, is seriously unhealthy." 

"I know," I say in a meek voice, bowing my head a little bit and looking at the tan carpet that I'm sitting on. I think back to all of the hours of sleep I've missed thinking about him, wondering what on earth that I did that was so wrong that he'd just ditch me like that. I wondered if he ever loved me as much, as a friend, as I had loved him. I know that this whole Lucas thing is unhealthy, I get it, but my stupid heart just can't stop thinking about him. 

He had completely crushed me. I can't really get over that so quickly. 

But it has been two years... 

She leans her head against mine, her dread locks feeling a bit strange against my cheek. She asks me, "Have you ever thought about talking to him, asking him why he just..." 

I immediately pull my head away from hers and start shaking it furiously. "I can't talk to him. He asked me how I was doing today and I almost lost it." 

She raises an eyebrow at me, "He asked you how you were?" 

I nod, "Mr. Rochester, the man that is seriously the bane of my existence, kicked me out of class for sleeping and apparently I'm such a bad pupil that I needed someone to escort me to the office. That someone, of course, was Brookston High's own golden boy, Lucas Hamilton."  

Is it just me or does someone sound a bit bitter? 

Ignoring my annoying little rant, she asks me, "What was your punishment?" 

Picturing Principal Sneed's beady little eyes, I remember what she'd given me in the office earlier today. "Oh!" I say sitting up straighter, "I have detention all week so I'll be late to work. I can stay late, though, if you want me to, I seriously don't mind." 

She laughs at me, "You spend too much time here as it is, you can have this whole week off if you want it. Well, not all week. There's that new werewolf romance book coming in and you know how people get over them." 

Not going to admit that even though werewolf romance is as addicting as it is weird, I tell her, "I'll stay late, no biggie." 

She gives a disbelieving laugh before pushing herself to her feet at the sound of the door's bell ringing throughout the store. I watch as she walks down the book aisle towards the front counter. There's a blonde girl standing there, her back to me, but the moment that I see her perfect ringlet hair and her pink designer shoes, I know exactly who it is. 

Destiny. 

Good God, why does today seriously have to be all about Lucas? He's popped up everywhere and it's honestly starting o freak me out a bit.  

I can hear her sugary sweet voice all the way where I'm sitting as she asks, "Has the new Captain Booger Snot book come in? My brother's birthday is tomorrow and he seriously loves those books." 

Zara says, "Just came in, I think. Let me go get it for you." 

"Thanks," Destiny says as she watches Zara exit the space behind the front counter and then go to the row of books that is specifically for kids. Her long-lashed eyes start roaming across the store, appraising it or something, but when they settle on me, a smile sets on her face. 

She waves at me, "Hey Naomi, how's it going?" 

That's the thing about Destiny Cleveland is that she's nicer than Mrs. Claus. No one at school talks to me, honestly no one does, but even though Destiny is way more popular than me and she knows that I used to be in love with her boyfriend, she's talking to me. She's just irritating that way.  

Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like nice people. Nice people are usually awesome. But her being so damned nice makes me feel insanely guilty for hating her so much. It'd be so much nicer if she was some crazy bitch girlfriend. 

"Good," I call back at her, knowing that if I keep staring at her as I think of the whole Lucas situation she'll think that I'm insane. "You?" 

"Oh you know," she says, her smile growing wider as her phone chirps from inside of her bag. As she blindly starts to fish it out she says, "Looking for colleges, dealing with an overemotional mom who's beyond depressed about my going off to school...normal senior year stuff." 

A sad feeling hits me because I don't get to experience any of that stuff. I'm going to go to the school that offers me the most scholarship money because God only knows that my parents won't pay for it for me. Hell, they're probably not even going to put a cent towards my college fund. And my mom probably doesn't even realize that it's my senior year and that I'm finally going to be done with high school in just a few months. Her head's probably so wrapped up in that hospital she works in that she's completely forgotten about me. 

But I make sure not to let any of this sadness or jealousies appear on my face. I definitely don't want Lucas' girlfriend to take pity on me. So instead I ask her, "Do you know where you're going?" 

She shakes her head, "Nope. Luke's going to UCLA on a football scholarship, but I really don't think I could live in Los Angeles. That's too urban for me, you know? So I'm just waiting to see who'll accept me..." 

Feeling this insane amount of jealousy wash over me because she knows everything about his life now, all of the things he would have told me had we still been friends. Hell, I didn't even know that he'd gotten a football scholarship. Granted, everyone in school knew he'd get one because he's been MVP at Brookston for three years straight and there's always a college scout at his games, but I never knew he'd been offered one officially. 

I hate that I don't know this stuff. 

I used to know every little thing about him and now the only things I know are things heard on the gossip mill. 

My thoughts are interrupted by Zara walking up to Destiny and handing her the book that she asked for. After Destiny pays for it, she turns back to me and gives me a little wave. She says, "It was nice talking to you, Naomi. Sometimes at school I forget that you speak." 

She gives a cute little laugh after her comment, a laugh that kind of makes me want to smack her across the face, and then heads out of the book store with nothing but the bell overhead the door to remember her by. Well, that, and the nasty little comment that she decided to leave me with. 

Well maybe it's not nasty per say, but even though I never really socialize at school, it stings to hear about it from outside sources. It means that people outside of myself have noticed that I have no social life whatsoever. It makes me feel somewhat pathetic. 

The only person that ever reassured me that I wasn't pathetic was Lucas and, well, you see how that all turned out. 

People that you trust will only ever hurt you in the end.