Hailey and Julia had met up for dinner. Summer was ending and the girls were going back to school next week. They were celebrating the end of summer at a fancy restaurant downtown. The girls had spent most of the night gossiping, so it was a usual Friday night for them.

"Have you seen Alison around at school?" Hailey asked.

Julia visibly stiffened at the mention of her old friend. "No," she finally said.

Hailey smirked. "Maybe you scared her off."

Julia looked down at her half eaten salad.

"I heard she dropped out or something," Hailey continued on when Julia did not reply. "I work in the office sometimes and I saw these forms-"

"Wait," Julia said, cutting her off. "You work in the office at school? Like even in the summer?"

Hailey nodded. "Yeah, it's a part of being on student council," Hailey said, brushing her off. "Anyway, I saw Alison's name on some exam booklets. They looked like the kind to test out of high school. Maybe we'll never have to deal with that bitch again."

Julia frowned. "Why would she do that?"

Alison had once told Julia the only solace she got from going to high school was that she knew she was going to go to an amazing university and study math. She then proceeded to swear Julia to secrecy and told her that if she ever told a soul about her secret dream of becoming a Mathematician she would punch Julia into another euclidean dimension, Julia had no idea what that meant but Alison was not one to make threats lightly.

"Like we care," Hailey said, snapping Julia from her thoughts. "I hope she never shows her face around here again."

"What did Alison do to you?" Julia asked.

It had never struck Julia as odd that Hailey hated Alison so much until now.

Hailey frowned. "Are you telling me that Alison didn't drive you crazy sometimes?" she asked. "Did it really not bother you how easy it was for her to talk to guys? To get their attention? To get good grades? To have a mom and dad who would let her do or buy whatever she wanted? It is so freaking easy to be Alison Hart and she didn't care. It was like she hated how perfect her life was."

Julia looked away. That may have been how it looked to an outsider but Julia knew the truth. She knew how much Alison hated the attention she got. She hated having to calm Max down after a guy would relentlessly flirt with her even after she refused his advances. Alison's good grades did not always come easy. They came out of a need to prove to herself that she was better than what people thought of her. And Alison hated how uninvolved her parents were in her life. Julia remembered consoling her the night her parents had not shown up to the middle school graduation.

Hailey had no idea, but Julia would never defend Alison. Not now anyway. She was still mad that Alison hooked up with Brady. Julia wanted to change the subject.

"What have you guys been doing in the morning camp at dance?" Julia asked.

Hailey shrugged. "Oh, not much," she said. "You'll never guess what boy texted me last night," she said, quickly changing the subject.

Julia frowned. "I thought you said you would help me learn everything."

Hailey looked up from her salad at Julia, clearly she was annoyed Julia kept bringing dance up. "Look, it's no big deal, I'll fill you in later."

"But it's almost the end of summer, and you haven't shown me anything," Julia complained.

Hailey sighed. "Look, I'll show you later, okay? Let's just have fun, okay?"

Julia held in her own sigh and nodded. When they were done eating, Julia paid as usual and they headed off. Hailey continued her steady stream of gossip and Julia pretended to listen.

"No way," Hailey said, stopping her tracks.

"What?" Julia asked.

"Look in there, is that Brady?" she questioned. "With Olivia Jones?"

Julia looked back over at the ice cream shop they had just passed. She peered into the window and Brady was in fact sitting there, with the same girl from the charity event. Julia felt sick.

"Who does he think he is?" Hailey scoffed. "Parading his new girlfriend around, like he is something. Please, she is so lame."

Julia just shook her head. "Whatever, like I care," she said, although it did not really sound that convincing.

"He went from such a hottie to such a loser," Hailey said, rolling her eyes. "You know I heard the basketball coach offered him his spot back and he refused. Brady's going to be at the bottom of the social ladder at this point, especially with that girl by his side."

Julia frowned. She was confused. If Brady and Alison were hooking up, who was this girl? Had he really moved on from Alison already? Or maybe he was cheating on her? Julia was not sure, but she was not about to march in there and confront him about it.

"Let's just go," she said tiredly.

"No, we need to put this girl in her palace," Hailey said with a smirk. "And I know how to do it."

"Hailey," Julia said in a warning tone. "Drop it."

Hailey only laughed and patted her friend on the shoulder. Julia watched with wide eyes as Brady began to leave the ice cream shop. She hurriedly pulled Hailey around the side of the shop and watched as he got in his mom's car. Once they were gone, Julia grabbed Hailey.

"Do not go in there," she said seriously.

Hailey ignored her and went in anyway. Julia watched with widened eyes and quickly followed after her.

"Olivia? Is that you?" Hailey asked with fake enthusiasm.

Olivia turned around and looked over at Hailey. She seemed surprised that Hailey was talking to her.

"What do you want, Hailey?" Olivia asked with her arms crossed.

"Oh nothing, but I thought I should let you know something," Hailey said, her tone turning serious. She walked over and got in Olivia's face. "I don't know what you're doing with Brady, or what you think is going to happen, but if you date him, I will make sure you live to regret it."

Julia watched with a horrified expression. Olivia looked on edge.

"We're just friends," Olivia mumbled. Clearly she was scared of what Hailey would do to her.

"It better stay that way," Hailey warned. "Or better yet, never talk to him again. Otherwise, I'll ruin you. I still remember what dorky Oliva looked like in middle school and luckily I still have the pictures. So, stay the hell away from Brady."

Hailey walked away with a flip of her hair and Oliva looked over at Julia. Clearly, she knew that Julia was Brady's ex.

"Having your friends fight your battles?" Olivia asked in a low tone. "Pathetic. Stop trying to ruin Brady's life just because you can."

"I'm not," Julia protested. "I'm doing you a favor anyway, Brady's not worth the trouble. He's not the same guy he used to be."

Olivia's eyes widened. "I would think anyone who went through what he went through would change a little. How can you be so heartless?"

Julia stood there flabbergasted for a moment before she quickly grew angry.

"You better not cross me, bitch," Julia said with a fiery expression before following Hailey out.

"Good job, J," Hailey said proudly.

Julia felt sick though. Praise from Hailey was not a good sign. Who had Julia become?

"Hailey, threatening her was not right."

Hailey rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Julia. If you don't assert your dominance, you'll let people walk all over you."

Julia was upset by that. Did Hailey really think Julia was that much of a pushover?

"So I should just let you fight for me?" Julia protested. "Because you always know best? Is that why you changed my attendance record so that I had to go to summer school and miss the morning ballet camp?"

Hailey looked nervous, she tried to hide it though. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, cut the crap, Hailey," Julia said angrily. "I know you changed my record, you wanted better dances so you pushed me aside."

Hailey stared at her for a while before she slowly started to smile.

"You're smarter than I gave you credit for. Being friends with you was out of convenience. Riding on the popularity train you had, I got everything I wanted. If you aren't grateful for everything I've done for you in return, that's your problem not mine."

"Grateful?" Julia repeated with an angry expression and a hand on her hip. "And what exactly should I be grateful for?"

"Everything," Hailey said, matching her tone. "You would be nowhere without me. You would be nobody."

Julia stared at her for a moment. "Well I would rather be a nobody than be friends with you."

Hailey glared at her, the two girls were having an angry stare down when sirens turned on nearby. Within seconds, police cars passed by and Julia and Hailey both watched as the vehicles turned into the residential side of town. The part of town that Alison lived in.