Chapter 1 - When Did You Get Out Of Jail?

Their laughter is deafening.

It always comes to haunt me. When I'm alone in my room, when I'm in the middle of the cafeteria laughing with my friends, when I'm just being myself.

It's like a poisonous vine, slowly wrapping itself around my soul - tempting me to go back to those days. To curl up in one corner and cry, thrash, yell. To pour my heart out to nobody in particular as the sharp blades frame the exterior of my wrist.

But no. I can't go back to that dark place. I'm stronger. I had escaped it on my own. And I have to go on. Even if it means throwing my head back in laughter and joining them as they make jokes about my pimples. As boys posted memes about my fat ass on Facebook and girls tweeted my most embarrassing photos thinking 'Oh, that's the funny Lisa! She wouldn't mind a bit!'

I can't show my true self. Never again. I have many friends; yes, but very little that don't laugh about my pimples behind my back - and sometimes in front of me. Idiots. At least have the courtesy to do it behind my back.

Whenever someone throws insults at me, I would just have to throw my head back and laugh with them - at me. Because that's the easy way out. That meant I'm friends with everyone. That meant no one sees me as a threat.

And there isn't any person in the world that would see through it. Because not even my best friends could see the insecure girl behind the laughing chubby girl. See the late night tears while I cry reading Romance books. See the girl who always hopes for a boy who would love and cherish her like it happened in those Wattpad books I love to read.
But those girls are mostly good girls who had brilliant results, who are insecure even though they were super thin and pretty.

I'm nothing like them.

I'm not the good girl.

I mean, bad boys always like sweet nerdy good girls right?

But I'm someone who's crazy. Who loves setting up her best friends up with random people. And someone who isn't the good girl but rather the boy crazy best friend of the good girl.

So a story with the bad boy...?

Not a chance.

******

"I made a promise to myself this morning," I say in a grave voice.

"You're not converting to some cult, are you?" Sam asks as she leans back on the stairs we were sitting on and looks at me with a devil-may-care face. Her jet black hair that reaches just past her ears, is tousled from running her hands through it 24/7.

"A promise that is made by blood and sealed by my saliva," I continue, as I clench my fist in front of my chest, as a sign of an unbroken promise.

"That's gross," Alexis mutters not bothering to look up from her phone on which she furiously typed away at the speed of Flash.

"Oh no, Lisa!" Chloe snaps her head up from her fuck-I-need-a-microscope-its-so-small equations and cranes her neck to look at me, "What is it?"

"It's..."

Everything goes deathly silent, even the bustle of students around us seem to stop.

"It's..."

Chloe clasps my hand with hers and gives me a tight squeeze, as if to say that she'll be there for me even if I do decide to join a cult.

"The promise is..."

"I just asked if you'd eat your burger!" Sam snaps at me and throws away her cigarette angrily.

"Hush child!" I raise one hand as if to bless her. "The promise is that I would try dieting because I just gained 10 pounds last month. So yeah, you can have my burger."

Silence.

Shaking their heads at me the three of them turned back to do what they were doing. Chloe starts doing her assignments that are due ten years later, Sam takes out another cigarette from her pocket and lights it up and Alexis logs back into Facebook.

"Wait no!" I suddenly shout as Sam's hand slowly edges towards my burger.

"What?"

"I'll eat my burger! Promises can go to hell!"

Let me explain.

Chloe is the goody two shoes among our group. Always worrying about classes, assignments and tests to notice how pretty she really is. The child that every parent wants.

Then there's Sam. The badass hot girl. Wears fishnets and gives the school dress code a manicured middle finger. Every parents' nightmare. That's why I love her though.

Alexis, the head cheerleader. Always tweeting or Facebook-ing. When she's not doing these two she's either making out with her boyfriend or hanging out with us. Do note in what order they are.

And lastly, there's me. The comedian best friend, Alison. My quality? None. I'm not a good girl cause I get pretty wasted at parties. But I try my best--emphasis on my--to get decent grades. I'm neither a social butterfly nor a social outcast. No guy has ever looked at me in a romantic interest. Not that I blame them.

I'm not pretty. I know how some insecure girls think that they're more worthless than a used syringe but I'm really not like that. Its just a fact that I know I'm not the hottest girl on planet. I'm slightly chubby and have a round face with a mass of rusty brown hair. I don't like how I look but oh well. It doesn't really matter. You know why?

Because I'm friends with everybody! From the greasy nerd kid to the school slut. Give me 15 minutes with someone and they'll love me. I guess it's the only thing I know how to do. Make people warm up to me.

After all, the chubby funny girl who's friends with everyone can't be a threat right?

My thoughts are interrupted when Alexis suddenly gasps from beside me. "Oh My God!"

Yes, oh my God! You looked up from your phone!

It was still a good fifteen minutes before class and the students that were loitering around turned to look what was happening.

We were sitting on the front steps of our school overlooking the parking lot. Ours was a prestigious high school in the city so many students had Ferraris and cars-too-shiny-to-run-in-the-highway.

But what they didn't have was a motorcycle.

A motorcycle which was currently pulling up beside the shiny cars with a monstrous sound.

"Is that...?" Chloe's eyes widened.

"A bike? Hell yeah! I haven't rode one since forever!" Sam yells excited and goes far as to fist pump in the air.

Students crowd around the mysterious new comer as he kicks off the engine and shakes off his helmet.

Oh, sweet baby.

He's like one of those guys from the romance novels!

His dark eyes sweep over the awestruck students in a bored - if not slightly annoyed - manner. Jet black bangs fall halfway down his forehead. Swinging one leg from over the bike, he climbs off, shaking his messy hair.

A black jacket hugs his perfectly sculpted feature. But the kill-me-now frown he wears is like a red warning sign that prevents anyone from approaching him.

He strides over to the school gate with elegant steps with every girl, staring at him open mouthed.

And I'm totally unashamed to say that me and my friends are among them. Along with Alexis who has a two year long boyfriend she loves. He's just that good looking.

Wait. Did I say the school gate? Aka the steps we were currently sitting on?

"Move."

It takes me a moment to notice that the husky growl is directed at me.

"Huh?" I blink up at him.

"I said, move." He glares at me.

Breaking out of my daze, I quickly shuffle away.

His expression is stoic and his fists are clenched by his side, as if he's uncomfortable from all the attention.

He's about to disappear behind the hall doors when Sam calls out.

"Ryder?"

He freezes and slowly turns towards her furrowing his eyebrows. "Sam? Is that you? When did you get out of Jail?"

Silence.

Sam laughs way too loudly and with way too much force. "Haha. You're so funny sometimes, isn't he guys? How long has it been since I last saw you? Two years? Three?"

He snorts.

Laughing nervously, Sam quickly stands up and drapes an arm around his shoulders. "Funny, so funny. So guys, I have to show this newbie around. See you later. Ta ta."

With that she drags Ryder behind her and hurries away from us.

After we stay in awkward silence for a while, I decide to speak up. "Well...I, for one don't want to know what he meant by that joke. Ignorance is bliss, right?"

***