Chapter 1 Change Mr. Popular

"Lauren!"

My mother's raised voice came muffled through the pillow I was hiding under. I made a few grumbly noises and smothered my face down further into my sheets, attempting to block her out.

1, 2, 3 seconds passed in silence, and I began to relax, thinking she'd given up and walked away. Instead, I felt cold air hit my back as my blanket was ripped off of me.

"Lauren!"

When it became clear she wasn't going to stop harassing me, I groaned and sat up. "What?!"

"It's time to get up. Do you really want to be late on your first day of school?"

Ugh...why'd she have to remind me? My mom and dad decided it would be cool to completely ruin my life by moving across the United States (okay, Montana to California wasn't really completely across, but still). Not to mention the fact that it was February, which means I'd be starting at my new school smack in the middle of the year.

"Mom," I groaned, hoping I could somehow avoid the horrible day sure to ensue. "You're torturing me enough by forcing me to move, now you decide to ruin my sleep?"

Her blue eyes widened at my response. "I've had enough of your attitude, young lady. School starts at 8:00 and it's 7:35! We have to leave in less than 15 minutes so please, stop testing my sanity and get going!"

One good thing about my new school, I supposed, was how late it started. This time at my old school, class would have already been in session for about five minutes.

I picked my comforter up from the floor and tried to keep myself from throwing another annoyed remark towards my mom, knowing it would only cause me trouble.

I didn't have enough time to take a shower, but luckily had already taken one the night before. After shooing mom out of my room, I ripped open one of the boxes of clothes that were sitting on the floor next to my bed. Knowing me, I would probably be living out of them for at least a month because I was too lazy to unpack. I pulled out a pair of skinny jeans and a white tank top with tiny floral print, thanking the universe that some of my favorite clothes happened to be at the top of the pile.

After throwing them on, I slipped into a pair of moccasins and headed across the hall to the bathroom. I yanked a brush through my hair-which was luckily deciding to cooperate today-and did my makeup. I lined my eyes lightly with some black eyeliner and mascara, barely remembering to swab on some lip gloss; I liked makeup, I just wasn't too keen on packing it on, so that was usually the most I wore.

I quickly ran back to my room and grabbed my bag for school. I didn't have much in it, just some notebooks, pencils, and my phone. Hopefully it wouldn't become too heavy by the time all my new teachers were done with me. I slung my bag over my shoulder and marched down the stairs.

My twin brother, Trent, was sitting in front of the breakfast bar, glaring at me.

"God, Little sis, could you at least try to be ready sometime this year?"

"Oh, bite me," I snapped, sticking my arm inside the plastic bag on the counter and pulling out a bagel.

See, Trent liked to think that he was older than me, when really he was just 6 minutes before me. We were BOTH 17, and juniors in high school.

He rolled his eyes with a laugh, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair.

My dad probably already left for work, so it was just me and Trent in the kitchen as mom yelled for us to hurry and went out to warm up the car.

I looked at Trent with a sly smile. He was putting his cereal bowl in the sink with his back to me. Seeing he was running behind, I smiled and dashed out the door. I laughed and almost tripped over the porch step as I noticed he was hot on my trail. Once the car was in sight, I yelled, "shotgun!" I might have been less than a year away from being an adult, but that game never got old.

He groaned and got in the back. I turned around to face him, smirking wordlessly.

I didn't feel nervous until we parked in front of the school. Trent got out as fast as he could, trying to act like he didn't know us.

Mom squeezed my hand, "You'll fit right in honey, quit worrying."

I looked into her eyes and weakly smiled. Fit right in? Was she kidding? "Fitting in" probably required some sort of combination of tall, blonde or blue-eyed, while I was tiny with dark hair and brown eyes. I sighed and got out of the car.

Still facing the car, I backed up and saluted my mom until she drove away. Walking backwards, my foot caught on the edge of the sidewalk and I fell on my ass, earning a few sneers from students walking by.

I sighed and got up, dusting off my jeans. Great first impression, Lauren, you're fitting right in!

Luckily I had made it before classes started, so the bell didn't ring until after I was given my schedule and shown to my locker.

I sighed, walking down the hallway with my notebooks in hand. I was jostled back and forth, being completely disregarded. This was one of the problems with only being 5 feet tall; you're tiny and labeled as "cute", but people walk all over you.

I finally found my first class of the day; English. I walked in to see a bald, overweight man with thick glasses, standing in front of the room. This had to be the teacher.

He looked at me as I came in. "Hello, I am Mr. Fields, and you are late."

I smirked. So that's how it's going to be. "Actually, I'm Lauren. But nice try."

Thinking twice and deciding I didn't want to come across as a total bitch, I pasted on a small smile at the end of my words, letting him know I was joking.

He looked shocked, but then decided to let it go. He handed me a copy of a book, Jane Eyre. I sighed. We had just finished reading this at my old school. He pointed out a seat for me in the back.

I sat down and got to reading; as sarcastic as I am, I actually cared a lot about my grades.

Class was over soon and I was about to get up when there was a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see a scarily happy looking blonde girl staring down at me.

"I'm Audrey," she said with a smile.

"Lauren," I said simply, slightly narrowing my eyes as I tried to figure out what she wanted.

"I think everyone knows your name after what you said to the teacher," she said, giggling.

I grinned, as overly perky as she was, I could already tell I liked this girl. She may have had a face so pretty it screamed mean girl, but the rosy cheeks and sparkle in her blue eyes gave a sense of innocence to her that balanced it out.

"So, you want to be...friends?" She asked with a half-grin.

I shrugged, suppressing a laugh at how blunt her question was. Did people actually make friends like that around here? Maybe this wouldn't be too bad.

Seeing the surprised look on my face, she shook her head quickly. "I mean, we don't have to be friends right away, but I could show you around?"

I grinned. Her worry over what I thought was weirdly endearing. "Sure."

"Great! Uh, what class do you have next?"

We walked out the door together but soon learned we didn't have the same classes for second period. Before we parted ways, she gave me her full name—Audrey Ross. The quirky way she said it made me smile as she went one way down the hall and I went the other.

My head was still turned, looking at her, when I ran into a hard chest. The impact caused my notebooks to slip from my hands and drop all over the floor. It was almost pitiful how many embarrassing things were happening to me in one day.

"Watch where you're going, bitch," said a deep voice as I kneeled down to collect my things.

Expecting him to apologize, I started to say, "it's oka- wait, what the hell did you just call me!?" The insulting word was muttered under his breath, and I had barely caught it.

"I said you're a bitch," he sighed. "Are you deaf, as well?" The guy seemed to be irritated at repeating himself, barely taking the time to spare me a glance.

My jaw dropped. "I heard what you said, you dick."

"Then why did you ask what-"

I cut him off, "Shut up. Don't ever call me a bitch, and it was an accident, no need to hulk out on me." I grit my teeth. What was this guys deal?

My eyes quickly flickered to scan our surroundings; the hallway was already thinning out. Really? Was no one noticing this psychopath of a guy yelling at me?

His brown eyes darkened and he advanced forward, "Nobody cuts me off."

Though I was scared shitless, I didn't show it. "Well, aren't you Mr. Popular," I snorted. "Nobody cuts me off." I mimicked him with a roll of my eyes, anger rolling through me in waves. Laughing humorlessly, I turned to walk away.

He grabbed my wrist and spun me around to face him. The nerve of this guy. I looked up at his face. I was tiny already and this guy was probably a foot taller than me. He had dark brown hair and eyes, with an admittedly well chiseled face and a.. Wait, this guy called me a bitch, why was I ogling him?

"If you're done checking me out," he said with something akin to a smirk, like he was used to this sort of thing, "Tell me who the hell you are."

I glared. "Cocky much? And you don't need to know my name." I wrenched my wrist out of his grip and stalked off, fuming.

Great, I thought as I traveled down the confusing hallway, now I was going to be late for my second class.