Chapter one - Leanna

It's Fri-yay!

The water looks beautiful this early in the morning, with the sun shimmering across the waves and the wet pebbles sparkling along the shore. It makes it worth the early wake up to be able to be out here with no one else around.

I close my eyes, breathing in the salty air and listening to the water lapping against the shore. Kim has plans to travel straight after high school and I've agreed to go with her, but in truth, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than right here.

"Hey Lea, you finally running off your Christmas flab?" The annoying voice infiltrates my tranquility and I feel my stress levels soar.

With my eyes still closed, I breathe in and out deeply, clinging to the vain hope he'll just pass me by but the slap on my bum has me spinning on my heel to glare at him.

He's topless, a sheen of sweat across his tanned muscular frame. He grabs his shirt, wiping the sweat from his face and then tucking it back into his shorts before draining the remnants of his water bottle. He's so pretty, he could be an advert for something, running, water. Anything, and for some reason that irritates me more than him disturbing my peace and tranquility.

"There is so much space here, why the hell are you near me, Nathaniel?" I spit the words out, gesturing to the empty beach, and he puts his hands up beside him as though he's shocked by my response.

"Woah, just being friendly. You know, I could help you out with a full body workout." He winks at me and I slap my hand over my mouth, exaggerating the retching so I don't need to bother replying to him. "Funny girl."

"I'm leaving before you ruin my good mood entirely." I slip my headphones back in and jog back towards my car, ignoring his presence as he keeps step beside me.

"You're so antisocial." He says, grabbing my earphone and tugging roughly. "What are you listening to anyway?"

"Don't." But it's too late, the fragile wire finally dislodges from the earpiece which tumbles onto the sand and we both stare at it for a few seconds before looking at each other. He doesn't even look apologetic, just amused.

"Oops, sorry." Nathan inspects the wire, bending to pick up the piece and looking at the broken bit. "How old is this anyway? I'm not surprised it's falling apart."

"Goodbye, Nathan." I wrench my car door open and slide in, pressing my elbow onto the lock to keep him out.

Out of the corner of my eye I see him shrug, toss the broken earpiece into the bin and hop into his car, reversing out without another glance in my direction.

Asshole! It's bad enough he bugs me at school, but now I can't get any peace on my morning runs either!

***

Why do so many people long to be part of the popular kids? I won't deny they're often beautiful, but at what cost, they have to wear the same things, like the same things, date the same people. I mean god forbid they have an interest that goes outside those accepted by the Alpha pair.

I'm grumpier than usual, so the piercing laughter of the self appointed popular table has me gritting my teeth in annoyance. The laughter peels through me again and I amuse myself by envisioning one of them bringing up an original topic of discussion, the horror on the equally fake faces of their friends as they step away from the offending person. Then, the chosen leaders press a button, a bit like on The Voice but instead of a spinning chair, the individual is jettisoned through the ceiling and gone forevermore for daring to be at all different from what they deem to be cool.

"What's so funny?" Millie Deane, my best friend, grabs my hand, moving it away from my sketchbook where I've done a fairly detailed drawing of Sally Matthews careening towards the art room ceiling. Millie sniggers and then fixes me with an authoritarian look, her voice dropping several octaves as she impersonates our aging hippy of an Art teacher, Mr FitsGerald. "Now, Miss Woodson, do you feel this is a healthy and productive use of our seriously underfunded art supplies? There seems to be a level of passive aggressivity in your sketch that is crying out for attention, perhaps we should open up the room for a powwow. Feelings, especially feelings such as these, need to be shared and dealt with as a group."

"I quite agree, Miss Deane." Mr FitsGerald's voice filters over our heads as he reaches over my shoulder and plucks my sketchbook from my desk. "Class, gather, push the tables out of the way and sit on the floor. Ideally we'd be outside in nature, but Miss Jaymes has informed me it's disruptive to other classes, so beggars can't be choosers."

"Fuck." I hiss under my breath at Millie, who's cheeks resemble tomatoes at this point. She nods her agreement with wide eyes as everyone casually pushes tables away, grateful for the interruption to our third lesson drawing various fruit, flowers and vases in the centre of the room.

Mr FitsGerald strolls to the front of the room and props my book on the easel there, ensuring my name is safely hidden for anonymity, although Nathan must recognise my style because he shoots me an amused grin. I return the acknowledgement with a quick raise of my middle finger and turn away from him.

"Class, I want you to study the sketch here and tell me how it makes you feel." Mr FitsGerald says, gesturing at my book and I'm torn between wanting the floor to open up and swallow me and a little bit of pride when I hear the comments about how good my artistic ability is.

"Is that meant to be me?" Sally Matthews screeches all of a sudden and the class erupts into laughter.

I should feel bad and if it were anyone else I'm sure I would, but she's so fake and goes out of her way to make fun of anyone outside of her little circle of… well, I can't say friends, vipers is more accurate, there's no loyalty there, they turn on one another at the slightest sniff of drama, which must be why she looks so anxious now.

Mr FitsGerald leads the discussion about the "feel" of my picture, forcing everyone to give an opinion, even Sally Matthews who, having clearly recovered from the shock of being the subject, smugly tells "the anonymous artist" that it makes her feel special, since they are obviously either in love with her or extremely jealous of her since they had to draw her in so much detail. I dig my nails into my hand to stop even a scoff escaping my mouth at her words.

"Leanna Woodson, what do you think? How does the picture make you feel?" Mr FitsGerald gives me a little wink, as though this doesn't suggest to everyone that we share a secret, and the more gossip hungry students will twist it to be something sordid, rather than the more obvious explanation that it's my drawing.

Sally Matthews gasps aloud as realisation hits her and this time I can't stop the snort of amusement, she narrows her eyes, then leans back, whispering something to her friends and suddenly they're all staring at me.

"Well, sir, in my humble opinion, the picture displays the potential loneliness of high school friendships." I say. His grin widens with excitement and he nods encouragingly as he twists the little tuft of beard he must spend ages meticulously shaping.

"Oh really? That's so interesting." He releases his beard and pinches his chin, tilting his head to one side and studying it as though he's looking for whatever I'm identifying.

"Definitely sir." Millie adds, somehow keeping the laughter in her voice from showing on her face. "It's shows how the fear of nonconforming to ones peers could lead to the literal ejection from the desired social status."

I bite my lip to keep from laughing as he looks at the both of us in awe. 

"That is so incredibly insightful, the both of you. Fantastic." He murmurs and then the bell goes to signify the end of class. "Ok everyone, I'd love it if you could all create at least one picture of something special or meaningful to you before the next class. You can use any medium or canvas you like. It will be an anonymous submission and you won't be required to give explanations, but like this one, it should be detailed enough to evoke different interpretations and emotions in others. Enjoy your weekend."

Millie and I head out to the front of the school where our other friends Corrine Collins and Italia Bennett are already waiting.

"What a sad bitch." Sally Matthews hisses at me as she and her friends get closer. I stand up and turn towards them, readying myself for whatever they're about to say.

"Eww don't let the lesbo touch me." Gail Anders adds with a snigger, glancing at the other girls for approval. Which is ironic since it's obvious to anyone that she and Bethany Waller are secretly together.

Despite this, Bethany and Sally squeal and jump away from me, their obvious amusement spurring Gail to continue. She takes a step closer to me, her lip curled in a cruel smile. 

"It's obvious you're like, in love with her or something, but Sally doesn't swing that way, sorry, not sorry."

"Well isn't that just the worst news you've ever heard? I'm devastated, aren't you devastated, Lea?" Corrine comes to stand on my right, Italia and Millie moving to my left in solidarity.

"Totally and absolutely, I can literally feel my heart breaking in two, what will I ever do to get over this?" As if reading my mind, Millie offers me her water bottle and I take a sip. "Oh look, I'm over it. That wasn't so bad, thanks Mill."

"Anytime." Keeping her voice so cheerful and friendly I nearly laugh out loud, she turns to Sally, Gail and Bethany who are all staring at us in disgust. "Now, can we help you with anything else or can you leave?"

"Ladies, if there's going to be a cat fight, at least get into your bikini's. Make it fun for us to watch." Callum Ridgeway calls over and my group collectively rolls their eyes as Sally, Gail and Bethany turn towards where he's standing with Nathan Graham and Adam Brown, the girls' flirtatious smiles already in place.

"Hi guys, where are you going?" Bethany flicks her long blonde hair over her shoulder and sways her hips as she goes over to them.

"Fucking bitches, you're pathetic." Sally mutters under her breath at us as she totters on her ridiculous high heels behind her friends to go and flirt with the guys.

"Yeah we're the pathetic ones." Italia snorts at the three girls tossing their hair and giggling inanely at the guys. "Come on, you want to go get a drink in Sixes before going home?"

"Ooo yes, I might even get the squirty cream and sprinkles today." Corrine grins, her eyes glazing over as she fantasises about the delicious chocolate bar milkshakes they specialise in that will almost certainly have us feeling sick afterwards.