Hey! This is a group story that my friends and I did together. I have it separated in three different sections for each of us. Please review each section separately so we all know how our writing is! Thanks! Enjoy, folks.

Part One - Heather's Section

Lydia was the kind of girl who never felt like she fit in. Fashion definitely didn't work for her, and her friends were few and far between, yet she had a high spirit. She enjoyed moving to the beat of her own drum, even if it didn't suit others well. Her long, fiery red hair, glassy blue eyes, and lightly freckled skin brought out her Irish descent clearly. Even though she had few friends, the ones she had, she cherished. She especially loved her best friend, Claudia. They had met in kindergarten and clicked immediately. They were practically inseparable. It worried them both equally that someday they may change interests and drift apart, but since it hadn't happened yet, why should it now?

Lydia lived with her father, Wesley Cartwell. Her mother had passed away from cancer when Lydia was only three years old, so her father took over the job of mother and had taken care of her since. She loved him dearly for it, but it bothered her that he was a lawyer, and was therefore always busy with his own affairs to know much of anything about his daughter. There were no siblings in the family, and so it got pretty lonely sometimes. Overall, Lydia was content with her life, though. She would go to Montour High everyday and talk with her friends, come home, exchange a few words with her father, then go to sleep to start the whole process over again the next day. So that's where the story begins.

The obnoxious voices ran over her ears like the clanging of a symbol. Slowly, ever so slowly, she opened her drowsy eyes, groaning at the idiot machine that had disrupted her peaceful slumber. Turning on her bedside lamp, she got up and clicked the radio switch "OFF" and dragged herself to her dresser to get changed. Then, she headed towards the door. It was another rainy school day which she was not in the mood to experience. Getting six hours of sleep each night was already not her cup of tea. At least the summer was approaching quickly. The anxiety of that was probably the only reason Lydia got up in the morning. That and Luke Jarrison. Luke Jarrison was by far the most gorgeous guy in all of Montour High. A senior, he was going to graduate that summer, leaving most of the lower-class girls in agony. Lydia knew she didn't have a chance anyway. She was just a measly little freshman, and Luke did not go for freshmen. Every girl knew that. Besides, her reputation wasn't exactly that of the coolest person ever.

Sighing to herself, Lydia left her room and headed down the hall to a small, petty little bathroom. The good thing was that the bathroom was all hers. Her dad had his own upstairs by his room.

Brushing her teeth and washing her face, she went to the kitchen to join her dad in one of the only conversational times they had all day. Lydia studied him while he wasn't looking. Wesley had blond hair, blue eyes, and was younger than most dads, thirty-nine to be exact. He was sitting there, as usual, in his expensive black suit and tie, eyeing the newspaper while nibbling on a lemon poppy seed muffin and sipping his black coffee. It was usually this same picture every day. Lydia smiled just a little and brushed some hair away from her face before sitting down next to him at the table, leaning over his shoulder to see what he was reading. "Jury Selection Begins in Killing of 7"

"Good morning, sweetie." Wesley pecked Lydia's head, never once taking his eyes off the article.

"Do you have a case today?" she got up from the table, opening the fridge.

"Unfortunately, yes," he crinkled the newspaper as he turned to read an article on the opposite side. "I wish I could get some time off to spend with you, Lyd, but work is work."

She rolled her eyes, her face browsing around in the fridge. "It's okay, dad. I understand that work comes first."

He put the newspaper down on the table, turning to her at the refrigerator. "Sweetheart," he hesitated in a soft voice, "You know that's not true, it's just.there's a lot of pressure on me right now at my job and- "

"I know, dad. I didn't want to make you feel guilty or anything." She picked out the half-full milk carton and got out a glass, filling the cup. Then, she opened the cabinet, getting her daily vitamin, and popped it in her mouth, washing it down with the cold liquid. Wesley dropped the subject and was once again turning the pages of his newspaper.

Looking at her watch, Lydia walked across the kitchen and said her goodbyes before heading out the front door to her bus stop, about a block down from her house. Walking in the rain was not exactly one of Lydia's favorite things to do. Especially since once she got on the bus, her hair was dripping, her clothes were soggy, and her skin felt sticky. She could definitely use her summer about now.

Lydia closed her locker door, a bundle of books in hand, then turned around coming face to face with Luke Jarrison. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Hey." His golden-blond bangs fell loosely over his eyes.

"H-hi." She flinched inwardly at how pathetic she sounded. Surprisingly, though, he smiled and leaned against the locker next to hers, causing Lydia's heart to skip a beat.

"I was wondering if you were going to prom with anyone."

What? Lydia tried to take in what he was saying as she stared at his pink lips.

"Uh, n-no?" She scolded herself for acting so lame.

"Well," he pushed his hair out of his eyes with a soft, tanned hand. "Do you want to maybe come with me? I mean, lots of us would be going together, of course."

She finally took a breath. "I'd really like that." She smiled a small, stupid smile as he set up the plans and arranged everything. When he finally left, she was practically trembling in shock, happiness, and who knows what else. Lydia couldn't believe it. Luke Jarrison had just asked her to the Prom!

"This one!" Claudia screeched across the store. She held up a long, black dress with spaghetti straps, sparkling as it dangled from her hand.

"Oh that's really pretty!" Lydia raced across the store to her friend holding up the dress.

"How much is it?"

"Hmm," Claudia flipped the tag over. "One-hundred fifteen."

"As in dollars?" Lydia gasped. "That's way too expensive!"

"So? Your dad said to get whatever one you wanted."

"That doesn't mean maxing out his credit card!"

"Seriously, Lyd. Your dad's like a millionaire. You're not going to max out his card with one-hundred some bucks."

Lydia sighed, then slowly nodded her head in agreement. "I guess you're right. It is a really pretty dress, anyhow. Dad'll understand." She then smiled, snatching the dress from Claudia's grasp and walked to the fitting rooms.

It was the day of the Prom. Lydia and her friends were chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Most of them lacked dates since they were only freshmen, but they were all happy for Lydia, trying not to show their immense jealousy.

Claudia excused herself from the round table the girls always sat at to get food from the lunch line. Ironically, when she got in line, Luke was right in front of her. She tried to get up her courage to talk to him about the dance that night, but his friend suddenly sprang up in line next to him.

"Hey, man. What's up?" They slapped hands and smiled at each other.

"Nothing. This line takes forever, dammit!" His voice showed he wasn't really mad, just trying to make conversation.

"Yeah," his friend's gaze drifted over to where Lydia was sitting and he laughed silently. "That ass. I can't believe she's that gullible."

"Yeah, I know." He smiled as well.

Claudia couldn't help but perk her ears up at that. What were they talking about?

"She probably bought a dress already and everything, heh. So who're you going with tonight?"

"Nadia Blooms."

"She's hot."

"Hell yeah she is! Much better than that red-headed bitch over there."

"You're a bastard." They both looked at each other and began laughing lightly.

"Only to geeks. They deserve it." The two guys moved up in line and their laughter drifted off.

Claudia was speechless. She couldn't believe what she heard. How could he? She looked over at Lydia, smiling broadly while engaged in conversation. Luke Jarrison. That name used to make her heart light. Now there was something much more sinister in that name. He had no heart. How could anyone set someone as nice as Lydia up? It wasn't plausible. There was only one thing a friend could do. She had to talk to Lydia.

"Lyd!" She yelled, running to Lydia's locker after school. Lydia slowly turned around, beaming.

"I still can't get over the reality in all this," Lydia's voice was bouncy and light, full of excitement and joy. Claudia felt like the guilty one, having to tell her best friend something that may ruin her life.

"Look, Lydia. I know this is like the best thing that's ever happened to you, but you've gotta hear me out on this," she took a deep breath, "Luke is a total jerk. I was in the lunch line today and I heard him and his friends talking and they were laughing about how asking you to the Prom was a big joke. He deliberately did it to hurt you."

Lydia's heart sank. She knew Claudia wouldn't lie about something like this, but it just couldn't be possible. "What?" her voice was small and hoarse, an absolute opposite of normality.

"Lyd, I'm really sorry." As Claudia's hand came up to rest on her shoulder, Lydia shook it away and slammed her locker door, speed walking to who knows where.

"Hey Luke, can I talk to you for a second?" Lydia's voice was sweet and a little nicer sounding than usual.

"Sure," he gave her his best 'I'm hot' smile as she led him away from his locker and friends towards a water fountain nearby.

"So is this about Prom?" he asked, nonchalantly.

"Yeah, actually it is," the cold tone that escaped from Lydia's mouth was enough to make the Nile freeze over.

"Hey, what's with the attitude? Is it that time of the month?" he joked, but she was boiling over the kettle now.

"Look, Luke. Are you just asking me out to prove to your friends that you're cool and can dump a supposed loser like me for kicks and giggles?" there was no emotion in her voice, just hatred.

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" his terrible acting job definitely wasn't scoring points with Lydia. She smacked her lips together before nodding her head roughly, realizing that Claudia had told the truth, and raised a stiff hand, connecting it with his face.

The stunned expression that covered his features on that action definitely wasn't a fake. He shook his head a little before returning to reality. "You bitch!" he yelled in her face, flecks of saliva escaping from his mouth.

"A little lesson in life," she smiled tenderly at him, never once backing down. "Never stand girls up for your own benefit. You only get what you give." Then she walked off, swooshing some of her fiery hair from her face as she grinned in victory. Never once had she stood up for herself. Never! And she finally had and it felt wonderful. Like a weight being lifted off her shoulders. She went home that day relieved.

"Hey, Lyd! How's my sweetheart doing?" Wesley grinned up at her, looking away from his "Law and You" magazine to pull out a chair for her.

"Hey, dad. I'm good, I guess." She sat down.

He cleared his throat. "Hunny, I've got some good and bad news for you."

Lydia's eyes snapped up at that. "Go on. Good news first."

He grinned, a bit sheepishly. "Since you're looking forward to the prom coming up, I thought you might like this," he drew from his hand a necklace with tiny brass hearts adorning the chain around it.

"Oh, dad, I love it, but I'm not going anymore." She regretfully informed him.

"Huh? Why not?" he questioned baffled at her remark.

"Well, me and this guy sort of had a talk and decided we would be better off not going together." She hoped he wouldn't be too angry, considering she had already bought her dress and everything.

"Well," he sighed, "I guess I can't do anything about that, now can I? You'll just have to take that dress back."

A bit surprised at his easiness on this conversation, she smiled and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Okay, dad. I will." He took a deep breath and put his magazine on the table, readying himself for what he had to say next.

"Are you ready for the bad news?" She shook her head yes. "Well, sweetie," he rested his hand on her arm and rubbed it a little, "We're going to move."

It hit her like jumping butt-naked into the Arctic Ocean. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Dad, you're joking, right?" a smile played on her thin lips, shaking slightly.

"No joke. It's for my job. I'll get better pay if we move. It's not too far away. A couple states, actually. We'll have a bigger house, too."

"Dad! I don't care about any of that! Don't you consider my life at all in your big plans? It's not fair!"

"It's not a matter of what's fair or unfair, Lydia. It's for the better of us both. You need some space to breathe away from your little group of friends. It'll be good for you, I promise."

"How do you know what's good for me! You're barely ever home to even know me! I can't believe this. I can't believe any of this!"

"Lydia, calm down. It's not the end of the world. You'll make new friends and your life will continue. Claudia and your other friends can come and visit us in Georgia anytime you'd like."

"Georgia! Dad, you said a few states away! The states between Ohio and Georgia are definitely not a few!"

"Look, I can't help moving. It's just something that must be done."

"I probably won't make any new friends. I hardly have any here as it is!"

"Well, I've already talked to Mrs. Vengart, our neighbor-to-be and she has a son about your age, maybe a year or two older. I'm sure you two will hit it off just fine."

"Right, like that's going to happen. Besides, dad, my life is here with my friends. I can't just leave it all behind." She got up from her seat, scowling.

"You won't be, Lyd. You can always take memories with you."

"I hate you! I thought you cared for me, but I guess I was wrong!" She ran out of the room, tears glimmering in her eyes