A/N – To whom it may concern, thanks , im..rawr., Melissa Norvell, and Social Recast for the reviews. And apologies on the (extremely) late update!

NO DRUNKEN REDHEADS WERE HARMED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS STORY.

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She’s the Man: Chapter Nine

Any normal human being would have enjoyed waking up to birds singing outside their window and bright sunlight seeping in through the curtains. After all, this was the sign of a perfect day ahead, was it not? But not Tara, on two accounts. The first being that a certain evil freshman had officially ruined her life. The second being she lost her first kiss to a girl, that girl being her best friend. Not only that, but Tara also had to drag Roxanne’s drunken butt all the way to her own room after she passed out. And that wasn’t very much fun.

Tara groaned groggily to herself and threw her arm over her eyes, trying to shield them from the blinding sun leaking into her hotel room. She peeked her eyes open long enough to see the other beds were empty. Lee and Rayne were most likely up and about right now, probably downstairs eating some breakfast. Colton had probably gotten out of the hotel room so as to avoid the person he thought was Tommy. Feeling a lot more depressed than usual, Tara rolled out of bed and forced herself to her feet. She scratched her stomach as she made her way sleepily over to the bathroom. Just as she reached out for the doorknob, the bathroom door swung open.

Tara and Colton stood in awkward silence as they stared wide-eyed at each other.

Unfortunately for the girl stuck inside a boy’s body, Colton hadn’t left the hotel room quite yet. He narrowed his forest green eyes down at her. Even though she could sense the hatred radiating from her, Tara caught herself ogling him for a moment. Colton’s hair was a mess, unbrushed even after he got out of bed. Even with messy hair, she found the boy attractive. He hadn’t slept with a shirt on either, much to her hormonal delight. She didn’t bask in the sensation long, because Colton huffed and shoved past her. Quickly, he threw on a shirt and stormed out of the room. Tara winced when she heard him slam the door shut behind her. Groaning, she trudged into the bathroom. As soon as she shut the door, someone from out of nowhere started giggling sadistically.

“I thought you would never wake up,” Ava laughed aloofly, sitting with her legs crossed over each other on the pole holding up the shower curtain.

Tara spun around and Tommy’s brown eyes landed on the ebony-haired angel. It was much too early in the morning for this. Someone somewhere must have enjoyed torturing Tara, otherwise she wouldn’t be going through all of this.

“Did you have fun last night?” Ava giggled like a madwoman, only causing a splash of red to spread across Tara’s face. “It’s always the innocent ones who go bad, isn’t it?” The angel had been referring to Tara’s best friend when she quickly added her last statement.

Tara’s jaw went slack and she narrowed her eyes at the angel. “Don’t talk about Roxxie like that!” she snapped as her hands curled up into tight fists.

Ava’s lips only turned up into a lopsided smirk. Without so much as another word, the angel snapped her slender fingers. Tara gasped in Tommy’s voice and jumped back when there was a sudden poof. The familiar rolled up parchment appeared in front of her. Hovering in the air, Tara’s list unrolled itself. She stared at one particular sentence on the list. First kiss had an unmarked box next to it, but as soon as she spotted it on the list the box magically checked itself off. The parchment rolled itself back up while she continued gawking at it with her jaw hanging open.

“Hold on a sec!” Tara gasped when the list poofed away. “Th-that shouldn’t count! I lost my first kiss to a—”

“Girl?” Ava snickered, though she was trying to use her serious voice. If she even had one, that is. “I know. Sorry Tara, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

“But that’s not fair!” the girl stuck inside the boy’s body cried, glaring up at the mischievous angel. “Roxxie just forced herself on me!”

“Because she turned bad?” the angel chortled, throwing her head back and laughing to the heavens.

Tara’s face glowed red, from both humiliation and anger. She was about to pick a fight with the angel when she, too, poofed away. The he-she was left standing in the bathroom, catching white feathers in the palm of her hands. She groaned and clenched her fingers tightly around one of the feathers she caught. If she kept messing up like this, everything on her list was going to get checked off in no time flat.

“So?” Lee spoke up, stretching the word with a wide grin on his face.

Silently, Tara slowly took a seat at one of the round tables in the hotel cafeteria. Lee and Rayne were seated there, talking amongst themselves before she had arrived. But as soon as she made her appearance, both boys started smirking and looking up at her expectantly. Raising an eyebrow, Tara momentarily looked away from the two and glimpsed across the nicely decorated eating area. Colton was sitting in a booth with none other than Katie. Luckily for her, neither of them noticed her appearance. She noticed, as well, that Roxanne was nowhere to be seen. Most likely trying to sleep off a hangover.

“So, what?” Tara sighed aggravatingly, returning her gaze back to the boys she was sitting with. The girl became incredibly uncomfortable when both Rayne and Lee leaned forward over the table, smirking mischievously.

“So!” Rayne chuckled. “Did you have sex with that girl or not?”

Tara instantly began choking on the gulp of breath she inhaled much too quickly. The boys jumped back in alarm. Rayne began thumping his hand against her back, trying to help her regain her breath. Tara choked and gasped loudly, finally regaining control over her breathing again. It still hadn’t fully returned to normal, but it was better than choking. Her sudden choking had also earned her the unwanted attention of people sitting nearby. She flickered her eyes back up at Rayne, glaring suddenly.

“What would ever give you the idea I did that with Roxxie?” she shrilled, keeping her voice down to a harsh whisper.

“Just the fact that we caught you in bed with her last night,” Lee justified, smiling devilishly.

“Well, I didn’t!” Tara defended as she sat back in her seat. Her glare only darkened when the two boys smirked, unconvinced. “Look, Roxxie came into the room last night, drunk, and forced herself on me!”

“Okay, sure,” Rayne played along. He took a sip from his glass of juice.

“It’s true!”

“On to more important matters.” Lee winked, congratulating Tara on what he thought was a score of some sort. Her face flushed bright crimson, upset that the two weren’t convinced at all. “What’s up with Colton? He’s been avoiding us all day.”

Tara sighed and hung her head. If there was anyone who would listen to her reasoning, it was Lee and Rayne. As long as that reasoning wasn’t about having sex with Roxanne. She raised her head and forced herself to make eye contact with the two perverted boys.

“The reason Colton is avoiding us, mainly me, is because…” She hesitated for a moment, causing both Lee and Rayne to lean over the table in anticipation. “Well… me, actually.”

“You?” Rayne repeated as he hitched an eyebrow. “What did you do to Colton?”

“I didn’t do anything!” she defended, keeping her voice down so no one else could hear her. “But Colton thinks I forced myself onto his girlfriend last night, stabbing him in the back.”

Lee’s dark blue eyes widened suddenly, his jaw hanging open slightly. “You didn’t really, did you?”

“Of course not!” she responded. “It was all Katie! She tricked me and got me alone, and then when Colton was coming she made it look like I was the bad guy!”

Rayne scoffed, sitting back in his chair. His eyes flickered away, scowling out the window nearby. “I knew that girl was nothing but trouble.”

“You think all girls are trouble,” Lee joked, elbowing his friend in the ribs. This only earned him a dangerous glare from Rayne. Laughing nervously, Lee inched back in fear.

Tara’s face scrunched up into a look of revulsion. “The sick thing is,” she said in a hushed tone, “that she was hitting on me before she set me up.”

“Is she a cheater, too?” Lee questioned, tilting his head to one side.

Tara heard Rayne scoff a second time. She turned to see him darken his scowl he was piercing into the window. Lee snickered and leaned over the table close to Tara.

“Remember the girlfriend we talked about who was using Rayne?” he whispered loudly, purposely so that Rayne would be able to hear what his friend was saying. “Not only did she use him, but it turned out she was also cheating on—”

“Lee!” Rayne slammed the palm of his hand against the table so loudly it could be heard echoing throughout the cafeteria. Lee jumped up in surprise and stared at his friend with a fearful expression appearing on his face. Rayne glared darkly at his ebony-haired friend, his brows furrowed together. “That’s enough!”

“All right, all right,” Lee defended as he slumped back in his seat. “No need to be so uptight about it. It’s all in the past after all.”

“Doesn’t mean you need to be broadcasting it all over the place,” Rayne snapped harshly, still glowering at Lee.

“So, I’m not sure what is up with Katie,” Tara interrupted loudly, anything to get the two to stop quarreling. “I knew she didn’t like Colton to begin with, but…”

“You’re worried she might like you?” Rayne guessed.

Slowly, Tara nodded her head. “Why else would she have… hit on me?”

“Maybe like you said,” Lee spoke up, though his eyes kept flickering over to Rayne anxiously. “She was just pulling you into her evil trap of evilness.”

“Articulate, are we?” Rayne mocked under his breath. As a response, Lee stuck his tongue out at his best friend.

“What am I gonna do, you two?” Tara groaned, rubbing her hand tiredly down her face. “Colton hates me. He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” Lee laughed casually. “You guys are best friends. He can’t hate you.”

The three fell silent quickly when Colton ambled out of the booth he had been sitting at. Right by his side, rising out of the booth as well, was none other than Katie, smiling brightly. The three looked up and locked eyes with Colton. He scowled at Tara and moved on, avoiding eye contact with her. Katie skipped by his side to the other end of the cafeteria, discreetly smirking down at whom she thought was Tommy. The two left the cafeteria, leaving the three dumbfounded at their table. Sighing Tara got up from her seat and looked crestfallenly down at Rayne and Lee.

“I think I’m gonna go,” she sighed depressingly. “Looks like he’s still mad at me.”

Rayne and Lee both watched the retreating figure of who they assumed was Tommy. Tara left the cafeteria, leaving both the boys alone. Rayne glanced over at Lee. His friend turned his head to look at him, looking a tad bit puzzled.

“Tommy’s pretty upset about this, huh?” Lee whispered with his hand cupped around his mouth. He shot a glance over at the window, instantly spotting both Colton and Katie outside headed towards the beach. “I wish there was something we could do for him.”

Rayne glared through the window at Katie, who was currently giggling and swatting playfully at Colton’s arm. “Maybe there is something we could do,” he suggested, turning back to Lee. “We just have give Katie a taste of her own medicine.”

Lee smirked devilishly, the corners of his mouth tugging upward. “I like the sound of that.”

Tara walked through the large crowd of people sightseeing about in the seashore town. She sighed as a salty breeze passed over the small town, closing her eyes for a moment. The girl trapped inside Tommy’s body was all alone at the moment, certain that Colton didn’t want to go into town with her. As for Lee and Rayne, they had disappeared. The last she saw of them was at breakfast, and that was hours ago. Tara continued somberly down the sidewalk with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her knee length shorts. She only snapped her head up when she thought she caught sight of Roxanne. And sure enough, the redhead was walking the opposite way of her with a small handbag in her hand and a light, cotton skirt drifting about in the breeze around her skinny legs. As if she noticed Tara was coming, Roxanne craned her neck up and her hazy eyes landed on the he-she. Roxanne smiled warmly and waved Tara over. Awkwardly, she sauntered up to the redhead while rubbing the back of her neck.

“Hey there… Roxxie,” she tittered, avoiding her friend’s gaze.

“Good afternoon, Tommy,” Roxanne said sweetly, her voice pleasing to anyone’s ears. “Can you come with me? I want to talk to you about something.”

Tara had to admit, she was impressed with Roxanne. She seemed less nervous than usual, which was completely out of character for the shy redhead. Though there was a noticeable patch of red splashed across her ivory-toned face, Roxanne had a rather confident demeanor about herself today. But considering the events of the night before, perhaps she shouldn’t have been so surprised by Roxanne’s sudden change in mood. Tara resumed rubbing the back of her neck, rolling her eyes up at the sky in order to avoid making eye contact with Roxanne.

“Sure thing…”

Silently, she trailed after Roxanne through the sea of swim wear-clad people. After a short walk, Tara found herself in a tiny and cozy ice cream parlor. The place was filled with other teenagers, all seated at small, round tables with ice creams placed out in front of them. She dipped her spoon into her cup of ice cream, poking it and staring absentmindedly at the dairy product. As much as she hated it, she could still feel Roxanne’s gaze on her. The redhead wrung her hands together nervously, fumbling with the words buzzing around in her head. Roxanne had abandoned her ice cream long ago, which now sat untouched in front of her.

“Um… Tommy?” Roxanne spoke up in barely a whisper. “Did… did something happen… last night?”

Tara dropped her spoon suddenly, causing it to clang loudly against the floor. Eyes widened, she whipped her head up and gawked at Roxanne. “Why… why do you ask?”

Roxanne ruffled her long, straight locks of hair, glancing to the side confusedly. “Firstly, my head is killing me. And secondly, I can’t remember anything,” she admitted quietly, “but every time I walk by Rayne and Lee, the two of them always laugh to themselves. So I was wondering if I did something… stupid?”

“Well, you drank saki last night,” Tara murmured under her breath, grinning nervously to herself.

She heard Roxanne gasp. “I-I did? Did I get…?”

“Just a little bit,” Tara laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck again.

Roxanne’s face flushed in embarrassment, her hands still hovering over her mouth in humiliation. “Is that why Lee and Rayne keep laughing at me?”

“Not really,” Tara sighed uncomfortably. “You see, you… you… we…”

An awkward silence fell over their table. All around them they could hear the conversations of the other teenagers and the clanging of spoons against glasses. The people around them continued eating their ice cream as the two only stared uneasily at their tabletop. Tara couldn’t bring herself to recall the horrid details of the night before, when Roxanne had shown a dark side of her Tara thought she would never see.

“Did I… do something to you?” Roxanne forced herself to ask, her voice quivering as she did so.

Tara cleared her throat and looked everywhere but at the redhead. “You only told me you loved me,” she laughed aloofly, trying to lighten the mood. She decided to keep the whole kiss to herself, sparing Roxanne of any further embarrassment. Her attempt was useless when Roxanne gasped again. “It’s no big deal, though. I mean, you were drunk… and all.”

Suddenly, Roxanne began giggling nervously. She waved her hand casually in the air as Tara hitched a suspicious eyebrow.

“Of course!” the redhead laughed as her face glowed a crimson color. “It was just the alcohol talking.” Her laughter died down to awkward chuckles. And then the uncomfortable silence returned. The two kept their eyes downcast, afraid of glancing back at each other.

“Tommy?” Roxanne whispered, finally peeling her eyes away from her lap and glancing back up at whom she thought was a boy. “Are you… are you all right?”

“What? You mean the whole confession thing?” Tara forced a laugh and sat back in her chair. “I told you, it’s all good!”

“Something is bothering you,” Roxanne clarified, intertwining her fingers together over the tabletop and turning her expression serious. “If you would like, you can talk about it with me.”

There were several things bother Tara, actually. One was the fact that she was kissed by Roxanne. However, she wasn’t about to talk about that with the very person who kissed her. So she decided to talk about the other situation that was bugging her all day. Tara sighed heavily and hung her head. Roxanne tilted her head in curiosity, her red, bouncy hair tumbling over her shoulder as she did so.

“It’s Colton,” Tara finally said quietly. “He’s mad at me.”

“Why?” Roxanne inquired. There had been genuine worry laced into her sentence.

“It’s his girlfriend!” Tara snapped, pounding her fists against the table. “She tricked me and made me look like a backstabbing friend in front of Colton. She started hitting on me, and then when Colton came around, she made it look like I forced myself on her!”

“That’s terrible,” Roxanne gasped as her hand shot to her mouth. “Did you tell him this?”

“I tried,” Tara sighed with a roll of Tommy’s brown eyes. “But he wouldn’t listen to me. Now he won’t even talk to me!” She groaned loudly and buried her head into her crossed arms. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Roxanne reached over and placed a comforting hand on Tara’s. “If Colton is any kind of a real friend,” she whispered kindly, “then he’ll listen to you.”

Tara peeked out from behind her arms and gave her auburn-haired friend a tiny smile. Roxanne’s blue eyes fluttered down to her hand placed over the hand of Tommy. Her cheeks tinged pink and she quickly pulled her hand away from Tara’s.

She cleared her throat awkwardly and said, “Katie can’t get away with it forever, right?”

Tara sighed, burying her head into her arms again. “I can only hope so.”

“Why don’t you talk to him right now?” Roxanne exclaimed as she jumped out of her seat. She grabbed hold of Tara’s wrist and yanked her up on her feet.

“What?” Tara gasped, being dragged behind the redhead as Roxanne forced her out of the ice cream parlor and onto the crowded streets. “I can’t! He won’t listen to me!”

“You just got to have faith, Tommy!” Roxanne chimed as she glanced at the he-she from over her shoulder.

She was about to force Tara around a corner, when suddenly she smacked face-first into someone taller than her. She yelped and stumbled back, rubbing her throbbing nose. Tara skidded to a halt and stared at Rayne and Lee, Rayne being the one Roxanne had ran into. Lee’s eyes shifted back and forth between Tara and Roxanne, snickering and smiling mischievously to himself. Rayne also chuckled to himself as he smirked.

“How’s it going, Roxanne?” Lee snickered, leaning over Rayne’s shoulder so as to send his grin at the redhead.

Roxanne’s face broke out into a light blush. Her hazy blue eyes were suddenly downcast, embarrassed to be around the two boys who were still laughing at her.

Rayne chuckled again and looked back at Tara with his smirk still vivid on his face. “I thought we’d find you out in town with Roxanne.”

“What do you two want?” Tara growled, crossing her arms. Standing next to her was Roxanne, keeping her head bowed down and avoiding any eye contact.

“Quick!” Lee reached out and grabbed Tara suddenly by the shoulders. His once devilish grin was replaced with a serious expression, like something important was going on. “Before we forget! Go find Colton and bring him to the arcade in twenty minutes!”

Roxanne snapped her head up, beaming suddenly at the mention of finding Colton. Tara, on the other hand, took a step back in alarm. She stared at Lee with widened eyes like he was crazy.

“What? Why?” she demanded, Tommy’s voice cracking out of anxiety.

“We saw his girlfriend at the arcade,” Rayne explained as his expression turned serious, too. “I think we have a solution to your problem, Tommy. Just go get Colton and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Tara shook her head frantically, absolutely refusing to go find her crush. “I can’t go get him! He’s still mad at—”

“We’ll be back with Colton soon!” Roxanne called from over her shoulder, now dragging Tara like a rag doll behind her. The two disappeared into the crowd, leaving Rayne and Lee alone.

“Come on,” Rayne commanded as he turned on his heels in the direction of the arcade. “We have to keep Katie at the arcade until they get back.”

“I wonder if Tommy told Roxanne what happened?” Lee chortled while trying to keep up with his friend.

“Come on, Tommy,” Roxanne urged sweetly, nudging against Tara’s arm. “I know you can do it. Just go over there and talk to him.”

Roxanne pointed over to a concrete bench where Colton was currently sitting. The bench was close to a volleyball net, which no one was using at the moment. Colton, his eyes glazed over with some sort of annoyance, stared out at the oceanic horizon and ran his hand through his hair. Tara turned away from him as a salty breeze passed over the sandy shores. She looked back at Roxanne, Tommy’s brown eyes filled to the brim with doubt. She shook her head, ruffling up Tommy’s short brown hair as she did so.

“I can’t!” she whined, the head shaking continuing. “I just can’t!”

“Yes you can,” Roxanne encouraged with a soft but stern voice. “You’re the captain of the soccer team! This should be nothing in comparison!”

“In comparison to what?” Tara squeaked, fidgeting where she stood in the sand. “A soccer game? This is a whole lot harder than a soccer game!”

Roxanne spun Tara around so that she was facing Colton once more. Set on her ivory-toned face was a determined pout. Tara looked down to glance at Roxanne’s determined expression. In Tommy’s body, she was much taller than the redhead, so Roxanne had to look up in order to direct her look of determination at the person she thought was Tommy.

“Just don’t think too much about it,” Roxanne advised as she began shoving Tara forward through the sand. “And don’t worry. I’ll be there with you.”

“You’ve kind of changed, Roxxie,” Tara couldn’t help but blurt out.

Though she didn’t see it, Roxanne’s face burned red suddenly. And not from a sunburn either. “I just want to help you, Tommy.”

Colton could sense he was no longer alone, and glanced up only to see Tommy began forced up to him on the bench by a tinier redhead. He frowned, not too happy to see either Tommy or Roxanne. Tommy, because he had stabbed him in the back. And Roxanne just because she was forcing Tommy up to Colton. The ebony-haired boy instantly sat up in the bench, resting his arm on the back of it as he darkened his frown. Tara gulped and stiffened at the sight of Colton when Roxanne had finally stopped pushing. The auburn-haired girl poked her head out from behind the person everyone assumed was Tommy. The three remained where they were, standing in an uncomfortable silence with the exception of the crashing waves not too far off.

“What is it now?” Colton snapped, raising his chin in the air as he continued darkening his scowl.

“Er…” Tara was shocked into a loss of words. They fumbled around on the tip of her tongue, but unfortunately her brain had shutdown and she was unable to form complete sentences together.

Noticing this, Roxanne cut in and spoke for Tara. “We need you to come with us,” she gasped hastily, hurrying up to Colton. Surprise erupted onto his face when she grabbed his wrist and began trying to pry him off the bench. “You need to come with us to the arcade.”

“And give me one good reason why I should go with him?” Colton jabbed his index finger at Tara, causing her to flinch. The look of betrayal and odium on Colton’s face was just too much for her to handle.

“Colton!” Roxanne snapped softly, her light voice barely rising above its usual meek volume. “Tommy is your best friend. How could you take your girlfriend’s side over his?”

Colton, his green eyes widened, slowly looked away from the auburn-haired girl and over to Tara trapped inside Tommy’s body. For a moment, his angry facial expression was washed over with thoughtful confusion, almost as if he had been contemplating whether it was right to choose his girlfriend over his best friend. Furrowing his brows, Colton looked away from Tara and directed his attention back at Roxanne.

“But it wouldn’t be right to choose my best friend over my girlfriend either,” he complained as he ran his hand through his hair aggravatingly.

“True,” Roxanne agreed with a nod of her head. “But either way, it’s a lose-lose situation!”

“I know you’re mad at me right now,” Tara spoke up, causing Colton to glance back over at her. “But at least come with us to the arcade!”

“I don’t think I should,” Colton refused. He crossed his arms over his chest out of sheer stubbornness.

“Come on!” Roxanne urged. She made a grab at Colton’s wrist and dragged him down the sidewalk at top speed. It had happened so fast, Colton wasn’t able to respond or fight back. Smiling anxiously, Tara trailed slowly after her friend and the boy.

Rayne and Lee finally made it to the arcade, which was teeming with teenagers as usual. Instead of going inside, like they had been planning, they came to a sudden halt when they saw Katie leaned up against the wall at the side of the building in a narrow alleyway. She giggled with another boy hovering over her. It seemed she was shamelessly flirting with boys behind her boyfriend’s back. Enraged, Rayne dragged Lee over to the alley. The two lingered in the entrance of the alleyway, glowering and watching as Katie giggled and the boy twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.

“If it isn’t the tramp herself,” Rayne spoke up with his arms crossed together and a dark scowl set on his face.

Katie gasped to herself and quickly looked up at the two boys. The boy she was with also glanced up at Rayne and Lee, but instead he was frowning. He pulled away from Katie and marched right up to Rayne.

“Do you mind?” the boy snapped harshly, getting right into Rayne’s face. “We’re trying to have a conversation here!”

Rayne’s only response was darkening his glare. The boy laughed nervously and inched back, noticing the dark and murderous aura hovering above Rayne. The look on his face was so vicious, the boy who had been flirting with Katie could practically feel the rays of painful and excruciating death emanating from just that one expression alone. Not only that, but the usually hyper and carefree Lee also glowered threateningly at him. Tittering and holding his hands up in defense, the boy gestured back at Katie.

“Hey, she’s all yours!” With that said, the boy rushed out of the alley, as far away from Lee and Rayne as possible.

“What’s your problem?” Katie demanded as Lee and Rayne approached her quickly. “It was just some friendly flirting.”

“And is that what you did with Tommy last night?” Rayne snapped, his tone of voice and expression darkening simultaneously.

An edgy smile tugged up at the corners of Katie’s mouth. Giggling nervously to herself, she inched away from the boys as her eyes went shifty. “What are you talking about?”

“The jig is up, sister!” Lee mocked with a smirk as he pointed dramatically at the redhead. “We know all about your little charade!”

At this exact moment, Roxanne was dragging Colton up to the arcade. He struggled and tried to fight against her hold, but it was no use. For a tiny girl, she was pretty strong. Right behind them was Tara, currently staring anxiously at the back of Colton’s head.

“Come on!” Colton groaned through clenched teeth as he tried to pull himself in the opposite direction. “Let go of me already!”

Tara came to a sudden stop, trying to listen in on what she thought was a commotion. “Do you hear that?” she whispered while pointing over to the alleyway behind the arcade building.

Curious, all three of them tiptoed their way over to the alley. They pressed their backs up against the building and peered carefully around the corner. There they saw Rayne and Lee ganging up on Katie. Colton gasped suddenly and tried to lunge forward to his girlfriend’s rescue. However, Roxanne quickly grabbed hold of him and held him out of the others’ sight.

“Just listen!” she shushed as she brought a finger to her lips, which indicated that they needed to keep quiet.

“We know what you did to Tommy,” Rayne continued, only worrying Katie more. “You set him up and tricked Colton into believing he was trying to hit on you!”

After a moment of nothing but silence, Katie straightened her posture and darkened her expression. Huffing, she flipped back her hair and scowled at the two boys. The two stared back, returning her leer with glares of their own.

“Maybe I did,” she sneered. “But he had it coming. That Tommy kid was starting to catch on to me. If I didn’t ruin his friendship with Colton, then he might have told him what was really going on.” She smirked, but around the corner Colton was listening with his jaw hanging open slightly.

“What are you talking about?” Lee questioned roughly as he scratched his head in confusion.

“She’s just using Colton,” Rayne answered, keeping his steady glare on the redhead. Katie giggled to herself and her smirk grew in size.

“Did you all honestly believe I actually liked Colton?” she cackled sardonically, causing Colton to wince where he stood in between Roxanne and Tara. “Sure, he’s cute. But there are better fish in the sea than him.”

“Why would you do that to Colton?” Lee demanded, tightening his hands into fists. “He’s a nice guy!”

“Please!” Katie laughed arrogantly, throwing back her head as she did so. “I could do so much better! The only reason I stuck around with him is because I have him wrapped around my finger. Not only is he a nice guy, but he’s also easily induced! Whatever I want he gives to me. Whatever I demand he does. I couldn’t find a servant more obedient or as easily manipulated as Colton!”

As Katie cackled loudly, Colton stood where he was in complete silence. His muscles had stiffened up, unable to believe a word he was hearing. He didn’t want to believe what Katie was saying, but it was hard not to when she was willingly and sadistically admitting it. He stared down at his feet, his mouth slightly open in shock. Tara’s eyes flickered over his face. The look of pure hurt was so visible on his face even a blind man would have been able to point it out. She felt a pang of guilt go through her heart, stabbing it like a sharp knife.

“Wow,” Lee scoffed sarcastically. “Are all freshmen as evil as you?”

Katie only giggled, taking the attempted insult more as a compliment. “I was surprised no one caught on to me,” she laughed with a low chuckle. “Colton looked like a smart kid, but even he didn’t figure it out! I mean, Tommy looks dumb but even he figured out I was just faking it! I guess Colton doesn’t know a faker when he sees one. Maybe he’s just dumb like that?”

The look of devastation grew on Colton’s face, and it took every fiber of Tara’s willpower not to jump out from where she was hiding and punch Katie right in the nose. Colton had tensed up from Katie’s sharp words, letting everything the evil redheaded girl said go to his head. Roxanne quickly glanced up at him. When she also saw the look on his face, she placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

“So, because Tommy caught on to you,” Rayne spoke quietly, his voice low and dangerous, “you decided to set him up and make him look like the bad guy, which could only result in Colton getting mad at him and no longer trusting him.”

Katie winked and sent Rayne a thumbs up. “Right you are! And it worked perfectly!” She went back to cackling like a madwoman.

“You never liked Colton?” Lee snapped, his voice going up in volume. “You were just… just using him as a boy toy?”

Katie laughed again, smirking impishly. “Basically. He bought me everything I asked for. I’m surprised he’s not broke yet!” she chortled, her head thrown back as she cackled to the sky.

“You selfish bitch!” Lee hissed with venom dripping from his voice. But instead of taking offence, Katie smirked and giggled like he had just complimented her.

“It’s girls like you that make dating a nightmare,” Rayne insulted, huffing and raising his chin angrily into the air.

Katie calmed herself down, her cackling suddenly dieing down. She brought her hand to her chin and cupped it, chuckling and smirking right up at Rayne. “You would know this from personal experience, wouldn’t you, Rayne?” she taunted, causing the boy to stiffen only slightly. “Aww, did poor little Rayne deal with a faker of his own? Did she rip your heart out and tear it into a million shreds?”

Katie chortled loudly again, mocking and tormenting Rayne verbally from a distance. He gritted his teeth together, his hands clenching up into tight fists. But all he did was stare angrily down at the freshman. His once hazel eyes were now burning red with rage, and he had stiffened up from the bad memories of his failed relationship.

“Colton’s going to find out about you one of these days!” Lee interjected, coming to Rayne’s rescue when the boy was no longer throwing back insults at the redhead.

“But until then, I have a boyfriend to go use!” she giggled as she brushed past the two boys, shoving into them purposely as she did so. She turned around on her heels and continued walking backwards. She blew a kiss at Rayne and Lee, mocking them once more. “Have fun, you two! And don’t even try to tell Colton, because he would never believe y—”

Before she had a chance to finish up her sentence, Katie turned the corner and smacked backwards into someone. She gasped and spun back around rapidly on her heels. The malicious freshman stared up at Colton with shaky and widened hazel eyes. Colton stared back down at her with his hurt look, confusion mixed into his expression. Mouth agape, Katie stepped back away from the three who had been listening in on her. Tara looked past Colton and Katie, locking eyes with Rayne. He looked back at her and smirked victoriously. He held up a thumbs up, indicating that they had tricked Katie into confessing her whole story. Tara laughed on the inside, finally realizing what Rayne and Lee were up to the whole time. Katie continued gawking up at Colton, frozen from horrified shock.

“C-Colton,” she stammered.

“Is it true, Katie?” Colton inquired, no longer looking hurt and stabbed through the heart but upset and irritated. His expression changed into a pout, which caused Katie to stiffen. “Is everything you said true?”

Katie’s eyes trailed away from Colton and over to Tara. When they made eye contact, Tara smirked and stuck her tongue out at the redhead. Katie’s eye twitched involuntarily, her look of horrified alarm quickly changing to one of pure outrage. Her eyes flickered back to Colton. The girl stomped her foot and clenched her hands into fists. Her face began turning red from frustrated anger. Everyone stared as she threw her deranged tantrum.

“All right! It’s true!” she shouted, her voice going eerily high-pitched. “It’s all true! I never wanted to date you! I was just using you for my own selfish indulgence! And you know what? It was all too easy because you’re so stupid!”

Colton ignored her insult and only continued frowning at Katie, who was now huffing for breath. “Did you really trick Tommy so that I would get mad at him?” he demanded, stepping towards the maddened freshman.

“Stay away from me!” Katie shrieked, her face burning red. “Yeah, it’s true! I hit on Tommy, and then made it look like he was actually the one hitting on me so you wouldn’t believe a word he said! And it worked perfectly, too!”

“But why?” Colton asked, softening his voice.

“Why? Why?” Katie echoed with a deranged look in her eyes. “Because I’m a bitch, that’s why! I take pleasure in other people’s misery! I’ll tell you why! So you wouldn’t believe him when he told you I was just using you!” Katie pointed over at Tara, which caused her to straighten up suddenly and gulp.

“You lied to me?” Colton asked, just to make sure everything he was hearing was true.

“Of course I lied to you!” Katie screamed, stomping her foot into the ground. “Do you honestly believe I would ever go out with you because I actually liked you?”

“Well, if that’s the way you feel,” said Colton with a calm but demanding voice, “then we are officially over.”

Katie gawked at him for a split second with her jaw going slack. But she then quickly reverted back to her demonic look. The red color in her cheeks darkened as she shouted, “Fine! But you’re not the one breaking up with me because I’m the one who’s breaking up with you!” She turned on her feet and stomped out of the alley, shoving past Colton as she did so. She swiftly glared at him from over her shoulder, and before she left she shrieked, “We’re over!”

And the she was gone.

A sighed hissed between Colton’s teeth as he combed his fingers through his black hair. Tara looked over at him, expecting to see some more hurt and angst in his sun kissed face. So imagine her surprise when she could only determine the look on his face as relief. For someone who had just gotten dumped, he was taking it pretty well. The remaining four of them glanced over at Lee when he started chuckling childishly to himself.

“I guess it’s true what they say,” he snickered when he noticed the four of them staring at him. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

Rayne frowned at his friend, though it didn’t stop him from laughing his butt off. “She has no right to feel scorned,” he said over Lee’s laughter. “She was playing Colton the whole time!”

Tara looked down at her feet, rubbing her arm uncomfortably. In a barely audible voice, she stuttered, “Colton… I… um…”

Colton turned on his heels and faced Tara while hanging his head. Surprised, she raised her eyes from her feet and glimpsed up at the boy. As he rubbed the back of his neck, Colton held his head high and sent an apologetic looking smile at Tara.

“Tommy, I’m sorry for not believing you,” he apologized with a laugh distant in his voice. “I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you. I had my suspicions about her, which was why I was by myself today. I felt something wasn’t right about Katie, but… I guess she was just a really good actress.”

Colton laughed like he had something funny while rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly at the same time. A smile twitched its way onto Tara’s face. Finally, for the first time on that beach trip, she felt at peace. Not just at peace, but happy. Lee ambled his way up to Colton and thrust an arm around his shoulders. This brought Colton down to Lee’s height, seeing as how Colton was taller than him by a few inches.

“So what’s it like to be a single man again, Colton buddy?” Lee chortled, slapping his thigh while laughing. Behind him, Rayne mumbled incoherent words under his breath and shook his head while holding his hand up to his forehead. One of these days, he was going to have to learn how to control his best friend.

“Actually, I’m not that upset about it,” Colton admitted as the five of them headed out of the alley and back onto the busy sidewalks of the seaside town. “You think I would be mad or something. But actually, I feel sort of… relieved.”

Colton smiled warmly up at the blue sky above them. Tara watched him out of the peripheral of her vision, also feeling relieved. She felt a joyous feeling swelling up in her stomach, happy that the boy was feeling relieved about dumping Katie. She knew that he would find someone much better than her. Granted, she wanted that person to be her. But that didn’t seem very likely as long as she was stuck inside Tommy’s body. They pushed their way out of the small town and back onto the sandy shore of the beach. Roxanne walked on the sand with her sandals in her hands, allowing the crashing waves to cascade gently over her bare feet. Lee was also playing in the water, splashing around in it and trying to get Rayne as wet as possible. This soon stopped when Rayne shoved Lee as hard as he could and sent him tumbling into the shallow water of the ocean. Tara and Colton stood back, watching Lee fall head first into the sea from a safe distance.

“I told you, Tommy,” Roxanne giggled softly, her voice warm and sweet to Tara’s ears. “Everything worked out just like you wanted.”

“Hey, Tommy!” Lee called as he emerged from the water. After quickly sending Rayne a death glare for pushing him into the water, the spiky haired boy hurried his way up to Tommy and Roxanne. He grinned impishly at the two of them and asked Tommy, “So I’m guessing you told Roxanne she kissed you last night, since you both are cool now.”

Tara was signaling at Lee with her hands, trying to tell him to shut up without really verbalizing it. She slapped the palm of her hand hard against her forehead when Lee just went right out and blurted it out to the entire world. Roxanne gasped loudly from beside Tara, her hands shooting quickly to her mouth. Looking over, she saw the redhead blushing profusely, her face resembling that of a painful sunburn. Roxanne’s face was almost the exact same shade of dark red as her hair. The auburn-haired girl grabbed handfuls of her red locks and threw her head back as she yelled,

“I kissed Tommy?”

And with that said, Roxanne took off at top speed. She left behind nothing more than a trail of kicked up sand and four confused looking boys (one of which was technically a girl). Roxanne threw apologies behind her, the breeze drifting them over to Tara. Smiling wobbly, she rubbed the back of her neck while staring after Roxanne. The girl was nothing more than a red, thrashing dot in a matter of several seconds. She had ran so fast, desperate to get away from the person she thought was Tommy, she was halfway across the beach by the time it clicked in what had just happened to the others. Rayne turned to Tara, one eyebrow arched up curiously.

“How long before she reaches our hotel?” he asked rhetorically.

“I’ll give her ten more seconds before she’s there,” Colton joked, elbowing Tara in the ribs.

Tara tilted her head to one side as a wave crashed onto the shore nearby. “Huh. Our hotel is pretty far away, though.”

“I wonder what all that was about,” Lee muttered as he walked off with his arms folded behind his head, referring to Roxanne freaking out and running off.

Tara frowned only before following after the other three boys back to the hotel. Boys, she huffed in the depths of her rattled thoughts. They’re so insensitive.

The weekend had passed quickly, with Tara spending the rest of her beach vacation hanging out with Colton and the others on the beach. After the rather messy break up, Katie had stuffed herself inside the hotel, refusing to come out for any reason. However, now it was time to pack things up and go back home. Tara walked out of the hotel lobby and out into the parking lot, her backpack slung over her shoulder and a smile evident on her face. Not only did she actually make up with Colton, but she was also able to cross something off her list. Of course, she didn’t think it should have counted since her first kiss was with a girl. Tara sighed happily to herself as she rolled Tommy’s brown eyes up towards the cloudy sky. Next time, she reminded herself, she was going to have to be more specific on those sorts of things. Colton waved her over to the bus, his head poking out of the bus door. Grinning, Tara hurried over to the bus with the rest of the students surrounding it.

As soon as she stepped on the bus she spotted Katie, sitting in the very first seat next to Tara’s homeroom teacher. The light redhead had her arms crossed over her chest, and she was staring grumpily out the window. Smirking to herself, Tara walked down the aisle towards the back of the bus. She took a seat in the empty seat across the aisle from where Colton was sitting.

“I think I’ve had enough of the beach to last me a lifetime,” Colton laughed lightly, gesturing towards his ex girlfriend at the front of the bus.

Tara grinned for him, guessing he was trying to make a joke of some sorts. “I don’t know. I’ll kind of miss it.”

“Yeah!” Lee snickered as he popped up from behind Tara, sitting in the seat directly behind her with Rayne. “After all, this is the place where Tommy got down and dirty with that cute redhead!”

A red flush exploded onto Tara’s face, and she instantly glared at Lee. The only problem was this caused Lee to begin laughing like a lunatic, holding his sides in fear of them splitting open.

“Her name is Roxanne, Lee,” Rayne said as calmly as he could, though the laughter was evident in his voice. “And I don’t think she would have really done anything that bad with Tommy. She’s known as a good girl.”

“Thank you, Rayne,” Tara huffed, smiling with her eyes closed and her arms crossed. At least one of them finally got.

Just as the conversation about steamy beach relationships was going to die, Roxanne stumbled onto the bus with a goofy smile stretching across her face and a red tint to her cheeks. She hiccupped and teetered over to the back of the bus where she spotted the person she assumed was Tommy. Giggling insanely to herself, Roxanne plopped down in the seat Tara was sitting in. She fell on top of the teen she thought was Tommy, getting right in Tara’s face, and smiled and giggled some more for Tara.

“Tommy…” Roxanne giggled as she began crawling onto Tara. “I love yooooou!”

Tara caught a whiff of alcohol in Roxanne’s breath, instantly concluding she had gotten herself drunk again. Apparently, the auburn-haired girl had gotten into the saki once more when the teachers weren’t looking. She yelped and tried to squirm out of Roxanne’s forceful grasp. And all the boys sitting around her would do was laugh like a bunch of stupid hyenas. Roxanne giggled and pinned Tara down in the bus seat as the bus started up and drove off towards home.

“Roxxie! Did you get into the saki again?” Tara squawked, holding Roxanne’s kissy face back with her hands.

As the bus drove down the street, Tara trying to keep Roxanne off her from inside, Ava sat comfortably on top of a building. She sat on the ledge, her legs crossed over and her white wings flapping in the breeze. Ava smiled and chuckled to herself while tilting her head. She watched the bus drive off, keeping a watchful eye on her little human named Tara. The angel sighed happily and sat back relaxingly, listening to Tara’s screams and begs from inside the bus while her friends laughed.

“See, Tara?” Ava sighed, her tone of voice happy. “It’s not so bad. It always works out in the end.”

Ava got up and brushed off her shorts. With one powerful flap of her feathery appendages, she was off soaring into the sky. Giggling, she materialized back to Heaven as Tara continued begging for Roxanne to get off her from somewhere down on earth in the school bus.

- - - / - - - / - - -

A/N –

Ava: Aww! Poor Rayne! I’ll be a much better girlfriend than your last one!

Rayne: Isn’t it quite obvious by now that I don’t like girls?

Ava: …Does that mean you’re gay? Ooh! Yaoi!

Rayne: What? No, I’m not gay! Girls are just evil.

Lee: So he says now.

Rayne: What does that mean?

Lee: Can you say plot twist?

Rayne: For what? Me turning gay, or me liking girls again?

Ava: Ooh, they’re both so tempting!

Rayne: I think something is wrong with your angel.

Little Miss Whatsherface: She’s not a very good example of an angel, is she?

Ava: Standing right here!

Tara: Gasp! What’s this? A happy ending to one of the chapters, FINALLY?

Little Miss Whatsherface: Just because I enjoy torturing you doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a happy ending once in a while.

Tara: Oh, don’t I feel loved…

Ava: I see you came out of hiding. About time.

Tara: Do I get a happy ending in the future chapters?

Little Miss Whatsherface: Knowing me… probably not.

Tara: Oh, boo!

Little Miss Whatsherface: I won’t be surprised if I don’t get any reviews for this chapter. I haven’t updated in forever! I was just lazy, is all. Ha ha!

Tara: Katie went a little demonic towards the end, didn’t she?

Rayne: Yeah, it was like she lost her mind. Better get out of here before that demonic freshman comes and eats my soul or something.

Ava: Rayne! Come back!

Lee: Why is Rayne the stud and I’m the hyper, obnoxious kid?

Tara: At least you’re not the angsty, TRANSGENDER character.