Chapter 1

“Oh look honey! Your little friend is on TV again on channel 5. Come down and watch it with me,” Mom called.

“I’ll come down a bit later,” I lied. No way would I go downstairs to watch my ‘little friend’ from when I was like twelve (before he became famous) sing and dance for the rest of this absolutely boring Saturday evening while I could be listening to my new iPod. Besides, I could watch Brad sing his stupid, number one hit anytime I wanted considering the fact that some idiot company decided it would be genius to have a “Best of Brad Marathon” lasting for a whole week. Honestly, I’ll be lucky if I don’t loose my mind by then. Sadly, I’m one of few who hate Brad; millions of girls start drooling at his picture on posters on their bedroom ceiling. And they think that I’m the psycho one.

I was just in the middle of this Brad bashing rant when I realized that someone was knocking on my bedroom door. Jade was finally here!

“Jeez, what the heck were you doing in here? I’ve been pounding on your door for hours,” she said grinning.

“Opps. I was kind of out of it,” I replied to which Jade rolled her eyes. Let’s face it, I zone a lot and have serious issues trying to concentrate for long periods of time.

“Thinking about the Sadie’s dance,” she guessed.

“Yeah…”

“Oh my god. Me too! I’ve been meaning to ask you something too. Who do you think I should ask to the dance? Mark from Math or Corey from Chemistry?”

Valentine’s Day was Jodie’s favorite holiday and she especially loved the Sadie Hopkins dance where girls got to ask guys that was normally held February 13. I guess I understand her reasons why she loves it. Jade was a beautiful sophomore with a face that needed no make-up, long dark eyelashes, caramel-colored skin, black wavy hair, and a body that even the upperclassmen girls envied. She was always in a good, bubbly mood that had guys flying to her side in seconds. In fact, just last week when we went shopping at the mall, a group of college guys stopped to program their numbers into her cell, completely ignoring me. I have gotten used to it though. It was always a wonder to me why Jade considered me her best friend. She could hang out with anyone at school but she chose me as her best friend.

Being an only child, Jade is practically a twin sister to me. Still, there are some major differences between us. Jade’s popular, has all the guys running after her like little puppies, and somehow manages to maintain her 5.0 GPA while working part-time at a local convenient store. I, on the other hand, am short at the height of 5’3”, got a huge butt, wear geeky black glasses, and only have three close friends including her. My hair is this weird combination of dark brown, brown, and a few thin strips of red; it’s even freakier since I’ve never ever highlighted my hair in my life. The only thing that we share in common is our age and skin color. Obviously, we are far from being identical.

“Well,” Jade said impatiently, pulling my thoughts back to the room and our conversation.

“I think you should ask Kyle,” I answered, still not completely paying attention.

“There isn’t a Kyle in our school Jaime. Listen, I know you just finished exams and all but you need to get a grip. This is serious! Mark or Corey?”

“Sorry Jade. I promise I won’t zone out again.” She snorted, knowing that it would be near impossible for me to keep that agreement. “Mark is pretty hot, that’s for sure. I remember when we had gym class in the swimming pool last year and all the girls passed out at the sight of his abs. I would choose him except that those freshmen girls, Lilly and Kate, are always hanging around him. You’d never have the chance to approach him.”

Jade wrinkled up her nose and frowned as she pictured them clawing all over Mark. No matter who told those girls that they were acting like fools and needed to back off, they never got the hint. The weird thing was that Mark didn’t seem to mind their company; I think he even liked it. I didn’t see the point in telling Jade that part though.

“Corey is cute and I love his glasses but I’m pretty sure he has a girlfriend. She’s some sophomore from a public school in downtown Boston. So he’s taken,” I continued.

With a long sigh, Jade asked “Well then who should I ask?” Before I could answer, my mom interrupted me.

“Girls, quick, come to the living room!”

I rolled my eyes and Jade suspiciously asked me what was going on. When I told her how my mom had been trying to get me to watch the “Best of Brad Marathon,” she clapped excitedly.

“I don’t even know why you like him so much in the first place,” I muttered as I watched her hop down the stairs already humming one of Brad’s songs.

Once we reached the living room, I found my mom with a bowl of popcorn, mouthing out the words to “I Need U,” the song that was playing in the school cafeteria last week, the song that every girl in Hopkinton, Massachusetts owned, and one of the many songs by the same artist that I loathed. If I had been with any one else from school, my cheeks would have turned bright red from embarrassment a long time ago. Thankfully, Jade knows my mom very well and Jade treats her like one of her closest friends. To prove my point, as soon as Jade saw my mom singing, she grabbed her hands so now, the both of them were singing out loud and dancing wildly.

It was such a funny, priceless moment that I ran over to the den and quickly snatched my digital camcorder so I could record it. A new song had started playing and that seemed to have only boosted their energy. I followed them with the camcorder as they song the lyrics off-key and danced with uncoordinated steps. Watching Jade try to teach my mom some modern dances got tears falling out of my eyes like waterfalls it was so hilarious. To be blunt, my mom can not dance. They were knocking down chairs and picture frames with their new moves but you could tell from their beaming faces that they were enjoying themselves. They were clueless to how much of an entertainment this all was for me. I was laughing so hard that I almost missed the fact that “Girl in the Corner” had ended and some commercial was on. I nearly dropped the camcorder when I realized that this was not some normal ad selling bubble gum or a pair of pumps. It was Brad.

“Congratulations Saint Seaton High School,” he began. “You have won the contest! As of February 4th, I’ll be attending your school for the rest of my junior year.” With a wink, he kept on talking about a dance and a limo; however, I had already stopped listening. I wouldn’t have been able to hear past Mom and Jade’s glass scattering screams anyways. They were holding each other jumping up and down while I stood with my mouth dangling wide open.

Holy flip, I thought. Brad is coming to my school.

Please Review!! This is my first story that I've submitted online so I'm eager to hear your feedback! This chapter was meant as an intro so it won't be as long as the other chapters.