According to high-school hierarchy, none of them should have even known each other

According to high-school hierarchy, none of them should have even known each other. They should have grown up in different neighborhoods, been in different clubs, run in different circles. They had different financial issues, different attitudes, different physical attributes. But they were family; they loved each other. They were the strangest group of teenagers anyone had ever seen, and didn’t care, either. They probably had more fun together than any of the others our age.

Austin was the golden boy. Literally. He had blonde hair, cut short, and the brownest eyes you’d ever seen. He was tall – about six foot four, at least, and he was hot as hell. Girls and guys alike practically bowed down at his feet. Austin’s family was completely loaded – they had everything from yachts to the latest video game systems to a fancy swimming pool, and his friends took advantage of all of it. He was the all-around good guy, too, running for student council, busy with football. Everyone loved Austin.

Byron comes next. He was Austin’s best friend, and his complete opposite, as cliché as it sounds. Where Austin was light, Byron was dark. His hair was a dark chocolate brown, and it was just long enough to brush his collar. His eyes were brown too, but they were so brown they were often mistaken for black. Byron didn’t necessarily play the nice guy like Austin did, either. He was sarcastic and cynical, and he didn’t like people who jumped on the bandwagon. Byron was from what a lot of people would call the ‘wrong side of the tracks’. His family was always broke, and his dad was always drunk. When they were little, his father had beaten him. That had changed, of course, when Byron grew to be much taller than he was.

Mika was next. She was the nerd, the average height, average weight girl from the lower-middle-class family. She had brown hair, green eyes, and a crooked grin, and to most people, she was gorgeous. She was brilliant, however, and the group always looked to her if there were bad grades or procrastinated papers to be handled. And she did it, too; she loved her friends, and she took care of them. She was sort of the “mother” of the group. Fiercely protective, loyal to the point of ridiculousness sometimes. They loved her for it, however, and would kill for her, especially because they knew she wouldn’t do it herself. Around the group she was carefree and authoritative, but around strangers she was timid and shy.

Anna was the tiny, weird one. With her long blonde hair and her blue eyes, she caught a lot of attention, but she noticed none of it. She preferred to streak the blonde with blue, wear outrageous clothing, and speak whatever was on her mind. She never worried about what others were thinking, claiming that stress gave you wrinkles and she’d prefer not to have wrinkles at the tender age of seventeen. She was the girl who would stay up until six o’clock in the morning, playing Rock Band, before crashing on your couch and staying there until well past noon. Anna’s parents weren’t exactly poor, either, but instead of being attentive and doting like Austin’s, they simply didn’t bother with her, because they’d rather lead their own lives than their teenagers’. Anna didn’t mind much. She always had her friends, of course, and they were already more of her family anyway.

And then there was Jackson. Jackson, the quiet, mystery boy, the one who was hardly ever noticed by anyone other than his four best friends. He was overshadowed by Austin and Byron so entirely that most people only knew him because of them. But he didn’t mind it; as a matter of fact, that was the way he preferred it. He rarely ever raised his voice and he never spoke out during class, but he had perfect grades and could often be found with his nose in a book. Jackson was like Mika in the aspect that his family was “normal”; they weren’t ridiculously rich, neither were they scrambling for pennies. They were comfortable.

These five teenagers defied the odds that were against them for years. From kindergarten, where they first bonded, to their junior year of high school. Now, they’re entering their senior year, and their relationships will be tested and strained more than ever before. Can this fabulous crew do it again?

(A/N: Sorry the intro isn’t amazing, guys. I know. I just wanted to go ahead and get this out there so I could maybe have some feedback. I’m going to delete All That Good Stuff, and maybe try again at a later date. Chapter stories are hard for me, but I really want to try this one. Thanks for reading, and, hopefully, reviewing!)