"O swear not by the moon,
the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Least that thy love prove likewise"

Romeo and Juliet
ACT II, Scene II

Monica

I guess those people who know what's going on around them can pinpoint the moment that their life changed forever. They can look at a memory of a year, of a month, of a week, of a day and say, "And that's when my life changed forever." Even when the moment is the tiniest thing that happens, for some reason a bunch of people think that's the exact point when they had a turn for the worst or for the better.

I'm not really one of those people.

Because I never knew that on that day, on the first day of school, that things would never be the same at High School again. I never knew the moment I screwed my friendships, my grades, my boyfriend… it all just sort of happened over time, and I was too oblivious to realize it was happening until it happened. Love and passion tends to do that to a poor, unfortunate soul.

I was everything before sophomore year.

I was smart, pretty, cheer captain, the whole shebang. And lord did I know it too. I knew what I was, and I knew what people (mainly guys) wanted from me. I teased, I flirted, and I made every girl hate me, but I was too oblivious to notice. I was lost in oblivion for quite some time of my life.

I walked down that hallway, smiling at everyone who acknowledged me (which was everyone except the usual punks and Goths. And who needed attention from them anyways?). I had the best first-day-of-school fashion on, as no one should dare to beat me. High heels, cream-colored leggings, cocoa brown mini skirt and an olive green Abercrombie tank top with a dark brown shrug over top. I clicked down the hall, looking probably something like a model as I went to my locker. I smiled, happy to know that I was going to have a lot of attention today.

That was what I was all about then. Attention and how I got it. I wanted people to either love me, or loathe me. It was never in the middle, because in the middle there was a very big chance of not being noticed at all. And not being noticed meant being no one… and that was a thought that was simply too hard to bear.

I clicked in my locker com and opened the squeaky, rusty door when two arms wrapped themselves tightly around my waist. I gave a giggle and leaned back into the toned muscles of Greg. He buried his face in my hair and murmured, "So, this year are you going to let me—"

"Hey now!" I giggled teasingly, turning around to face my perfect boyfriend. Tall, tan and handsome was the best way to describe him. "No getting carried away. You know I don't think that's right until we graduate. I am not going to pop out your little munchkin during finals this year."

To be honest, I would never dream of banging Greg. I had heard rumors that he had a thousand different diseases and that after he did a girl he dumped them. I was keeping the hottest guy in the school for the longest anyone had. He was like a hotrod. You never drive it; it's just there for show.

Greg gave me a big pout lip and I just shook my head teasingly. He sighed and saw a few of his basketball friends and ran over to slap their hands and talk. "I'll pick you up after school, babe!" he called back to me. Cue for my friends to surround me and babble about things I truly don't care about. They were all cheerleaders of course, and much dumber than me in both fashion and academics. So they looked to me. It felt so good to be adored.

"So, Monica, we going to hit the mall tonight?" Taylor asked me hopefully, blinking her eyes that were too droopy and too murky blue to be something called attractive. So was her hair. Fake blonde, it couldn't cover up the natural hair that was really a brown with little flicks of ugly orange. Not pretty red, but orange. Gag.

"Oh, I'm sorry Taylor, I can't," I said innocently as we walked down the halls. We were walking to my first class, because I had no clue where theirs were. Why'd I have to know when they knew where I was going? Why should I be late for my classes? "I've got a date with Greg." They all giggled knowingly and Taylor's face remained smiling, but her droopy eyes were slightly downcast. What a loser.

"Well, maybe we could get together this Friday?" she tried.

"We can try, but you know how busy my schedule is with cheerleading, student council, community service and school work and all that," I chatted happily, waving it off with a hand. "I'll make sure that I tell Greg we can't go out though. I need a girl's night out soon, or I'll bust! We should all go!"

Every one of them beamed and nodded, squeaking things like: "I'll make sure I can!" "I can carpool!" "Oh! We should go dancing!" I nodded and waved a hand before entering my English class. They were walking away, and I caught the expression on Taylor's face. She looked close to tears. Well, hey! At least I agreed to go to the mall! I mean, gosh, why did she have to be so selfish as to think I'd only hang out with her? Everyone deserves to have a chance to hang out with me.

As I turned elegantly around to walk into class, I walked right into someone who obviously wasn't paying attention. I staggered, and staggering on heels, girls, is a very bad thing to do. I fell right on my butt, and thank god that I had leggings on or my cute brand new panties would be displayed to the guy I just walked into and the English teacher who was looking at me with interested eyes (from that moment on he was officially dubbed a creepy child molester).

"Whoops," the Goth said sarcastically from under a layer of dark black hair. It was sort of creepy how perfect it looked. All the same shade of jet black, completely natural. It flipped up at the ends, and it was long. The bangs covered half of his face and seemed to be the only thing I could focus my eyes on. The rest of him was pretty creepy. The hair was pretty though. Which made me want to vomit. I just had admitted a Goth was slightly, even just slightly attractive. Talk about gag. "I guess your lundi-lundi bridge just wanted to come down, eh?" he snickered as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me up.

The bell rang with a clatter and I pulled my hand away from the freak. Not only had he ran into me, he mocked me, and now he made me late for class. "Mr. Murphey, Miss Carter, thank you for volunteering to be the first partners picked for the quarter's reading and report assignment," Mr. Freaking-Looked-Up-My-Skirt said in a nasty voice. The Goth groaned at the exact same time as I did and we glared at each other with equal venom.

"Sit down you two, or I'll get you another tardy each."

We had to take the only two seats remaining and I was staring at my classmates who could only shrug and give me an apologetic smile. The jerks were laughing and giving both of us rude gestures. I pointedly didn't look at the Goth. He was only going to make the next eight weeks terrible for my perfect life.