AUTHOR's NOTE:

Hey guys...this is a story that I've been working on for a month or so. I really hope you like it. Chap. One may be a bit slow 'cause you haven't met the AMAZING Charlie Evans yet, but you will meet him in Chap Three which is been uploaded today if I get at least ONE review. Please review, it will make my day! Enjoy!

chapter one

In high school, there is no doubt that there are cliques. You have your jocks, your nerds, your populars, your dramatics, your Goths, and much more. Your status and which clique you are in determines everything during your high school life—except who you love. And that's what Bonnie Jones proved during her sophomore year.

Bonnie woke up that morning to her alarm clock. It was playing, from her new iHome she got for Christmas just recently, Tik Tok by Ke$ha. She groaned and hit it until it stopped playing.

"I'm not going to school today," she said into her pillow as she sunk lower into the covers of her queen sized mattress. She hugged the baby pink and white polka dotted covers close to her body, trying to escape the cold of winter.

"Bonnie!" a voice called from her intercom. She groaned louder now. "Bonnie! Are you awake? Get up, Bonnie,"

"No!" she called back, even though she knew they couldn't hear her unless she pressed the talk button. She went back under the covers.

"Bonnie Anne Jones if I don't hear you talk to me on this intercom, I'm coming up there," Ms. Jones threatened her.

"God!" Bonnie exclaimed. She threw the covers off of her and stumbled over to her intercom, wrapping a white silk robe over her yellow t-shirt and heather grey pajama shorts from Aerie. "What do you want, mom?" Bonnie complained over the intercom.

"I want you to get in the shower! It's six-thirty and I'm taking you to school in a half hour. If you aren't ready I'll make you take the bus," Ms. Jones threatened.

"The…bus?" Bonnie asked, cringing. Just the thought of getting on that smelly yellow ride of torture made her shiver. "Ugh, whatever. I'm getting in,"

Reluctantly, Bonnie walked over to her closet which was practically a room of its own. She searched through racks and racks of winter clothing.

"What to wear, what to wear…" she said absent mindedly before settling on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a light pink button up shirt, a white lace cami, a white leather jacket, and her favorite pair of chestnut Ugg boots. Sometimes, she hated living in snowy Lander, Wyoming during the winter. Then, she thought of her cozy, warm Ugg boots and she felt good again.

After taking a hot shower, Bonnie got changed it her outfit. She dried her dark brown hair with a blow dryer, spreading styling gel through it so she could curl it. It took only ten minutes to curl her hair now, after she had mastered it over the summer. Then, sticking a metallic silver headband in her hair, she walked down the long, curving stairs to the kitchen.

Bonnie's kitchen wasn't like other kitchens. It was larger, and all of the counter tops were marble. The floor was made of crème, polished tiles and crystal clear bay windows surrounded the room.

"It's good to see you up," Mrs. Jones said, sipping a Starbucks cappuccino. "You really need to start getting up earlier,"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and sat down on a stool, waiting for her breakfast.

"What's for breakfast?" Bonnie asked, hearing her stomach rumble. She clutched it, hungry.

"Organic scrambled eggs, low-fat bacon, and soy milk," Ms. Jones announced, happily. She finished flipping something on the frying pan, and then took a plate out of the cupboard. She piled all of the breakfast food on it and set it in front of Bonnie along with a glass of the soy milk.

Bonnie stared at it, unsatisfied. "Mom, just because you're on a diet doesn't mean I have to be," she said to her mom.

"Bonnie, I'm telling you, if you don't eat healthier you'll end up—well, you'll end up…" Ms. Jones paused. She looked out the window and then nodded. "like that,"

She shrugged her shoulders towards the window. Bonnie leaned over looking out. She saw their next door neighbor Carla Montanni. She was a woman in her late forties who was yet to have children, marry, or even get a serious boyfriend. And one look at her showed Bonnie why; she was as wide as the old oak tree that the woman was standing next to. She was a nice lady, extremely nice actually. Bonnie loved talking to her and playing with her big fat cat Tootsie whenever she got a chance. But, her mother was true; the woman was nearly obese.

Bonnie looked at the food that was just staring at her. She poked at the eggs with her fork and sighed, taking a bite. They were disgustingly bland and she wished she was eating the food her mom would make only last week. But lately her mother had gone on an all-organic diet. And when mom was eating organic food so were Bonnie and her younger brother Ethan.

Bonnie's dad hadn't been part of the family for as long as she could remember. It used to be so different though. Up until she was six and Ethan was two, her dad had always been in the picture. There were summer picnics, family skiing on the weekends, countless trips to the park in the spring. But then one day, things changed. Bonnie remembered the day as if it were yesterday…

Bonnie sprang out of bed that hot day in autumn. She tried going back to sleep for long, but now she just couldn't. Why was her dad yelling? And her mom; was she crying?

Climbing out from under her covers, Bonnie hurried to her door. She brushed a stray hair off of her Little Mermaid nightgown.

"I'm just saying Stephen; you can't be coming in every night at two in the morning!" Bonnie heard her mom said, through tears.

"And why not? It's not like I come home any different than when I had left. I'm not drunk, or stoned, or anything!" her dad shouted back.

"That's just it; you are different," Mrs. Jones cried. "You don't do anything with the kids anymore. Ethan is always crying for you when you don't come home after work. And Bonnie; Bonnie thought the UPS man was her dad today when he came at four o'clock. They miss you, Stephen. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing! Nothing is going on, Amy. I just don't have time for things anymore. I got all of this work and I need a little down time too, you know!"

"So do I! You can't expect me to keep doing this every night! You—,"

"Do what? You do nothing! You sit around on your ass, watching those stupid talk shows and then disappear to your damn treadmill,"

"I work my 'ass' off every day to take care of the kids. You are never here!"

"I'm here in the mornings! I take them to school every day,"

"And then come home from God knows where in the middle of the night!"

"Then, you know what; I won't come home anymore. Is that what you want, Amy? For me to just leave?"

"It's exactly what I want!"

"Fine! I'd like to watch you try to take care of everyone without me!"

"Get out of here! Now!"

Bonnie cringed as she heard her father slam the door. She listened, waiting. Then, her mother broke down in tears. And soon enough, Bonnie found herself crying too. Did her dad just…leave? And how could her parents fight like that? They were so happy. What was going on…

After that day, Bonnie's dad had kept his promise. He never came back or showed his face. She remembered one time when he had called. Bonnie had answered the phone and recognized his cell phone number. It was almost three years later and she hadn't even gotten a true explanation as to what had happened. But when she had answered the phone, seeing that number, she had never been happier. Her dad hadn't talked to her though. She just heard him, breathing on the other end. And then, he hung up. As if he were just calling to make sure she was still there. Still, Bonnie memorized that breathing. It was the only thing she still had that her father had given her.

Bonnie finished her tasteless breakfast and left it there for her mom to take to the sink. She walked back upstairs to brush her teeth.

"Watch it, bug!" Bonnie shouted when Ethan ran past her, knocking her against the ball.

Ethan giggled as he ran around the hall, playing with his Power Rangers. Bonnie rolled her eyes. Both her mom and she were the most well known people in the neighborhood. Her mom was the president at Prudential Real Estate and the head of the PTO at her school. Everyone knew her and everyone wanted to be her. Bonnie wasn't the most popular in school. That was Alexis Everson, a junior, the captain of the cheerleading squad. She wasn't the second most popular either. That was her best friend, Paige Sheridan. But she was the third most popular and the main flyer in her cheerleading squad, giving her lots of popularity and everyone wanting to be her friend.

Yet, Ethan was like someone else's family member. When the Jones's were invited to dinner parties or business events for Mrs. Jones, Ethan was never mentioned. It wasn't that no one wanted him there but that no one even knew he was a Jones. Ethan was…different. He was energetic and crazy, always on a sugar high. He was what everyone liked to call "high maintenance" and he wasn't the popular kid in his fifth grade class., but the class clown.

Bonnie finished up getting ready and then grabbed her Coach bag with her textbooks and school stuff in it. She made sure her iPhone was safely tucked in her pocket and after piling on the make-up. Headed out the door and to the garage where her mom's Porsche was sitting. She got in the front seat, waiting.

"Do you really insist on driving, honey?" Ms. Jones asked half-heartedly, handing Bonnie the keys.

"Of course, I do," Bonnie muttered. "I just got my permit, mom. This is the only thing I want to do. Well, one of the only things,"

"Fine," Ms. Jones said, going through some papers in her lap as Bonnie pulled out onto the street. "Just stay under the speed limit,"

Bonnie drove to school ten miles over the speed limit. She slowed down as she passed the police station, and then sped up again. When she got to school, she pulled into the student parking lot. All off the juniors and seniors were hugging each other, glad to see their friends on the day back from winter break. Bonnie sighed and fantasized about next year, driving to school by herself, having her own parking space. For now, she just pulled up, said good bye to her mom, and walked into school.

Bonnie was now walking down the halls of Tyler Brooks High School. Everyone she passed would say 'Hi Bonnie!' and smile and she would smile back, being nice to anybody who passed her. And that was the thing about Bonnie. She was one of the prettiest girls in the school but she was also the nicest which was partly why some girls hated her. They couldn't hate her for being a bitch because she wasn't one.

"Bonnie!" Bonnie heard her name called from behind her. She turned around and saw Paige, running over to her.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in forever!" Bonnie said, smiling as she hugged Paige.

"I know! That was the longest two weeks of my life! I'm never going to the Caribbean that long without you ever again," Paige said, tucking a strand of her straightened honey blonde hair behind her ear.

Bonnie laughed. "I missed you too, Paige," she said.

"So, you ready to continue our reign here at T.B. High?" Paige asked chuckling.

Bonnie laughed again. "Paige, seriously. Enough of the whole royalty thing,"

Paige sighed. "Bonnie, if we are going to be popular we should enjoy it? I mean, it's no fun being…boring," she said still smiling.

"Yah, well, it's no fun acting like snobs either," Bonnie said, teasing Paige.

"Bonnie," Paige groaned.

"Pa-aige," Bonnie groaned with a more dramatic tone.

Paige and Bonnie both laughed and continued walking down the halls. Both of their homerooms were across from each other so they never had to worry about being to far apart.

As they were talking, Bonnie saw Paige suddenly grow wide eyed and beaming. She turned around to see what Paige was looking at and felt her stomach turn when she did. Just a few lockers down were a bunch of the football players. There was Greg, Sam, one of the defensive players, Rob, a fullback, Jackson, the quarterback, and, most importantly, Derek. But Bonnie's stomach wasn't hurting because she was nervous or excited to be around these guys. She was annoyed and wishing they would just leave.

Ever since Paige and Bonnie had joined the cheerleading squad freshman year, it was as if a set of rules had been thrown into their lives. They were small things, but stupid things; you couldn't eat more than this much food a day, every Saturday night had to be spent at the most craziest parties, always have a smile on your face no matter what. But the worst rule was this; it was expected the popular girls on the team, which was basically everyone, date popular guys, which was basically any guy on a sports team who was good looking. And it was now Paige's goal to set Bonnie up with Derek, the first string wide receiver on the football team. Derek seemed to be up for it because whenever Bonnie was around, he flirted beyond flirting with her. Bonnie would be polite but she never quite got the idea of her dating Derek. He was kind of hot but besides that, there wasn't much to him.

Paige had already made her claim on Greg, the middle linebacker of the team. Paige was everything a guy could ask for; she was tall, blonde, and gorgeous. She could make anyone laugh and charmed guys in seconds. Bonnie knew that Greg would be with Paige in no time and sure enough, within the first week of cheerleading, the two were already going out.

Bonnie now returned from her daydreaming and sighed as Paige guided her towards the guys. As they saw them approaching, the boys all nudged Greg and Derek nodding at them.

"Hey, babe," Greg said, grinning at Paige. He leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

Paige smiled up at him. "Hey, Greg," she said. She let Greg put his arm around her casually and then cleared her throat, nudging her head towards Derek as she looked at Bonnie.

"Hi, Derek," Bonnie said half-heartedly.

"Hey, Bonnie," Derek asked, beaming from head to toe. "So, I hear you stayed here over break,"

"Yah," Bonnie said smiling politely.

"That's cool," Derek said. "I would've been here to, you know, hang out if you had wanted to, but I was away all break. We went Cape Cod, and every day was the best. I pretty much tanned the whole time, and went swimming, and…"

And that's when Bonnie started tuning Derek out. This was how things usually went. Derek would say something like 'Hi' or 'What's up?' and then things went right to him, non-stop—a total brag-fest.

Derek continued talking for what seemed like forever and Bonnie finally breathed a sigh of relief to herself when she heard Derek finish up. By this point Paige and Greg had wandered off somewhere else and Sam, Rob, and Jackson were all scouting for other girls to flirt with. It was just Derek and Bonnie.

Bonnie felt relieved when she heard the homeroom bell ring.

"Well, I have to go," Bonnie said, starting to walk away. "Bye,"

But as she was leaving she felt Derek's hand grab her shoulder.

"Wait," he said. "I'll walk you to your homeroom,"

"You don't have to," Bonnie insisted. "It's right down the hall,"

"No, really," Derek said, "I don't mind,"

Bonnie felt her stomach start to hurt again but continued to walk with Derek down the hall. She watched everyone's eyes bear down on her as almost all of the sophomore class watched them walk next to each other to homeroom.

When they both finally reached Bonnie's homeroom, she forced a smile and said, "Thanks," then walked into her class. She turned around and saw that Derek was still standing there, looking as if he wanted to say something. Bonnie waved and mouthed 'bye' but still, Derek stood there uncertain.

Bonnie went to sit down but then looked at Derek, confused as she saw him walk over to her.

"Derek—what are you doing?" she asked, freaked out as she Derek took her hand and pulled her up to him.

"Bonnie, listen," Derek started, letting go of her hand. He didn't look like he usually did. His eyes were innocent and this time, focused on Bonnie, not beaming with self pride. He looked nervous and scared. "The Winter Ball is coming up, and coach is going to have an award ceremony for the guys on the team before it begins,"

"That's great, Derek," Bonnie said cautiously. "What does that have to do with me though?"

"Well, I was actually, kind of, wondering; are you going with anyone?" Derek asked, grinning, this time with more confidence.

Bonnie gulped. Why me? she thought to herself. He could have any other girl and he picks me? "Well, um, Derek," she started, rubbing her arm. "I was kind of planning on going with Paige,"

Derek's face fell. "But she's going with Greg," he pressed.

"Yah, we were all going to go together," Bonnie said, uncomfortably. She pleaded in her head for the late bell to ring and saw to her dismay she still had a good two minutes.

"Well, then we should double date," Derek said, trying to convince Bonnie. "The coach is expecting me to bring someone, Bonnie. I want you to come,"

"Derek…" Bonnie began. She looked around her and then became even more surprised when she saw in the door Greg and Paige. They were both standing there and Paige was encouraging Bonnie, mouthing the word 'yes'. Greg was just enjoying the whole thing, as if this were some kind of funny movie.

And then when things couldn't have gotten worse, the whole homeroom stopped what they were doing. It was dead quiet until one person started chanting, "Say yes!"

"Say yes!" the kid said.

"Say yes!" Paige said.

"Say yes!" said a couple of other kids.

Now, the whole room was chanting 'say yes'. Derek looked around and chuckled. Bonnie just felt the pit in her stomach grow deeper.

"So," Derek said, putting his hands in his jean pockets. "Will you say yes, Bonnie?"

"Yes!" everyone was chanting.

Bonnie wanted to now kill that one kid.

"Come on," Derek said, trying to lure Bonnie. For a second it was working; Bonnie stopped wanting him to leave and looked into his golden brown eyes. She stared at his floppy blonde hair and was hypnotized by his radiant smile.

And then, as she dreamt of never doing in her life, she fell under Derek's spell.

"Yes," Bonnie said, quietly. And as soon as she said it, she felt her head start to spin. What had she just done?