Chapter One

Jenna Moore was always the quiet girl who preferred to sit with her small group of friends and waste the day away. She was always the girl who preferred a pair of jeans and her converse than a little black dress and killer heels. That was, until she got swept away by the popular crowd. And of course, caught the eye of the bad boy in the school, Jakob Hudson. But when awful rumours start spreading, and Jenna slips away from her family, will she realise that her life is falling to pieces in front of her?

"What do you mean, 'I don't want to go'? Of course you want to go!"

Who knew that those words being exclaimed from Nicole, my best friend's, mouth, would change everything?

"Nic, for the last time; I. Am. Not. Going!" I sighed, yanking my locker open viciously. It had been approximately seven minutes since I had walked through the entrance to my school before Nicole pounced, babbling on about some ridiculous party that Kristy Bates was throwing on Friday.
I rolled my eyes as I took in her annoyed expression. "It's just not my scene, okay?" I told her, grabbing my chemistry folder from the pile of textbooks in front of me. "Not your scene? You're being ridiculous, J! It's a party!" She snorted, throwing her hands up in the air exasperatedly. I shook my head, closing the door of my locker, maybe a bit too aggressively, as the metal made a loud clanging noise. "Yeah, my scene. You know, scene, crowd, posse, atmosphere. Whatever you want to call it. I don't want to go." I shrugged, causing my bag strap to slide down my shoulder. I jerked my arm, trying to pull the strap back up without having to drop my books and use my hands.

What I didn't know, at that moment, would change my life.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" a passing voice growled at me. I wrinkled my nose, shifting all my books into one arm, using the other one to hitch my bag back up to my shoulder. "I'm sorry, I-" I said as I spun to face whoever I accidently hit. But I was cut off with realisation of who I had knocked.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I didn't, I, I honestly didn't mean to hit you." I apologized, flustered. As I apologized, I flung my hands up in a sorry gesture, causing myself to knock Nicole's elbow, making her drop her books. The boy groaned, pushing past me. "Whatever. Touch me again, and I swear you'll pay." He muttered, storming off grumpily.

"Really, Jenna? Did you have to shove me so hard that I dropped all my books?" Nicole sighed angrily. Her expression changed from annoyance to shock in all but 0.5 seconds. "Was that Jakob? As in, 'I just saw Jakob beat the shit out of Charlie Brooks', Jakob?" She hissed to me, her eyes widening. I bit the inside of my cheek, nodding once.
"Yup, that's him alright." I mumbled as we started walking towards the chemistry block.
"But he's hot! I was told that Jakob was some ugly troll of a guy!"
"Well, he's not, I guess. If you find the stroppy, violent, scary look."
"I think you mean tall, dark and mysterious." Nicole grinned, nudging me with her pointy little elbow. I laughed, sliding into my lab seat, pulling my heavy folder onto the table. She sat down beside me, shaking her head. "I can't believe it. You could have died!" She gasped, her hand flying to cover her mouth. The sad thing was that she was saying it so seriously, and she genuinely believed it.
"Nic, don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't have died. He wouldn't hit a girl. Especially one as cute as me." I joked, flicking my hair. Before Nicole could laugh, there was a voice interrupting her.

"Miss Parker? I'd appreciate it if you sat in the seat that you were assigned, and not in the place of Miss Strauss over here." Mr Luck called, motioning for Nicole to move to her seat. Sighing grumpily, Nicole moved to the other side of the room, and Lexi Strauss took her place.

The petite, thin brunette strutted across the small place between our desk and the teacher's desk as if she owned the place. She perched down on the chair beside me, sitting as if she was afraid to touch where Nicole had been sitting. She turned her nose up at everyone and everything, turning people away with a disgusted expression and a lash of her sarcastic, bitchy tongue.
"Did you do the work?" She asked quietly, barely sending a glance my way. It was exactly as if she was ashamed to be seen socializing with a commoner. A peasant. And when she asked if I did the work, she didn't mean if I did my half of our partner lab research; she meant the whole of it. "No, I didn't. Was I supposed to?" I gasped innocently. Although I was never one to really stand up for myself, I had quite the mouth myself. Lexi glared at me, shifting further away from me by the second. "Yes, you were supposed to." She scowled. I smiled sweetly at her, tucking my hair behind my ear. "Oh my, I'm sorry! I didn't realise. My sincerest apologies," I said, placing my hand over my heart, "But you were aware that this was a partner project? You know, P-A-R-T-N-E-R? As in, you and me. Teamwork. BFFs, all that jazz?" I spelt out for her. Her expression grew even more angered. She flung her arm up in the air, waving her hand wildly. "Excuse me, Mr Luck? We have a problem over here!" She called, pouting. Mr Luck nodded sharply, making his way over to us. "I don't want to act like a tell-tale here, because nobody likes a tell-tale," she started with an upset look on her face, "but it seems as if Jenna here, doesn't want to work with me! I mean, I did all the work and she did nothing!" Lexi whimpered, snatching the paper from my folder. Obviously Mr Luck didn't realise, as he gave me a disappointed look. "Really? That's not like you, Jenna. I expected more." He sighed. "I suppose I'm going to have to give you detention. And I expect you to get your half of the research in my tomorrow's lesson."
My lips dissolved into a tight line. "Yeah, I know. It really isn't. But I promise I'll get it done tonight...after detention," I said through gritted teeth. I wasn't looking at Mr Luck though. I was staring right at Lexi's smug smile that made me want to slap her silly.

"I cannot believe what Lexi pulled back there! That sly bitch!" Nicole screeched, taking a bite out of her apple. I nodded slowly, crossing my legs. The cold air was biting at my skin, causing my cheeks to go bright red and my hair to whip against my face. "I know. And now I'm going to be stuck in detention by myself for an hour and a half, where, knowing our school, I'll get addicted to some kind of drug and end up with a love for playing poker." I said, spitting my hair out of my mouth. God, I hated windy days. I pushed myself up off of the bench we were sat at out at the front of the school. "I should probably head off now, anyway. I don't want to miss all the fun of being stuck in that dingy classroom." I said with fake cheer lacing my voice.
Nicole and I exchanged our quick goodbyes, and she headed home, while I headed to the room that I had been dreading visiting the whole day. Taking in a deep breath, I pushed open the door, barely keeping my eyes open as I was afraid to see who was waiting in there.

And I had every right to be afraid.

Because Jakob Hudson was the only person in the room.

And he wanted to get his payback.