Reliving Your High School Days

"And I binged "Lucifer" while I ate a whole pizza by myself," Allison says with a proud smile. I nod my head as I try my best not to make a face. "Wow, crazy. You crazy girl" plays in my head and I chuckle. She smiles brighter because she thought I was laughing at how crazy her holiday sounded.

"Hey, Allison-"

"Why do you keep calling me Allison? It's Ally. You're freaking me out." She pouts at me and frowns. She continues to walk on and I raise my brow at her. I have no idea how I am going to put up with her for a whole story. I inhale slowly and walk faster to catch up. I can remember the conversation that Kate and Ally had on their way to school, so I'm just going to stick with that.

"Ally," I pause to stress her nickname, "did you hear about all the new kids that are starting today?" She stops walking, turning to me while she shakes her head.

"Yes, apparently like 14 kids. I think six of them are seniors and will be in our homeroom," I say and wink when I reach her. Ally shakes her head again and she starts walking.

"You know I don't care about gossip. It is so childish," she says proudly. I swallow the groan that wants to escape. I am not going to make it. How am I going to survive her? Why is she like this? There was a girl exactly like this in our grade who was also bullied. I'm starting to see a pattern here.

When I read this book, I cringed at what she said. If I only knew how much worse it is to experience it in real life.

I shake the stupid thoughts from my head and mentally prepare myself. This is going to be a whole new game. We didn't have all the stereotypes like the W*****d books. We had decent people at my school. If you did not like someone, you didn't bother them. You simply avoided them.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks after a moment of silence. I bite the inside of my cheek and look over at her.

"Nothing. How does my make-up look?" I ask to keep her busy. When I realize what I asked, I mentally slap myself. Here we go. She sighs and walks back to me. Is she walking fast or am I walking slowly?

"I don't wear make-up, so I wouldn't know. It is too much trouble. I think you kinda overdid it." Kill me now, please. I think Kate does die at some point in the book, so it doesn't matter exactly when. I can take care of that when I get back to Kate's house.

I wonder how much I can deviate from the original story. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and look at the text.

You have to keep to the basic plotline unless I allow the changes that you make. You also have to do what I tell you, otherwise, embarrassing things will happen to you. And don't spoil anything for the characters. Enjoy xxx

I sigh as I go to put my phone in my bag, but there is no bag. I feel around and realize I forgot my bag at home in the rush to get ready. How can I forget a bag on the first day of school? You know what, it doesn't matter. I put the phone back in my pocket and we round a corner.

The school comes into full view and the atmosphere is buzzing with excitement. Wow, this looks like a normal school. Nothing like I imagined, but it is not too shabby.

Ally pulls me back and there is a thin layer of sweat on her forehead. Poor thing, she is truly stressed out. I pat her arm and try to give her a comforting smile.

"I'm scared," she whispers. From what I can recall, Ally was bullied because she was fat and Kate was part of the popular girls. Ally asked Kate to help her with a makeover. Kate ended up leaving her friends for Ally. Why? Why would you leave a whole friend group for this? I guess we'll never know.

Ally is a seven out of ten, but a solid three with her personality. There is only so much Kate can do.

"Come on. You know they won't mess with you if you're with me." I hide Ally behind me and walk to the entrance. I notice all the posh cars in the parking lot of the school. There were no posh cars when I was in high school, just old cars that were hand-me-downs.

A small crowd has formed around the new kids, but I push past them. I walk to the lockers and Ally takes the lead to her locker. She fumbles with her bag when we reach the locker and I look around.

This school starts on a Wednesday, but they only start to work on Monday. I think the alpha (I cannot remember any names) and his friend show up on Thursday.

Why don't they just start on Monday? I try to remember anything else from the story, but it was so bad that my brain didn't even process it. All I can remember is that it was a horrible story and that I didn't finish it.

I still don't know how I'm stuck in a bloody awful W*****d book. Is the author some sort of witch? I knew I shouldn't have read that shit, but no. The author must have heard how I complained about Kate.

I was rooting for Kate. She had a great sense of fashion and I am certain that she was more intelligent than she was portrayed, but the author made her this superficial dumb best friend to make Allison look better.

While I was reading it, I kind of wished that I was Kate. I always wanted to do something in the fashion industry like she would have if she didn't die. I suppose that is why I am in Kate's body. On the other hand, I'm grateful that the author kills me so that I don't have to live through this torture for too long.

Someone bumps into me and I spin around to face them. Oh hell no, that is one of the things that I hated the most about school. I cross my arms and glare at the guy. He looks back at me and laughs.

"Babe, chill. It's just me," he says and kisses me. How could I forget that Kate had a boyfriend? That is all Ally ever complained about. I pull back and force a smile.

I had a boyfriend, but it didn't last long. We never spent any time together because I had to study to get into the top universities. I didn't even attend any high school parties. I would have been classified as a nerd in this world.

"Well, hello to you too. I see someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he jokes and throws his arm over me. He completely ignores Ally as he continues talking to me about something. I notice the hall flooding with the other students. Ugh, I honestly cannot believe I'm back in school.

"You are coming?" he asks as he drags me further into his grip.

"To what?" I should probably pay attention. It feels like I'm already succumbing to the ways of the W*****d world. I can feel the last few brain cells melting away.

"There is a party Friday night. You will be there?" He says and he lets go, looking at me. My eyes widen as I have a lightbulb moment. Wait a minute. I never thought about this. This is a second chance to do what I wanted to do when I was in high school. I can catch up on everything I missed, like parties and games.

"I'll see," I say with a small smile. The bell rings and he gives me a quick kiss before joining the rest of the jocks.

I just got a second chance. If you look on the bright side, I am doing everything I never could. This is like going back in time, but I get to do things without my parents' constant nagging.

Ally walks to her homeroom and I follow, but she stops me before we enter the classroom.

"Your homeroom is over there." She giggles and points to the open door on the other end of the hall. I fake a laugh and slap my forehead, pretending that I forgot. I rush to the classroom and make it just as the second bell rings.

I take a seat at the back of the class. The back of a class is the best place to be seated. You can see everything from here and nobody bothers you. I look at the girl next to me and my eyes catch her earrings.

"I love your earrings. Where did you buy them?" The girl turns her head to look at me. She does not say anything as she keeps staring at me with wide eyes. All right then. Just as I want to turn to the front, she finally starts to speak.

"Thanks. Wow, I didn't think I'd get a compliment from you." She is beaming like it was Kim Kardashian that complimented her. "I got it at that small jewelry shop in the mall. The one that is sort of hidden away." She nods her head as she talks to me. I nod my head in response, pretending to know what she is talking about. As I nod my head, the more she nods her head. I smile at her as I remember one of the girls in my friend group. She always bobbed her head as she spoke.

The girl stops talking when the teacher walks in. He spits out some form of greeting and mumbles while he takes attendance.

High school teachers act like this is the hardest job in the world. I know it can be stressful, but I'm pretty sure doctors, engineers and literally every other profession has it worse. Working with a bunch of hormonal teenagers is not what I would want to do every day, so I have to tip my hat to them. As I say "Here", the sudden realization sets in. I really am back in school.

This high school does things differently than where I was. You can choose the subjects you want to take. Catherine chose the subjects that I wished I had when I was in high school. She has English Literature, History, and best of all, Art. I always wanted to take Art, but my parents told me that it is not going to look good on my application for universities.

In Art class, the teacher seated me in the back row. The tables are long, like what you would find in labs, but it is divided into two. So the tables are against the two walls with a path through the middle. Two boys sit at the table next to me and I have the whole table to myself. This is absolutely ace.

                                                                          * * *

When lunch arrives, I am exhausted. I forgot how much energy school took. And we have not even started with the work yet. The teachers are going through their rules and some went through the curriculum for the year. I have been staring at my phone's screen for most of the periods, waiting for another text. Now that I think about it, I wonder if I can text back.

I find Ally sitting outside on the grass with no food. Right, she has an eating disorder. I think she blames Kate for it later in a fight.

I, on the other hand, have loaded my tray with all kinds of food. I'm starving and it is free. I sit down next to her. A silence settles over us as I eat something that I have never seen in my life, but it looks good and it tastes delightful.

"Some of the new kids aren't here yet," she says as she plays with a strand of her hair.

"I thought you weren't one for gossip," I retort back, and she just rolls her eyes. She lays back on the grass.

"These new guys are weird. It is like they're all family or something. They all moved together." She shields her eyes from the sun as she looks at me.

"Yes, that is strange," I say with a mouthful of food. I wonder if anyone else knows about them being werewolves. The head of the school has to be in on this. Is she a werewolf? I would not be surprised.

"Where were they sitting when you got your food?" Ally asks, her voice shaking slightly. They? The popular kids?

"Where they always do." I hesitate as I answer, hoping that they usually sit wherever they sit. I didn't even notice them. When she nods her head, I take it that she knows where they sit.

If I am being honest, there was not that much bullying in my school. We all got along pretty well and you just ignored those that irritated you. I do feel sorry for her. Bullying is a horrible thing to experience and it alters your whole life.

I am not dismissing her trauma, but she needs to work through it and maybe go see someone. The "alpha" is not going to be able to take that trauma away. Oh, wait, he will. So who cares about therapy? Everything will be perfect when they get together.

The bell rings and I let out a frustrated sigh, looking at the food I didn't even get to finish. And now I must run back to the cafeteria to return the plate. This is going to be a long day.