Post by allyyyyyyyy. on May 21, 2009 3:27:14 GMT -5
I posted a topic in this same thing earlier called "I wrote this and am looking for some feedback." Well, this is the continuation of it. The other part was the prologue (if that's the right word) and this is the first chapter. If you want to read it in it's original format, you can download the PDF here: www.sendspace.com/file/j7v29m If not, enjoy (:

Friday afternoons are always the perfect time to go shopping. Of course, that is, if you have a girl friend to go on a spree with. Otherwise, you’re stuck dragging along your male best friend.
“Hey, I love shopping as much as the next guy,” Adam said, trying to defend himself from the “gay” remark I had just made, “But…”
“Guys hate shopping,” I cut him off.
“My point exactly!”
“Adam, I was joking. This is the first, and probably only, time we will ever go shopping together. Now suck it up.”
“Paige,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Why didn’t you take Amber?”
I raised my eyebrows as I sat down in a chair outside of Starbucks. Was he serious?
Amber was his 17-year-old, high school Junior girlfriend. She was the only person I knew who actually fit the “dumb blonde” persona.
“You’d like her if you just gave her a chance,” Adam said, trying to hide the fact that he had just rolled his eyes at me.
“She asked me how to spell ‘orange’,” I smiled, knowing that he would think I was just quoting Mean Girls instead of it actually being true.
Adam shook his head again, not as amused as before. “Why don’t you like her?”
I sighed, “I don’t not like her. I just don’t like spending time with her… alone.”
“Well that’s unfortunate,” Adam said, standing up as I heard the sound of high heels clacking against the concrete ground.
“You’re kidding me,” I whispered.
As I looked up, there she was in all her glory: Amber. Light blonde hair, ocean-blue eyes, and whose tiny frame was covered in head to toe with pink. Elle Woods would be proud.
She dropped her pink Dooney & Bourke purse onto the green plastic table and took Adam’s old seat next to me.
“Hello, Paige,” she said sharply, her eyes searching me up and down then locking with mine.
I was positive that Adam had told Amber that I didn’t like her. I was also positive that she had overheard me telling Adam’s younger brother, Nate, that I didn’t think she and Adam were a match.
Amber was the only girlfriend Adam had that I didn’t approve of. While he hasn’t had very many, she was definitely the worst of the bunch.
Adam could get any girl he wanted. I was sure of it. With his deep brown eyes, subtly-curled black hair, gorgeous face and a slender yet muscular build, it was easy to see why the girls at school were keeping their eyes on him. He was the college Sophomore cream-of-the-crop, and he was completely oblivious to it.
He and Amber have been dating for close to five months. With every one of their “month-aversaries” that passed, I kept wondering how he could stand to be with her. Not only did she lack a personality, she also managed to pronounce every word longer than two syllables wrong.
“You wanna go get us some coffee, babe?” Amber asked in her whiney voice, giving Adam a cheesy smile.
“Of course, honey,” he smiled.
“I’ll go with you,” I said quickly, getting up before he could protest.
Amber waved her hand as if to dismiss us from her presence. I scoffed and followed Adam inside.
“You’re kidding me, right? You’re just going to pop up out and shout ‘just kidding!’, right? I so hope you don’t plan on ditching out on me and leaving me alone with her. God, it’s like you’re under some kind of spell!”
“Calm down,” he sighed. “Look, it was my idea. She wasn’t down for it either. I just figured that if you guys got along, then maybe it‘d be easier.”
“Adam…”
“Paige, I know you don’t like her. Don’t tell me that you do.”
“You obviously just missed the stare-down that she performed on me.”
“Is that some kind of girl thing I don’t understand?” he said, crossing his arms.
“It’s like this…” I said, positioning him right in front of me then glancing him up and down disapprovingly.
“I didn’t see that,” he said. “Just give it a shot, ok?”
I sighed, “Fine. I’ll spend one day with her. If I still don’t like her, then that’s my thing and you don’t get to interject with your random ‘surprises’ anymore.”
“That’s all I ask.”
After the 20 minutes of the awkward “coffee and small talk” combination, Amber and I departed for a store we could agree on in the open-air mall. She headed straight for Ruthie’s when neither of us could decide.
I had never liked Ruthie’s. They only sold clothes for stylish girls, which typically didn’t fit into my t-shirt and jeans repertoire.
“So I suppose we should talk,” Amber said, sifting through a rack of spaghetti-strap tank tops while I looked through the graphic tees.
“I guess,” I responded.
“What is it about me that you don’t like?”
Want a list?
“I don’t know,” I lied.
“You hardly even know me, Paige.”
“No, but I know people like you.”
“I know people like me,” she smiled.
I sighed and rolled my eyes, “No. I mean, people that are similar to you.”
Amber crossed her arms, “That still doesn’t mean you know me.”
“No, but people like you are Adam’s M.O.”
Amber looked confused, “What does that mean?”
“M.O?”
She nodded her head.
“It means modus operandi. Like… mode of operation. Am I ringing a bell here?”
She shook her head and dismissed it, taking a pink tank top off the rack and holding it against herself.
“So you don’t like me because you know people similar to me? I don’t get it, Paige. You’re so confusing.”
I rolled my eyes again, “Amber, look, ok? Awhile back, I had a friend…”
She cut me off, “You had more than one friend once?”
It was obvious that she wasn’t joking, but I wasn’t going to argue back. I was pretty sure arguing with her would be like arguing with a piece of wood. “Never mind.”
“Whatever,” she said, taking the tank top to the other side of the store.
I watched her as she walked into the corner and tried to ever-so-subtly slip the top into her bag.
Part of me wanted to tell the stock girl next to me what I saw, while another part of me wanted to call Adam and tell him what I just saw. The only problem was that I knew he would believe her over me. She was his girlfriend, after all.
Pulling out my camera, I watched Amber clack around the shop in her heels, waiting for her to overtly stick another garment into her bag.
I didn’t have to wait long.
About a minute later, she pulled a light pink sweater off the shelf near her and dropped it into her purse. I snapped a picture as she did so and stuck the camera back into my bag.
“Oh hi, baby!” I heard Amber whine from across the room. “Yeah, I’m fine. Paige is being a little meanie though.”
I rolled my eyes while she visibly pouted as if he could see her.
While she told Adam about the miniature conversation she and I just had, I walked around the store, trying to get close enough to listen in.
“I don’t know, baby. But something did happen at school today. It was weird. My friend said his Calculus class was cancelled because the classroom had been boarded shut from the inside.”
I stopped pretending to shop and turned around to look at her.
From the other end, I could hear Adam. “Was the teacher there?”
“No. Mr. Harkin was gone. They had to find a way into the room without breaking the windows. It was pretty funny.”
“Give Paige the phone,” Adam demanded.
Amber handed the phone over quickly, surprised by Adam’s tone.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Did you get all that?”
“I always do,” I sighed. “I have something else to show you when I get home.”
I hung up her phone and handed it to her. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, shifting all her weight to one side.
“What exactly happened at school?” I said.
Likes and dislikes suddenly became irrelevant. There was something Amber didn’t know about me. It was the reason why Adam was my only friend. It was possibly the darkest and heaviest secret any 19-year-old girl would have to bear....
I am the Slayer.

Friday afternoons are always the perfect time to go shopping. Of course, that is, if you have a girl friend to go on a spree with. Otherwise, you’re stuck dragging along your male best friend.
“Hey, I love shopping as much as the next guy,” Adam said, trying to defend himself from the “gay” remark I had just made, “But…”
“Guys hate shopping,” I cut him off.
“My point exactly!”
“Adam, I was joking. This is the first, and probably only, time we will ever go shopping together. Now suck it up.”
“Paige,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Why didn’t you take Amber?”
I raised my eyebrows as I sat down in a chair outside of Starbucks. Was he serious?
Amber was his 17-year-old, high school Junior girlfriend. She was the only person I knew who actually fit the “dumb blonde” persona.
“You’d like her if you just gave her a chance,” Adam said, trying to hide the fact that he had just rolled his eyes at me.
“She asked me how to spell ‘orange’,” I smiled, knowing that he would think I was just quoting Mean Girls instead of it actually being true.
Adam shook his head again, not as amused as before. “Why don’t you like her?”
I sighed, “I don’t not like her. I just don’t like spending time with her… alone.”
“Well that’s unfortunate,” Adam said, standing up as I heard the sound of high heels clacking against the concrete ground.
“You’re kidding me,” I whispered.
As I looked up, there she was in all her glory: Amber. Light blonde hair, ocean-blue eyes, and whose tiny frame was covered in head to toe with pink. Elle Woods would be proud.
She dropped her pink Dooney & Bourke purse onto the green plastic table and took Adam’s old seat next to me.
“Hello, Paige,” she said sharply, her eyes searching me up and down then locking with mine.
I was positive that Adam had told Amber that I didn’t like her. I was also positive that she had overheard me telling Adam’s younger brother, Nate, that I didn’t think she and Adam were a match.
Amber was the only girlfriend Adam had that I didn’t approve of. While he hasn’t had very many, she was definitely the worst of the bunch.
Adam could get any girl he wanted. I was sure of it. With his deep brown eyes, subtly-curled black hair, gorgeous face and a slender yet muscular build, it was easy to see why the girls at school were keeping their eyes on him. He was the college Sophomore cream-of-the-crop, and he was completely oblivious to it.
He and Amber have been dating for close to five months. With every one of their “month-aversaries” that passed, I kept wondering how he could stand to be with her. Not only did she lack a personality, she also managed to pronounce every word longer than two syllables wrong.
“You wanna go get us some coffee, babe?” Amber asked in her whiney voice, giving Adam a cheesy smile.
“Of course, honey,” he smiled.
“I’ll go with you,” I said quickly, getting up before he could protest.
Amber waved her hand as if to dismiss us from her presence. I scoffed and followed Adam inside.
“You’re kidding me, right? You’re just going to pop up out and shout ‘just kidding!’, right? I so hope you don’t plan on ditching out on me and leaving me alone with her. God, it’s like you’re under some kind of spell!”
“Calm down,” he sighed. “Look, it was my idea. She wasn’t down for it either. I just figured that if you guys got along, then maybe it‘d be easier.”
“Adam…”
“Paige, I know you don’t like her. Don’t tell me that you do.”
“You obviously just missed the stare-down that she performed on me.”
“Is that some kind of girl thing I don’t understand?” he said, crossing his arms.
“It’s like this…” I said, positioning him right in front of me then glancing him up and down disapprovingly.
“I didn’t see that,” he said. “Just give it a shot, ok?”
I sighed, “Fine. I’ll spend one day with her. If I still don’t like her, then that’s my thing and you don’t get to interject with your random ‘surprises’ anymore.”
“That’s all I ask.”
After the 20 minutes of the awkward “coffee and small talk” combination, Amber and I departed for a store we could agree on in the open-air mall. She headed straight for Ruthie’s when neither of us could decide.
I had never liked Ruthie’s. They only sold clothes for stylish girls, which typically didn’t fit into my t-shirt and jeans repertoire.
“So I suppose we should talk,” Amber said, sifting through a rack of spaghetti-strap tank tops while I looked through the graphic tees.
“I guess,” I responded.
“What is it about me that you don’t like?”
Want a list?
“I don’t know,” I lied.
“You hardly even know me, Paige.”
“No, but I know people like you.”
“I know people like me,” she smiled.
I sighed and rolled my eyes, “No. I mean, people that are similar to you.”
Amber crossed her arms, “That still doesn’t mean you know me.”
“No, but people like you are Adam’s M.O.”
Amber looked confused, “What does that mean?”
“M.O?”
She nodded her head.
“It means modus operandi. Like… mode of operation. Am I ringing a bell here?”
She shook her head and dismissed it, taking a pink tank top off the rack and holding it against herself.
“So you don’t like me because you know people similar to me? I don’t get it, Paige. You’re so confusing.”
I rolled my eyes again, “Amber, look, ok? Awhile back, I had a friend…”
She cut me off, “You had more than one friend once?”
It was obvious that she wasn’t joking, but I wasn’t going to argue back. I was pretty sure arguing with her would be like arguing with a piece of wood. “Never mind.”
“Whatever,” she said, taking the tank top to the other side of the store.
I watched her as she walked into the corner and tried to ever-so-subtly slip the top into her bag.
Part of me wanted to tell the stock girl next to me what I saw, while another part of me wanted to call Adam and tell him what I just saw. The only problem was that I knew he would believe her over me. She was his girlfriend, after all.
Pulling out my camera, I watched Amber clack around the shop in her heels, waiting for her to overtly stick another garment into her bag.
I didn’t have to wait long.
About a minute later, she pulled a light pink sweater off the shelf near her and dropped it into her purse. I snapped a picture as she did so and stuck the camera back into my bag.
“Oh hi, baby!” I heard Amber whine from across the room. “Yeah, I’m fine. Paige is being a little meanie though.”
I rolled my eyes while she visibly pouted as if he could see her.
While she told Adam about the miniature conversation she and I just had, I walked around the store, trying to get close enough to listen in.
“I don’t know, baby. But something did happen at school today. It was weird. My friend said his Calculus class was cancelled because the classroom had been boarded shut from the inside.”
I stopped pretending to shop and turned around to look at her.
From the other end, I could hear Adam. “Was the teacher there?”
“No. Mr. Harkin was gone. They had to find a way into the room without breaking the windows. It was pretty funny.”
“Give Paige the phone,” Adam demanded.
Amber handed the phone over quickly, surprised by Adam’s tone.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Did you get all that?”
“I always do,” I sighed. “I have something else to show you when I get home.”
I hung up her phone and handed it to her. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, shifting all her weight to one side.
“What exactly happened at school?” I said.
Likes and dislikes suddenly became irrelevant. There was something Amber didn’t know about me. It was the reason why Adam was my only friend. It was possibly the darkest and heaviest secret any 19-year-old girl would have to bear....
I am the Slayer.