Seeing as I was the only person at the table whose name was "Natalie", they were clearly talking to me. Turning around, I saw an extremely pretty girl with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face directed at me.

Her rich brown skin, with warm reddish undertones, was flawless and her hair was really curly and big. I would have been nice, but I didn't like the way she was looking at me.

"What's it to you?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to see who everyone was talking about. I have to say, I'm very disappointed."

She rolled up the sleeves of her red addidas track suit, a confident smirk on her face. I waited a few seconds for her to leave, but she was still standing there.

"Nice, Aliyah. Real classy," Riley said, shaking his head.

She rolled her eyes at him, and then looked back at me. Is she expecting me to say something to her? I have had to deal with a ton of "mean girls" back in New Jersey, but I was not interested in dealing with them here. I don't know what bone she had to pick with me, and I didn't really care. I just wanted to eat in peace.

"Okay, well, bye now," I said, waving my hand in a shooing motion. Then I turned back around in my seat and went back to eating my lunch.

Everyone else at the table did the same, including two girls I didn't notice join us. They must be Lauren's friends. Thankfully, Aliyah left us alone and we got right back into conversation.

The two girls that joined us at the table were Kristen and Kylie. The two of them were twins, but not identical. Kylie was a little bit taller than Kristen, but they were both fairly tall, around Lauren's height. They both had blue eyes and blonde hair, although Kristen had hers cut into a short pixie and Kylie kept hers long and layered. They seemed nice.

When Lauren started talking to them about some plans for the weekend, and Riley and Jayden started talking about some football game coming on tv, I excused myself and went to the bathroom.

There was graffiti all over the stalls. Names, lists, inappropriate drawings, gum; it was gross. After using it, I washed my hands and looked into the mirror.

Wow. My hat was crooked this whole time, and none of them said anything.

I fixed it into place and headed back to the cafeteria. Lunch was almost over, so I walked quickly to avoid the rush of people leaving when it ended.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Lauren asked when I rejoined the table.

"Bathroom," I answered as I looked around the table for my phone.

"Um, do you guys see my pho-"

I stopped mid sentence when Lauren placed my phone in front of me. I gave her a suspicious glare and she smiled back at me, innocently.

"What did you do to it?" I questioned,  my eyes still squinted in suspicion. Lauren could tell I wasn't seriously bothered by her having my phone.

"We helped ourselves to your contact list. Now you have each of our numbers! Although, the guys refused to add pictures of them to their contact," she said, throwing Jayden, specifically, an unhappy glare. He was looking at the ceiling, pretending not to notice. I looked at Riley and he was looking away too, whistling the tune to "Mario Bros".

"But don't worry, I'll send you pics of them so you don't have to look at that ugly default icon everytime you text them," Laren continued when she finished burning a hole in Jayden's head.

She made a gagging face, showing how much she apparently hated default icons. She looked hilarious, which made me laugh.

"Babe, stop being dramatic," Jayden said through a chuckle as he admired his girlfriend's performance.

She did as he asked, planting a kiss on his cheek before she sat back down.

When the bell rung, signaling the end of lunch, everyone stood up to leave.

"It was nice meeting you," the twins said in sync. I smiled back at them, saying goodbye.

I went to my last two classes, and was glad I saw some familiar faces in them. Although I didn't see any of my new "friends" in my Econ class, I did have Lauren and Kylie in my Home Ec class. And I ended the day with Riley, Jayden, and Kimi in Science class.

"Bye, guys! See you tomorrow," I said as I exited the classroom.

When I got home, Paully was on the couch playing video games again.

"Hey," I greeted, walking through the door. I threw my bag down and walked over to him.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. I could already see some bruises forming on his cheek and arm.

"I'm pissed," he grunted, still looking at the tv screen.

"I wish you didn't get involved. Now you're suspended and I feel terrible."

I took my hat off and ran my fingers through my hair, looking up at the ceiling. Just when my step-brother begins to be nice to me, he gets suspended.

I was brought back to our conversation when I heard the sound of Paully putting his game on pause. When I looked at him, he was looking back at me, his brows furrowed in frustration.

"You shouldn't feel bad. I knew what I was doing when I threw that first punch," he pointed out.

"But now you're mad and-"

"Yeah, I'm mad! Those stupid teachers pulled us apart before I could win the fight!" he explained, raising his voice.

I refused to comment on the fact that it looked like Drew would have won the fight. By the time the teachers separated them, Drew was on top of Paully, kind of like how he was when he was beating up that sophmore kid. The only difference was that Paully was fighting back and landing punches.

"Okay. But why? Why did you have to start a fight in the first place?" I asked, my curiosity needing to be satisfied. Why would he jump in like that? We just started talking to each other today.

Paully let out a sigh, rubbing his bruising face with his hands before looking at me again.

"Natalie, I'm really sorry," he said, his expression sincere, sad.

"You're apologizing to me, when you're the one that got suspended?" I stammered, shocked.

"No. I'm sorry for the last three years of your life. I didn't know how you felt, and then yesterday..."

Oh my gosh. He's apologizing because of what I said yesterday, not for fighting Drew.

"When we moved from Italy to New Jersey because my mom was marrying your dad, I didn't find out until a week before we were leaving," he sighed, looking at the ground. "I was so angry with my mom. She never once asked me how I felt about the move. So, when we moved in, I hated your dad. And I guess that made me hate you, too."

Dang. I never knew any of this. How could I? I never had the chance.

"I remember you trying to break the ice when we first moved in, but I honestly needed to be alone. So, that's what I did. And once I started to settle in and make new friends...well, you seemed content on keeping to yourself, so I did the same. I never knew you felt the way you did, so I'm sorry," he finished, now looking up at me.

I was just standing there, taking in everything he'd said. It didn't change the past, but at least now I understood why he acted the way he did.

"It's okay," I finally said, shrugging my shoulders and smiling a small grin. "I get it now."

He smiled back at me, and I could tell things would be different between us. Things would be better.

The next three days went by fine. I got to know Lauren and the twins better. I actually liked hanging out with them, and they seemed to like me. Kimi and I were friendly, although we only talked in the classes we had together. She's pretty cool. Jayden and I bonded over our shared love of making Riley uncomfortable, and school sports. Riley walked with me to class whenever he could, and texted me stupid jokes out of the blue. He was definitely the closest friend I made so far.

Now it was Saturday, and I helped myself to some extra time in bed. When I finally got up, I checked my phone and saw that I had a message from Lauren.

I didn't have anything to do, although I wished I did. I hung up so many babysitting flyers, but no one called me yet. How am I going to get enough money to move back home if no one will hire me?!

I just didn't feel like going out. I wanted to lay in bed and watch Netflix all day.

I placed my phone down, and started getting up to go to the bathroom, but my phone chimed almost as soon as I put it down. Man, that was fast. It chimed a second time as I picked it up.

I really didn't want to, but a part of me felt like I needed to put in the extra effort to make those friendships real. Lauren was trying to spend time with me, so the least I could do was meet her halfway. Besides, I liked hanging out with Jayden and Riley.

I didn't even bother putting my phone down. She was clearly "The World's Quickest" when it came to responding.

I hopped in the shower and washed off my laziness. Letting my hair air dry, I looked in my closet for what to wear. I settled on a pale blue crew-neck sweater with the word "SAVAGE" across the front in black letters. I paired it with black leggings and my white Vans. Putting in my contacts, I didn't bother doing anything else with my face except put on lip balm.

Checking the time, I knew that Lauren would be arriving soon. Since my hair wasn't fully dry enough to style, I threw on my all white baseball cap and headed downstairs, grabbing my phone and mini-bookbag.

Just so you know, I hate carrying purses, but if they look like a bookbag, I don't mind them at all.

"Paully! I'm going out with some friends from school!" I shouted when Lauren pulled up in a cute, red and white mini cooper.

"Okay!" he yelled back.

After locking up, I jogged to the passenger side door and got in.

"So, where are we going?" I asked. We'd been driving for about ten minutes and she still hadn't told me.

"We're going to the mall. There's an arcade there that we'll probably hang out at."

I nodded my head in response, trying to picture what it would look like.

When we got to the mall, Lauren told me we were meeting the guys at GameStop. As we walked, a sweet and glorious smell invaded my senses and I instantly felt happy.

"Pretzels! We're stopping here so I can get some!" I stated, already walking up to the Auntie Anne's Pretzels booth.

"A large cup of original pretzel bites," I sung, placing my order. I didn't have any breakfast, and the pretzels smelt so good, my mouth was watering like crazy.

After paying for my snack, I waltzed back over to Lauren.

"It looks like you're glad you came," she noticed through a beautiful smile.

"Can't talk. Must eat," I replied, already shoving another one in my mouth. Lauren just laughed, leading the way to GameStop.

When I finally spotted the store, I saw Riley and Jayden standing outside it. But, then I saw a third figure, with brown hair, standing beside them, laughing. As we got closer, I recognized his stupid face. Are you freakin' kidding me?!

The moment he saw me, whatever smile was on his face turned to a frown.

"What is she doing here?!" Drew shouted at his friends, his eyes fixed on me.

Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying the story! Please comment, vote, and share! It's great motivation to keep up with the story, and it shows me you're enjoying it. Thanks for everything thing!