-

Months quickly flown by after the arrest of Cotton Weary, who Gale weather's thought was innocent and even wrote a book about it.

"Wrongly accused." Was the name of the book. Novalee read it about hundreds of times ever since it came out,

Sidney was the one that supposedly saw Cotton weary leave that night, but it couldn't be true because Billy and Stu were gone before Sidney arrived.

Sidney just wanted to blame someone, she didn't want to believe their mother would cheat with all the married men in town.

Novalee tried to convince Sidney to stop being so naive. That the real world was more harsher than the world Sidney was living in, but it all ended in arguments,

Arguments that caused the sisters to drift apart, and since Sidney was the girlfriend of Billy, Novalee drifted away from her friends,

She didn't hang out with Billy, stu, or Randy for that matter, not as long as Sidney was around,

She hasn't talked with Billy and Stu in months, and she only occasionally talked with Randy a few times when she went to the blockbuster to get some movie that she wasn't even going to pay attention to, but still brought.

She hung out with Casey and steve more, but most of the time, she was third wheeling and she never liked third wheeling, or fourth wheeling.

Usually since Randy was around, he and Novalee would hang out when the couples of the group were doing God knows what.

She missed them but with every argument her and Sidney had, the more they drifted, the more strangers than sisters they became.

It went as far as Novalee locking her window, so Billy wouldn't sneak in anymore.

She remembered the first night she locked her window, she had to ignore Billy, which broke her heart when she heard him leave.

Fat Louis was depressed as she was, since Stu wasn't coming around anymore, fat Louis didn't get his cuddles or extra treats and the fact that he couldn't sleep on top of Billy.

It was just as hard on fat Louis.

Novalee didn't know much more she could take, she needed to make things right with Sidney, but her sister was being difficult with her, stubborn even.

The school bell started Novalee out of her thoughts, and she let out a small sigh as she stood up from her desk, collecting her stuff.

She was wearing jeans, with a white sleeve shirt with a black top, and white sneakers with her socks folded. Her hair was tied in a messy bun.

-

(novalee's outfit)
-

She walked out of the classroom, joining the crowd of students, she walked down the hallway with her arms full of books,

She spotted Stu walking down the hallway, chatting with Billy, whose eyes met hers,

Billy nudged Stu, who was now staring at Novalee, he smiled and waved his hand at her.

Novalee turned around, missing the way Stu's smile turned into a frown, but she glanced behind her and saw them walking over to her,

Novalee sped walked down the hallway before she let out a small surprise shout as she was grabbed by her arm, and pulled to the side, into a janitor's closet.

Novalee looked at who pulled her into the closet and saw a young teen, a few inches taller than her, with black wavy hair, green eyes along with freckles on his cheeks,

"Who are you?" Novalee questioned, not recognizing him, she's been at woodsboro high since forever, she knew everyone at school, but she didn't know him,

"Oh, I'm Julian, I just started a few days ago, I think we shared a few classes together, you sit in front of me during chem." Julian told her,

"Oh, do I?" Novalee would've noticed, but then again, she was in her mind most of the time.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure, you're in your own world most of the time." Julian replied, with a small grin.

"Why'd you pull me into the janitor closet? Better yet, why are you in the janitor closet?" Novalee questioned,

Julian chuckled, "Oh, funny story actually, so, you saw those two guys, right? Um, the one's following you?"

Novalee raised an eyebrow at him, "You mean, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher?"

Julian nodded, "Yeah, so, they hate me, I figured they hate you too."

Novalee sighs, "Not really, I mean I don't think so, we're friends..or used to be anyway, it's complicated, you?"

"Oh, no wonder they were pissed when I asked them if you were single." Julian said,

"Why would you..oh, I'm sorry but I'm not really looking into a relationship, this whole year has been tough." Novalee told him, with a small sympathic smile.

Julian shrugged, "then friends we can be. What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, why?" Julian grinned,

"Well, you can show me around town."

Novalee thought about it. It wouldn't be so bad to show Julian around. It could be a distraction.

"Okay."

---
835 words

Thoughts?