"I'm okay," Zach assured him, ripping a piece of notebook paper off his book. He smeared the blood all over the sheet and scratched "Help me!" onto it.

Zach silently dropped the paper into Miranda's locker and grinned at Peter. "That should do it, right?"

Peter laughed. "Yeah, wait until she sees that!" He adjusted his hoodie he got from The Eagle. "I guess I'll race you to class then."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin sat in his office at River's Edge Church of Christ, staring-no glaring- at the clock. Every mintue that passed by met one less minute to live on this earth or one minute closer to being in prison. He tried trusting God neither would happen but the chances were looking pretty grim. On occasions, he felt as if maybe he was deserving of death or life in prison anyway. The chime of the clock rang in his head, causing him to cover his ears, for it sounded too much like the bell of death or maybe an alarm in jail. He fingered the picture of him and Maralyn, trying to stop a torrent of emotions. "I'm so sorry."

Nicole was on her way to school. She trudged along, taking her time and feeling tired. After all the excitement of Christmas, going back to school was quite boring.

"Nicole!" she heard an excited voice yell behind her.

Nicole whirled around and saw Kayla, walking briskly to keep up with her. "Nicole! Can we walk together? Please?"

Nicole struggled to keep her face expressionless. She shook her head. "No, Kayla. I'm walking by myself," she said sharply.

"But..." Kayla began to protest, but it was useless. Nicole was walking, almost running, now, and she wouldn't talk anyway. Kayla let out a big sigh of anger. Why wouldn't Nicole walk with her? Kayla wanted to be friends again.

A few minutes later, Kayla arrived at the school and walked in. She saw Peter and Zach near the lockers and headed over to them.

Peter noticed Kayla walking in his direction and that she seemed a little upset. So, he excused himself from Zach and met her at an isolated locker. "Kayla, what's wrong?"

Jen couldn't find Peter. She looked around and eventually she spotted Zach.
"Zach, hi! Do you know where Peter is? I can't seem to find him anywhere."

"Whuh?" He snapped around. "Oh, it's you. Sorry." He grinned. "I thought you were Miranda."

He pressed his lips together. "Peter.... um, where is he right now? I think he went off somewhere with Kayla."

But Peter was not with Nicole, he was with Kayla, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Kayla, you can trust me." He looked into her eyes, sorry to see his friend looking so sad. "Did you and NIcole get in another fight?"
~~~~~~~~~~
Miranda sauntered up to Jen and Zach. "Actually he is with Kayla...alone."

Kayla sighed. "Yeah, kinda." She had to tell someone what had happened - she couldn't hold it in any longer. So she spilled out her story. "I saw Nicole while I was walking to school. I waved to her and asked her to walk with me, but she refused to walk with me. She practically ran away from me," Kayla finished, struggling to hold back tears. She and Nicole had been friends since, like, kindergarten. Why did they have to fight now?

Peter was shocked at how bad things were. At the beginning of the school year they had all been close friends! What happened? He gave her a comforting, one arm hug, then turned to see Nicole.

Kayla's eyes widened at the sight of Nicole, but she didn't say a word. Nicole's lips curved up into an almost cruel smile. She pushed past Kayla and faced Peter.

For the millionth of a second, Nicole hesitated. What she was about to say was going to ruin her relationship with her friends. Probably forever.

But they weren't her friends anymore, were they?

No. They weren't.

Nicole straightened her shoulders. "Peter, you are absolutely ridiculous," she snapped. "One, you're crazy about your hair, which is insane. You're a boy, for goodness sake. And hair isn't that important in the first place. Two, you're crazy about Jen. And it gets annoying how you think that the world revolves around just you and her. So, you and Kayla," here she darted a glance at Kayla, who was standing nearby and looking utterly distressed, "can tell the rest of your friends that I don't want to have a thing to do with you guys again. I don't care."

Nicole realized what she had just said, but she didn't regret it. Her cheeks flamed a bit, because she felt like what she said was a bit babyish. She knew she was stubborn in an immature way. But she didn't care a bit. She was sick of Peter and her friends. It was time to find some real friends.

Peter opened his mouth in shock. Wasn't she the one hwo supported him and Jen when they were torn apart by Jen's parents? A pang of betrayal pierced his heart. "Jen has been through a lot, Nicole. I can't expect you to understand that." He turned to Kayla. "Let's go find Jen."

(OOC: Ooops, edited to "Kayla", not Nicole. Sorry! )

Ally bumped Stacey. "Girl, I'm bored," she lamented, an evil glint in her eye. "Let's do something!"

Stacey half-dropped her books when someone nudged her. She yelped, "Watch out!" Then, she turned and was embarrased to see she yelled at her best friend. Blushing, she said, "Sorry. I'm bored too. Let's trash Miranda's locker."

Jen saw Peter about to turn and leave. "PETER! Hey, wait up!"
~~~~~~~~
Miranda giggled maniacally when she saw Peter a few yards away. Taking a piece of gum from her pocket, she chewed it until it was nice and soft. Then she creeped up behind Peter, and the next thing you heard was...
SPLAT.

Peter didn't want to tell Jen what Nicole had said about not wanting to be their friend anymore. He knew it would break her heart. Instead, he smiled because he was happy to see her. "Jen!" Just then, he felt something hit the back of his head. He put his hand on his hair, trying not to prove Nicole right. Something strange and sticky was in there and he didn't know what it was.