2,696Chapter Two
Leif. Leif Evans. He was the guy to whom my heart belonged, and always would as far as I was concerned.
"All right, who is it?"
I snapped out my daze and met Toby's eyes from across the table. He quirked an eyebrow and smiled at me expectantly. I looked aside and hoped he'd forget the question.
"Who's who Toby?" Rhys asked loudly, looking up from his mashed potato.
"Shut up," Toby hissed glancing into the kitchen where mom was on the phone. "Not you anyway Rhys, I was asking Sienna. She's got this far away look in her eyes," Toby added turning his eyes back to me. He gestured with his hand that I should start speaking.
"I – I don't know what you're talking about," I replied weakly. I felt my cheeks growing red hot so I looked down to avoid meeting my brothers' steady gaze.
"Oh come on. I know you've got the hots for someone. Every time I saw you at school today you either looked like you were in a daze or you looked like you were looking for a specific someone."
"Oh … I was looking for Jess," I said, my voice catching on Jess's name.
"Ok, that's disturbing," Toby told me.
"What is? I thought you said Jess was all right?"
"I do! But the look in your eyes was the sorta romantic look. Hey Rhys, I think our sister is a bit inclined to bat for the other team."
"Shut up!" I spat through gritted teeth. "You probably wouldn't know him anyway."
"Ha! So it is a guy! For a second you had me worried," Toby laughed. "Not know him?" he asked as if the words had just sunk in. "Please, I know almost everyone at our school. Especially if they're in junior or senior."
"How is that possible?" I demanded. "There's like three hundred and fifty kids in each grade!"
Toby shrugged innocently.
"Good one man, now she'll never tell us his name," Rhys muttered. "Come on, you can't know everyone."
Toby – taking this into consideration – leant back on his chair and bit his lip thoughtfully. He gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before bringing his gaze back to my own. "Yeah … yeah you're right. I probably don't know him."
"He doesn't run in your circles anyway," I said quietly, stirring my peas absently.
"Good! So you can tell me his name then! Besides, I probably know one of his friends so I can suss him out for you. I'll try hook you two up." He watched me patiently place down my fork before trying again, "come on, Sienna."
I twisted my fingers together underneath the table. "Well …"
"Sis please. One of my friends has got to be friends with this guy. The sooner you tell me who it is the sooner you can go out with him."
"I doubt it," I muttered as my mind flew back to who his group were.
They all congregated under a large maple tree, it's branches spreading out away from them and reaching for the rest of the school. Their group wasn't all that big, consisting mainly of boys with two of three girls that I had been able to spot. Leif and Ryder were of course present, their friends sporting outrageous hair styles and fashion sense. They seemed to represent both the punk and Goth's, so far they were the only ones I saw dressing for that scene. For some reason I found myself attracted to their group, without even having a decent conversation with any of them. As Isabelle gave me a personalized tour around the school I couldn't help but glance over. I grinned at the stereotypicalness of the setting and let my eyes linger on them for a moment longer.
"Don't look at them," Isabelle had hissed. "They're the social outcasts. You hang with them then you're deemed as a loser."
"Oh … cool," I'd replied, stealing yet another glance their way.
"Well I don't," Toby continued, unaware of the playback issued in my head. "Haven't you seen how much my phone goes off?"
"Speaking of which, where is it?" I countered, desperate to change his thought train. If Isabelle didn't like Leif and his friends then I could be certain Toby wouldn't.
"Don't change the subject!" Toby warned. "Besides," he added haughtily, "it's off."
"Off!" Rhys and I echoed exclamations in disbelief.
Toby scowled at us. "You know how crazy mom gets if I talk on it at the table. Anyway, Sienna?"
"Well …" I saw Rhys and Toby both lean forward slightly. "His name's … his name is … it's ahh – "
"Wait, wait, wait. Do you even know his name?" Toby asked with a bemused expression. He leant back in his chair and smirked.
"Of course I do!" I snapped. "It's Leif Evans!"
After saying his name various things happened. The first being Rhys – who had been previously drinking – choking on the soda running down his throat and having to thump his chest as he coughed violently, the second being Toby almost loosing balance on his tilted chair and his cheery expression vanishing without a trace.
"Leif Evans!" they cried out in unison horror.
It was my turn to scowl. "Yes, Leif Evans. He's a perfectly nice guy."
"Nice guy!" Toby started, "nice guy! He's a friggin' drug dealing hobo, Sienna!"
"No he is not!" I growled back.
"Do you even know him? Wait, does he even know you! He's probably too stoned to even remember your freaking name!" Toby screeched, he was poised to jump out of his seat. Probably to throttle me, I thought dryly.
"Why don't you like him?" I demanded. "Is it because of how he dresses? Oh no he wears black, boo-freaking-hoo!"
"He always wears enough make up to make a drag queen shudder," Rhys put in. He smiled cheekily when I turned my scowl onto him.
"He wears eyeliner and a bit of eye shadow! Get over it! Haven't you seen how the boys from Good Charlotte wear make up? Or the lead singer of The Killers! Or what about Green Day!"
"All crappy bands with crappy fashion sense," Toby spat.
"Says the boy who bought their newest albums!" I retorted angrily.
"I need to know about bands Sienna, I can't go to school behind on info!"
I stood up abruptly. "You are really shallow, do you know that? I'm glad our last names our different, I'd hate to go to school with everyone knowing that I'm related to scum like you."
I grabbed my plate and stormed into the kitchen. I dumped it down on the kitchen bench and mom – who was on the phone – jumped in shock and gave me a dirty look. I ignored her and flounced off to my room. How dare they judge Leif that way! Granted, I wasn't sure what he did with his free time. All I knew was that he was hot and I so wanted to go out with him. Ok, so I knew where he sat and what classes he had on Monday but big deal! Everyone knows that sort of crap about their crushes … don't they?
I slumped onto my bed in defeat. I was not a stalker, but I was stupid for considering that I was and I was even stupider for having told Toby and Rhys that I liked Leif. I growled inwardly, how dare they judge him like that! He was nothing like they said he was! Ok, so what if I'd never hung out with him or even talked to him. That wasn't the point. I rolled off my bed and trudged to my desk. Taking out my books I attempted to start my homework. I flipped open my maths book and stared down at the homework that was set for me.
"I've been there one day and I've got homework," I muttered to myself.
I sighed and stared up at the ceiling. How could I get him to notice me? We had two classes together so far, Music and English. Unfortunately in both he sat in the back row so I was never given a chance to be able to check him out. I closed my eyes and sighed wistfully. What could I do to make Leif notice me? I couldn't go to school wearing all black, I'd be disowned by Isabelle and Jess and Zach and Tommy and … the list went on. I didn't want to have no friends just to see if a guy liked me. He probably didn't even know my name. Toby was right, I was pretty pathetic actually. What nerve did I have thinking that he would ever consider me as a potential girlfriend? I didn't even know if he already had a girlfriend. I had seen at least three Goth girls today and all seemed to hang with either him or Ryder. In short, I was screwed.
I looked over at my alarm clock and almost screamed. It was 12:05 at night! I squinted my eyes to double check and yes, it was past midnight. I looked down in dismay at my homework and saw that I had drawn multiple hearts with L.E embellished on them. Groaning I ripped the page out, folded it and put it away in my top draw. My homework could wait till tomorrow. Besides, this was a public school. Like they care wether or not I've done a few stupid questions regarding trig or whatever. Glancing over at my bed I decided that I'd have a shower in the morning and gratefully slid in between the cold sheets.
I tried clearing my mind and tried thinking of nothing for a while. My plan failed however when my alarm clock started going off. My eyes snapped open and I swore. Friggin' Toby! He was always screwing with my alarm clock. I turned over and swore again, he hadn't played with it at all! It was 7:30 in the morning! I jumped up out of bed and grabbed some clothes to wear.
"I must have fallen asleep thinking of Leif," I mumbled to myself.
Unfortunately I didn't feel as romantic as that sounded. I rushed to the bathroom and showered quickly. I didn't feel like seeing my mother or my brothers this morning so when I'd finished in the bathroom I checked the hallways. All clear. I sprinted to my room and quickly applied some makeup. After finishing I gave myself a mental nod of approval and slipped on some ankle boots. Ok, so I wasn't really Goth looking with my black jeans and pink halter-top but still, I looked ok. I threw all my books and wallet into my bag, slung it over my shoulder and threw open my window.
Lucky for me my room faced the street and right below my window was a bit of roof. Towards the end of this ledge was, conveniently, a large tree. I nimbly walked over to a jutting out branch and swung myself down. Thank you gymnastics! I landed gracefully on the ground and casually strolled to the corner of the street where I was told the school bus pulled up. Just my luck that it arrived about three seconds after I did. Smiling I hopped on and did a quick survey. No free double seats so I'd have to share.
I made my way to roughly about the middle and chose a seat at random. Before I could even properly sit down I heard hushed whispered and in took voices. I looked over to see whom I was sitting with and was greeted by a pair of very dark lined eyes.
"Is anyone going to be sitting here?" I asked politely, refraining from letting my eyes wander over her face.
The Goth shook her head and smiled a small smirk. She was devastatingly pretty. Her hair was long and a deep purple colour and her short skirt revealed gorgeous legs, albeit clad in fishnet stockings. Certain that it would be awkward if caught staring I glanced away and let my attention be grabbed by the dirty bus floor.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
I looked up at her in surprise. "Excuse me?" I asked. Some horrible image of her telling me that Leif knew I liked him flashed through my head. But how could she know? She didn't even know my name, let alone who I had a crush on. She must have caught me staring at him hungrily yesterday. God dammit! I was so obviously stupid sometimes!
"Sitting with me. Are you sure you want to?" The question gave me such relief that I sighed. She gave me a strange look and I straightened up.
"Of course, why wouldn't I want to sit with you?" I asked, mildly confused with our first conversation topic.
"You do realise that when you're new to a school the first few weeks determines the friends you'll have for the rest of your schooling life, right?" she said, raising one eyebrow. "Sitting with me could ruin your … reputation." She used the right amount of tone in her voice and it displayed her question perfectly.
"I don't really … care," I told her simply, using pause in my own tone.
She raised her other eyebrow then turned to look out the window. She had classic bone structure and the sun falling on her dark eyes made them seem ever darker. The color of her hair was an asset too; who knew anyone could pull off such a shade and look like they belonged in Vogue.
"Why would you say something like that to me? Do we know each other and I've forgotten or something?"
"I saw you hanging with Isabelle Hunter and Toby Lovell," she replied, not looking away from the window. She sounded bored as she inspected her black nails and continued on. "I don't think they'd be too happy if their new 'friend' was seen with the likes of me."
"Well Toby's my brother so yesterday I really had no choice but to hang out with him … he was like the only person I knew."
The girl spun her head and regarded my seriously. "Toby Lovell is your brother? But your last name is Valance isn't it?"
"H – how did you know my last name?" I asked slowly, seriously considering getting up to change seats. Was she following me or something?
She gave me a small smile. "You're in my English class."
"Oh … oh I'm so sorry. I didn't realise," I apologized. I scanned my memory and could find no trace of her at all. Then again, I'd been too busy fixated on the thought that Leif was sitting at the deck behind me so, if I'd missed her I couldn't really be blamed.
"I'm Vogue," she offered, tilting her head and smiling prettily. I almost grinned at the irony of her name and my idea of that's where she looked like she belonged.
"Oh, I'm Si – oh, you already know that, don't you?"
Vogue smiled and shrugged. "Mr Fischer put your name up on the board."
"Oh yeah," I laughed out. Suddenly my heart skipped a beat. That would mean Leif knew my name! Yay! "Vogue's a really cool name. What made your parents call you that?" I asked.
"Actually it's a nickname and my parents didn't give that to me either. A friend called Ryder did. He goes to our school, you probably would have seen him around."
"Ryder?" I repeated scoffing. "Why would he do a thing like that?" Mr. Ryder Conrad was in short, a self-assured little asshole. And I hated him.
Vogue narrowed her eyes dangerously, "because he is my best friend."
"Oh," I said silently. "Oh I'm sorry. Umm … what made him call you that?"
"I got asked to be some model for some big name company and when I was approached my friends totally ditched me. I kept hanging out by myself at school until one day Ryder came over and started talking to me. He invited me to sit with him and his friends and asked why I was always alone all of a sudden. I told him the story and he nicknamed me Vouge. It stuck and we've been best friends since."
"That's really sweet, not the friends bit I mean. What Ryder did was. God, what dicks. Who were you hanging out with back then?"
Vogue smiled a twisted smile. "Isabelle Hunter and Co." I was rendered speechless and her smile changed subtly. "Be careful, girl," she said before getting up and leaving me alone.
I looked out the window and saw that we'd arrived at school. I shook my head, grabbed my bag and followed the flow of bus catchers off and onto the front lawn.
Ok, I said to myself. Where did Isabelle tell me they met up in the morning? I looked around casually as I started for the main building. I remember her saying something about the quad. That's right, they sit right in the centre don't they?
Taking my own advice I headed for the huge expanse of grass in between the various buildings. When I got there I was surprised to see so many groups of people milling about. I couldn't help but look over at the large tree where Leif was sitting yesterday. My heart sunk in my chest, he wasn't there yet. Only some dude with red hair and one with black, long and limp bangs. I started focusing on each group and tried looking for Iz, or at least one of the girls or guys I had hung out with yesterday.
"I think you'll find they're still in the bathroom," said a familiar voice.
I turned to see Vogue and another silver-blonde haired Goth looking at me. Vogue smiled at me while her friend regarded me suspiciously. "Hey Vogue," I said. "Hi, I'm Sienna," I told the other girl while extending my hand, I didn't know what else to do.
The girl tilted her head and looked at me with a critical eye. Without a word she gave Vogue a pointed look then brushed past me. I followed her with my eyes and saw her collapse underneath the maple by her friends, another Goth joined them only moments later.
"Don't mind Monty, she gets like that around preps," Vouge explained to me, drawing my attention back to her.
"But I'm not a prep," I complained, almost compelled to stamp my foot.
Again with the twisted smile, "then do you want to sit with us till classes? You've got fifteen to kill."
"Yeah!" I said enthusiastically. "I mean … cool," I added on, sounding less wound up and more laid back. Vogue laughed and we started over. I looked up and my heart froze. There was Leif! And he was standing right at the tree looking directly at us! What was I supposed to say to him? "Umm …" I began, my heart starting to beat a million miles per hour. "I have to go … go … call my brother! Yes! My brother, I forget – I mean – I forgot to tell him I caught the bus. Sorry, I'll talk to you later." I finished quickly and without another glance back I rushed off to my locker, my heart and adrenalin pumping.
Vogue watched Sienna disappear amongst the throng of people with a slight frown on her face. Shrugging mentally she continued heading towards her friends. Before she had even sat down Monty spoke up.
"What was that all about?"
"What was what all about?" their friend Indy mumbled, his distraction was evident in his tone. A lock of dyed red hair fell across his forehead and he flicked it aside casually.
"Not you asshole! Vouge?" Monty snarled.
"What do you mean?" Vogue asked as she sat down next to Indy whom was happily destroying a textbook. She looked down on the shredded book with a curiously raised brow but said nothing.
"'Hi, I'm Sienna'," Monty repeated in a false high voice. "Fucking preps."
"She's not that bad Ty, she's actually really nice," Vogue told her. "I talked to her on the bus this morning, she's not bad."
"Not bad," echoed Topher dolefully, but said nothing more, preferring to slump on his backpack and attempting to catch some sleep.
"How can a fucking prep be nice? They're all backstabbing sons-of-bitches!"
"Get over it Monty," Vogue sighed, carefully rubbing her eyes.
"Get over what? Get over the preps and their whole way of living? I don't think so! You think I'll just drop it?" Monty demanded, uncharacteristically furious.
"If you're going to dwell on that for the rest of you life Ty, then you're not worth my anger," Vogue told her coolly.
"And what is that exactly Vogue? You're the bitch who brought it up! Why not remind everyone of how I got fucked over! Oh wait, 'cause it reminds them of what a fucking slut you are too!" With a vile glare in Vogue's direction Monty got up and stormed off. Woe to any who stood in her way.
"She'll be fine once she smokes some dope," Indy said idly while scrawling 'fuck Goths' over his textbook cover.
"What exactly are you doing?" Vogue asked with a small smile on her face.
"Well, I keep getting in trouble for not having my homework done, so, if I ruin my textbook I can blame it on somebody else and not get in trouble this time!" Indy said proudly while leaning back to survey his handiwork. He tore the book a bit more before nodding in approval.
"That's about as effective as burning the book and dumping the ashes on Rexford's desk," Leif spoke up.
Indy's grin widened. "Dude," he said slowly. "That has got to be the best fucking idea I've ever heard!" He thrust his hand into his pocket and withdrew his lighter.
"Indy!" Vogue scolded as she snatched the lighter away from him. "Leif, you know better than to encourage him!"
Leif laughed and wiped a false tear away from his eye. "Hey, what were you and Ty arguing about?"
"Oh, on the bus this morning I talked to that chick Sienna and I asked her if she wanted to sit with us this morning."
"Oh, so that's why you two were talking to her," Leif said. "Why didn't she?"
"She said she had to call her brother or something. I don't know. She said yes then went full strange on me."
"Once a prep always a prep," Leif sighed philosophically.
"Nah, would you call her a prep? She doesn't seem to think she is," Vogue countered, shrugging at her friends' interested quirk.
"We're talking about the girl who was hanging out with Lovell, right?" Indy asked eyeing his lighter that was still held in Vogue's black nail polished hand.
"Yeah."
"And you're trying to tell us she's not a prep? Shit, that's like criteria if you want to hang out in Lovell's posse."
"Dude, Toby is her brother," Vogue yawned.
"Her what?" both Leif and Indy asked. They looked at each other in horror. "What did you say?" Leif asked her again.
"Her brother, she told me this morning," Vogue said and leant back against the grass.
"But don't they have different last names or something?" Leif asked, vaguely remembering a different name being scrawled up on the board.
"Yeah, I'm not quite sure how it works."
"Holy fuck," Indy swore. "This is the same chick whose pants Ryder was talking about getting into right?"
"Yeah …" Leif said slowly, his brain working overtime with where Indy was going with this.
"And if she's Lovell's sister that means she's Sp –"
"Josh Lovell's cousin," Leif groaned.
"Fuck," Vogue cursed. "She seemed real cool too."
The edited version of chapter 2! I'm being careful to make sure Vogue's name is spelt the correct way, Vogue, and not Vouge. I mixed it up for a while there. Boy, am I an idiot.
So, not much changed to this chapter, just grammar and spelling and a few more added descriptions. Now, on to chapter 3!
Ah, yes. I am from here on changing the title of 'Addicted to You' to 'Sideways Ponytail Parade'. I got the idea after listening to the song, 'Ponytail Parade' by Emery, the lyrics fit so well with my story, hence the name change. But because everything was done so sporadically I added on the sideways. Right now I'm feeling extremely clever. Hahaha.