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I remember when I was wishing that everything was alright...

"Isabelle! Peter is here!" my mom yelled from downstairs.

I cringed slightly at her using our full names. I knew why she did it; it drove both of us insane and I could just see her smiling evilly to herself. She was a brat at heart.

"Coming!" I yelled grabbing my backpack and went to look in the mirror. I smiled slightly.

I stood in my bedroom staring at my reflection wearing a tank top and jeans for the first day of school. It had been a long time since I was able to wear a tank top, but since the incident, Pete has been nothing but perfect. The boys had even had a couple more gigs to finish off the summer and Pete had kept his temper under control when we were together. It was a breath of fresh air for the both of us.

Patrick was more than not understanding when I had told him that I had forgiven Pete. I still remember the look of disappointment in his eyes. It practically crushed my soul. It took him a week to start looking at me normally again, and things have gotten better. Actually, Patrick and I have been closer friends since the incident. He is now my favorite shopping partner and he listens when I have to talk about things, and when I say things I mean Pete.

"Isabelle!" my mom yelled again breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah!" I yelled taking one last look in the mirror. "Senior year, here I come," I said to myself and galloped down the stairs.

Pete was standing at the door and smiled as soon as I came into view. I was shocked to see that he had on eyeliner. He never wore eyeliner to school.

"Hello Peter," I said using his full name.

"Took you long enough Isabelle," he said back smiling.

"Ok, you two. If you don't hurry, you will be late," my mom said trying to shoo us out the door.

"In that case, are you hungry?" I asked Pete not wanting to go to school.

"Very funny, Izzy. Go," my mom said practically pushing us out the door. Pete just laughed and grabbed my hand as we walked to the car.

"No Joe?" I asked seeing that the car was empty.

"Nope. A.J. is giving him a ride," Pete said getting into the car. I just raised my eyebrows.

A.J. was the poor, unsuspecting, new girl who Joe had met in the food court. Crazy enough, they got along really well. She stated that Joe made her laugh. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

We drove to school in a comfortable silence. I couldn't believe that we were seniors. We will be graduating in May and in a year starting colleges at who knows where. It all seemed so unreal.

"So I'll see you in English Lit?" Pete asked as we walked into the school.

"Yeah," I said and smiled at him. He squeezed my hand quickly and went off to his locker.

I slowly walked over to mine wishing summer to be back. I procrastinated at my locker by putting my notebooks on the shelf one by one. I really did not want to go to Statistics. I pretended to dig through my bag looking for something when I heard her laugh.

After the incident, no one had seen Carrie. I had no idea what Pete had said to her after I had caught them, but it must have scared her off. I wasn't complaining, however. I looked up just as she was passing by with the other carbon copies of Barbie. I wasn't sure how Carrie fit into that mold since she had dark hair, but they seemed to like her. I have no idea why. As Carrie passed she just glared my way and whispered something to the platinum blondes. They all laughed and kept walking. I just rolled my eyes and went to class. Oh yeah, it was going to be a long year.

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"So how was your first day of school?" Patrick asked as we sat at Pete's house doing nothing in particular.

It was a rare occasion that we did anything at Pete's since he still couldn't stand to be around his father, but his parents took a second honeymoon to Hawaii.

"It blew," I said poking at my pizza that sat in front of me.

"Well, I didn't think it was that bad," Pete said laughing at me.

"Man, Izzy. Aren't you being a little dramatic about school?" Patrick asked shaking his head at me.

"She always is," Pete said taking my plate away from me. He hated when I played with my food. I just sat up and put my hands in my lap.

"It wouldn't suck so much if I didn't have to see her," I said irritated that they were laughing at me.

Pete dropped the plate in the sink causing a loud bang. It was an unspoken rule that we wouldn't bring her up. I noticed that he had tensed up. I hadn't seen him tense up in such a way since before the incident.

"Sorry, it is just how I feel," I said quietly.

Pete didn't have to say anything to let me know he was upset that I had brought it up. He turned around and just stared at me giving no emotion what so ever. He just shrugged and walked back over to Patrick and me.

"Well, my first day was great!" Patrick said sounding extremely sarcastic. Pete took his attention from me to him, but I just watched Pete's face.

"Really? Why do I sense that it wasn't so much?" Pete asked laughing slightly.

"Oh, I got put in all these A.P classes, so now I get teased even more than I did before," he said smiling overly big. Patrick went to a different school than us and he was only a junior. He didn't have many friends at his school, and I felt bad for him.

"Oh Trick, I'm sorry. But good for you to being a smarty pants," I said trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah, no shit. You keep going at this rate, you'll catch up to Izzy and me," Pete said shaking his head in disbelief.

"That's the plan," he said quietly.

We all shook our heads knowingly. All four boys deep down had the hopes that someday their dream of becoming a big name in the music world would eventually happen. They just never outwardly spoke about it.

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"Pete, I said I was sorry. What the hell more do you want me to say?" I said sitting from his bed watching him pace around his room.

"I just don't understand why you had to bring her up and in front of Patrick," he said getting more angry by the second.

"Well sorry! Patrick is the only one who knows why Carrie isn't coming around anymore. I didn't think it would be such a big deal. Besides, I can't help how I feel. How would you feel if someone walked past you in a group and they all started laughing as they looked your way? You would feel pretty shitty!" I said loudly.

"I can't control what Carrie does at school," he said continuing to pace.

"I never asked you to!" I said tired of this conversation. Was this what our senior year was going to be filled with; us fighting about her?

"Damn it Izzy! Let's just fucking drop it," he said putting his hands through his hair.

"Fine by me. Call me when you have calmed down," I said getting up from his bed and started to walk towards the door.

Pete quickly grabbed at my arm and pulled me back towards him. I looked up at him in shock.

"When are you going to stop blaming me?" he asked quietly, but with much anger in his voice. I could feel that ever familiar feeling of his finger tips digging into my skin again as he squeezed tighter waiting for a response.

"I'm not blaming you," I said trying not to stutter out the words.

"Yes you are. You have been since this whole thing happened. I'm sick of it! Get the fuck over it!" he yelled into my face and shook me slightly. My fear had quickly turned to anger as well.

"Get over it? Fuck you! How would you feel if you saw me in the position that I saw you? Would you be able to get over it? Probably not," I shouted at him. My arm had gone numb and could have really cared less.

"How would I feel?" he asked pushing me down on the bed. "How do you think I felt coming to your house to find Patrick had spent the night? Or how do you think I feel about you guys hanging out together all the time? How do you think I feel?" he shouted as he gripped my shoulders.

"Jesus, Pete! We are just friends. How can you be jealous of Patrick?" I asked standing up now. Pete looked at me shocked. He wasn't used to me fighting back.

"Well maybe if you didn't flaunt your shit all over him, I wouldn't have to be jealous!" he yelled at me.

"Fuck that shit! I don't flaunt my shit all over him. You know what? Call me when you fucking start thinking clearly because right now you are acting like a fucking psycho," I said trying to move around him to leave.

"Fuck you!" Pete said throwing me against his book shelves. Some picture frames and action figures fell down on me. I cried out in pain as I held onto my arm. I looked up as he started to walk towards me scared he was going to strike me.

"Get the fuck out!" he yelled.

I quickly got up and ran down the stairs. I didn't bother putting my shoes on, I just picked them up and ran. Once I finally got home, I quietly opened the door in hopes my mom wouldn't hear.

"Izzy is that you?" my mom asked from the living room. No such luck. I cleared my throat in hopes that it wouldn't sound as shaky as my body was acting.

"Yeah mom," I said sounding like I had been crying. I cringed slightly.

"How was school?" she asked not moving from her spot in the living room. Apparently she didn't notice my voice.

"Fine," I said and quickly ran upstairs in hopes she got the hint that our conversation was over.

I walked into my room and let the tears run down my face. I looked into my mirror that I had done earlier that morning and saw the huge bruises forming on my arm. I then lifted up my tank top in pain and saw another large bruise forming on my side from the book shelf. So much for being able to wear a tank top.