Morning came all too quickly for Maddie. They had arrived on Thursday which meant that, at least, the terror of the first day of school would be followed by a weekend. Maddie slowly got herself out of bed and ready for school. She couldn’t help but to be curious about her new school. She had always went to the local public school but Bellmont High was a private school. She had never worn uniforms to school and already hated the concept of them. She finished getting dressed and looked herself over in the mirror. The plaid skirt and button up shirts were horribly plain in comparison to how Maddie liked to dress. Her originality was something Maddie took pride in and now it was gone.This, however, she knew she had no power over but tried to make it look as good as she possibly could by wearing a pair of trendy high heels with it. After forcing herself to be somewhat pleased by her appearance she made her way to the kitchen.
    ”Good Morning!” her mom smiled as she looked up from her newspaper.
    ”You made breakfast?” Maddie asked, puzzled. Ever since she could remember her mother never had time for breakfast.
    ”Room service,” mom smiled. ” Have some.” That explained it well enough for Maddie and she joined her mom at the breakfast table. “I’ve explained to Mr. Wilford that I’ll be driving you to school today since its your first day.”
    ”Mom you make it sound like I’m five years old,” Maddie sighed.
    ”I just want to make sure you get where you’re going okay.” mom smiled. “Finish your breakfast and we’ll go.”
    Maddie looked out of the window as Bellmont High came into view. She had never seen such a nice school before. She knew she wouldnt completely fit in,as she was certain, it would be different from public school. The knot that had been forming in her stomach worsened as her mom parked the car and gave Maddie some lunch money. “Have a good day,” mom smiled. Maddie just gave her a look as if to say ’shoot me now’ as she grabbed her backpack and got out of the car. “It’ll be okay. You’ll make friends in no time!”
    ”Bye,” Maddie sighed as she shut the door. ” I’ll take the bus home.”
    ”Bye,” her mom said and pulled away.
    Staring at the ground Maddie made her way toward the front doors of the school. She was trying not to stand out so as to not draw unwanted attention to herself ,but as always, she did just the opposite. Since she wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going she ran right into someone. “Ah!” she squealed as she fell backwards and her books fell everywhere around her.
    ”Are you okay?” the guy she had run into asked as he kneeled down to help her pick her books up.
    ”Uhm im sorry I wasn’t watching where I was going and….” she stammered shyly avoiding looking him in the eye.
    ”It’s okay dont worry about it,” he interrupted.  “I havent seen you before. Are you new?” he asked as they got back to their feet.
    For the first time Maddie looked him in the eyes and noticed that he must be the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. “Ugh… yeah I…I am.” she muttered.
    ”I’m Brody,” he grinned as he handed her back her books. He must have been about six foot tall and had dark mysterious eyes to match his bronze, muscular skin.
    ”I’m Maddie,” Maddie sighed unable to look away from him.
    ”Well I guess I’ll see you around then,” Brody smiled as he walked  away to rejoin his friends.
    Maddie was too busy watching Brody leave that she didn’t notice the two kids she’d met the other night walking up to her. In fact, they had been watching the entire time from nearby. “So, Maddie, I see you met Brody Thompson,” Lucy said as they approached.
    ”Oh hey!” Maddie jumped a little as they jerked her out of her daydream. “Yeah, I was such an idiot though.”
    ”Oh, no need to explain. We saw the whole thing,” Lucy retorted.
    ”You weren’t an idiot.” Toby smiled at her.
    ”He’s so cute!” Maddie sighed still watching Brody talking to his friends.
    ”Of course he is,” Toby sighed sarcasticly, a hint of dissapointment in his voice. “Well I gotta go. I’ll catch ya later.”
    ”Later,” Lucy and Maddie both waved as he left.
    ”What’d Toby mean by of course he is?” Maddie asked.
    ” Brody is the hottest guy in school, class president, captain of the football team, basketball team and baseball team, and he’s dating the most gorgeous girl in the entire student body,” Lucy explained.
    ”Wow!” Maddie sighed.
    ”Ugh, he’s totally self absorbed,” Lucy replied.
    ”How can you say that?” Maddie asked shocked at Lucy’s bluntness.
    ”Because it’s true. All he sees is himself and he knows how great he is. There is no personality there. That’s why he and Khayla deserve each other.” Lucy explained.
    ”I think theres more to him than meets the eye,” Maddie said. ” There has to be. I could tell when I looked into his eyes.”
    ”I’m sure you could,” Lucy replied. “If we dont get to class we’ll be in detention before you can find out for sure.”
    ”Is he in any of our classes?” Maddie asked as they walked down the hallway.
    ”Let me see your schedule,” Lucy answered. ” I dont even know if I’m in any of your classes.”
    ”Oh I hope so. I would feel so awkward not knowing any body at all,” Maddie replied.
    ”Between me and Toby we are in all your classes with you.” Lucy informed her. “Uhm and yeah Brody is in some of your classes but unfortunately so is Khayla.”
    ”Who?” Maddie asked.
    ”Khayla Saunders. Most popular girl in school not to mention head cheerleader and the envy of the entire student body. Her only flaw is that she’s not too smart,” Lucy explained as they approached their first class.
    They walked into Mrs.Leary’s british literature class and Maddie went through the whole introducing the new girl thing, which needless to say, was totally embarrassing for her. Luckily, she got to sit next to Lucy and she had  a great view of Brody, who unfortunately, was sitting next to Khayla. It was obvious who Khayla was as she strategically altered her uniform to make it look much hotter than any one elses. Maddie could see why Brody was dating her; she was gorgeous. She had perfect wavy hair that ran down her back and a perfectly tanned body that no one could even try to compete with. Maddie knew she could never steal a guy like that from Khayla but that didnt stop her from wanting too.
    The first half of the day went by pretty quickly. Maddie wasnt too lonely and didnt feel very awkward since Toby and Lucy were there with her. Finally, it was lunch time and Maddie could take a break. She and Toby walked to the cafeteria together slowly. “How has your day been so far?” he asked as they waited in the lunch line.
    ”Good so far. I’m still tryin to get used to where everything is though,” Maddie answered. “Where’s Lucy?”
    ”She’ll be here soon,” Toby answered. “She had chemistry and it probably went over a little bit.”
    ”Eh, I hate chemistry. I took it last year at my old school,” Maddie said as they took their trays and went to find a table. “I wish I could sit at Brody’s table.” she sighed although she hadn’t meant to say it so loudly.
    ”Dream on,”Lucy said as she caught up with them. “To him we’re invisible.”
    ”Thats not true,” Maddie protested as they sat down at a vacant table.
    ”Oh yeah,”Toby replied. ” theres three main groups of people in this school. The populars, the nerds and the invisibles.”
    ”We are invisibles,” Lucy clarified. “We’re in between the populars and the nerds so we’re invisible.”
    ”Until the populars want someone to make fun of. Then we get noticed,” Toby replied.
    ”Well that doesn’t seem fair,” Maddie frowned. “At my old school things were alot different.”
    ”Well this is just the way it’s always been,” Toby said.
    ”Well i dont want to be invisible,”Maddie retorted.
    ”Well you might get your wish,” Lucy said “uhm you seemed to get someone’s attention.” she gestured toward the populars table. Brody looked up at her and smiled but Khayla saw it and promtly kicked him under the table.
    ”Wow you just got a look from Brody….a good look,” Lucy sighed.
    ”Dont forget the death look you got from Khayla,” Toby replied.
    They all glanced back at Khayla.”Ugh you’re right” Maddie sighed.
    ”Ugh who is that?” Khayla asked her best friend.
    ”Like I know,” Audrina answererd flipping back her hair.
    ”Her name’s Maddie,” Brody answered. The two girls looked at him with a blank look. “She’s new. Remember Mrs. Leary introduced her in first period english this morning.”
    ”Oh,” Audrina nodded.
    ”Oh right,” Khayla sighed. “Well if she doesn’t want to be invisible then we’ll take care of that.” Khayla grinned as a plan formed in her twisted high school royalty brain.
    ”Oh I know that look!” Audrina squealed clapping her hands together. “The new girl is this year’s target!”
    ”Yep and we’ll make sure every one notices her,” Khayla smiled.
    ”Khayla why do you have to do stuff like that to girls like her?” Brody asked shaking his head. He wasn’t as cruel as Khayla but had never questioned her acts until now.
    ”Because the people in this school need to know their place otherwise there would be complete….uhm what word am I looking for?” khayla explained.
    ”Chaos,” Audrina answered.
    ”Yeah chaos, and who wants that?” She retorted. “things work just fine the way they are.”
    ”Yo Brody!” one of his team mates called Brody away from the two teen princesses.
    ”That’s Chase, I better go see what’s up,” Brody seized the opportunity to make a quick exit and left the two conspiring girls at their table.
    Of course Maddie noticed Brody leaving and decided that now would be a good chance to bump into him again so she jumped up from the table and headed to throw her trash away so she could see Brody. Audrina noticed this first and nudged Khayla. “Look, she’s tryin to steal your guy!”
    ”Oh, she is so going to regret this,” Khayla sneered crossing her arms. “Audrina I want you to find out everything you can about this Maddie. She is so going down.”
    ”Got it. We’ll find something against her. You always find some way to keep the people in their place around here,” Audrina was a suck up when it came to complimenting Khayla.
    ”You’re right, I do,” Khayla smiled. “and that is why I am the most popular girl in school.”
    ”That, and you are so gorgeous that everyone wants to be you!” Audrina complimented.
    ”Right, now I’ve got some work to do,” Khayla sneered keeping her eyes on Maddie. She made her way over to where Brody leaned against the wall talking to Chase. Maddie stood nearby throwing her trash in one of the cafeterias large garbage cans. She watched as Brody spoke to Maddie.
    ”So how is your first day going so far?” Brody asked. The idea of her boyfriend speaking to this new girl infuriated Khayla.
    ”Good, I guess,” Maddie answered turning to face Brody.
    ”That’s good. I’m glad no one has giving you any trouble,” Brody smiled at her.
    Unfortunately Brody spoke too soon and about that time Khayla tripped and dumped her drink all over Maddie’s frontside. Shocked Maddie stood there speechless with her mouth open. “Oh!” Khayla sneered. “I totally did not see you there.” she said and did not try to hide the fact that she had done it on purpose.
    ”Are you alright?” Brody asked as he helped Maddie get some paper towels to dry off with. Khayla stomped off offended that Brody had offered to help the new girl. “I’m sorry about Khayla,” Brody added.
    ”Maddie!” Lucy and Toby rushed over to help.
    ”Are you alright?” Toby asked drying off her face with his jacket sleeve.
    ”Yeah I’ll survive,” Maddie smiled back at him.
    ”Come on, I’ve got another shirt you can wear,”Lucy said, leading Maddie away from the cafeteria. After Maddie had changed she thanked Lucy and told her about talking to Brody before Khayla showed up. “We have got to get her back!” Lucy retorted.
    ”Yeah but how? I really dont want to stoop to her pathetic level,” Maddie sighed. What Khayla had done was mean but it was also very affective. It embarrased Maddie very much. The whole senior class saw it and probably laughed with Khayla too,with the exception of Lucy and Toby. “Brody probably thinks I’m such a dork now,” Maddie sighed.
    ”Dont worry we are so going to make Khayla pay for this!” Lucy assured her. “Now lets focus on getting through the rest of the day and then we’ll focus on Khayla.”
    The rest of the day was not quite as easy as the first half. Khayla was in her gym class and her physics class but not her free period. By the time that study hall came around Maddie was thrilled to see Brody but not Khayla. “Hey,” he whispered sitting behind Maddie.
    ”Hey,” Maddie whispered back as butterflies filled her stomach. Brody had never been this close to her before.
    ”Listen I’m really sorry bout what happened at lunch,” he apologized.
    ”It wasn’t your fault,” Maddie sighed.
    ”It kinda was. Khayla gets incredibly jealous of anyone I talk to. So you can see why I feel responsible,” Brody explained.
    ”Yeah but it’s not your fault,”Maddie replied. “Can I ask you something?”
    ”Yeah, sure,” Brody answered.
    ”If Khayla really is so controlling then why are you dating her?” Maddie asked.
    ”The truth is that I’m not dating her,” Brody answered.
    ”What!?” Maddie sputtered in shock. Before she could say anything else Brody continued explaining.
    ”I broke up with her a month ago and she refuses to let anyone know that its true. She thinks that by pretending it never happened it will be like i never dumped her. I can’t date someone like her any more. She’s cruel to people like you that dont deserve to be humiliated.”
    ”Well thanks for not going along with her,” Maddie smiled. “It meant alot to me.”
    ”Now can I ask you a question?” Brody asked.
    ”Yeah i guess so,” Maddie replied.
    ”Would you go to dinner with me this Saturday?” Brody asked.
    ”Uhm,” Maddie stammered.
    ”If you’re worried about Khayla finding out dont be.Please,” Brody pleaded.
    ”I think I can handle Khayla,” Maddie smiled. “So yes I will.”
    ”I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven,” Brody smiled just as the bell rang. “See you later!”
    ”Later!” Maddie sat there stunned. It was Lucy the brought her back to reality. she told LUcy everything that happened while they were walking down the hall.
    ”Oh wow! Thats amazing. Maybey he’s not what I had thought after all!” Lucy exclaimed.
    ”I have no idea what to wear or say or anything,” Maddie confessed.
    ”I will help you then. I’ll meet you tomorrow at the pool. We can hang out, get some lunch and then I’ll help you get ready for your date!” Lucy offered.
    ”Sure that sounds great!” Maddie said. “I guess I’ve got to catch the bus.”