At lunch, I walk through the cafeteria doors with my head held high. Of course, Jake still has my lunch, and I intend to get some food, so I strut over to Jake's table. Jonathan is there, and so are two other guys; Nick Stebbin and Harrison Canyon. Amelié Hemmer also sits there with two of her friends, Ellie Michaels and Isabel Jenkins. Jake is the center of attention of course, and I notice that his lunch is on the table, but he has mine in his hand. I walk up, and Jake hugs me to him. I try to snatch my lunch, but Jake seems to anticipate this and holds it out of my reach. I jump to try to grab it and utterly miss. Jake laughs and pulls out a chair. I know what's coming, yet I still let out a little yelp as Jake picks me up and plops me onto his lap.

"Guys," he says, "this is my girlfriend, Monica Abbey. She's amazing and sweet, but she's also got this awesome sarcastic side." I smile at him. Amelié looks at me before breaking out in a grin.

"You've chosen well, Jake. We have a new queen of the school!" Turning to me, she says, "We must make this official. At Homecoming, we are introducing you two to the whole school, but right now, let Ellie, Isabel, and I go spread the word. Everyone will know by the dance, Saturday night." They quickly get up from the table and run to different tables, spreading the word fast. I chuckle and grab at my lunch again, but Jake holds me down.

"Look, Jake, you need to eat, too! If I feed myself, then you can eat as well and it will all be fine." Jake sighs and slips the brown paper bag into my hand, saying,

"Fine, but please don't get your own chair." I laugh,

"I'll stay here, Jake." He grins, taking a bite of his sandwich with one hand and holding onto me with the other. I unwrap my lunch and eat my sandwich as we all have a fun conversation. I notice as we talk that many girls are eying my position with wistful expressions, and every kid looks over at this table every once in a while. I spot Archer and Mallie at a table not too far away, and Mallie waves. I wave back, and then tell Jake I want to say hi. He insists on coming with.

"Hey, Mallie-girl," I say. She laughs and fist bumps me. Jake nods at Archer, but then actually introduces himself after I slap him across the face.

"I'm Jake. Nice to meet you." Archer laughs,

"Women." Mallie turns,

"Yes?"

"What about us?" I ask. Jake puts his arm around my shoulders.

"You two can be deadly when you're together." Mallie and I look at each other, and in unison say,

"True, true." I smile, soaking up the moment: laughing with my bff as my boyfriend kisses the top of my head. Then the moment passes and Jake and I go back to the table where Amelié is just returning. We sit down again, Jake in the chair and me in his lap. I can feel every muscle in the arm that is wrapped around my middle. I rub the skin, and Jake squeezes tight in response. I slip my hand into his. Jake and his boys start talking about video games, and I'm only half interested, so I turn a little and join Amelié's gang's conversation.

"Monica," Amelié says, "are you free tomorrow? Ellie, Isabel, and I are going to have a slumber party tomorrow night at my house, and then we'll all drive to school the next morning."

"I'd love to!" I say, my face positively shining at the thought that I was now included in the popular girl stuff. Amelié's face brightens as well and I feel so happy to be included. My phone buzzes with a text,

Mallie: I'm pretty sure you're the only person that could get away with slapping Jake Easton ;).

I start to type back, saying,

Monica: I bet his dad could get away with it, but before I can send it, Jake rips my phone from me.

"Monica!" he hisses.

"She would have taken it as a joke, Jake!"

"I don't care!"

"Well, I care about you! And I don't want anyone hurting you." At this Jonathan turns toward us.

"Who's hurting Jake?" Jake waves him off,

"No one, Jonathan. Monica, can we go talk somewhere private?" I sigh,

"Fine, Jake." He puts his arm around my shoulders and casually steers me out of the cafeteria and into an empty classroom. The minute we are alone, he looks at me with slight betrayal in his eyes.

"Monica! I thought I could trust you."

"You can, Jake!" He shakes his head.

"This just proved that maybe I can't."

"So I have to choose your trust or your wellbeing? You or your safety?" Jake puts his head in his hands. Squeezing my hand, he says,

"Babe, I'm not going to let him do this forever. I promise I'm planning to tell someone. I can't yet, though. I have to wait for the right moment. And it can't be you exposing him, or he's going to hurt you, somehow." He looks at me with pleading eyes. I give in,

"Fine, you tell someone when you're ready." A smile breaks out on Jake's face. He gathers me up in his arms and I lean my head on his chest.

"I love you," he says into my hair.

"I love you more," I whisper back. Jake rubs my back and gets the last word.

"I love you most."

…..

Amelié's house is sweet and simple. Her mother is full French and barely speaks any English. As Amelié, Ellie, Isabel, and I walk in the door, Mrs. Hemmer buzzes in from the kitchen with a plate of homemade mini baguettes.

"Please, help yourzelves!" she says. We thank her, but Amelié immediately directs us to her room. Her room is decked out with lavenders and blues. She has a huge vanity with more makeup than Mallie has! The three other girls sit me down in front of the mirror. Then, Ellie starts braiding my hair intricately. She's obviously very talented. Amelié and Isabel give her suggestions as for what to do in my hair. When they're done, I look like a queen.

"El, you've got to do this in all of our hair for the dance!" Amelié exclaims.

"She's absolutely right, El!" Isabel agrees. Ellie blushes. I thought I was a girly-girl, but these girls put a whole new meaning into the word.

Throughout the night, I am slowly initiated into their group. This consists of many makeovers, selfies, and matchmaking schemes. I find out that Amelié likes Jonathan, Ellie is dating Harrison, and Nick and Isabel just broke up a while ago. Apparently, when the whole group appears in public, Amelié and Jonathan are a couple and so are Nick and Isabel, but the only real couples are Harrison and Ellie, and, of course, Jake and I.

We watch some chick flick much like the ones that Mallie always ropes me into watching. While I enjoy having Jake kiss me, I've always found it hard to watch people kiss on screen. There is a lot of kissing in this movie. Too much of it, really. I mean, 75% of the main character's screen time is snogging (with about three different guys, I might add.) Amelié, Ellie, and Isabel seem to enjoy it, though, so I don't voice my opinions.

These girls are really sweet, despite their choice in movies. They tell me all about the rise and fall of the popular hierarchy. Isabel is a great storyteller; she's got me hooked!

"When Amelié, El, and I were freshmen, the seniors were the popular ones. They've been in college for two years now. Anyway, all the seniors had this tight-knit group where they all had positions of power. The king of them all, and, in turn, all of us highschoolers, was named Calvin Brigby. He had a girlfriend named Louise Snow who was also a senior. She was the queen, and let me tell you, she was a tyrant. Together, the two were unbeatable- and scary. If you were dumb, smart, different in any way, or a freshman, you were terrorized. I remember Nick got beat up by Calvin's best friend, Tom Hannigan, and all because he didn't have a crush on Louise. Why the girl couldn't share her admirers beats me. Everyone was happy when they graduated. I'm pretty sure both Calvin and Louise are in jail now.

"The next year, Calvin's little brother Griffin Brigby, a new senior, took over. His girlfriend was named Sadie Draffs. They were a little better than Calvin and Louise, but not by much. Sadie was a pushover and did everything that Griffin- and Calvin- told her to do. They're now all in their first year of college. We all, as sophomores, tried to protect your grade, who were freshmen. I'd say we did a pretty good job! I'm sure that you didn't know all those logistics, did you?

"Now, this year, a select group of juniors, us, are in charge because the seniors didn't want the leadership. They're all too busy playing DnD. Everyone just automatically turns to Jake; he's always been the king of our grade because his dad is rich, yet he's so nice, and doesn't go around flaunting his dad's power! I'm sure you know that by now. As much as I like Jonathan, he'd make a terrible king of the school. He's too much like Calvin and Griffin."

As they fill me in on all of the gossip, my mind wanders. The way they talk about the change of power freaks me out a tiny bit. When I'm a senior, I have no doubt that Eben and Veronica will be king and queen, if they're still together. And I'm sure that I will be targeted like crazy. It makes it even more clear that I have to destroy Eben's popularity. It wouldn't hurt to take Veronica down, as well. This just got more serious.