THOSE GOOD TEEN YEARS (Book 1)

Chapter Two: Back To School

The morning of the 1st of September was beautiful. Like always, it was sunny and the morning temperatures were cool.

Lakeforest Towne, situated in Los Angeles, USA, was a residential area of picturesque beauty. No matter how unsafe, loud or polluted LA was, Lakeforest was like a world in its own. It was laden with all sorts of trees; there were a variety of houses and colonies in neat blocks. It even had its own branch of private schools, which was where all the students could go to for their education. The students could go outside Lakeforest to pursue their education.

However, Lakeforest was made for the rich and the famous. It was sort of a protection against paparazzi, and also crimes in LA. The society was made by James Hoffman, a firm feminist. Feminism was a huge part that formed what Lakeforest was all about; it was like the core value, and all residents had this instilled in their heads when they came.

Which was how Sienna had come to Lakeforest. Her dad, Johnathan Scott, was a famous actor, who decided to stay away from the paps by living there. He also wanted to shield his daughter from unwanted attention. Also, Sienna's mom was a film producer. Laurel Barnes was a beautiful and successful producer. She and John had met on the sets of a film, and had instantly fallen in love. Their relationship started going downhill when Sienna was born. They had a huge difference of opinions on what to do for her, and after five years, decided to have an amiable divorce. Till this day, Sienna felt guilty about this, because she thought that her parents truly loved each other, but couldn't come together because of her.

STOP OBSESSING OVER IT, she thought. What had happened in the past was gone. She wasn't going to let it ruin her last year in middle school.

Eighth grade. FINALLY. She wanted to get this year over with, because she was a lot more excited about becoming a high schooler next year.

She gave a final look over to her image on the mirror. She had long, chocolate brown hair that swirled to ringlets towards the end, almost till her waist. Her eyes were sort of multi coloured, alternating between blue, green and brown, in different lights. She was wearing a hot pink and black dress with black kitten heels. She thought she looked dignified for an eighth grader, but whatever. Hurriedly, she left for school. And of course, pick up her friends on the way, just as she had been since fourth grade. In her limo. The perks of being an actor's daughter.

Tom, her chauffeur, was waiting as usual. First stop was Emma. A text the previous night from both Luke and Peter that said that they would be at soccer practice and didn't need to carpool meant Emma would be the first. How ironic, considering that Emma was a world class nerd and came first almost everywhere.

When she reached Emma's house in Orange Drive, she gave a honk. Emma came out hurriedly with a sandwich in her hand. Wow. She ate.

OK, that thought was an understatement. Emma did eat, it was just that she had a really fast metabolic system: if Ali was to be believed. But since Ali was excellent in Bio, Sienna had decided to believe her.

So, anyway, Emma was super thin. Like, model super thin. And she was really tall, so she definitely looked like a model. Ironically, she had curly blonde hair, which kind of looked funny (and weird) once people got to know her, because, in simple words, Emma was a nerd. A pretty nerd. To counter-argue her 'supposed' blonde image, she had huge grey eyes, and smooth, clear skin. In fact, Sienna was (shamefully) glad that Emma was a nerd, because if Emma wasn't a nerd, she would have easily displaced Sienna's position of queen bee in school. She was THAT pretty.

"Hey," Emma smiled. Sienna smiled back. Then she told Tom to go to Lincoln's place next.

"So, how was your summer?"

"Amazing. I went to meet Tori. My friend from 'Frisco, remember? She's cool and well. What about you?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Shopping. Partying. Meeting some of dad's celebrity friends, some of whom are so freakin' lame, I swear, I would be just embarrassed to BE them." Then Sienna stopped because she didn't want to talk about them. Or their idiot sons, who had TRIED hitting on her. Really, even morons had limits. 

They reached Lincoln's place, a pretty two storied house with a lot of vines and flowers that made it look like a warm and homely place. Sienna remembered that his mom and dad were into this.

Lincoln came out with his trademark grin, a grin that made even Sienna think he was upto no good. He usually wasn't. He was either pulling pranks on people, or doing weird things in his homemade laboratory, like in Dexter's Laboratory. He had a curly brown hair and bright brown eyes that looked like he had way too much caffeine. Sienna treated and loved him like an annoying brother she never had. He was her first friend, even though he was best buds with Ali and Luke.

"Hey, Beauty Queen! What up? Hot dress, by the way, I'm sure the line of the boys will just increase even more, huh? Like, say, 100%?" He winked. Sienna rolled her eyes and didn't comment on his nickname for her. He had started calling her that since sixth grade, and by now she was used to it. Wow. Things change.

They finally reached Ali's place. It was the best place ever. It wasn't huge or big even; it was a nice and cosy red brick house with a huge garden around it, like surrounding it. Sienna and her gang had a lot of fun here. Finally, Ali came out. Out all the people in Lakeforest, Alison Thomas struck her as the most, well, striking person. She had straight dark blonde hair which she had dyed with pink and green streaks since seventh grade. She preffered black clothing so she was kind of Goth. A big thing in Lakeforest, since everyone was prim and proper here. She wore eyeliner, and she had skull earrings, and a skull ring in her little finger. Also, she wore black boots which were gold (not real) plated, which Sienna found seriously wrong, because who wears BOOTS in SUMMER. In LA actually, where it didn't even get cold. But whatever. Sienna respected her friends' fashion choices, no matter how appalling she found it.

"Si!!! God, have I missed you! OK, this is how I'll greet you today because I stayed up really late last night and before you start a lecture on beauty sleep, just don't because I was doing something really important, Ok? Thanks. Now, lemme catch a few zzzs before we reach school. Good Night."

So. This was her weird group of carpool ers. Great. Amazing. NOT.