Fitting In Is A Trend

Las Vegas

It was cold, like the cold autumn nights, but she knows it's not fall. She can't seem to remember what happened before she arrived, but she's here to stay.\\

The store lights glistened and gleamed and I grasped my jacket tighter. This " autumn night" wasn't what I was expecting on an August evening.

I read the sign that I loved so dearly, " Luigi's Pizzeria."

I walked in, and my sense of smell was invaded with the smell of pizza. My body adjusted to the temperature that was now warm and cozy. I searched the crowded store for a familiar face, Isabelle's to be exact. After lunch ended she invited me to chill with her friends tonight at Luigi's. How could I deny, I have literally nothing going on in my life anyways.

"Charlie, Charlie" I heard my name being yelled from the back of the store, but was cut off by the loud band on stage starting up with another song.The guitar is beginning to scream and I feel a headache arriving.

Then I see her. Isabelle's short black hair is covering her face like long bangs. She's not wearing what she wore at school, a big yellow and blue peace t and blue skinny jeans. No, she's wearing a black tank top and beige khaki pants. Her cold fingers covered with rings grab me and pull me to the back where 3 other people sit in a booth. Already began eating I see, and I don't blame, I am 12 minutes late. There're 1 girl and 2 boys sitting at a table with 2 pizzas already there.

"Hey Charlie, take a seat," Isabelle says and points to the booth.

I take a seat by the boy closest to me. He smiles, I see he has a nose ring. COol.

"That's Trent." Isabelle begins. She points to the boy with the nose ring by me. I analyze his bronze face which was smooth as a baby bottom. No acne in sight and I was oh-so jealous. His smile was bright and contagious. A type that made you feels safe, and not creeped out, which is hard to master. He had a little goatee going on as well, which fit his long but well fit face. His coffee brown hair, covered with wild curls that reminded me of my mines, was pulled back and put into a ponytail, that revealed his many ear piercings, as well as his eyebrow piercing.

"Hey, I'm Trent."

"Uh - Hey Charlie." I awkwardly waved.

The girl sitting next to him put out her pale hand with fingernails painted an amethyst purple, expecting me to shake it.

I do and we make eye contact. Her pale blue eyes aren't hard to see even in this darkly dimmed place.

"I'm Lydia, Lydia Foster.Nice to meet you Charlie."

"Same to you, Lydia"

She smiles and continues on with the introducing.

", And this is Levon. He speaks Spanish believe it or not."

My eyes widened at this fact and only because Levon looked to be Asian. And I'm not to point out the obvious but it was pretty obvious that it can be true. His black hair and black eyes matching his black t-shirt and black bracelets. I figure this guy likes the color black.

"Yeah, yeah I can speak Spanish and I'm Asian, yes. But hey I'm adopted so don't look so surprised."

"No, I think that's cool. You can like trick people yah know, or umm something like that" I attempt to mutter out.

"Hahaha, In fact, at the end of freshman year Levon and I went gambling in Las Vegas with these Mexican gamblers who were cheating by speaking Spanish to each other. To make a long story short we won, with the help of Levon and his trusty Espanol. They jumped us and kicked us out into the street later on, claiming we were the ones cheating, whatever, it was a fun experience overall." Trent explained as he picked up another slice of pizza.

"Yeah, it was pretty hectic. Running away isn't all fun to be honest." Levon said.

"You guys ran way?" I asked wanting to know more. I've always dreamt of running from my highly distressed mother, but I can just tell that dream would end in a nightmare. "Running away from your problems will not fix them, but make them more enhanced" Something my father would always say. I wish he would've taken heed to his own advice.

"Yah, it wasn't as amazing as it sounds. We could've died of some mishap actually. The weather was freezing even though it was summer time, like now , and we ran out of money to get gas for my dads car that I "borrowed" and then I lost my beloved flip phone Kyle ,and then this lady with big ti-"

Isabelle coughed and began to talk.

"Guys, I didn't invite Charlie to come here tonight to hear you guys babble on about how "hardcore" you guys were. I actually invited her-"

"Because the principle paid you to," I began "And she thinks I'm going down the wrong path and that I should make friends before I lose all hope on life , blah yeah blah I know. I'm useless plus a charity case."

"No Charlie. Not entirely. I invited you because I found out some things about you that you might want to know. Me and Lydia did in fact."

"Pardon?"

Lydia came closer to me as if to whisper even though she was across the square table from me which enabled her to. Her pale blue eyes outlined with black eyeliner met my brown ones and stayed.

"Mackenzie Crawford, you know her right?" she asked me

"Uh, yeah, The smartest bitch in the school. She knows everything - gossip wise."

"That's the one" Trent laughed.

"Well, she's going around telling others to nominate you for the Miss Garnish Beauty Competition, which I'm partly in charge of. Knowing of you I know you did not know of this and that you do not want to be a part of it." Lydia declared.

"Hell yeah, I don't."

"Well, I can't necessarily dismiss your votes, but I can help you win the competition. You know, for fun."

"Wait a moment, I DO NOT fancy beauty competitions with a passion or just for fun.'

"Hahaha, that sentence sounds worded wrong" chucked Levon.

Ignoring Levon Lydia went on " Yeah, I know but I think it's time that this plastic school has some change for a change. You see "we" hate this school," She points to her friends. " And "we" want to raise some havoc in this bitch!"

Hearing a Preppy Lydia curse was something to live for. Her wardrobe only consisted of knee high dresses and knee high socks. Tonight she wore a white dress with pale pink roses embroidered on it and white and black striped socks with dark brown ankle boots. She always managed to pull it off no matter the weather. Teachers loved her for her enthusiasm in any class and hearing her curse made me giggle just for about 5 seconds.

"In this bitch aye?" I asked assuring myself if I heard the right words.

"Don't mind her potty mouth" Trent mused. "She's just now learning to curse. Do not encourage it." He pled.

"Shut up Trent. Cursing allows me to express my feelings more upfront than using big words and screaming them to the gods above."

"Yes Lyd, we don't want to bother the many gods above" Levon joked.

"ANYWAYYYS, I asked Isabelle here to invite you to see if you were up for the challenge. It'll be fun, switching up the norm in that place. WHAtdya say Charlie? You down to fuck-some-shit-up!?"

This offer required some serious thought. No doubt I hated that school and the many girls who competed in that ridiculous competition. But I also hated being the center of attention. My mother already took care of that for me, but it is time for me to live and forget my terrible past.

"Yeah", I said. " I'm down."

"Awesome!" Trent clapped.

"This is going to be insane" Levon nodded.

"Okay Charlie," Isabelle started to speak. "We'll tell you the rest of the plan tomorrow after school. Meet us at the Eternal Fountain outside of the main library And wear all black, Okay?"

"No problem."I responded.

Black is my specialty.