Chapter Four
After school, Chase and I—never thought I’d start a sentence like that—headed over to Izzy’s house. Adam had to drive us there, because I lacked the very useful essential of a driver’s license. He was pretty apprehensive about me spending time with Chase, but I assured him that I wasn’t interested in him.
When we got to the unfamiliar, pale, blue house, I was definitely nervous. The fear of not being accepted had always made my stomach flip. Ever since I was little, fitting in was something I needed. Like back in seventh grade, I needed Emily and Taylor to like me, I needed to be one of those girls, but really, all I needed were some friends. Somehow, Emily and Taylor ended up being those friends.
“Bye, sis!” Adam called, as we got out of his car.
“Bye, bro!” I returned with a wave.
“Ready to enter Loserville?” Chase asked sarcastically, as I slapped his shoulder in response. Jerk. “Before we go in, just tell me, why them? Why aren’t you going back to Taylor and Emily?”
“Would you rather I go back to Taylor and Emily?” I questioned back, a few paces ahead of him.
“Yes, actually I would,” he began to catch up to me.
“Well, considering it’s my life and not yours, I think I’m going to stick with these people, assuming they want me.” I had set my mind on befriending these people, and nothing was going to change that. I could be very persistent when I wanted to be.
“Who wouldn’t want you?” Chase scoffed.
“You. Two years ago,” I for some reason was possessed to bring up the past, yet again.
“Oh. Right. But you ended up with Mason, so it was all good!” he brushed it off as if it was nothing.
“But it wasn’t. You went out with Emily, which was a constant reminder to me of all I couldn’t have.” To be honest, I was way over that whole thing, and didn’t really care anymore, but a chance to make Chase feel guitly was something I simply couldn’t pass up.
“But, let me say again, you ended up with MASON,” he stressed the last proper noun in his sentence, putting a good amount of emphasis on it.
“You know what? You’re right. Besides, he was way better than you, anyways,” I smirked, hoping to puncture Chase’s ego even marginally.
“That’s not what I said!” he exclaimed in denial.
“Right, because it goes without saying,” I smiled, reaching the front door of a white wood, and knocking on it.
“Hey!” Izzy greeted, as she opened the door. “Come on in! We’re just playing some video games downstairs!”
“Fun,” I grinned, following her in.
Chase was behind me, but I ignored him. Izzy led us through her kitchen and past a few rooms, until we came across another door. She opened the large panel used for entrance and exit to reveal descending steps, and happily proceeded to skip down them. I cautiously sauntered down, with Chase following after. When we got to the bottom of the staircase, I saw four teens that I assumed to be Logan, Owen, Kim, and Mia all sitting on a couch. They each had a controller in their hands and were looking intensely at the screen.
They had all changed pretty drastically. Logan was off the charts hot—this kid was smokin’. His black hair covered his eyes, and he was rocking the whole skater vibe. Owen didn’t look that geeky, and evaded his large, round-framed glasses. He wasn’t cute, but he wasn’t ugly. Kim had dyed her hair black, and it was tied down in a long braid. She looked as pretty as ever. And then, there was Mia.
Mia had changed the most. Her hair was lighter, and a muted blonde color. She was thinner, and wearing make up—big mistake in my book. She shouldn’t have been hiding her face behind make up; I learned that from Josh when I was in California. Natural beauty is so much prettier than any amount of product applied. But the thing that I noticed about Mia, and liked the most, were her shoes. She had on these neon green Vans, and they were beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous.
I happened to be a shoe-oholic. I had a severe addiction to shoes. In my closet, I had over thirty pairs. Like, actually. I liked other forms of clothing too, but there was something about shoes that had the ability to capture my heart and eyes. Shoes were life. Well, not really, but they were a very important aspect of it.
“I like your shoes,” I complimented Mia, standing still.
“Who, mine?” Mia asked, glancing up to meet my eyes.
“Yeah, they’re epic,” I nodded.
“Who are you?” she questioned, immediately looking me over objectively.
“Jules,” I introduced.
“Okay, Jules, why are you here?” her eyes continued to scrutinize me.
“Because I invited her over,” Izzy laughed, flicking the girl who was interrogating me.
“Uh huh. How do you know her?” Mia continued.
“Well, actually, we all know her,” Izzy said.
“We do?” Owen asked, looking up from the TV screen for half a millisecond.
“Yeah. You guys remember Julia Tylers, right?” Izzy went on.
“Yeah, she was a total a bitch,” Logan muttered, not even coming close to marring my confidence. I had been called way worse.
“Guilty as charged,” I said quietly, with a smirk.
“Julia?” Kim said slowly, realizing what I had said.
“Hey!” I smiled.
“Oh. My. God. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening! Izzy! Why is she here?” Mia demanded, panicing. Honestly, if I were in her position, I’d be freaking out too.
“Chill, Mia. She’s cool. Look, Jules is—”
“Can I explain, and apologize, actually?” I requested.
“Uh, sure,” Izzy agreed.
“Okay. So, hi, I’m Jules Tylers. I moved to California for two years. A lot of stuff happened. I’m back, and I’m not going back to being to the same, fake girl that I was before. I’m sorry for misleading everyone to believe that bitch was actually me. And, I’m also sorry for treating you guys like shit. This time, I want to be me, and I want to do it right.” I did. I wanted to do it right, and not repeat anything again. I was going to do it right, this time.
“And who would ‘me’ be?” Kim asked uncertainly.
“The girl no one knew existed beneath the Abercrombie perfume and Hollister short shorts. The girl who I really am,” I sighed, determined to not fall in the same pattern as I had before.
“And who exactly are you?” Owen was next to inquire.
“I don’t know,” I said thoughfully. I was trying to be honest. Truthfully, I wasn’t entirely sure whom I was, and still had a lifetime to figure it out.
“Chase? Chase Ryan?!” Logan said, snapping into reality from his trance of the video game world.
“Uh… hey,” Chase said, running a hand through his hair nervously.
“Why are you here, dude?” Logan asked with a laugh. “Wait, let me guess—you’re into the chick?”
“Umm, yeah, pretty much,” Chase said sheepishly, nodding.
“So,” Izzy broke the awkward pause that followed Chase’s words, “do you guys want to play with us?”
“Sure,” I smiled.
“Okay, cool! Come on,” she forced the others to make room on the couch for us. I sat down between Izzy and Kim, both of whom I felt safest near.
“Do you know how to play?” Kim asked, handing me a control.
“Yeah,” I said, accepting it. We played for a bit, and I learned pretty quickly how, uh, spirited the individuals got while playing. I wasn’t a huge video games person, but I had beaten Adam enough times to know how to play.
I was in the middle of shooting something, when my phone started ringing. I pulled it out of my back pocket, and almost passed out at the name that flashed across the screen: Josh. My heart started racing. I put down the piece of plastic in my hand, and passed it over to Izzy. Pressing the answer button, I said, “Hey I’ll call you right back!” and before he could respond, I hung up.
“I’m really sorry, guys, I have to take an important call. Normally, I wouldn’t do this, but it’s just really important; I’ll be right back!” I said, climbing off of the couch and rushing up the stairs. I opened the door, and sat on the cold floor next to it. Quickly calling Josh back, I held my breath with each ring, and then he suddenly picked up.
“Jules!” he said, his voice light and happy. “I miss you so much!”
“I miss you too,” I said, grinning like an idiot, though he couldn’t see.
“How was the first day?” he yawned, as I remembered that there was quite the time difference between us.
“Okay,” I began to think about what had transpired over my day.
“Did you see all your friends?” he questioned.
“Uh, they’re not my friends anymore.”
“Oh, right! You told me you didn’t want to go back to them,” he recalled from one of our many conversations. “So, how many guys hit on you today?”
“Why do you assume that guys would hit on me?” I shook my head, rolling my eyes despite his lack of awareness of my actions.
“Because you’re beautiful, smart, sarcastic, and intelligent,” he listed.
“I love you too,” I laughed, smiling as the phrase left my lips.
“So, how many?”
“Three,” I mumbled, recollecting my day once again.
“I’m sorry, speak into a little louder I didn’t hear you,” he mocked.
“SIX!” I yelled, throwing my head back against the wall.
“Oh! Okay, so, ask me how my day went without you,” he prompted.
“Okay, how’d your day go without me?” I humored him.
“It sucked! I missed you like hell!” he exclaimed sweetly.
“What about, um, Cassandra?” I asked, bringing up a topic I didn’t want to talk about.
“She thinks that because you’re not here you don’t, and never did, exist,” I heard the remorse in his tint.
“Of course she does,” I shook my head. Cassandra sucked. When Josh and I had to separate, we said we wanted to try and keep a long distance relationship, but, evidently, that didn’t mean a thing to Cassandra. Bitch.
“Well, more importantly than that, I get to see you soon. So, I for one can’t wait for that!” he said as I smiled. Josh was coming to visit in about three weeks for his vacation, so I would get to see him soon. My mom actually said that I could go back to Santa Monica for a week or two during my vacation, which was awesome.
“I can’t wait to see you either! Oh, and tell Cassie to lay off. Even if I am three thousand miles away, I will still kill her in her sleep,” I warned, completely serious.
“I know you will. I have to go, but I love you,” he bid.
“I love you too,” I returned.
“Jules, I miss you, you know that, right?” he said.
“Yeah. But do you know that I miss you more?”
“No you don’t.”
“But I do.”
“But you don’t.”
“I really do, sorry, babe.”
“Okay, you think that. I love you, bye!”
“Love you!” I said, as we both ended the call.
“Who do you love?” a voice said, that belonged to neither Josh nor I. I looked up, and saw Logan looming over me.
“No one,” I said dismisively.
“Why are you smiling?” I noticed that my face was still beaming, and that I had those darn butterflies in my stomach like characters in books always talked about. It was Josh. Even three thousand miles away, he still had an effect on me.
“Why aren’t you?” I countered, avoiding his question.
“So, Julia, I have a few questions for you,” he ignored my words, sliding down on the floor so that he was sitting next to me.
“It’s Jules, and I may just have a lot of answers,” I said happily.
“Why are you really here?” he inquired bluntly.
“Why not?”
“Seriously, why aren’t you out shopping with those bitches?”
“Would you want to be?”
“No, but I’m a guy.”
“I’m a girl, and I don’t want to do that either.”
“So, when you came back, let’s be honest, you could have ventured off to any group, and pretend to be one of them. You could have said that you’re emo now, or a nerd, or popular without being slutty; why us?” he bit his lip as he asked.
“Because all those other groups that you named aren’t me,” I replied truthfully.
“They’re not you?” his face grew confused.
“No,” I shook my head.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because,” I said cryptically.
“Who are you?”
“You know what, that’s a fabulous question, so I’m going to let you figure that out for yourself, but I will tell you a little story that may just explain a whole lot,” I decided. “Once upon a time, there was a girl named Julia. She moved to California. She was happy to be there, especially since no one had any expectations of her. She met a boy; like so many do. She and that boy fell hard and fast for each other. One day, she decided to go by Jules. Why? Because it was one of the remaining things about her that reminded her of her life before she came to this magical place. Jules made friends. She learned how to surf, and how to have real fun. The boy and she were living your typical, fairytale romance, until, one day, Jules’ parents said that they were leaving the wonderful land of California, and going back to the place they were in before. Jules and the boy were not happy. Jules had changed, and all for better, but she didn’t want to go back. She liked her weird friends in California. She loved her Prince Charming. But it wasn’t her choice. The end,” I concluded. Man, was I a great storyteller! I looked up to see Logan silent, in deep thought.
“Is that entire story true?” he gulped.
“Only type I tell.”
“So, you’re for real about chilling with us, it wasn’t, like, a dare or bet?”
“No,” I said simply.
“Okay then. You got me sold, but the one you need to win over is Mia.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t like me, but it’s okay, because I don’t like her either.”
“Don’t say that to her face,” he laughed.
“Thanks for the advice,” I rolled my eyes.
“Sure. I’m sorry about what happened with you and that dude. But, ya know, I think I could get used to you, Julia,” he said.
“It’s Jules, and thanks.”