• I walked into the school and was almost immediately attacked by Cameron, Kellie, and Vincent. “There’s a new kid today,” Vincent told me, his pale blue eyes amused.

    “Why do you all look like you’ve just seen a clown?” I asked.

    “If we saw a clown, we wouldn’t be smiling, Ren,” Kellie told me.

    “Then why are you smiling?” I demanded.

    “You get to show the new kid around,” Vincent said, putting his arm around my shoulders. We weren’t dating; we were just really good friends.

    “What? Please tell me you’re kidding, Vince,” I begged.

    “Sorry, Ren, he’s not,” Cameron told me, her bright green eyes sympathetic. “And I heard he’s a jerk.”

    “And, Rena, he looks a little bit like Blake,” Kellie warned me.

    I buried my face into Vincent’s shoulder, tears forming in my eyes. “I’m really sorry, Rena. And I’m mentally cursing whoever put you in charge of leading the—ahem, kid— around,” he said, about to curse, but stopped when he saw a teacher staring at us suspiciously.

    Yes, even three years later I still start to cry whenever someone mentions him. Sad, isn’t it?

    Just then, the intercom beeped on and the secretary said, “Renata Simmons, please come to the office.”

    I hated it when people called me Renata. Really, I did. There were a lot of things I hated, but being called Renata ranks right up on the list. Why can’t my mom just fill out the form “Rena”, you ask?

    Because the principal wouldn’t let her.

    Our principal is a complete jerk sometimes. He made my mother fill out the registration form Renata.

    Vincent let me go and I started walking towards the office. I walked in and the secretary said, “Finally! Nick, dear, this is Renata Simmons. And since you two have the same schedule, she will be your guide.”

    I glanced over at the boy she called Nick and almost had a flood of fresh tears. Kellie had been right. He did look a little bit like Blake. The secretary saw me and said, “Renata, are you alright?”

    “Give me a sec, okay?” I turned away from them and wiped my eyes. When I turned back, her eyes were troubled. “Oh, dear, I’m sorry, Renata.” It was common knowledge around my school what had happened between Blake and me. So common, even the teachers knew. And some people had to be such pricks about it, by calling me Renata every single time they could. Blake had been the only one allowed to call me Renata, besides Kellie, Cameron, and Vincent.

    I looked towards Nick and I saw absolute hatred in his eyes. “Well, get going, or else you’ll be late for your class!” the secretary told us. Nick got up and made a point of staying as far away from me as possible. Kellie and Vincent were waiting outside the office when we walked out. “Nick, this is, uh, two of my friends, Kellie and Vincent.”

    I mouthed to Vince, Where’s Cameron?

    “Walking to her class,” he answered. “It’s all the way on the other side of the school, remember? And aren’t you going to introduce us to him?”

    “Yeah, uh, guys, this is Nick—” I stopped and looked questioningly at him. He was staring at me.

    “Collins. Nick Collins,” he supplied.

    “Okay, his name is Nick Collins. And we have the same schedule, so our p***k of a principal decided to make my life even more miserable by having me guide him around the school.”

    “You don’t want me here?” Nick asked, not sounding hurt, just surprised and slightly pleased.

    I sighed. “You look a little bit like someone I used to know.”

    “Is that why you almost started crying in there?” he asked harshly.

    “Yes. Enough questions. It happened a while ago. End of discussion.”

    And you know what surprised me?

    He actually shut up.

    ****************

    During lunch, Nick sat next to Kellie and I sat next to Vincent. Cameron was just meeting Nick for the first time; she sat with Kellie. So Nick and I sat as far apart as possible. “You okay, Rena? You’ve seemed a bit off all day, even before you saw Nick.”

    “I–I’m fine, Vincent. Thanks for asking.”

    He didn’t look like he believed me, but he let it slide.

    “So, how’s your mother?” he asked conversationally.

    I shook my head, saying nothing.

    “Has it started again?” he asked quietly. He was the only one who knew about the beating.

    “No, everything’s fine,” I lied. Oh, I’d pay for this later.

    He gave me a yeah right look, but didn’t press his luck.