• "Get up Sleeping Beauty." a voice whispered. I rolled onto my side.
    "Don't make me kiss you." it warned. I opened my eyes to see Jason lingering over me as if he was dissecting a frog.
    "You're a hard sleeper." he smiled. I nodded my head and closed my eyes again. He flicked me on the forehead causing a stinging pain.
    "What the? What was that for?" I asked sitting up. He threw a pair of jeans in my face. Following with a shirt and socks.
    "Were going to the mall." he said. I looked at him as if he just announced the aliens were coming to take me away.
    "I'm not speaking German, get some clothes on." he commanded. I picked up the clothes and headed off to the bathroom. I stared at the pair of jeans. They were my jeans from my bag, out of my car. How'd he get in there? I always put my keys in my butt pocket. He must've. . . dear god. I bet he had fun with that. I quickly put the jeans on and slipped the shirt on. It was low cut and almost showed my chest. It was a nice red color that made my eyes more noticeable, though. I grabbed a brush and headed out of the bathroom. I walked into the living room to see Justin standing there holding my keys. Then I remembered. I threw the brush at him. It hit him in the arm, when I was aiming for the face.
    "What the h*ll was that for?" he asked.
    "Those keys were in my back pocket, which means you had to reach in there to get them." I replied picking up the brush. He stared at me for the longest time before he just shook his head and walked out the door. I put on a pair of flip-flops and quickly finished brushing my hair. I walked out the door and hurried into the car. As soon as he started pulling out of the yard I got a forward from Elaine.
    'FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD:Head 2 da mall n send dis 2 yur bf. if u dont u will be put 2 death in yur sleep. anybody whos a sumbody wil b there!!!'
    'U dont seriously believe dis s**t do u????'
    'Of course not, i jus want u 2 b there, im goin'
    'Y?'
    'Cause i want 2 c if a whole bunch of persons actually listened 2 dis stupid MSG'
    'Oh, well im bein forced 2 go by jason'
    'Okay XD c u there!!!'
    I closed my phone and turned to Jason who was carefully watching the road. I looked out the front window.
    "So. . . did you get the forward, too?" I asked not out of curiosity, just to start conversation. He glanced at me. Why does he seem so irritated? Is he PMSing? Is that even possible? I felt I was staring at him too long and forced myself to look away. He reached out and pressed a button on the dash. "Smile" by Uncle Kracker came on. I couldn't help but notice that he glanced at me when the words, "just the thought of you can drive me wild," came on. That's not the weird part. What was weird is that he smiled when it came on and looked at me. I kept staring uncomfortably out the window, avoiding eye contact. I felt relief as we pulled into the parking lot of the mall, and a pang of nervousness. As soon as we were parked I practically jumped out the car, suddenly ready to be anywhere but here. You see, I hate the mall. It's just too big. You can lose yourself in there. I sighed.
    "Would you rather just go home?" he asked turning to me.
    "No, no-"
    "I mean, we don't have to be here, we could be at my house watching a movie." he said suggest fully.
    "No, it's fine, I just don't like over sized areas, you know, like the mall." I said glancing at the huge building in front of us.
    "Why?"
    "I'm afraid I'll get lost."
    "Aw, do I need to hold your hand?"
    "Shut your face."
    He grinned. I walked up next to him and we headed off. When we finally got to the automatic doors and I froze. He stared at me.
    "I was serious about holding your hand." he said looking at me. I shook my head. He walked over to the doors and they opened up. He walked into the room that was there before you actually are inside the mall. He made a flailing motion for me to come in. I shook m head. The doors closed, swallowing him in like a monster. My heart squeezed. Dear God, I can't do this, I thought. Just then a girl around my age with long black hair walked up to him, clearly too happy that he was there by himself. She smiled and was obviously trying really hard to flirt with him. That's not what bothered me. What bothered me was that I didn't like it, that I wanted to walk in there and tear him from her. But I couldn't do that without looking jealous so I took a deep breath and stepped in. The doors parted for me and I stepped in gracefully and with confidence, which is completely unusual.
    "Oh, there you are." he smiled, looking relieved that I had saved him. The girl looked me over and decided that I wasn't worth the trouble fighting with so she ignored me.
    "Anyway," she said in a silky voice, "you know what time and where. I really hope you show up, cause I'd just be heartbroken if you didn't."
    She waved and walked right past me, giving me a good wiff of her way too strong perfume.
    "I'm not going, just so you know." Jason said.
    "What?"
    "I'm not going to the party that she wanted me to. . . I'd much rather be at the house with you." he replied shooting me a glance. I nodded once and suddenly all that confidence simply slipped away. Once again I was staring at a living nightmare. His hand slipped in mine and for some reason, I felt better.
    "You can do this." he reassured me. It surprised me that he wasn't making fun of me like Elaine would. He took a step, leading me closer, and the automatic doors opened. We walked in the food court, the smells crashing into me like a giant wave. I began looking around for anybody that I would know from school. Sure enough, there was a group of people around mine and Jason's ages sitting around one table. Some standing around, some sitting in chairs, a few sitting on the tables. When one of them noticed me and Jason as we approached they motioned to our intertwined hands and everybody looked at us. Some of the girls looked jealous while others were simply looking as if they just saw an unicorn pass by. The guys were congratulating Jason, all of them. Then I saw her. Her blonde hair was straightened without a strand out of place. Her shirt, a hot pink. Her lips were covered in lip gloss. She obviously was trying to impress because she had about five pounds of make-up on. Especially around her eyes. The eyes that were staring ice covered daggers at me. Just then someone jumped on my back. I gasped and fell to the floor. Elaine rolled off of me, mumbling in pain. A firm hand reached down and lifted me to my feet. I pulled Elaine up and she began checking herself for injuries.
    "Thank you." I said looking up to Jason. He just smiled and wrapped my hand in his again. I didn't pull back even though I probably didn't need his guidance anymore.
    "Did ebay run out of the pretty girls?" Kiesha sneered, looking down to our hands. She was implying that he bought me, and that I was ugly.
    "Apparently I was the last one, cause we saw you going for twenty-five dollars." I snapped. She looked startled that I made a come-back, and a good one too. It helped me, but then again, I forgot to mention that Jason didn't buy me. We're not even going out. I think.
    "Hey, we don't need any fights, it's simply a get together. Now chill." a blonde said stepping between me and Kiesha. I wiped the devilish looked off my face and turned to him. He was kinda cute. Like a dorky cute, he had glasses, kinda chubby but the cute kind of chubby, though. Not somebody I'd have a crush on. Oh god, now I'm judging people. Who am I?
    "Thanks Jordan." Jason said. A perky blonde stepped up beside him. She was cute, too. Heck, they were cute together. A brunette seemed to linger behind the blonde, not daring to stand beside her because she would be next to Kiesha. She obviously was serious friends with the perky blonde, and the two cute kids were obviously a couple. It wasn't like they were sucking face right in front of everybody, it was just the way he held her hand. Like Jason was holding mine. I suddenly noticed another brunette. She was behind the bigger one. Her hair was shorter and she had glasses too. She was really pretty. Gosh, what's with all the pretty people? Will it kill someone to be ugly?
    "I'm Tori, she's Alyssa, she's Paige and he's Jordan." the blonde introduced. Her smile was incredibly adorable and heart warming. The bigger brunette smiled a smile that was equally warm, but not as cute, and the smaller brunette gave a nervous smile and waved. It wasn't that the bigger brunette wasn't pretty, because she was, she just had an older look about her. She didn't have that young happy look about her, like the other brunette and the blonde. She was a little more serious, kind of like she's simply waiting to die and the blonde and the other brunette are making the wait better by simply being alive. What surprised me is that neither of them had an ounce of make-up on, they were simply naturally pretty. They're definitely people I could get along with. Wow, I thought to myself, I have never noticed so much about anybody before.
    "So, how are we going to do this?" a black boy asked.
    "Um, we're probably going to pair of, you know, like into groups." Jordan replied.
    "That means everybody get with the people you won't mind walking around with." announced this kid with reddish blonde hair.
    "Alright, alright. Geesh Chase, you don't have to be all pushy." mumbled Alyssa. She gave him a quick glance and a smile to let him know it was a joke. He smiled back and blushed a little. Then they started pairing up. Alyssa and Paige immediately walked over to Tori and Jordan. Chase went over with the black boy and some really light haired kid. Kiesha twitched over to a group of girls that had some staring at a mirror and others staring at a guy's butt. There was this big group of guys that were probably the jocks that were checking out Kiesha's group. I walked over to Tori's group and stood next to Paige. Jason looked around at the groups and followed me.
    "So what now? Do we just go where we want?" a girl asked. She had incredibly bright orange hair with purple tips which reminded me of Haley Williams. She had a groups of guys around her along with one other girl. All of which were wearing skinny jeans and converse. I don't think the converse were all that strange, though, because, Alyssa, Paige, and the black kid with Chase were wearing them too.
    "Well, I guess. I wouldn't have ya'll pair up other wise." Chase said matter-of-factly. The orange-haired girl rolled her eyes and began talking to the group behind her.
    "Alright, let's head off." Chase said.
    "I'm not going anywhere." one of the guys behind carrot head said.
    "Why?" Chase asked.
    "I'm waiting for Kayla."
    "And we're waiting with him." the girl with the orange hair stated.
    "How long is she going to take?"
    "I don't kn-" the guy started.
    "I'm here!" sang a girl walking up to their group. She was thin, but not starve yourself thin. She had tan skin with blonde hair and bangs that reached her eyebrows. She had some streaks of hair near her face that were dyed light pink and blue. She walked over to the dude with dark curly hair and wrapped her arm around his waist. Oh, so that's why he was waiting.
    "Hey, you're the new girl." Kayla smiled as looked me up and down. She has really pretty ice blue eyes, I noted.
    "Yup." I replied moronically.
    "I'm Kayla." she introduced.
    "I'm Cathy."
    "And I'm bored. Can we go?" complained Elaine. Kayla laughed.
    "Uh, no offense but, you're kinda perky to be hanging out with the girl with the red hair." I mentioned.
    "Who? Kiri? She's nice, in a crudely honest way." she replied glancing back at Kiri.
    "Kiri? That's a pretty name." Elaine mumbled, moreso talking to herself than us.
    "Kayla! You're slower than Christmas morning! Get your tiny butt over here!" Kiri called. Kayla shrugged, waved, and jogged over to her group.
    "Okay. Is everybody ready to head off?" Chase asked.
    "Yeah." Everybody shouted. Then we departed.

    Me and Alyssa got along perfectly, Paige was really funny, nice, and weird, Tori was all smiles and talk, and Jordan simply stuck by Tori and Alyssa. He kept trying to talk to Alyssa about transformers and every now and then I would hear Tori mumble, "Dork". Jason was content to stick by my side, not uttering a word, until Jordan got bored with Alyssa and turned to another guy for conversation. Me and Alyssa got into a deep conversation about guys and how I noticed the way her and Chase were looking at each other.
    "Yeah, I think he likes me, but I don't know." she said quietly while everybody else was talking to each other.
    "How could you not know, it was obvious." I reassured her. She looked at me hopefully then looked away, unsure.
    "Yeah, but I think he's losing interest."
    "Why?"
    "Cause I don't spend much time with him."
    "Good."
    "Hold up, what?"
    "It's called playing hard to get." I said simply. She looked at me and laughed.
    "What?" I asked.
    "Yeah, like you're an expert at playing hard to get." she said shaking her head.
    "What makes you say that?"
    "The way you were holding his hand. You didn't look like you planned to let go any time soon."
    "No, he held my hand, not the other way around."
    "Uh-huh. You just keep telling yourself that."
    "Hey." someone said softly behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Jason.
    "Oh, hey. We were just talking about you." Alyssa smiled at me.
    "Good, I hope." he said, glancing at her.
    "Well it was kinda, 'ya'll' instead of just you." she said looking at him.
    "Who?" he asked, his forehead scrunching up in confusion.
    "You and-" she started. I covered her mouth and gave her a look. She giggled and caught up with Tori and Paige, leaving me and Jason.
    "Well, that was different." he muttered, walking up to my side. He tried to take my hand but I turned to look at a store, taking my hand from him. I walked into the store and looked behind me. He was right on my tail while the others continued to walk in the opposite direction. I felt a churning in my stomach. I didn't want to be left alone. I turned around and ran into Jason.
    "I think we should just go with them." I said nervously.
    "I thought you wanted to go in this store." he replied confused.
    "I did but they're leaving us."
    "It's okay, we'll catch back up."
    "But I don't want to get lost."
    "Okay then, I promise not to lose you." I looked up at him. He wasn't suppressing laughter, or smiling, which meant he was serious. I nodded solemnly and headed deeper into the store, checking every once and a while to make sure he was still there. I began looking at some stuff and thought I heard Jason mumble something. I looked over to him and shrugged. I went back to looking at the stuff. I found a funny pair of glasses and tried them on.
    "Hey Jason, come look at this." I giggled and then looked over. He wasn't there. I put the glasses back and checked the rest of the store. I couldn't find him. I began panic and felt the churning come back. I walked out of the store and looked around. I didn't know what to do so I began walking in what I thought was the general direction of where everybody else went. Then I stopped. Was it this way, I wondered. I randomly picked a direction, going with my gut, and began walking.
    After a little while the churning became impossible to ignore and I felt like I was about to puke. I kept walking until I found myself at an abandoned part of the mall. I gulped and officially decided I was lost. My worst nightmare had come true.