Chapter One

Alleana Rose Filter
Love. I used to hate that word. Maybe because of the fact that my dad left my mom and broke his promise to love her till the day that he died. Or maybe because I wasn’t in love with anybody. What is the real definition for this word anyway? L stands for lame. O stands for odd. V stands for… whatever. The ‘L’ word will never be in my dictionary. I mean, I’m not gonna find the right guy. I just believe that there is not one guy in this whole wide world that could be the definition for PERFECTION. Being perfect ain’t that easy. I’m not perfect myself and I’m just like any other ordinary girl. But the only thing that I don’t see myself in them is that, I never fell in love. Ah! I’m gonna have to stop using that word. Right, the ‘L’ word.

Chapter one

I stared at the food and just….. stared. I wasn’t in the mood for sandwiches. After what Dolly did to my lunch, she placed me in a bad mood. “You didn’t have to kick her in the butt” said my best friend, Stacy Maidren. Stacy has a natural look that somehow she was not grateful of. With her black shiny hair and small eyes, people sometimes thought that she has an Asian blood in her. Stacy and I had known each other since we were little girls. I looked at her and growled, “Ugh! What do you expect me to do? She served worms into my lunch. Of course I would be mad at her and kicking her butt is the only way to wake that bitch up. Ugh! I know that being a cheerleader is one of your dreams. But I’m sorry to tell you that it ain’t gonna happen. No matter how much you try to be friendly to Dolly, she’s not going to be friendly to you.” I was feeling guilty to Stace because she had been trying hard, by that I mean too hard to join the cheerleaders. And she wasn’t chosen mainly because of me. “Well, she was not being friendly to me because she hates you. Not me! And I’m like your best friend, so she was purposely trying to piss you off by pissing me off. Because you know what Al, I am really talented in cheering. I know that they would choose me if I weren’t your best friend.” said Stace. I laughed to myself. In my mind. Because I’ve seen her did the cheer and it was definitely the main reason she wasn’t chosen. “Why do you wanna be like them?! They’re the worst people that ever exist in this world. They had sex constantly with the same guy, at the same time! They take marijuana everyday in the girls toilet! Whatever Stace. Well, you’re trying out for the cheerleaders tryout this evening ey? Well, we should go together.” I told her. “You mean that you wanna try for cheerleaders too?!” asked Stace excitedly. “No! I’m trying out for a band. They’re looking for a vocalist for their band. Just wanna give a try you know.”

I didn’t know the band members. I heard that there will be an audition for it just the day before it. I didn’t even practice for the audition as much as Stace did. Stace cheered in her room, for every night. I sang, only for myself.
“Straight your body up a little. Up your boobs with your ass and get both of it in there...and flirt with them.” Stace told me about the baby prostitute rules before I went to the audition. I couldn’t lie to myself that I was kinda nervous to meet the band members. What if they are not the type of guys that i would hang around with?
I stepped into the room as they called for my name. The room filled with silence as I entered. I stopped as I saw their faces. Are you kidding me? They are like the most popular guys in school. The guys that I never even talk to. The guys from the popular clique. The guys that I definitely would never hang out with. The weird thing is that, they are like THE JOCKS in our school. They have a band? Seriously? I wanted to turn my back and just walk away from the room, but I guess it would be an awkward thing to do. They were Burton Filler, Max Hidedross, and Clayton Claybot. Burton, dark blond hair with a dimple on his cheek. The captain of the Beverly High football team, The Panther. I never liked him. And then, Max Hidedross, looking like a jerk, black-spiky hair, red lips with a baby face on him. I never liked him either. He bites his nails a lot. And at last, the leader of the gang, Clayton Cabot. Famous as Clay. Blond wavy hair, with bizarre eyes, perfect lips, hot body, and he’s the guy every girl ever wanted. I couldn’t lie to myself that Clay is extremely charming. And the main reason I never like him was because of him being Dolly’s boyfriend. Overall.... I hate them all.
“No, wait. Cheerleaders tryout is in the next room. So…..” Max suddenly said and laughed. I was aware that he was trying to piss me off but I didn’t want to create trouble. “Cheering is not my thing. I’m here for this audition.” Clay looked at Max with a stop-that-Max face. “No… Are you crazy? A girl? In our band. Again? No-no Clay. It’s going to be like… music suicide or something.” Said Max. And the Burton guy just reply him with saying, “We should just try to listen to her….” And I just stood there and let them argued among themselves. “Listen, I’m just gonna start singing here because I got other stuff to do.” I said. They smiled and just nodded their head. I started to sing and I could see that they were very impressed by me. My mom used to tell me that my voice have this power to give a person goose bumps on the neck. I was not sure about it until I saw their faces. They were like, trying to swallow their saliva or something. “Wow! You can hit that high note. Um…. What’s your name again?” asked Burton. “Alleana. Alleana Rose Filter.” I said. Max laughed when he heard my name. “Filter…..” he said and laughed. That’s why I hate that guy. Well, I didn’t care. Because I was the one laughing at the end when Burton told me that I was chosen for their vocalist.

But it was a helly day for Stace when she went to the cheerleaders tryout.
“Well, I’m very good in dancing. I go to the saloon 4 times a week, did this hair for a 100$.And I…..” before Stace could finish her intro, Dolly snapped, “That hair? 100$? Really?” The girls looked at each other and laughed. The Fakers. They consisted of three girls. Dolly is the leader with her two annoying followers, Karen and Mel. “Can you do backwards jump? Or can you even cheer?” asked Mel sarcastically. Dolly pushed her golden blond hair off of her neck and said, “Do the cheer for me. Our school cheer. You’re like... our fan right? I’m sure you can do it...” Stace stood confidently with the face saying I-can-do-that. And then she cheered with an ending by yelling "Go! Panther go!"
“Oh my God....” They laughed, “That is the worst cheer I’ve ever seen in my whole life.” said Karen. Dolly shoot her bullet-words to Stace by saying, “See, girl… we are the professional dancers and we’re popular… very popular in Beverly High…. And sorry to say that we can’t choose you. You don’t have the package. You’re not pretty, you can’t dance and you can’t even do an easy cheer. And you’re not a slut….. You want to be a slut but you couldn’t. You’re a normal girl, with idiot friends like Alleana Rose Filter, and you never even have a boyfriend. Of course! You’re ugly, that’s why…..” she sighed, “I’m not insulting you, honey. I’m just giving you comments.” Stace left the room. With tears in her eyes. Should I feel guilty for it? I asked myself. Well, should I?

I ran into Clay the next day and we had the most awkward conversation ever. I’m the kind of girl that looks straight to someone’s eyes when I talk to them. Guys or girls, I would just look straight into their eyes. But it was different with Clay. I couldn’t. I could see that Clay was not comfortable either. He kept on looking at the ground while talking and I just stared at him. And when I talked, I kept on looking at his hair and he would just stare at me. “So, on behalf of Max, I wanna apologize for all the stuff he said before. Well, you know Max. He’s okay when you get to know him better.” Said Clay. I did my it’s-okay face and said, “No, it’s okay. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m used to all that kind of stuff.” The Fakers passed by and Clay didn’t even bother to look at them. “You... um... why don’t you just go to your girlfriend. She’s waiting for you.” I said. Clay looked at Dolly and focused himself back to me. “Well, yeah...” Suddenly, Stace ran to me and said, “Al! You're not gonna believe of what had happened. Clay grabbed my ass. I mean MY ASS! He never even grab Dolly's ass!” Stace didn’t realize that Clay was there until Clay asked “Clayton Cabot grabbed your ass?” Stace was speechless because it was her dream to talk to Clayton, the most popular guy in school. I introduced them both and I was embarrassed by Stace’s reaction for being overreacted. “Um……hey, Clay! Sorry about last week. You said ‘hi’ but I didn’t realize. Sorry……” said Stace. “huh? I said ‘hi’? owh yeah... right. It’s okay.” said Clay with a HUGE question mark on his face. I could see that Clay was just being friendly. “Well, okay. Just wanna let you know that we’re gonna have a band practice this evening. You could come, right?” he asked me. Before I could answer, Stace suddenly apologized to Clay for not being able to come to the band practice. Should I be embarrassed by her??? Yeah, I should!
“Did you see Clayton’s eyes just now? He aimed at my breast!!” said Stace as Clay walked away. I growled. I was sick of her for saying all the fake stuff. I looked at her and said “Stace! Can you please…… stop being dramatic. If it’s true that he peeks on your thingy, he’s not a perfect guy for you. I’m telling you this as a friend.” She looked at me with a murdering look. I could see that she was mad at me.
“Al! You’re insulting him….. How could you?! You know I love him!”
“But Stace. What I’m trying to say is….. maybe he’s not for you…. By the way, Dolly is his girlfriend….. You don’t wanna get involve with them.”
“What’s wrong with you?!!!!!!!!! Who are you, to say that to me?!!!!!!!!” she suddenly yelled and all the people around us were looking at us. And then she said the most painful thing anyone had ever said to me. “Promise me one thing Al. Promise me that you won’t fall for Clay. Promise me that you will lick my shoes if one day, you fall in love with Clay.” I wished that Stace was not as crazy as she was. I wished that she was different. I wished that she would change back to the Stacy Maidren that I’ve known before.

Who’s that? I asked myself. I saw an innocent looking man who was technically stalking me. He brought a camera with him and I could see that he was taking my picture. I was not sure until he was obviously aiming me in his camera. I was aware that he was stalking me, but I just acted like I was doing my own stuff. I focused myself back to the book I was reading. P.S. I love you written by Barbara Conklin. The book was about a girl, falling for a rich guy who is down-to-earth and became seriously ill. Why does this Barbara have to write a sad ending? The girl finally found her true love. Leave her alone! She’s in love! But I haven’t actually read the ending of the book at the moment. Still, I couldn’t focus myself back to the book. I kept on reading the same line over and over again. I took a glance back at the stalker. God, he is weird, I thought. He looked quite attractive to me but I was definitely not attracted to him at the moment. I pushed myself to approach him as his camera’s battery went empty. I stood right in front of him while he was busily changing the battery. “Hey, what’s up with you? Delete it!” I told him. He didn’t say a word. He just gave me a smirk on his face and laughed. “What’s wrong with you? Hey, I don’t know you. And I’m pretty sure you don’t know me too. But please, for the love of God, delete it, will ya?” I said breathing heavily. He snapped another picture of me and said, “Well, miss. It’s not like I’m going to paste a naked picture on your body and post it in the internet or something.” I looked at him with a what-the-heck face and asked, “Were you planning on doing that?! Because if you were, you’re gonna regret it. I’m telling you!” I am the kind of girl that will stand up for myself. And that is one of the main reasons that cause Dolly hating me. I remembered the first time I talked to her. She was unbelievably kind. We were friends before, just good friends. It’s a good thing that we were never in the ‘best friends’ zone. But then, people started to compare us by saying that I would be prettier than Dolly if I were blonde. Gah! Being blonde is her thing. She was so mad about it and I became her enemy ever since. Make sense?
“You really don’t remember me at all, do you?” asked the stalker. I made a trying-to-remember face and said, “Owh yeah! I remember you!” I went on “You’re the guy that I’ve been hating since 15 minutes ago. See dog! You’re wasting my time. BIG TIME!” I walked away and the creepy guy suddenly grabbed my hand and said, “It’s me, Al! I’m Ben Alfort. Your best friend since what? Since four?” he went on, “You know, the guy that taught you how to pretend like you’re not going to pee in the pool once you get into the water. Ring any bell?” I was surprised because Ben used to be… he was…. Well, he must have lost few pounds. “Well, yeah. Lost 30 kg in 9 years.” He told me. Wow! He must have been an anorexic! I haven’t seen him in like, 9 years. We were like brothers when were kids. I used to be a tomboy, like seriously tomboy. I hanged around with the boys all the time when I was a little girl. Ben moved when we were 6 and left me hanging around like a zombie with no friends. That was when I met Stace. Stacy Maidren. Why am I still thinking about this weird friend of mine? I asked myself.