Dark ~CHAPTER 1~

"And that's how I plan to spend my summer vacation.." Carolyn Masters flashed a Crest Whitestrips smile at the class and clicked her heels all the way back to her reserved seating in the back row. All of her friends clapped and giggled, while pulling out their lip gloss and applying some to their already plump and shiny lips. I rolled my eyes and turned towards the front of the classroom where our eighth grade English teacher was smiling and typing a very obvious "A+" into his computer.

"Nice presentation Carolyn. Um," he consulted the attendance book, "Linda Carlin." I sighed and squished my chubby body out of my chair. Pushing some of my bleach blonde hair out of my eyes and pulling a short skirt down my big thighs. I could hear the snickers from the back of the classroom. Macy Rogers, my best friend and a natural beauty, rolled her eyes at Carolyn's friends.

"Screw them..." she whispered to me and gestured that I go up. I took a deep breath and walked to the front.

"Um, my summer. I'm planning on hanging out with my friends, going to my Grandma's house, and um... Having a lot of fun. Forgetting about school will be really nice and going to high school is going to be great." I smiled and got a couple of weak smiles back.

"Sounds interesting Linda." Mr. Owens gestured for me to sit down and announced happily, "And now onto more pressing matters.." We all grinned and shook in our seats. Mr. Owens cleared his throat and began to count down.

"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six..." we joined in and all yelled the last five numbers. "Summer break!" the class screamed along with the rest of the middle school. Laughs and excited shouts echoed down the hallways. In the eight grade level, the shouts were especially loud. Pink clothed girls squealed at the top of their lungs, discussing plans for the future.

"We should be that excited, I mean we are gonna have the best summer ever." I said to Macy, as we packed up our backpacks. She cleared her throat and I looked up. Macy's light blond hair fell in waves around her face and her makeup free face shone. Her blue eyes were apologetic and she spoke here next words.

"Um, actually... About this summer... I'm kind of going to Mexico with Carolyn and her family." My mouth fell open.

"Carolyn... As in Carolyn 'I hate everyone that isn't as cool as me which means everyone' Masters?"

"Yeah. But she isn't so bad if you get to know her. She's actually really fun. I mean, she always picks the best nail colors to go with my outfit and she always tells me if I have something in my teeth. Also, she-" Macy stopped talking as she saw my amazed expression.

"I didn't know you were friends with her." I felt a lump in my throat and held back tears.

"I've only had these plans for a month or two Linda. Don't freak out." Macy sounded uncharacteristically annoyed.

"A month?!"

"I was gonna tell you earlier Lin, but you-"

"Save it," I interrupted her, "I've got my own awesome plans for summer. Plans that don't involve you." I then stood up and tried my best to storm out of the room. Unfortunately, my flats became more of skis and I slid across the linoleum flooring, crashing flabby stomach first into a stack of stools. As I felt my body hit the floor, I heard my skirt rip. The tears began and stream from my eyes and to make matters worse, I heard a loud snort. Macy.

One thing was for sure, I was going into freshman year without a best friend.