Clueless

"If she was like, wearing that skirt any higher, she`d need a bikini wax," Kirsten Foster observed as her ex-stepsister, Tasha Corey, flirted with Adam Rallister, the tall and extremely hunky boy who Kirsten had been crushing on since, well, forever. "But, then again, he might have trouble breathing."


Luckily, Kirsten had been up late the previous night writing in her journal, otherwise she would have had the energy to walk over to Tasha and knock her flat on her bony ass.


Mariah Wood, Kirsten's oldest and most faithful friend, shook her rich brown hair in response. "I don't get it," she said. "Your parents divorced six months ago. What is she still doing here? I mean, it's not like she was ever even that close to you and your mother."


Mariah was right. Tasha hated Kirsten and her mother, Amber Lexington, and she wasn't shy about telling them. But, the truth was she had nowhere else to go. Amber had divorced Tasha's father, Charles Corey, after he had been arrested for embezzling money from Amber's firm. So, Charles had ended up in jail and Kirsten had ended up sharing a bathroom with Tasha.


Kirsten could never actually tell Mariah all of this. No matter how close they were. It would violate her most important principle: appear perfect, be perfect. Which isn't too terrible. Except things in Kirsten's life were definitely not perfect. Not that they were falling apart, either. It's just things weren't how she wanted them. And nothing was worse for Kirsten, then not getting what she wanted. Especially if Tasha was closer to getting it than her.


Kirsten gulped her soda. The two girls were sitting alone at a small, round table next to a large window in the Cadence Preparatory Academy dining hall. Around them plaid skirted girls in scuffed leather loafers and black tights picked delicately at their salads while crisp looking boys in adorably preppy,red ties and khakis hurried to scarf down enough food to get them through their afternoon classes.


Mariah nudged her friend, "Look, here he comes."

Adam had stood up from his table and was slowly walking towards their own, looking at Kirsten with the sparkling navy eyes and boyish grin that had been making her heart flutter for as long as she could remember.


"Hey," he said sliding into the seat next to Kirsten and quickly squeezing her hand. "You looked sort of sad, is there something wrong?"

Kirsten forced herself to stifle the humungous grin that was desperately trying to part her lips. Adam was so incredibly sweet. Such a rare and remarkable quality in a high school boy (or any boy for that matter). How could she help but love him? And she did love him. Or at least she thought she did. She hadn't really decided what love was, yet. She knew she wanted him, though. Bad.


"Oh, it's nothing," she said keeping her cool. "Tasha played her music really loud last night, so I'm just a little tired."

OK, so it was a lie. But, Kirsten was certain that Tasha had told more than a few lies about her since she started attending Cadence; she had to defend herself somehow, right?


"Aww," he replied. "That girl does love music, it's so hot."

"You think," Kirsten replied, "because I find it incredibly-"

"So," Mariah interrupted loudly, stopping Kirsten from insulting Tasha in front of Adam. "Where are we going tonight?"


It was Friday, which meant that Kirsten, Mariah and Adam would be getting together just like they had every Friday night since the start of junior high. The tradition began when they snuck out and rode the train into the city. Once they got there, they went to Central Park so Adam could prove to Kirsten that polar bears really could live away from the poles. Afterwards, they rode the subway to the village and drank coffee at some artsy café and pretended they were film students at NYU. But, it got dark, they got lost and Kirsten got scared. They ended up turning themselves in at the nearest police station and their parents had to drive out and pick them up.


For months after that Adam insisted on spending Fridays with Kirsten so he knew she wouldn't be scared. Now, it was just natural, it was tradition. A bond Kirsten thought of as unbreakable. Boy, was she clueless...