Hope's Battle

"Sloane, come on!", Renee yelled to me. I was late. Again. I should probably explain a little bit. My name is Sloane Cullen and I was late to meet my friends Renee Peterson and Bobby Leeson. Bobby's real name is Robert, but everyone's been calling him Bobby since first grade. The three of us were all in grade eleven at Malibu High School. That's right. We lived in Malibu, California. It was awesome being right off the beach. Parties were held every Friday night at the beach.

Anyway, back to where I left off. I was sprinting to catch up with Renee and Bobby. The two of them were laughing at me because I looked funny trying to run towards them. I stuck my tongue out at Renee and she returned it.

"You're lucky we're ahead of schedule today", Renee told me. I grabbed Bobby's wrist and looked at his watch. He always wore one. His watch read 7:27. I glared at Renee. School didn't start until 7:50. We only lived five minutes away from the damn school. She smirked. Usually I didn't leave until 7:40 and was at least five minutes late. It's just the way I worked. I may be late for every class, but I was at least a high honor role student.

"Jeez Sloane. How about we get to school on time today. Besides, you're mom will kill you if you're late for another class again. It's also a good way to get on her good side", Renee pointed out. I hated her sometimes, but she was right. My mom and I weren't exactly on good terms, but then again, were we ever on good terms with each other since she started dating the bigfoot?

Again, I should probably explain some more. My dad walked out on me and my mom when I was younger. I was six when he left. So it's been like ten years since I last saw him. He now has this whole other family and my mom has moved on. We moved here to Malibu, where mom grew up before high school started two years ago and now mom's dating someone else at the moment. His name is Charlie, (I call him bigfoot), and he proposed to my mom before school started. I'm so mad about it. It's not that I don't like Charlie because I do, it's just weird for me. I've grown up without a dad for most of my life, I guess I'm just not ready for someone to fill the "dad" roll again.

"Earth to Sloane!", Bobby yelled. I snapped back to reality. I smiled sheepishly. Renee and Bobby laughed. Now's probably a good time to mention that Renee and Bobby are dating and no I'm not the third wheel.

"Sorry, just spacing out again. What were you saying?", I asked. Bobby shook his head, smirking.

"I asked if you were excited about new kid. It's their first day. Rumors are going around that he's a guy", Bobby told me. Renee hit him and he yelped. I laughed.

I had a reputation for dating guys and breaking their hearts at school. Now if you're thinking that sleep with them, then get out because I don't sleep with anyone. That's just not right for kids our age. I just date guys for a few weeks and then break their hearts, nothing more.

Renee, Bobby and I were some of the most popular kids at school. We were a close trio of friends. Kind of like Olivia Mondoa and her friends, Lauren Kane and Kathy Farrel, the queen bees at school.

"I heard about the new kid and I hope he's not one of those stuck up snobs", I told Bobby, snapping back to reality. Renee shook her laughing. We just got to school grounds and started walking towards the front.

"Try not to cause too much trouble today Sloane", Bobby told me, laughing. I gave him one of my "death looks" and watched as he gave Renee a quick hug before heading in the opposite direction of us for his first class.

"You two are just so ... cute, in a disgusting way", I told Renee, imitating Olivia. She hated us and we didn't know why. Maybe it was because her boyfriend left her last year for me.

"You're so mean", Renee told me, shoving gently. We laughed at my perfect imitation of Olivia Mondoa, but our laughter soon stopped to the loud noise of a crash. Everyone stopped what they were doing at looked towards the noise.

"Watch where you're going!", Olivia screeched. Renee and I looked at each other and sighed. Super heroes to the rescue. Again.

Renee and I made our way towards the group of people circling around the action. David Canal, Olivia's new boyfriend as of last week, was in front of her ready to beat the crap out of some kid I didn't recognize. I pushed my way through the crowd just as David raised a fist. Renee and I made it just in time.

I jumped in between David and the kid, grabbing David's fist as it came down and using his momentum, sent David to the floor. Kids gasped in shock. Renee helped the kid up and after taking one look at me, got the kid out of there right away. David got up and was ready to throw another fist, but a teacher soon came and stopped us both. Like I said, lucky, lucky me!