C3 Three

I couldn't throw myself into the car fast enough when my mom pulled up after school. Apparently, Trent had already made some friends that were going to bring him home later, so it was just me and mom in the car.

"Hi honey, how was it?" Mom asked.

I threw my bag on the floor of the car and curled up into a little ball in my seat, frowning.

I seriously considered telling her everything, but decided against it. "It was...fine."

"I'm glad, honey! I told you everything would work out."

I almost raised an eyebrow at her quick response. She wasn't even questioning the grey t-shirt I now had on, courtesy of the gym teacher.

Whatever. "I'm hungry," I whined, remembering that I didn't eat lunch because I had stormed out. I gave her a sad look and wide eyes as I said this, trying to silently encourage her to take me through some drive-thru.

"Oh yes, thank you for reminding me! When we get home, I need you to get dressed up nice, because one of your fathers long time clients lives in the area and we invited him and his family over for dinner."

My face fell. God must hate me, because I just wanted to go to sleep and forget about this day, but now I had to be on my best behavior through some boring dinner.

I groaned dramatically, but my mom quickly gave me a glare. "Don't start, Lauren," she warned.

"Fine," I grumbled, turning up the radio for the remainder of the drive.

...

We got home and I ran to the snack cabinet, starving. I pulled out a bag of Doritos and headed up to my room with them. After lying on my bed, eating them for a while, I remembered what mom said and I sighed.

I really didn't know what to wear, all I knew was my mom said, "get dressed up". I settled on a simple black dress that ended about an inch above my knee. Not too short, I decided.

After brushing out my hair and reapplying my makeup, I was ready for dinner.

I sat down at the computer desk that was in the corner of my purple room. I turned on my laptop and got on Skype, seeing if Alyssa was online. She was! Alyssa was my best friend where I used to live, and we had been practically inseparable. She and I had sobbed after being told I was moving (her considerably more than me, though).

I got the notice that she wanted to Skype and I hit connect. Seeing her face appear made me sigh in relief. She had big green eyes, and long hair that was deep red. She always hated the freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks, but I thought it made her cuter.

"Lauren!" She shrieked with happiness.

"Alyssaaa," I called back, drawing out her name teasingly.

"What happened at school? Friends? Boyfriend?" She immediately launched into her usual tirade of questions.

I laughed but it soon fell away as I thought about what happened. "What's wrong, Laur?"

I sighed and began to explain to her about Tyler and what he did to me.

"What a dick," she said, twisting her hair around her finger as she frowned. I nodded my head in agreement, remembering how he'd gone all psycho on me both times I'd ran into him.

"I know what you need to do, Lauren."

"What?" I looked up curiously.

"Make him want you! You've totally got both the looks and the personality."

I snorted, my intrigue turning to amusement as I realized this was just another one of her crazy, romantic ideas. "Are you insane? Things don't just work like that, Liss. Plus, I don't have 'looks', all anyone wants is a blonde ditz and I'm certainly not that."

"No," she insisted. "You're hot, smart, and funny. Anyone would want you."

"Even if he did, Lyss, all he is is a player. He'd screw me and toss me aside." Which wasn't about to happen again.

"Well...try to change him."