Chapter 1

Less than ten minutes later, the students came pouring back into the classroom with plastic bottles in hand.

Some twisted open their bottles and took a sip. They smacked their lips and said, "It's a little sweet." Others stuffed theirs into their bags, saving them for the SAT.

Sasha Jepsen went even further. She carried an armful of the drinks, leaving a bottle on every empty desk.

When she reached my desk, she put on a perfectly convincing look of regret and spoke in a sickly sweet voice.

"Oh, Willow. I think I gave yours to someone else." She bit her lip, wearing an expression that said she was very sorry. "It's all my fault. I was in such a hurry that I didn't count them properly."

Then she continued, "When we came back up, the stall looked like they were about to pack up. If you hurry downstairs and ask them now, maybe they'll still have a bottle for you!"

I shot a glance at her.

She could barely hide her smile, and the gloating in her eyes was almost impossible to miss.

This wasn't the first time she had done this. Whenever there was something for the whole class and I wasn't around, she would always find some perfectly reasonable excuse to leave me out.

As class president, I used to put the class first and let things slide. I dealt with these little problems on my own.

But this time, I couldn't be bothered.

I turned to the next page of my workbook and looked up at Sasha.

"No thanks." I smiled. "Keep it for yourself. Drink up."

The smile on Sasha's face froze.

Before she could react, a mocking voice came from behind me. "Well, well. Our class president has such high standards. Why would Willow want some cheap freebie?"

A few guys swaggered over, and the one in front gave me a sideways look. "Sasha, why do you even bother? You're just embarrassing yourself trying to be nice to her."

Seeing that she had found her reinforcements, Sasha immediately put on a pitiful look.

"Willow, what are you upset about? I told you I didn't do it on purpose. Why are you being so petty?" she asked. "I just thought that since we're classmates, we should share the good stuff. Aren't you tired of always keeping to yourself?"

Her tone made it sound like I was some horrible person just because I refused to take the free energy drink.

I couldn't be bothered to argue with her, so I looked back down at my work.

But they refused to let it go. At Sasha's quiet prompting, the guys even came over and tried to pull me to my feet.

"Come on, Willow. It's just a quick trip downstairs. Don't make this unpleasant for everyone!"