From GuitarGuy92 to xoJadeBabyxo

“Legs, come on wake up!” I grumbled incoherently at the person trying to stir me into consciousness. “Allegra come on! We’re gonna be late!” Letting my dreams fade away, I slowly opened my eyes to find my roommate Charlie standing over me. “Morning sleeping beauty.”

“Morning,” I mumbled, rolling over and rubbing my eyes of any remnants of my dream state.

“Seriously Legs, get ready or we’re gonna be late for breakfast,” Charlie said as she ran around our room, throwing stuff into her bag. I looked at the digital clock on my bedside table and groaned to myself before shooting out of bed to get ready.

An hour later, we were dashing into the Rec Center just as the doors to the dining hall closed. “No, no Mrs. Hill, please let us in,” I pleaded.

“Sorry ladies, you know the rules. If you want breakfast you’ll just have to wake up earlier. The dining hall is closed.” With that, she closed the door in our faces.

“Ooo, that’s just rotten luck.” We both turned our heads at the sound of that voice. Dawn Denato, queen bee at Pacific Palisades Academy, was strolling out of the dining room with boy toy Nick Jonas at her side, their posse close behind. They walked past us, laughing and smirking.

“God I hate her! I swear, one of these days I’m going to—” Charlie started her rant before I cut her off.

“Come on. She’s not even worth it,” I said as I pulled on my best friends arm. We made our way out to the warm California weather. As we approached our usual breakfast table, I saw the most glorious thing ever…my second best friend Kenny…with a full tray of FOOD! Charlie and I quickly closed the remaining distance. “Heyy Kenny,” I said.

He looked up at us and smirked a crooked grin. “Morning ladies,” he said.

“So, Kenny, are you gonna finish that?” Charlie blatantly asked.

He chuckled softly. “Actually, I figured you two were gonna be late, so I picked up some extra food for you guys,” he replied, pushing his tray towards us. “Help yourselves.” Without further invitation, Charlie and I lunged at the food, her going for the bowl of dry Frosted Flakes and me for the bowl of fruit. “Oh, and I also picked these out for you Legs,” he added, pulling out a pack of Brown Sugar Cinnamon PopTarts and tossing it at me.

“Mmm. Kenny, have I mentioned how much I love you?” I questioned as I took the toaster pastry and put it in my bag for later.

“Hmm, not lately,” he stated in faux thought.

“Well, I love you,” I assured before plopping a piece of honeydew in my mouth.

“Kenny merely chuckled at my proclamation and leaned forward in his seat. “So, what’s the excuse this time?” he questioned, an amused glint in his blue eyes.

“It’s all Allegra’s fault,” Charlie managed through a mouthful of flakes. “She fell asleep on her computer and forgot to reset the alarm.”

“Charlie, I’m pretty sure you’re capable of setting an alarm yourself. Don’t try to bag this on me,” I retorted.

“Yea, well you’re the one that offered to reset it. But of course, you were up to all hours of the night IMing that guy. Seriously, I’m starting to see a pattern here,” she countered, shoving another handful of the sugary flakes into her mouth.

“Ugh, Legs, please don’t tell me you’re still talking to that online dude,” Kenny interjected. I averted my gaze which made Kenny groan. “Come on Legs, I thought you were smarter that that. This dude could be a total pedophile,” he said, sending me a disappointed look.

“He is not,” I defended hastily.

“How can you be so sure?” he probed.

I frowned slightly at his question. I had asked myself the same thing when that first email appeared in my inbox, but throughout the past couple of months, I’ve come to realize GuitarGuy92 was anything but a pedophile. “I just am, okay?” I responded weakly. I suddenly pretended to be very interested in my breakfast, which allowed Charlie to lead a discussion of the possibilities of my online buddy being a pedophile. While she and Kenny discussed possible scenarios of what would happen if GuitarGuy ever asked to meet me, I allowed myself to observe my two best friends.

First there was Charlie, also known as Charlotte Costa. She has been my roommate since eighth grade. Until she moved to the academy, I had lived in a doubles dorm all by myself. But since she transferred in the middle of the semester, our dorm advisor put her in with me. At first we hadn’t really gotten along. I was a quiet, reserved person and had a problem with her loud, over the top personality. But it didn’t take long for us to find that state of equilibrium. Nowadays, we were practically inseparable. Ask anyone on campus and they’d tell you we were the best of friends.

As far as looks went, she was one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever met. She had golden blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders. She had the brightest hazel eyes and the way she always did her makeup made them pop. Her skin was pretty much flawless and always had a slight glow. She wasn’t extremely tan, but she wasn’t ghastly pale either. All in all, she was absolutely gorgeous…and I was super jealous.

Then there was Kenny. He was the first friend I made here at Pacific palisades Academy (our boarding school that goes from sixth to twelfth grade by the way). It had been my very first day as a measly sixth grader. I had been helplessly searching for my dorm building for half an hour so I stopped by a flight of stairs to examine my map. All of a sudden, I heard someone screaming and when I looked up, I saw a boys arms flailing as he fell down the stairs, his skateboard falling on top of him. I immediately rushed to his side and asked him if he was okay. The rest, as people say, was history. Kennith Ferrier and I have been best friend since day one and know pretty much everything about each other (although to this day he still won’t tell me what he had been looking at that day that he didn’t notice the stairs that were right in front of him).

When I had first met him, he was a short, lanky seventh grader who hadn’t yet gone through puberty. But the first semester of his sophomore year, he had come back a tall, buff stud (as Charlie had so graciously put it). He had finished going through puberty, had a MAJOR growth spurt, and apparently lived at a gym. Girls started falling all over him and his clear blue eyes. Since there wasn’t a sport the kid didn’t play, he had a tan that would make the socialites (Dawn and her entire crew) jealous.

“So you better be careful,” Kenny was saying. I snapped out of my thoughts when he yelled my name. “Have you been paying attention to anything we’ve said?” he questioned.

I looked away guiltily and shook my head. “Sorry,” I added at the sound of Kenny’s exasperated sigh.

“Figures,” he mumbled. The awkward silence barely lasted a few seconds before my phone beeped from my pocket. I quickly retrieved it and, even though I knew both Charlie and Kenny were staring at me, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw GuitarGuy92 had sent me an AIM message. “Let me guess, that’s him?” Kenny questioned, glaring at my LG Voyager.

I nodded slightly as I stood up. “Look guys, I know you’re being like this because you care and want to protect me, but I honestly don’t think you have anything to worry about. And either way, I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.” My phone beeped again. “I’ll see you guys later.” With a small wave, I left them to the rest of their breakfast.

I walked away from the Rec Center to one of the many quads on campus and planted myself underneath a tree.

GuitarGuy92: hey there stranger, haven’t talked to you in a while

xoJadeBabyxo: lol, we were just talking a few hours ago

GuitarGuy92: which was a few hours too many. Honestly, I don’t think this relationship is healthy anymore

xoJadeBabyxo: :( why do you say that?

GuitarGuy92: b/c, my friends are starting to bug me. Talking to you is the only thing that keeps me sane and I don’t think that sort of dependency is good.

xoJadeBabyxo: hmm, idk if I should be offended or not.

I looked around the quad. There were students everywhere and more than a few had phones at hand. Any of them could be GuitarGuy…My phone beeped again.

GuitarGuy92: don’t be

I smiled softly to myself as I took notice of the time. I typed in a quick reply before getting up and dashing to my first class of the day.

JB—JB—JB—JB—JB

Across the campus, Nick Jonas was sitting on the ledge of the fountain in the main quad, staring at his brand new Blackberry Storm, frowning at the message he received.

xoJadeBabyxo: okay, I won’t. But I have to get to class. ttyl

He didn’t want to stop talking to JadeBaby. He wasn’t lying when he told her that talking to her kept him sane. He also knew that it probably wasn’t a good idea to be so dependent of this online relationship. But he couldn’t help himself. There was just something about JadeBaby that had him hooked and he couldn’t help the way he felt.

Letting out a wistful sigh, he realized that there weren’t many kids left out on the quads. After glancing at the time, he hopped off the fountain ledge, letting out a few choice words as he sprinted to his first class, which he would surely be late to.