Welcome to My Life

Talia was just about done with her school. They signed her up to be in a project with that insufferable BASTARD; Jack Barakat. The only good thing that had come out good today for Talia was that she had made a new friend, and he was in the project with her. It was a stupid religions project, and none of them knew what the Hell Taoism is, and that was the religion they were assigned.

"God dammit." Jack mumbled under his breath. The trio were walking on the sidewalk, in the cold month of November. His words seemed to fly off in the air. "Why me, dammit, why me?"

"Shut the Hell up, Jackass. I'm not any happier about this than you are. It wasn't my choice to be paired up with the likes of YOU." Talia hissed, and flipped her hair. Alex had gotten picked up from school early, so it was just Jack and Talia. "Do you even know anything about religions at all?"

"Yes, but not from Taoism! Is that even a current religion?" The lanky 15 year old asked, and saw Talia rolling her eyes. "What? It's a good question. You probably never heard of it before today!" Jack said, folding his arms across his chest.

Talia sighed. "Well, duh. I didn't even think that we're allowed to learn about religions in public schools, because others can get offended."

"Well I guess you were wrong." Jack smirked, happy that he could finally say that.

"Shut up." Talia mumbled angrily.

---

"Oh! Talia! I'm so glad you are here again! You haven't been here in a long time!" Jack's mom smiled at the young girl happily, pulling her in to a hug.

"Thank you, Mrs. Barakat! I'm glad to see you again. Me and Jacky boy here got assigned a school project together on religions." Talia explained sweetly.

Jack rolled his eyes. He could not believe his mom thought that Talia was sweet. Talia is a devil! Can his mom not see that? He would just have to show her that. Show his mom the bad side of Talia. And he knew exactly how we would make her lose her cool.

"Oh, Talia, you have gotten so pretty since I last saw you!" His mother explained, and Jack groaned.

"Mom. Stop." He sighed. "We should probably figure out what 'Taoism' is before we start the project, don't you think, Tal?" He smirked slightly.

Talia's face dropped. She was so mad. He of all people is not allowed to call her 'Tal'.

**Flashback maybe**

"Talia, come on! Let's go! It's about to rain!" A ten year old Jack exclaimed happily, and grabbed his friend's wrist. "We can't get our clothes wet! Let's go!"

Talia giggled softly, and trotted along after her friend.

When they got inside, they were greeted to the warm heater, milk, and cookies. The two children's parent's sat quietly, chatting amongst each other. When they saw their kids, they smiled happily.

"Mrs. Talia, why does Talia have a big tummy?" Jack asked curiously. "It makes her look funny."

Talia pouted softly, and looked at her stomach. She didn't have a big belly.. did she? Did she really look funny?

Talia's mom smiled softly and whispered, "It's because she hasn't lost all her baby fat yet, Jack."

"So she's a baby? She cries a lot?"

"No, she just has baby fat."

"Oh.."

**Different Flashback**

Jack and Talia were 13 years old when they got in the fight that ruined their friendship. "Talia, your mom left you because you're ugly, and fat, and because no one likes you! Your mom doesn't like you!" He laughed, and pointed at the poor awkward girl.

Talia pouted, "Yeah.. well.. At least I'm not rude! And I didn't set MY house on fire like you did!" She shot back. "You lost your dad in that fire, didn't you Jack! You miss your daddy, don't you?"

Jack glared at her. If eyes were daggers, Talia definitely would be dead by now. "It was an accident, and you know it! You.. you.. you.. ugly bitch!" He said, and grabbed the necklace that was on her neck, and yanked it until it broke. The only thing the girl had left to remind her of her mother.

Talia widened her eyes, and ran out the school, leaving Jack feeling both glorious, and terrible.

---

"Hello?" Talia said in to her phone. "Alex? Yeah? Oh, well, so.. He lives on the street right across from the school- Are you coming over? ... Okay, see you in a bit."

"Who the fuck was that?" Jack asked, "We need to work on the damn project!"

"It would help if Alex was here." Talia said, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Who?" Jack asked, not knowing who she was talking about.

"Are you serious?" Talia responded, a look of distaste on her heart shaped face.

"Yes..?" Jack said, starting to question himself. Was he supposed to know who 'Alex' was? Was he important? Was he Talia's boyfriend? Was it someone from Talia's little 'clique'? Jack didn't even know there was an Alex that went to their school.

"He's the new kid. I introduced him to you two weeks ago. He's one of our group mates. Is this bringing any one to mind?" Talia said, looking at Jack like he was a complete idiot. He was, but that gave her no right to treat him like that. He had a bad memory, that's all.

---

"JACK! TALIA! A BOY NAMED ALEX IS HERE TO SEE YOU!" Jack's mom yelled from the kitchen cheerfully; obviously glad that Jack has been making some new friends lately.

"HANG ON A SECOND MOM." Jack said, slamming his history book shut, and shooting a quick glare at Talia, who was quietly writing about the religious book for Taoism, in her neat, preppy hand writing. "I'll be right back. Don't touch anything, or I swear." He growled, and left the room.

"Okay." She said, shrugging her shoulders lightly. As soon as the lanky boy left, she jumped up, and started going through Jack's night stand drawers, searching for the necklace he had so rudely taken from her two years ago.

"Yeah, my room is right here." Jack said to Alex, motioning to the door. "Talia is in there, don't mind her. She's writing about the religious book." Jack said, as if he knew everything about Taoism to the new kid.

Jack can not believe he forgot who this kid is. He had bushy eyebrows, just like him. And his hair looked so cute on him. The kid was cute as a button, and Jack forgot who he was? 'Dammit Jack, you can't just forget about people like this..' he thought to himself.

When they entered the room, they saw Talia, still writing about the religious book. It was as if she hadn't even moved. She looked up from her writing slowly, and smiled at Alex. "Hey! Come on, we decided who will be writing what, and who will be presenting which thing. I'll be presenting the Traditions and Holidays, and The Sacred Text. Jack said he would do the Origin, and arts and literature. So you can do Social organizations and sects." She smiled kindly at the boy, who smiled right back at her.

"Sounds great." Alex replied casually, even though he knew this project would be a pain in the ass.

Whatever, he was just glad he was in a group with his friend Talia, and Jack. He occasionally glanced at Jack, admiring him for a few seconds, then looking down. Alex was surprised that Jack and Talia were getting along right at this moment.

Talia would occasionally lean over Jack to see if he needed help, and he would nod and thank her. They seemed so comfortable together, yet they acted like they hate each other. Alex couldn't help but be a little envious of Talia. He wanted to help Jack, not her. She hates Jack, so why does she get to help?