Love Is a Dog from Hell.

When Skylar entered Zacky's house, it was like stepping into one of those houses straight from the TV. It was all so normal compared to what she was used to. No ancient portraits of deceased family members, no sculptures with DO NOT TOUCH plaques, no antiques.

Zacky and Ashley led the way from the entrance hall to the living room. It smelled like sugar cookies and a hint of lemon. Zacky turned to look back at Skylar. He chuckled.

"Why are you smiling? You look in such awe. It's just my house. Nothing special." Zacky said. Skylar quickly composed herself and felt herself blushing.

"Sorry. I just love it. It's just... it feels so homey compared to mine." she told him. Zacky raised an eyebrow and Ashley turned to look at her quizzically, but they said nothing.

When they stepped into the living room, Brian was there sitting on the one of the two couches with two guys on either side of him. Another guy, a really tall, lanky guy, was laying on his stomach, chin in palms, highly interested in what was showing on the TV.

"Matt, stop slouching." Ashley said as she poked the more burly one of Brian's friends as she walked past him and went to sit on the empty couch.

This so-called Matt groaned and straightened his posture before flicking her off. They both laughed and then Matt looked around, trying to find Zacky but instead his eyes landed straight on Skylar. His eyes widened in disbelief. The girl was gorgeous.

"Who's the girl?" he asked. Zacky noticed the look on his friend's face and quickly led Skylar to the couch where Ashley was.

"This is Skylar. She works with Ash at the record store." Zacky said. He nudged Skylar in the rib and then introduced the other guys as Johnny, who was the other guy sitting next to Brian, and Jimmy, who was the one on the floor.

Johnny looked at her, smiled kindly, but didn't say anything. He just went back to watching TV. Jimmy however, at the mention of someone new joining their clique, sat up and looked at Skylar. His jaw dropped to the floor and he began stuttering.

"Dude... what the hell is wrong with you?" Brian asked, clearly annoyed. Skylar looked at Brian and then ignored him. He always seemed annoyed to her. Since the day they met. She felt like he didn't like her. She noticed that he always acted cool and cheerful around Ashley and Zacky at the store, but once she stepped in, his smile would instantly fade and he'd put on this frown.

"It's her... th-the girl from the magazine!!" Jimmy exclaimed, quickly jumping to his feet and dashed off to some corner of the living room. Skylar stiffened. She knew one day someone was bound to recognize her. She tried to keep her cool, but she could already feel herself trying to sink into the couch and disappear.

"Like a porn mag?!" Matt asked, now excited at the thought. Jimmy laughed and yelled out a NO!

"No, no, no!! Look, here!" Jimmy returned to his spot on the floor, a tabloid magazine in hand. It looked old for the pages were already curled, wrinkled, and some torn. He turned to a random page and there she was... Skylar, dressed in a pink ballroom gown, getting led out of a party that had taken place in Manhattan. The picture had been taken a year ago, about two weeks before Skylar and her family dashed out of New York and moved to California.

Everyone who wasn't Skylar or Brian crowded around the magazine. Skylar felt so embarrassed and when she looked at Brian, she now knew why he resented her.

"Holy fuck! You're a Van Der Vause?!" Zacky asked, simply amazed that his new friend was an heiress to probably a gazillion dollars, an oil company, a hotel franchise, and a shit ton of other things.

"Skye! Why didn't you tell me? Holy cow... wait, why the fuck are you working in a damn record store if you're most likely banking?!" Ashley said, coming back to sit next to Skylar, but first she hugged her in excitement.

"Can we put that away, please?" Skylar asked. Brian scoffed.

"What? The princess doesn't like the attention? Please... stop acting fucking modest. You're just like every single one of those other socialites out there." Brian said.

The living room went silent and all eyes went to Brian. He rolled his eyes and then went back to glaring at Skylar.

"Tell us what you want... C'mon now. What does a rich snobby girl like you want from us?" he asked her.

Skylar narrowed her eyes at him. She had been through some shit before coming to Cali but she never felt as angry as she did now. She stood up from the couch and went to stand directly in front of Brian.

"Fine... I have been trying to conceal my real life from everyone. My name is Skylar Marie VAN DER VAUSE Rodriguez and I am an heiress and socialite. And all I fucking wanted was to step away from my old fucked up life that I managed to fuck up myself. But guess what? I can't break away from the rich life... so I concocted this genius plan to work at this record store and befriend my best friend's boyfriend so I can take him to a ball in New York and hopefully when my grandfather sees that he is not worthy of value and I choose him rather than Gucci and Van Gogh paintings, then hopefully I get disowned and can then live up to your standards.., asshole."

Her rapid speech was then followed by a slap to Brian's face and a mad dash out the door.