• Late January, in the year 2009, I had been walking down the hallway to go to my locker, when I was asked a question by someone rummaging through her locker. She looked at me, and I immediatly recognized her.

    It was my former friends girlfriend, one I had heard so much about, a lot of it useless information. She smiled, and asked me "Hey, Lauren, what time is the play tonight?" My shock at seeing her made me reply a split-second after I normally would have.

    "We postponed it," I told her. "The weather's acting up." She shook her head, pouting. "Aw!" she said. We continued our conversation for a bit, just chatting, making small talk.

    I hadn't realized how nice this girl actually was. I was completely and totally over her boyfriend (well, maybe not, but almost!), and I was glad that he'd found her. Or that she'd found him.

    Either way, I was happy for both him and her. It didn't matter to me if they were dating, I didn't like him anymore. The part that bothered me was that he was too much of a coward to even look me in the eyes.

    He had looked me in the eyes nine times since the school year began. (Yes, I counted. I'm kind of paranoid about those kinds of things, okay?) It bothered me that he didn't have the courage or willpower to do what I've had to do a few times-be friends with someone who had broken my heart.

    So, in hindsight, if I hadn't broken up with him, they might not be dating. But she was the inspiration for a brand new book, and she gave me the idea when I said "Your boyfriends weird."

    She smiled, and said "Weird is better than normal." And then, BAM! An idea!

    The point is, I had actually talked to this girl, who knew my name, and probably a bit about me. But that sure as hell didn't mean that she knew me. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I can't wait to find out!