Chapter 24

We pulled up in front of the house. Our old one, that was still just as beautiful as usual. I couldn't believe that we had it. We had been gone a year, and were back in our old house. The first thing I did was set up my desk. We decided to all have our same rooms, and everything went back into the old places. My desk slipped perfectly back into its corner, the dresser opposite the bathroom door from the desk, and the bed on the other side of the room. The coiling mirror was re-installed, and the toiletries re-cluttered the counter.

I felt like I was in a dream, drifting from one time and place to another. And at the same time, I wished I had been dreaming and would wake up back in California. Where things were perfect, and my friends would always be there for me. Where I was happy.

I hadn't told anyone from Paris that I was moving back. Let them be shocked in school, I thought to myself. Boy, would they be surprised.

I woke up at six thirty, showered, and blow dried my hair.

I flipped through my closet, with no idea of what to wear. I looked at the clock. It was seven. The friends from Beverly Hills would probably just now be falling asleep. It would be eleven yesterday that time. They would be sleeping and preparing for a day of school that I was already starting.

I pushed the thoughts of them out of my head, and tried to figure out what I was doing. I felt like a little kid again, telling myself how to tie my shoes. Cross, pull one string through, tighten, make one loop, wrap the other string around it, pull string through to make another loop, and tighten.

But this time it was different. Find a shirt, pull it over your head, put on the deodorant, find the pants, pull them on, zip them up, and button them, find shoes, slip them on. Go into bathroom, put on makeup: touch of foundation, a swish of powder and blush, a quick rendition of my famous eyeshadow system, a touch of lip gloss.

Now go downstairs, face your parents, the truth. Face what you will have to go through today. Be there for Peter and Adrienne, they may need you. You have to be strong. No! Stop thinking about Kyle. Stop thinking about Erin and Brittany, Parker and Charlotte. Don't allow yourself to do that.

I snapped myself out of the trance I was in to grab a quick bite to eat, and then join Peter and Adrienne in the car to school. Adrienne was going to be a freshman, I a junior, and Peter a senior. Adrienne was freaked out about being a freshmen, I was worried about returning to the high school, and Peter was worried about his life in general. I parked the car in the student parking lot, and turned off the car, pulling out the key. I dropped it into a pocket in my shoulder school bag, and paused to take a glance around the car. A look to my right showed my seventeen year old brother, and a glance behind me revealed my fourteen year old sister.

"Come on guys, we have to go."

"I don't want to face it," Adrienne said.

"You will have to eventually, and there is no time like the present," I said, quoting Mom.

She sighed, and got out. Peter eventually followed.

Before we went in the building, I grabbed his arm. "Seriously Pete, if you want to make this transition any easier for yourself. You have to at least be talkative or friendly. Be happy."

His eyes showed something completely opposite.

"Or at least pretend you are," I was fed up with him.

We headed in. Adrienne went up two floors, Peter and I went up one. I went into homeroom filled with fear. My advisor, the same one I had had as a freshman greeted me. "Sophie? Is that really you?" she sounded shocked.

I nodded, and gave her my best smile. "Yes it is, back to stay from California!"

"Well is it great to see you. My! How you have changed..." she walked around her desk, and came and stood next to me. "Turn," she said, and looked at me as I turned for her. She and I were very close, because she was a family friend. "Wow! You look great, with that tan, and your hair!" she paused, and caught some of it in her fingers. I had a completely different hair cut, with lots of layers and angles in the front. "It looks amazing!"

"Thank you," I tried not to show what I was really feeling on the inside.

She turned to the rest of the homeroom, who had noticed I was there. "Guys, guess what? Sophie's back!" We stayed with our advisors all through high school, unless you got changed because of something random. Everyone sounded pretty excited I guess, minus four people. I almost laughed when I saw their faces. Ben, Amanda, Chris and Amy. Their faces were full of shock, and then it was like someone had snapped their fingers in front of their eyes, and then there they were. They were the most fake people I had ever seen. They immediately came up to me, hugging and kissing and talking. Amy and I were introduced, and she was completely different from the way I had pictured her. Instead of being a boyfriend stealing whore, as I pictured her when I had first heard she and Ben were going out, she was actually really pretty. She had short blonde hair that fell a little bit above her shoulders, and it had the Josie look from Josie and the Pussycats. It worker for her though, because she was really petite. Even smaller than me, which was a shocker. Amanda and I had always been considered really skinny, but of okay height. She was really tiny and kind of short too. But she had a good build. I felt like I was sizing each of them up. Ben had gotten taller, hotter of course. His voice had deepened, as had Chris'. Chris looked good, and for once I was regretting the fact that I had always turned away from his flirtatiousness and what not. Amanda looked pretty much the same, but her hair was different. Her golden hair, that was similar to mine, had lengthened a lot, and was cut perfectly straight across. It was weird, but looked good on her.

And there they were. They acted like we had just not seen each other for like a month or something, not that I had moved away, and then come back. They didn't act like they should have. They were way too forward, but at the same time I found myself wondering who was the phony one. Was the smile I had plastered on my face more fake than the quick hug Amy had given me? Were the people I had grown to love in California more phony than the old best friends of France? Had Amanda really been phony or just responding to the horribleness I had picked up from my new friends? Who was more phony here?

I had no idea.