I don't know if you guys know of the WB sitcom called Popular but this is my own little continuation of the story. First chapter:

Hit and Run

Brooke McQueen’s body flew up into the air, landing haphazardly on the pavement, ten feet away from the car, with a sickening thud. Nicole’s breath broke from her lips in haggard gasps. Small drops of spittle flew onto the dash board. Her clenched fingers were hooked onto the steering wheel as if she would die if she let go. Sam McPherson’s scream erupted into the crisp night air and the manager came running out of the building.

“Oh my goodness!” He barked. “What the hell did you do?” He pointed to Nicole. It seemed as though Nicole’s brain wouldn’t work. All she could do was stare at her ‘best friend’s’ body, lying in the middle of the street in a growing pool of her own blood. “What did you do?” The manager continued to repeat this phrase, small tears of frustration beginning to roll down his cheeks. Sam stood on the sidewalk. She bit her bottom lip to stop her scream, causing two tiny punctures in her skin.

Soon Harrison came running from the restaurant.

“I heard you scream what’s wrong?” He questioned Sam. His words hung limply in the air. His eyes instantaneously bugged out of his skull and without thinking he dug into his pocket and came out with a cell phone. Harrison’s fingers traversed the numbers as if they belonged and immediately an operator’s voice came to his ear.

“Hello.” The woman’s voice was robotic and uncaring. “What is your emergency?”

“I’m at Caesar Crouton’s, on 21st street. That’s two blocks away from Kennedy High School.” Harrison bellowed suddenly. “We need an ambulance…now. My friend has been hit by a car!”

“Sir, please calm down.” The woman replied. “Is your friend unconscious?”

“Of course she is! Just send someone!” He cried.

“If you aren’t going to cooperate this is going to take longer than it needs to.”

“Lady, there’s no time for this! I need someone to save my friend’s life here! Get the damn ambulance over here!” Harrison ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He didn’t know whether to run to Brooke’s side and help her, hold her, save her but he knew that he shouldn’t move someone who has been hurt in an accident. The urge was overwhelming though.

“Harrison, where’s the ambulance?!” Sam cried, shaking her date’s shoulder. “Shouldn’t it be here by now?”

“Sam, I just called 911. How am I supposed to them to get here sooner?” He snapped. Sam flinched and backed away. It was haunting how the two of them stood and watched as Brooke’s thin body inched towards the brink of death.

*~*

Sam wrung her hands impatiently. It had been almost three hours since Brooke had been taken to the emergency room and was now in the Intensive Care Unit. Harrison had followed the ambulance closely as it made its way to the hospital. He took Sam along too but the ride was spent in silence; Sam was still mad at him for his choice at the restaurant. At the moment, Mike and Jane McQueen were talking to Brooke’s doctor. Only family members were allowed to see the patient at the moment and Sam had promised Harrison that she would wait to see her sister until Harrison was allowed to as well. Even if she was angry with him, she wouldn’t keep him in suspense while she saw Brooke.

“Sam, you can go in and see her now.” Jane poked her head out of the door, prepping her own daughter before allowing her to enter. Sam shook her head defiantly.

“I can’t go in until Harrison is allowed to see her too. I told him I would wait.”

“Go, Sam, she probably doesn’t want me to visit her anyways.” Harrison encouraged his lifelong friend but Sam still disagreed. Jane sighed, knowing there was no way for them to convince, or force, Sam to visit the hit and run victim. At the moment, Nicole was somewhere out on the roads, possibly running others down in her haste. The prom was ruined for the trio now and there was no way for Sam or Harrison to know whether or not they would ever speak to Brooke again or hear her voice for themselves.

“Fine…I will go and tell your father.” Jane answered.

“Thanks Mom…will you come back?”

“I’ll be right back sweet heart.”

“Don’t worry Sam. I’m here for you.” Harrison enveloped her in his arms, giving her no choice to pull away. He knew that she needed human contact.

Suddenly a loud banging erupted into the room. Sam turned her head, unsurprised to see Jamie’s body slipping into the room. A worried frown was plastered on his fine features and his muscles were tense with concern.

“What’s Jamie doing here?” Harrison questioned with surprise.

“I called him.” Sam piped up.

“Yeah…so where is Brooke?”

*~*

Sunlight shone into Josh and Lily Ford’s basement apartment. Josh squinted with annoyance. He turned away from the ray of light and gazed across the room at his beautiful wife. A short lock of brown hair fell across her nose and she wrinkled the button like feature before wiping it away subconsciously with her hand.

“Morning sweet heart.” He whispered to her.

“Hey.” She smiled lovingly at him but that happiness faded once she remembered the events of the night before. Their ‘prom’ night had failed miserably and the unhappiness of that episode brought back a whole slew of emotions into her mind. “Do you remember what you said last night? About us not being alright?”

“Yes…” Josh replied hesitantly.

“Do you really think that?”

“I don’t know Lil…” He responded.

“What are we going to do? I don’t want to live with my mom again.” She sighed.

“We’ll just have to see it through I guess.” Josh leaned on his elbows. “But I refuse to live in this shit whole of an apartment for one more day.”

*~*

Two weeks later:

Sam closed her locker gently, running her hands along the corrugated ridges in the metal. She looked down the hall, noticing once again a girl who she had not seen until last month. Kennedy High was known as a terrible school, considering all the horror stories that revolved around it, so there were rarely new students. All Sam knew about her was that her name was Jael Waters. She had shoulder length red hair, spoke French fluently, and had lip, nose, eyebrow and tongue piercings. Jael couldn’t be considered a pierced freak though; all her adornments were classy, at least in Sam’s opinion. It was odd for Sam; she had never been obsessed with another person, especially NOT a female. But now that George wouldn’t talk to her and Harrison had made such a terrible choice, so now two of her prospective relationships were over. That just left her girlfriends but Carmen and Lily were both too busy with their own lives to spend time with her. Granted, everyone was preoccupied with Brooke so that took a lot of brain capacity. But Sam still felt ignored and insignificant and she wanted some recognition.

“Hello Jael.” She waved as the new girl passed but her greeting was only met with a simple wave.

The red headed girl walked farther down the hall with her boyfriend, Antony Vernon.

“Why is she always looking at me?” She asked her boyfriend. “It’s starting to freak me out a little.”

Chapter 2:

Verbal Abuse

“Harrison John, do you know the answer?” Ms. Glass questioned the student.

“I’m sorry…what was the question again?” Harrison asked in his typical Harrison way. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“Mr. John, if you don’t pay attention in class then how will you ever graduate? Don’t you care about your future?” Before Harrison could answer, Ms. Glass continued. “The question was…What is diffusion and why does it occur?” At the back of the classroom, Sam leaned towards Carmen.

“Why is Claw teaching us about biology? She’s never bothered before.”

“I heard that the board threatened to fire her if she didn’t start teaching what she was actually hired to teach. It’s happened before you know. Once it board is off her back we will be back to learning about nothing in particular, failing tests and listening to Ms. Glass yammer on about anything but Biology. It’ll last at least a week, two at the most.” Carmen rubbed Sam’s arm. She had known the girl for so many years that she could practically read her mind. “Don’t worry about Brooke. She’ll be home before you know it.”

“My parents are a wreck Carm.” Sam exclaimed. Ms. Glass eyed them angrily from the front desk but returned to teaching once the couple became quiet. Sam continued the conversation once Claw had returned to the lesson. “They’ve been spending all of their time at the hospital with Brooke.”

“Well she DID just get hit by a car.” Carmen replied, trying to make a joke.

“Not funny. Mike isn’t even working anymore and I haven’t actually had a real conversation with my Mother for a week. It isn’t good. And Brooke can come home in two weeks so it must mean she’s doing good right? She’s not in a coma…and she is responding more than she should be. That sounds good to me. That’s good right?” Sam scribbled nervously in her notebook.

“That’s good…as far as I know.”

*~*

Across the hall, in study hall, Lily and Jael were busy moving their desks together for a group assignment on the Renaissance. Lily and Jael had become relatively good friends over the past month. Sam had been too busy with her stuff to spend time with Lily and Carmen was preoccupied with her popularity. Lily and Jael had met at a vegetarian student’s club meeting and had hit it off nearly instantaneously.

“Do you even know what the Renaissance is?” Lily sighed. “This kind of male chauvinist, Eurocentric period in history is the kind of thing that pisses me off about the world. Why couldn’t they just remove this from the history books and find something better to replace it with, like the feminist movement or gay rights?”

“They have women’s rights in the history books Lily. Just not in the Junior curriculum.” Jael pointed to a woman wearing a tight corset and large hoop skirt. “I wonder how thin you’d have to be to fit into one of those dresses. I don’t think that I could.” She looked down at her stomach and chest, patting them both jestingly. Jael was a size fourteen but was happy with her size and felt sexy. “But it’s the way of the world Lil…but now it’s time for us women to get our power. It’s pretty damn awesome.”

“Yes and once I turn eighteen I will be going to vote for the first minority candidate that runs for president.” Lily smiled and underlined something in her notes.

“So what’s up between you and Josh?” The red head asked sheepishly. It definitely wasn’t the most graceful way of bringing up a question like that. “You’re married right?”

“Yeah…we are.” Lily looked away for a moment, as though she was going to begin crying in one second. “There isn’t really anything else to say. And what gives you the right to ask a question like that Jael? It’s none of your business!” Lily jumped up from her chair and piled her books together. “I think we should work on this when you’re not being so nosy.”

“Lily!” Jael grabbed her friends arm. “I’m sorry. I don’t think before I speak…” She looked down. “I was just wondering.”

“Respectfully, I think it was very rude of you to say that.”

“Do you have anywhere to stay?” Jael questioned, genuinely concerned for her friend.

“I don’t need any charity Jael.” Lily growled. “Josh and I can take care of ourselves.” She wrenched her arm away and stalked out the classroom door. “When you come to your senses about boundaries, come and find me!” Jael placed her head in her hands and sighed with discouragement. As long as she had known Lily she had been a bit prone to verbal abuse but Jael knew that she deserved it.

*~*

Nicole found herself back at that Fontana greasy spoon where her biological mother had left her so many years ago. It was called Greta’s Eats and was about the worst restaurant that Nicole had ever laid eyes on. The building walls were falling apart and the tan colored paint was chipping. There were no cars parked in front save for Nicole’s own. The fluorescent open sign shone brightly in the clouded daylight.

“Excuse me Miss, are you going to be buying anything or can I close up for the day?” A frumpy woman shuffled out of the restaurant, wiping her hands on a stained dish towel.

“No I’m not, thank you.” Nicole grunted.

“Great. No one else will be showing up tonight anyways.” She went back in doors and left Nicole alone with her thoughts. “Have a nice day.” Nicole wrapped her long fingers around the steering wheel and rested her weary head on the horn. She had no interest in doing anything…she felt like dying. There must have been police out looking for her. Nicole didn’t even know where she was. And no one would be able to find her, especially if her plan worked out. All she needed was a piece of paper, a pen and some rope.

Chapter 3:

Girl’s Night

Carmen and Harrison had decided to go and visit Brooke in the hospital. She had been given permission to leave in four days but both of them wanted to take some times to see their semi-good friend. However, Harrison had been a little hesitant about the meeting. Since prom night, Harrison felt as though he didn’t deserve to be in Brooke’s presence.

Brooke had been moved from the ICU to the children’s ward on the third floor of the hospital. Luckily she was fine save for two broken legs and a minor concussion. She probably still looks amazing. Carmen thought with jealousy. The always of the ward were decorated with happy looking cartoon animals, bright colors and child sized seats.

“How would you feel dying in a place like this?” Harrison whispered to his friend. “Seems a little ironic, doesn’t it?”

“Harrison!” Carmen exclaimed. “Don’t talk like that here…what if someone hears you?” She frowned at him as she made her way over to the nurse’s desk. The old woman who stood behind the desk wore a loose and disheveled bun in her graying hair and a flowery smock.

Inside room 108, Brooke lay motionless in her hospital bed. Jamie sat beside her in the chair beside her. Her hand was laying gently in his while they watched Jay Leno on one of the scrambling hospital televisions.

“Knock knock!” Brooke recognized Carmen’s sing song voice and mouthed a silent swear. Brooke did not feel like having any other visitors at the moment, especially with the dramatic change in her appearance. “How are you doing?” As the two visitors walked into the room, their surprised breaths were terribly obvious.

“What happened to…” Harrison whispered, suddenly realizing that his rude comment was too loud to be polite. “Hi Brooke.”

“Hello…” She whispered. Both Carmen and Harrison stood in the doorway awkwardly. Luckily for Brooke, she had a private room so there was plenty of space for the two high school students to stand around and gape. Brooke knew she was different than before and she knew she felt ugly. She felt a lot like she had that one week last year.

Brooke was now, naturally, a brunette. According to the doctors it was a freak anomaly that couldn’t be explained. Apparently it had been caused by the accident but at that instant, every hair on her body was a rich chocolate color.

“Hi Brooke.” Harrison returned. “Who’s this?” He pointed to Jamie.

“I’m Jamie Roth.” Jamie stood up and outstretched his hand. Harrison took it reluctantly and shook it with little strength or force. “And you?”

“Harrison John…and this is Carmen Fererra. Nice to meet you.” The latter was a lie but Harrison felt that, although he tried not to use that particular line, in this situation it would ease a little bit of the tension that was building in the room.

The three of them engaged in forced conversation but both Carmen and Jamie noticed that Brooke couldn’t keep her eyes off of Harrison. The college aged man clutched her hand possessively. It was yet to be determined if they had become a couple again but one thing was certain; Jamie had refused to leave her side for longer than two hours since she had been admitted into the hospital. Throughout the visit he and Harrison eyed each other with jealousy, both competing in a mental war for the same girl.

*~*

Lily sat on one of the stools at Cranky’s, drinking herbal tea, while Sam stood behind the counter and took orders. Usually she was busy organizing CDs and records but today she was happy to find herself serving food and making coffee.

“So what are you doing this weekend?” Sam asked her friend.

“I’m not sure.” The vegan answered. “Josh and I might be moving back in with my Mom.” She seemed discouraged with that course of action but Sam didn’t say anything about it. Lily had gotten a job two weeks ago but had a day off that Saturday.

“Do you want to hang out? There’s a party at B. Ho and Mary Cherry’s mansion and apparently everyone is invited. Nicole hasn’t been seen around here for over a month so I think that rumor is true.” Sam suggested. Know that I think of it, I haven’t seen Mary Cherry for a long time. I wonder if she’s sick. The barista thought. Truth be told, she actually did want to go to the party but didn’t want to go alone. “You could ask Josh to come too.”

“You actually want to go to an exclusive party instead of just hanging out just the two of us?” Lily asked, a little dejectedly. “We could just hang out at my place.”

“Spend Saturday in Ms. Glass’s basement? No thanks.” Sam answered.

“Why don’t we go to your house then? I haven’t seen Mackenzie for awhile. I can bring a salad for supper and vegetarian sushi.” Lily offered.

“I guess that sounds good. You could ask Carmen to come…and that new Jael girl too.”

“Carmen should be able to come…I don’t know Jael. She might be busy.” Lily didn’t want to tell Sam about her and Jael’s little argument. “Jael tutors failing French students so I don’t know if she has any clients on Saturday at the moment.

“Ask her anyways. It’ll be fun to have a girl’s night.”

*~*

“So where do you live…Daddy?” Mary Cherry asked the drag queen who had continued to claim, for the last three weeks that they had met, to be her father but the southern blonde didn’t believe him as of yet. What Mary Cherry didn’t understand was that Sweet Honey Chil’ had adopted her and was NOT her biological father. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out but then again, Mary Cherry was a new breed of crazy.

“I live in New York sweet heart.” Sweet Honey Chil’ replied.

“What about Momma here?” Marry Cherry asked. “Are you going to tell her that I’m alright?” At the moment, the two of them were staying in a small motel in California. “Are you going to tell Momma that I’m living with you now?”

“Of course not! She is the one who put you up for adoption and, in my opinion, she doesn’t deserve to know about your future.” He took a pink nail file out of his pocket and began to run it along his well manicured finger nail. “And just so you know, I am a very wealthy individual. We live in a pent house so all of your belongings can be taken to New York City. So why don’t we just get you home as soon as possible?”

*~*

That Saturday night Sam and Lily were sitting in Sam’s dimly lit dining room arranging bowls of chips and candy. They were expecting their two guests any minute. Jael agreed to Lily’s request, so now both of them were all squared up; buried the hatchet and all that jazz. Carmen had a date with Pablo but he had to cancel because his aunt had scheduled a class for him to teach. Carmen had been pissed off about it but couldn’t say anything about it. After all, the money that he made would be used to take Carmen out on nice dates.

“Anyone in here?” Sam’s ears perked up as they recognized the sing-song sound of Jael’s voice. This girl was causing odd reactions to Sam’s body and her psyche. The red head minced into the room as soon as Lily invited her inside and was a little taken aback when she recognized Sam. That’s the chick who keeps staring at me. Jael thought. How awkward is THIS going to be.

“Why don’t you come and sit down, you’re making the place look untidy.” Lily invited. “Have you seen Carmen walking on the side walk anywhere?”

“No I didn’t.” Jael barely knew Carmen but did know her better than she knew Sam. “But I’m sure she’ll be here soon. And if she can’t make it…c’est la vie.” She sat down across from Lily and twiddled her thumbs and waited for the awkward silence to end.

“Guys, I’m here!” Carmen called into the house.

“Great, let’s start supper.”