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Chapter 7

Crying on the Inside
By: Stacey Scott

Justin Timberlake brought the last box up to his room. It was his basketball stuff that he could not live without. He put the box on the floor and heard his father calling him to come back downstairs. He went and grabbed some more boxes and brought them to his sister's rooms. They shared a room. The new house was big but not huge. They lived in a better one in Memphis where he came from. They decided to get a change from their surroundings and they decided on California. On the way there Justin saw huge houses and wanted to live in one of those. But he knew they were sort of broke since his mother died. Since then his father tried to make ends meet for the four of them but it just wasn't working. Justin worked part time at a sneaker store to help out and babysitting his little sisters so they wouldn't need a sitter. But things were looking up now. His father had a better job in Cali and his sister's were in school so he would try for the basketball team at school which is what he was good at. Since he was so busy before he had to quit the team but it was for his family so it was okay.

He picked up some more boxes and brought them in the living room. He patted his sister on the head on her way into the kitchen. His father was there and on the way out he held Justin's shoulder.

"We have to talk son," Mr. Timberlake said.

"Sure. What's up?" Justin asked.

"Well I won't start the new job for about a week and the money I saved hasn't gotten here yet so I need you to work for a little bit. Say about a month," he said.

"No problem dad. I'll start looking today," Justin said smiling. His dad smiled to and they got back to work. After all the boxes were in from the truck the four of them went inside their new house and was ready to start a new life.

Monday at school Justin got his schedule and was shown around school by a girl named Diana Maser. She had brown hair and brown eyes and she wore glasses. Diana stared at Justin a lot as they toured the school.

"Is your hair really that curly?" she asked smiling.

"Yeah. It's been like this all my life. I used to hate it but now it's kinda cool," he said running his hand through all the dark brown curls.

"This is the cafeteria and down the hall is the library," she said closing the cafeteria doors and heading toward the library.

"You seem like the basketball type," she said.

"I am. I plan on trying out for the team but I have to start working for a little extra money for a while," he said looking in the classes as they walked by.

"Oh. My dad's department store is hiring. It's in the mall," she said.

"Really? That would be great," Justin said smiling at her.

"I'm sure he'll hire you. He needs a lot of people. Just tell him you're my friend from school," she said.

"Thanks Diana. I will," he said. They were further down the hall going toward the gym. That was when he saw her. She came out of the ladies'room and was walking in front of them. She was on the short side about 5'4 and she had long jet black hair that just lay on her back and she had a great body. Well from behind. She had on a jean skirt set that showed off her legs. She had the most beautiful cocoa complexion. He didn't even see her face but he was in love. Maybe it was the way she walked with her head up and had a confident strut. She smelled like watermelon as he walked behind her in a trance. She went in one of the classrooms and he continued to walk with Diana.

"Who was that?" he asked her.

"That's Michelle. She's in the in-crowd." Diana said making quotation marks with her fingers. "That was as close as you will ever get to her. Hope you enjoyed it" Diana said.

Justin heard a little annoyance in her voice. So he dropped the subject. Why was she so hard to get to, Justin wondered. He just had to meet her. He was in love already he could feel it. He wondered what this in-crowd was. He was a part of one at his school. Was this one the same? He and his friends were popular and hung around the cool crowds but things were probably different here. Little did he know the in-crowd here was way different. He would soon find out.