Selina led Chloe through what seemed like 3 billion corridors before they arrived to what Selina called the school library. To Chloe it seemed as if they were walking through a 3 storey factory of books. And I thought the corridors were a maze! she thought. There were shelves of books everywhere, one could easily get lost, Chloe imagined. Chloe was so amazed at the size of the library that she hadn't noticed that Selina had disappeared until she had somehow turned up right in front of her clutching a thick brown book. On the cover it read "Orlando Highschool: Class of '93". Chloe asked, "Why on earth are you grinning like a madcat and holding a yearbook for?" "You'll see," Selina replied happily and pulled out a nearby chair from under a table. Selina began flipping the pages of the book and became so engrossed in it all, that Chloe thought Selina looked like a witch who couldn't find the spell she needed to take over the world. Chloe pulled out a chair and sat down beside Selina. Peering over Selina's shoulder, Chloe caught glimpses of class photos, and individual photos, all smiling back up at Chloe, before being flipped over. Suddenly Chloe heard Selina cry, "Aha, I've found it!" She grabbed Chloe's shoulder, making Chloe's head turn towards her smiling face. "Look Clo!" Selina said enthusiastically and pointed a finger to a photo in the middle of the page, "Now try and guess who that is?!" Instinctively Chloe looked at the photo, but her eyes wouldn't focus on the boy staring up at her. Instead they roamed to the little caption under the photo. There in bold letters her eyes read, "Name: NICK CARTER". It was then that she forced her eyes upwards to focus on the black and white photo of the small boy. It was Nick alright, he had the same sweet smile, but there the similarities to then and now ended. This boy... Nick... looked so different, sure it was the same guy and Chloe recognised him at once, but he looked so different when he was 13. For one thing, this photo of him showed him with an awful haircut, like he had just gotten out of the shower and forgot to rinse out the shampoo. His face, which was now lean and cute, was once chubby... it made him look a bit plump. And what was he wearing? Obviously he was well into the "hippie" phase back then when everyone else went "retro." Poor thing, Chloe thought. I can understand what Selina meant now. Who would have wanted a dork for a friend? "Hey Chloe, you feeling ok? You seem a bit pale" Selina's voice broke into her thoughts. "Oh yeah, I'm fine, I guess I'm just a bit shocked that's all..." Chloe explained. Selina laughed, "Hey, check this out! Here's a list... a long list of what he's achieved that year or something." Chloe's eyes flew back to the page. Selina's finger was stuck on the page with a long list of text, as if stuck down with superglue. Still in a daze, Chloe began reading... 'member of the ballet group'... '1st place in talent quest'... 'sang national anthem at senior prom'... the list went on. No wonder people thought he was weird. Selina began laughing, "Oh boy, I always thought he was queer, but this just goes over the top!" Selina laughed even louder which caused a few "ssh's" to erupt from the library. Chloe didn't know why, but all of a sudden she felt rage. "Shut up Selina! You think it's easy when everyone around you despises you so much they can't bear to be in the same room as you? To be put down because of what you believe in? You think it's cool to be different, have your own opinions, your own thoughts, your own dreams and express them only to be insulted and hated by your peers? I've had enough bad experiences to know all about it. I know I would be as depressed as bullcrap if I were in his shoes, at least he didn't give up all his dreams and all his hard work just because everyone thought he had a bad image and was queer. Think about it ay?" Chloe expressed angrily. Selina was quiet for a while before saying "I'm sorry Chloe, I didn't know this would affect you in that way, I didn't really mean what I said... I meant it as a joke. I don't want our friendship to start off like this. Would you accept my apology?" Chloe was silent for a while as she felt her anger slowly disappear. "Of course, I'm sorry I hit off at you like that. I don't know what came over me... I'm not usually like that..." Chloe felt tears start to creep up. "C'mon Chloe, we better go... I didn't mean to upset you..." Selina said apologetically. "Yeah... I know" Chloe choked out. Just then the bell rang. Chloe looked at her watch. It was 1:00pm. "What do you have now?" Selina asked Chloe as they left the library. Chloe pulled out her timetable from her pocket. "Umm... Art!" Chloe replied "In B4." "Oh, that's too bad, I've got Food Tec, but I'll walk you there to your class so you won't get lost on the way" Selina said. Smiling, Chloe gratefully said thanx and they both walked down the corridor to B4.
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