High school is pictured as this friendly environment for teenagers. A safe-haven to come to five out of seven days of the week to get away from parents, and away from the real world. That was what my friends and I first thought, anyway.

Libby Henderson--one of the most popular girls in school--was my best friend. She and I had been best friends since the start of our first year in middle school. She and I were like peas in a pod, having shared anything and everything with each other. But during our sophomore year of high school, everything changed between us.

She had added two girls to the duo that had been her and I--Zoey Nelson and Jenni Marquez, and we all had grown rather close to each other over a short time. We were all best friends, although I considered Libby my number-one best friend.

Zoey was a bookworm who enjoyed school--which shocked the rest of us. She was a sweet, scrawny thing that was smart and just fun to be around. Jenni was the complete opposite of Zoey, being that she was a rebellious girl who wore tattered jeans constantly, along with her beloved beanie she rarely took off of her head. Her motto was: "Life takes risks. Take them all!" We all knew she meant it. Ever since we met her, Jenni--nicknamed Jag--was the risk-taker.

When it came to boys, we all turned to Jenni for advice--she was the most experienced out of the four of us. She had had her virginity taken by many young boys at our school. She didn't seem to care, but I knew deep down she was hurting inside. She had spilled us her biggest, darkest secret one night at a slumber party I had hosted--just the four of us were there......

"Guys," Jenni had said rather quietly as we all lay on my massive king-sized bed together, munching on Oreos and other delicious snacks we had snuck into the room. "I have something to tell you. But you can't tell anyone. I mean it!"

"Your secret's safe with me," I said, smiling.

"Me, too," Zoey muttered, her mouth full of Cool Ranch Doritos.

"And me three," Libby added, popping a Peanut M&M into her mouth.

We watched as Jenni sat up on the bed, her legs crossed Indian-style. She looked down into her lap, a shy, scared look on her face. This alarmed all of us. We had never seen a look like that on her face before.

"When I was six," Jenni said, her eyes starting to water. "my father..."

An audible, yet quiet gasp was heard from us. We feared what was going to come out of the girl's mouth next.

"He..." Jenni shivered and closed her eyes tightly, causing a few tears to streak down her cheeks. "...He raped me."

My heart stopped for a moment, and I had the distinct feeling the other girls' had, too.

"Jenni," I whispered, reaching out to place my hand on her knee. "I'm so sorry..."

"Oh, wow," Libby frowned, staring at Jenni. "That's...wow."

"Jenni, is that why..." Zoey started to ask, then paused. "Nevermind."

Jenni looked up and locked eyes with Zoey. For a moment, a flare of anger flickered in those emerald-green eyes of her's, but then it dissappeared. "Go on."

"Well," Zoey hesitated. "Is that why you've slept with so many guys?"

We all were dying to know the answer to that question, but none of us had been brave enough to ask--except Zoey. We looked from Zoey to Jenni, waiting for her response.

"Yeah," came Jenni's rather casual answer.

From that day on, we couldn't see Jenni as the rebellious, edgy girl she appeared to be on the outside. All three of us could only notice the hurting, angry young child she really was underneath.

Chapter 1