Chapter 1
Since before I was born I have had EVERYTHING I could possibly want. Louis Vuitton purses? Check. Gucci belts? Check. Good grades? Check. (Done all by myself of course.) Chanel sunglasses? Check. I live in a beautiful town in Paris, France, in a gorgeous mansion. I go to a magnificent private school. I'm captain of my cheer team. I have absolutely everything. Well, almost everything. Him. That's what I'm missing. Deven. The dark skinned, shy, brunnette boy that is in every girls dreams. The guy that plays baseball. He is funny when he talks. Absolute DREAMBOAT! My only issue? I can't talk to him. I have never been able to talk to guys I've liked. EVER. My knees buckle, my mouth gets dry, my hands get all clammy, and I look pathetic. Any other guy, I'm a PRO. The most conversation I've ever had with Deven is when he turned around in history class to ask for a piece of paper. I awkwardly obliged. My best friend, Violet, gave me a reassuring thumbs up, which, in her best efforts to make me feel better, made me feel worse. Violet can talk to guys no sweat too, except for her crush. His name is Noah. Nice guy. A blondie that plays soccer. Also shy. Never really talked to him. It's what we do best. Can't for the life of us talk to the guys we like. Well, enough about me...
***
"CHARLOTTE!" Violet tugs at my new Louis Vuitton purse, "You were supposed to finish that in class yesterday!"
"You know Mr. D is hella boring," I reply.
"I finished that in class," She says, "You were too busy staring at Mr. DreamyMcDreamboat." I blush and go back to my work and she taps her Prada heels on the floor. LOUDLY. I finally let out a loud groan.
"Fine," I say, "We can go get food." She claps for joy and we walk out of the lounge to the food hall. Our school could get mixed up with a castle. Auclair Academy is the most prestigeous school in all of Paris, France. Most people get in with wealth and then theres the scholarship kids. The kids that get in with a scholarship are referred to as the "underclassmen", and the richies are the "upperclassmen". Those titles were there before Violet and I were even born.
"Watch it!" I hear Violet hiss at a young underclass freshman, "Peasants!"
Violet and I aren't known for being "nice". If we like you, you'll know. If we don't, YOU'LL DEFINITLY KNOW. There's very few people we actually enjoy being around in school and it's because most people don't like us first. We never really know why. Suddenly, down the hall I see HER. Franchesca. The most snobby, petty, self-absorbed brat you'll ever meet.
"Just my luck," I say, "She's talking to Deven." I start to turn the other way when I hear the Barbie sounding voice of Franchesca. Its high-pitched and annoying.
"Charlotte!" She says. I sigh and turn back around to face her. She's tall, extremely skinny, obviously spray tanned, has long, platinum blonde hair, and brown eyes, and a sneer on her face.
"Franchesca!" I say as politely as I can, "What's up?" She snickers and hugs me.
"I'm gonna tell Deven," She whispers in my ear.
"Tell me what?" I look up and freeze. There he is. The famous guy I've been talking about. I depart from my awkward hug with Franchesca and even more awkwardly wave to him. He politely waves back. It takes everyone a moment to realize that he actually just TALKED. He, like I said, never talks. EVER! After no one says anything for a bit, Violet finally talks.
"We need to get going, but good to see you all," Violet says that and grabs my arm.
"Thanks, Vi," I say. She looks at me and says, "Okay what the hell was that? You didn't even talk to him!"
"I know, I know," I say, "Let's just go to P.E."
"Fine," Violet grunts. We walk to the locker rooms and change into our schools P.E. uniforms. It simple black shorts and a white shirt with our schools crest on the right corner. On the crest it has a lion for bravery, a dolphin for intelligence, an eagle for sharpness, and finally it has tiger, for some reason it stands for athleticism, and in the center is a capital 'A'. We walk into the gym and see two tall nets set up. Violet and I look at each other.
"Volleyball," We say smiling. We have always loved volleyball and as much as I would try out, I have cheer. So I watch Violet dominate as team captain.
"Boys versus girls!" My coach yells. Too easy. The guys stand up and divide among their cliques. The druggies, popular jocks, nerds, and finally the scholarship kids. Then the girls do the same. I get my team of six against a team of five boys.
"Where's your sixth?" I ask a kid named Brice.
"Dunno," He says, "Deven said he would be here." I pause.
"Wait," I say, "Deven?" He nods and sure enough, as if on cue, Deven walks in. He apologizes to my teacher for being late and he fills the open spot. I wave to the coach to toss us a ball and I throw it to Hannah, the girl at the server spot. She serves and we rally back and forth. A guy on the other name named Jayden spikes the ball, but I jump up and block it, getting my team a point. I celebrate the point with my team and we keep playing till game point. I switch with Hannah to serve and I overhand it. It rallys back and forth and we eventually win. I walk to Violet.
"Some game huh?" She asks, clearly out of breath.
"Yeah," I say. We walk to the locker rooms and when we walk out changed back into our school uniforms I walk right into a shirtless, sweaty, and very fit, Deven.
