Chapter 1
“Are you ever going to talk to him?” Tessa asks me, looking over at Collin before turning her head back to me.
“No! I’m never going to talk to him, not unless he talks to me first,” I stand my ground and cross my arms.
“Why’s that? He’s never going to notice you unless you talk to him.” I roll my eyes and then look over at Collin and his friends. They’re kicking a soccer ball in the quad and looking pretty hot I must say. You see, Collin Bronze has been the love of my life since elementary school. His cool brown hair and green eyes just seemed so perfect to me and still do. Every girl loves him though, he’s the captain of the soccer team so who wouldn’t?
I sigh in defeat but Tessa doesn’t let this go, “Caroline, why don’t you just go over to him, say hi, twirl your beautiful blonde hair, and bat those eyelashes!” She grabs my arms and pleads, “Please Care, please! If Warren has the balls to talk to Anna you have to have the balls to talk to Collin!” I shush her and nearly smack her upside the head.
The school bell rings and I shake my head, “I’m not going to talk to him, Tess.”
“I’ll see you in Math,” She says, turning and walking the opposite way. I walk into my homeroom where my teacher, Mrs. Gideon, sits in her seat, grading her student’s work.
“Good morning Caroline!” She greets me with a smile and I automatically smile back.
The class begins to pile in and once the late bell rings the morning announcements begin. Through all of that, the class talks amongst themselves. I sit in my seat, finishing my assignment for Art class.
“Hey, Caroline! Can I copy your math homework?” I look to see who called my name and a guy from Collin’s group of friends is looking at me, waiting for an answer.
“Uh, no, I don’t think so,” I say, pulling my backpack under the desk. I fiddle with it until it’s between my feet. He smacks his lips and then turns to someone else who he asks and gets rejected by. Some of the announcements I listen to, but for the most part, it’s the same thing as yesterday.
“Now, here’s some inspirational words from one of your fellow classmates, Collin Bronze!” I nearly choke on air once the entire class goes silent.
“Students of West Brook High, I Collin Bronze am happy to be speaking to you from the office of our wonderful principal, Mr. Hancock.” He’s such a suck-ass, but a really cute suck-ass, “As the captain of the West Brook soccer team, I say that dreams are less than a mile away. Recently, I’ve been accepted to five D1 colleges.” The entire class erupts in cheers, I can ever hear the classrooms next door cheering.
“Collin is such an inspiration!” Hannah, the girl behind me gushes, “I can’t believe I even get the privilege to have the same History class as him.”
“With that, I leave you with a quote from the very famous and very respected Martin Luther King Jr.” He pauses and then says, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at moments of challenge and controversy.” The class gives him an around of applause before his voice is replaced with the overwhelmingly monotone voice of our principal.
The bell rings again and we all stand up from our seats. I pick up my backpack and exit the classroom.
“Care!” I turn at the sound of Warren’s voice and he’s running down the hallway, just to catch up with me. “What’s up? I didn’t see you or Tessa this morning.”
“We were by the quad.”
“You mean you were gawking at Collin,” Warren practically growls his name. I roll my eyes and we continue or long walk to the elective side of the school.
“So, how’s been mission ‘get with Anna’?” I ask, referring to the blue-haired girl Warren’s been in love with for the last year.
“She’s still friend-zoning me. She’s always talking about how she always hates how guys play her but she won’t realize that I’m a guy too! It hurts my feelings when she assumes,” We turn a corner and once the late bell rings, I sigh.
“Mr. Santiago is gonna be pissed that you’re late.” Warren says, picking up his pace, “You’re lucky I have study hall.”
“I don’t get why this school is so big, why can’t they just put the all the classes in the same one. Like elementary.”
“Maybe because they don’t like us,” Warren suggests, shrugging his shoulders.
I shrug and once we make it to my psychology class, Warren gives me a hug.
“I’ll see you later Caroline,” He walks backward and then turns fully around to walk to the library. I turn and open the classroom door.
Everyone looks up from their pieces of paper and I walk to my seat.
“This is your first time being late Caroline, I’ll let you off with a warning,” I nod and take out my notes. “We’re in the middle of a quiz, so if you could come get one and participate.” I stand from my seat and take a quiz from him.
I sit back down in my seat and look over the paper. It’s all questions about social experiments. I’ve seen videos like that online. Like the one where the guy dresses like he’s homeless and does something to see how the people around him react vs when he dresses like a rich guy. Society is pretty messed up for that.
I answer each written question honestly and then turn my paper over when I’m done.
Mr. Santiago goes through the class and picks up every quiz before bringing them back to his desk.
“Now, take out your notes,” He says writing today’s lesson on the board, “We’re learning about the process of the human mind.”
