Chapter 1: The Car Ride

“Mckayla, get in the car!” my mom shouted.I sigh. “Okay I’ll be out in a sec.” I walk down the stairs and take one last look at the house. I feel a tear trickle down my face… and it burns. Man, I am going to miss this house.  I have had so many good memories here. I have had so many friends in this very house.

    I walk to the car and sit in the back seat with my brother. My dad is driving, and my mom is sitting in the passenger seat. We pull out out the driveway of our old house. I shield my face in my hands, so my brother does not see me crying. My eyes are puffy and red. There is a bump in my neck, that makes my words sound muffled when I speak.

“Mom, why…,” I stop, and clear my throat and try again. “Why are we moving?”

She looks back at me, as I quickly wipe the tear of my face. She starts a sentence but can't finish it because my brother interrupts her. “Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet?”

  My dad looks in the mirror and , then looks at my mother and says,”Oh no, it’s gonna be a long ride.”

My mom rolled her eyes and agrees with a nod.

“Jackson, you need to learn to read the mood of the room” says my dad.

My mom nods again and says, ”Jackson, your sister is going through some tough feelings right now and…”

She stops because I interrupt her this time. Being the stubborn 14 year old I am, I blurt out “ I am not going through ‘tough feelings’ right now, and I will do just fine at this new house!” I try to put as much bitter vinegar in my words, to let them know that I am still my sassy, brave self. But on the inside, I am not feeling sassy, or brave. I am feeling sad and angry and mad and just having so many emotions about moving. I feel like I am going to explode! My mom restarts her sentence, but in a different way.

“All I’m saying is that you should leave your sister alone, Jackson.”

His eyes make him look mad... and he is.

“I am 7 years old mom. I don’t have to do anything you say!”

Oh no. He just said the wrong thing to the wrong person.

“You are going to do everything I say, Jackson. You will leave your sister alone, and we will not discuss this anymore. Am I clear?”

I can tell that my mom is the angriest person in the car, and now my brother looks afraid. He says with a soft voice, “Yes.” I chuckle a little bit. My mom hears me, but she doesn’t say anything. An hour passes and I have to use the bathroom.

“Mom?” I ask.

“Yes dear.”

I cough and say, “Is there a gas station or something nearby that has a bathroom?”

“Um, yes. Derek, babe, can you pull into that gas station?” I am surprised that my mom called my dad by his first name. She normally calls him babe or baby. She points at the old raggedy nasty gas station. By the way it looks, I can’t believe it is still open. My dad pulls into the gas station and everybody gets out of the car.

“Okay everybody, let’s go inside and use the bathroom,” my mom says.

“Are you kidding me mom? We have to use the bathroom in this old dump?,” I said with an angry tone.

“Yes, unless you want to hold it in for about another hour and 30 minutes.”

I can’t hold it in any longer. I walk into the gas station, and everyone else follows me. It actually looks pretty nice on the inside. There is a man behind the counter.

“Ah, customers. How may I help you?” he says with an excited voice.

“Um, yeah. We just need to use the bathroom,” my dad says with a confused look like there has never been any customers here.

“Over by the fountain drinks.”

We all walk toward the bathroom. I walk in the bathroom, and it is one of the best bathrooms I have ever seen. The floor is squeaky clean, and you can see your reflection in the walls. I walk into one of the stalls. The toilet is so clean and shiny. I can’t believe that the outside of the gas station looks like crap, but on the inside it’s like paradise. I use the bathroom and walk outside back to the car. Everyone else is already out. We get in the car and continue to the house. I fall asleep after a few minutes. I wake up with the screaming coming from my brother. There is a spider on his leg, and I start grinning. I roll my eyes and slap his leg.

“Owwww!” he wines.

I laugh and say ” Oops.”

I look outside, and there are tall buildings. My brother is staring at all the buildings with his face planted on the glass. I just shake my head. He is annoying and weird.

My brother starts asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”

I swear if he says that one more time, I am going to kill him. I yawn. I am too tired to kill somebody right now, so I go back to sleep. I had a dream where we arrive at our new house and I meet a cute boy who lives across the street. We fall in love and... BAM. My brother slaps me in the right arm.

“We’re here,” he said loudly.

I am scared to open my eyes to a new place I will soon call home.

   Chapter 2: Adjusting, and Meeting New people

I look outside to a big beautiful blue and white house. We all get out and grab boxes to take inside. I grab a box marked “Mckayla’s Room.” I go inside and look for my room.

I ask my mom, ”Where is my room at?”

“Up stairs. Second door to the left,” she answered.

I walk upstairs and set the box in my room on the floor. I go back downstairs and outside. I see a cute boy across the street. His facial features are frighteningly close to the boy from my dream I had in the car earlier. With brown hair and brown eyes. He is playing catch with his younger brother. He looks into my direction and smiles. I blush. I feel like I already know him. He starts walking towards our house. My heart beat starts to  speed up.

He walks up to me and says, “Hey, I’m Carter.”

I smile.

“I’m Mckayla,” I say with a small squeak in my voice.

“Do you need any help unpacking?” he asks.

I sigh.

“Um, If you don’t mind.” I say as I smile at him.

He grabs a box and sets it on the front porch. I watch him as he does it, doing nothing else. I grab a box and do the same thing.

“Where you moving from?”

I stared a moment. He is actually taking interest in me!

           “We used to live just about 3 hours away, but i was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico”. 

“Oh. I have never been to New Mexico. I bet you miss  your old friends, but you will love New York, trust me!”

"I hope so."

We get most of the boxes on the porch while my mom, dad, and brother put them where they go.

"We'll I have to go," he says, "See you around hopefully?"

I smile and reply,”Yeah. Thanks for the help."

"No problem."

He heads back to his house. I watch him without looking away. Maybe I will like it here after all. I put the rest of the stuff on the porch and go inside. I walk to my room and look out the window. I don't know why, I just do. I unpack all my boxes and put them up. I make my bed and head down stairs.

"Mckayla baby," I hear my mom say, "what do you want to eat for dinner?"

"Pizza?" I suggest.

"Okay."

I think about Carter for a little bit then I head outside to go for a walk around the neighborhood. Carter is outside and he watches me as a walk a couple of yard then he jogs toward me.

"Hey Mckayla," he says.

"Hey," I say.

We walk together in silence for a little bit. "Carter, I know this might seem weird, but it seems like I already know you, personally."

"I know, It feels like the same thing for me too."

I feel like i can already tell him anything. We walk around the block and then I see him smiling and staring at me. “I know it is too early, but I like you Mckayla, and I hope I’m not being too forward,”

OMG!! I can not believe he just said that. I am so happy, but I don’t want him to think I am overly excited.

I just say, “I kinda like you too.”

His smile went down a little bit.

“I actually REALLY like you,” I said.

His smile got big. Bigger than anyone else’s smile I have ever seen. He stops walking, and looks up at the sky.

“Well I better get home,” he says.

“Yeah, me too,” I say.

I walk back to my house and Carter walks back to his. I open the door and look back at Carter. He is already looking back at me. I smile. He smiles. We both go inside. I look at the clock. It is nine o’clock. I jump in the shower then I walk up stairs. When I get out, my brother is by the door. I jump a little, and almost drop my towel. His eyes are closed. I think he is sleepwalking. He turns around and heads back to his room. He falls on his bed and covers up with his blanket. That was SO creepy!! I just shake my head, get dressed, and go to sleep.

My dream was about Carter. We were dating and having fun, until a killer stabbed him. I was crying non stop. He sees me crying and stabs me several times. I wake up, gasping for air. Thank goodness it was just a dream!

I get up and look at the window. It is raining. I walk outside of my room and everyone is still asleep. I go downstairs and slip on my tennis shoes. I look for the umbrella, but i can’t find it. I look behind the couch and there it is. I grab it and walk outside. I pull the umbrella up and start walking to the grocery store. I see Carter ahead of me without an umbrella. I wonder where he is going this early, but yet I’m wondering the same thing about myself. He looks behind him at me. I think he thinks I’m following him or something. He smiles and i smile back. He stops walking, waiting for me to catch up to him.

“What are you doing up this early?” he says as we walk.

“I have to get some food for the day. My parents won’t be up for a while, so I figured I should go ahead and get the groceries,” I say.

He smiles a little.

We stop walking.  He gets under the umbrella and we stare into each other’s eyes. His eyes are a dark blue.

Then I shake my head and say, “We better get going.”

We start walking again. The store isn’t far away.  When we get there the sign says CLOSED.

“Ugh,” I say.

I sit down on the sidewalk and Carter sits next to me. There are only a couple of inches in between us and I like it, but it is too early for me to be thinking about that.

“It opens in ten minutes,” he finally says.

“Yay,” I say sarcastically.

Carter laughs.

Ten minutes pass and the store is open. We get up and head inside. We walk around for a while then finally get what we came here for. I grabbed some bread, cheese, turkey, chips, and a two liter of mountain dew. Carter grabs chocolate chip cookies, fruit punch, and bread. We go to the check out and put  all of our stuff on the counter. We scan everything and put them in bags. He puts his stuff with his and I put my stuff with mine.

“I’ll pay for it,” he says.

“No need. Let me pay my own.”

We get into a little argument and he ends up paying for mine. How did he win?

“Thanks,” I say.

“No problem.”

We don’t talk the rest of the way back.

When I got inside, everybody is still asleep. I don’t think they are human. I lay on the couch and turn on the T.V. I turned it to channel 37. Law and Order was on. They are trying to find this guy that murdered an innocent little girl. She looks like she is about six years old. Then I hear my mom come down the steps slowly. She looks like she is sleepwalking like my brother was last night, but she isn’t.

“Hey sweetie,” she says.

She doesn’t cook anything, because it is now almost ten o’clock and we never eat breakfast.

“Hey mom,” I say, “I got some groceries.”

She had a smile on her face.

“Thanks baby,” she says.

I can tell she was proud of me for doing her job. She sits on the chair next to the couch. She is so interested in this show, and I don’t think she has ever seen it. My brother and dad finally come downstairs after the episode of Law and Order is over.

“Goodmorning, babe,” says my mom, “Or should I say good afternoon?”

My dad looks at the clock. It reads eleven twenty-three o’clock. My dad walks into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator and pours himself a glass of milk.

He tries to walk upstairs to go back to sleep, but my mom says, “Get down here, babe. You are not going back to sleep.”

He walks toward the couch and plops right by me with an angry look.

“I’m going outside mom,” I say.

She nods and I go outside. Carter isn’t out.  I am depressed. I  head back inside. I am on the last step back inside when I hear a door open, then close. I glance back, beginning to blush at who I see.

Carter.

But he does not notice me. He is texting someone. He gets the mail and goes back inside. My blush turns into frustration.

I go inside and upstairs. I jump in my bed and lay there for a little bit. Then I hear my mom calling my name.

“Mckayla, your friend is here.”

What friend? I don’t have any friends here.

I go downstairs and I see Carter at the door. He is smiling. I go outside.

He says to me,”Hey, do you want to go for a walk?”

“Sure,” I say.

We walk for a bit, and then he stops walking. I stop too.

“Listen,” he says, “I want to get to know you a little better.”

“Okay, what do you want to know?”

“What is your favorite color?” he asks.

“Blue,” I reply.

“That’s my favorite color too!” He excitedly answered.

“What is your full name?” I ask.

“Carter Reynolds,” he answers.

“Mine is Mckayla Michelle Osborn,” I say.

“That is a pretty name,” he says. I crack a smile. He is so sweet. I shift my eyes to the sky, and when I look  back at him, he is staring into my eyes, no, into my soul. I feel like I am special, wanted… but most of all, I feel important and loved. Carter isn’t like most guys… he is nice, not shallow.

I feel a sprinkle, and look at the sky. The clouds are no longer white, but a light gray. I hear thunder. But it is possible that it is just my heart. Nope. It's thunder. We both start jogging slowly back to our houses. I feel electricity as his hand brushes mine. I smile, but don't stop running… I turn to look at Carter, but he is already looking at me. When we get close to the houses, he walks me to my house.

”Thanks for the walk,” I say.

“No big deal. Thanks for coming with me. Bye.”

“Bye,” I say. I watch him walk back to his house, then I go inside. It's only 7:30, but I get in the shower, and head to bed. That night, I dream about something great… Can you guess what… or in this case, who? Yup - Carter Reynolds. Shocker? In this dream, he proposes to me. I say yes, and then my dream automatically goes to our marriage. He looks great in a tuxedo. When the preacher says, “You may now kiss the bride,” my mom entered my bedroom and shook me awake.

Chapter 3: My New School

    I cannot believe I already slept 10 hours, and now it is the 1st day of my new school. Actually, it is the 1st day of school for everyone. I get dressed in my new back to school outfit, which is a blue and pink skirt with a butterfly shirt. I slip on my shoes, and head down stairs. I shove a scoop of Froot Loops into my mouth. Then another and another. As I am chewing, I look at the time. It is 7:05. The bus comes at 7:15. The scoops become shovels. I run my bowl to the sink, and jog upstairs. I quickly brush my teeth, and my hair, then apply some lipgloss, and put in some pink heart earrings. My dad has already left for work, and my brothers school does not start until 8:05, so my mom will take him, and she will work from home until then. I knock on my mom’s bedroom door.

“Hmmm?” She questions. I poke my head in.

“I got to go. Bus will be here soon. Love you, see you when I get home.”

Still in bed, my mom rolls over and sleepily nods, then goes back to sleep.

I head out to the bus stop. I see Carter already there, and when he looks at me, I almost run back to the house, but I don't. Its is sorta chilly, and I kinda regret wearing a skirt, but when Carter compliments me on it, I feel better. We both get on the bus, and grab the first open seat. Since the bus is fairly  small, we have to sit pretty close. We don’t say anything until the next stop, where we pick up a group of 7th graders.

“ You nervous?”

I almost jump at the sound of his voice. I don't make eye contact.

“Not really.”

I know It’s a lie, but he doesn't...hopefully. I continue to look down at my feet. The bus ride is bumpy, and I feel sick. Maybe it's because I am nervous about the school, or because every time we hit a bump, I hit Carter's arm. The next time I look up from the floor, I can already see my school. Well, kinda. I can’t actually see the building, but I can see the big sign that reads Neuburg high school. About 35.8 seconds later, we arrive.There is like a 2 second pause, but it is immediately overcome by loud voices. I start to get up and leave,but Carter pulls my arm and makes me sit again. I look at him with a confused look . Why did he pull me back down? The bus comes to a complete stop right in front of the school. It is huge! The bus doors open, and everyone starts getting off the bus. All shoving each other.

”Uhhhh yea, its pretty crazy… I like to wait for everyone to get off first.”

With that, Carter and I wait until everyone is off the bus then we get off. I almost trip over the second step, but Carter catches my arm.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah Thanks.” I say with a smile. We continue to the front doors. We are side by side, and  I can’t help but smile every time our hands touch.We don’t say anything until we get in the building. As I look around, I can tell that I will probably get lost soon.

“Well, this is Neuburg high school. Not too exciting.”

“Are you kidding me? This school is huge and you say it’s not too exciting. There has to be something that I like, hopefully,” I say.

Carter and I  will have classes together. We walk inside the crowded building. There are so many students that go here. Some look rich and some look poor. Most of the students look they are middle-class, though.

Everyone, including Carter and I, go to the big gym. There are multiple bleachers and the floors are waxed. I am not surprised this is called the big gym!

We took the 8th row of bleachers, all the way to the end. No one else was in this row. To pass time, he started telling me about the school, and some of the teachers.

“The cafe is amazing. Most schools don't have good school lunch, but it is like gourmet food here. And also,” Carter continued, “the teachers are really nice...well most of them, but I would try really hard to stay on Mrs. Eldries side. She is ok, but if you make her mad…well, sorry ‘bout ya.” He ends with a small snicker. When I don’t smile back, he asks me if I’m ok. I sigh.

“Uhhhhhhh. Yes. I’m just a little nervous about starting at a new school, and I really miss my friends.” I give him a slight smile. He smiles back. He then gives me a friendly pat on the back.

A tall tan women walks into the gym. She is wearing a black knee-length skirt, a purple top, a little black jacket, and black high heels. I am guessing she is the principal.         

“Good morning students. I am Mrs. Mullens, your principal. Welcome to Newburg high school. I hope everyone has had a good morning so far.”  Mrs Mullens announced. Now, to get things going, everybody in the first through eighth row go to the cafeteria to get your schedules. The rest stay.”

There weren’t many people in the first eight rows. Everyone was in the top rows. I guess they thought it was “cool”. Not wanting to wait on Carter, I started to walk. He could catch up.

”The Cafe is just straight down the hallway,” he called out from behind.

I realize how much farther I am in front of him, and I slow down. When we get into the cafeteria, there are only a few tables folded down, and 3 of them are already full with kids, so we don’t really have a choice on where we want to sit. We sit in the chairs and I just kinda stare into space. Then, a few minutes later, we get our schedules from the vice principal. His name is Mr. Tulowitzki. We both lay them on the table, and I see that I have almost all my classes with Carter. My schedule being this,

HR: Cunningham Room: 124

1st: PE, Thompson Room: Gym

2nd: Science, Pickens Room:228

3rd: Drama, Roberts Room :230

4th: Math, Longton Room:135

5th: Lunch, Bare Room: Cafeteria

6th: Language Arts, Rapelo Room: 221

7th: Social Studies, Anderson Room:217

8th: Study Hall, Kolb Room: 149

And Carter's schedule being this:

HR: Cunningham Room: 124

1st: PE, Thompson Room: Gym

2nd: Science, Pickens Room: 228

3rd: Drama, Roberts Room: 230

4th: Language Arts, Nethery Room: 220

5th: Lunch, Bare Room: Cafeteria

6th: Math, Henderson Room: 136

7th: Social Studies, Anderson Room: 217

8th: Study Hall, Kolb Room: 149

I can’t believe we almost have every class together. It is like Mr. Tulowitzki knew we know each other. Well, thank goodness I already know somebody in most of my classes.

When we get done comparing our schedules, I see a smile on his face. “At least we have most classes together,” he says. He is really liking the fact that we have so many classes with each other. And so am I. 

Mr. Tulowitzki walks into the cafeteria.

“Okay students. Go ahead and go to your homeroom teachers.”

Everyone evacuates the cafeteria fast after hearing those words. Then I start walking with Carter at my side. He says, “I hope you get used to everyone being fast at getting to their classes. We have three minutes of passing period, and nobody here wants to be late.”

“I can tell,” I said with a little chuckle.

He smiles. His smile brightens up my day. I could stare at him smiling all day. After about two right turns and three left turns, we finally make it to a door that reads, Mrs. Cunningham ROOM: 124. Me and Carter walk inside. Nobody is in there except for the teacher.

“Welcome. Go ahead and pick a seat. We will have these seats for a couple of weeks, then I’ll change it. Just find something to do while we wait for the others.”

We take our seat in the back left corner. I glance at Carter and he is looking at me.

“What do we have after this? Gym?” Carter asks. He takes a look at his schedule.

“We bring our own gym clothes to PE. You can pretty much wear anything for PE.”

“Great,” I say with sarcastic joy. I don’t think he caught my sarcasm.

A couple more students walk into the room. About six or seven.

“Good morning. I’m Mrs. Cunningham.”

When the students took their seats the bell rang. We immediately started rushing out the room. Carter wasn’t beside me, he was behind me. We passed a couple classrooms, and the small gym. We have to go to the big gym today. The big gym  wasn’t so far away.

When we walked in the gym, there were already a few students in there.

“Just find a seat on the floor, and whenever the rest of the class gets here, we will start.” the teacher says.

She turned away, and started to neatly stack papers. Carter and I did what did this morning - took a seat together in the back. As more people flooded into the gym, I see a kinda cute guy take a seat in front of me. I look at him for a minute. He is not as cute as Carter, but he is still pretty cute. I can tell that Carter saw me look at him, because he rolled his eyes knowing I saw him. More kids pile in and so does another teacher.

“Good morning students,” the teacher begins at once, “I am Mrs. Thompson and this is Mr. Huff.” Mrs. Thompson looks very young with blonde hair. She is tall and skinny.

She points at this short, strong, bald dude that must be Mr. Huff.

“This is a mixed class right now with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Today we will split you up. The sixth graders and half of the seventh graders will go with Mr. Huff to the small gym. The rest will stay here with me. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” everyone says loudly.

“I am going to call out seventh graders names and you will go with Mr. Huff and the sixth graders.” Mrs. Thompson continues.

She takes a breath and holds a piece of paper up. “ Gillianne Abato, Zachary Babson, Justin Bachar, Taylor Clifton, Fred Dunlap, Yazmine Estel, Mary Gonzalez, Jacob Farrell, Patty Hellyer, Charles Jackson, Joan Johnson, Jackie Lincoln, Hannah Lyndon, Karen Milestone, and Grace Moreland. All of you, go with Mr. Huff. For now on all of the sixth graders and the names I just called will report in the small gym. Everyone else will report here.”

The half of the seventh graders that were called and the sixth graders follow Mr. Huff to the small gym.

“Okay for the rest of you, I am going to take attendance.”

She calls out Three names before she gets to mine. “Mckayla Osborn.”

“Here.” I say as I slightly raise my hand then put it back down.

I don’t pay attention to the rest of the names called. That cute boy is in gym with me, but I still don’t know his name yet.

“Now for the rules. No eating in the gym. If I catch you it will be lunch restriction. That leads me to the second rule. No drinking anything except water. You can bring your own BOTTLED water, or we have water fountains in the locker rooms and outside the locker rooms. Next we have seating charts. If you do not sit in your assigned seats, then I will have a little chat with you after class. No talking while I am talking. When I blow the whistle, stop and sit down. If you have anything in your hands, hold them and keep them still. I have low tolerance with disrespect. At the beginning of class, if you bring clothes to dress out in, go straight to the locker room. Do not wait for your friend, because you are not wasting my time. If you waste my time, I will waste your time.” She pauses. How many things can she say at once!

Then she continues, “If you do not dress out, then you will get marked down and it will lower your grade. I am going to give you your groups and seating arrangements. Carter, you sit here with Kaleb, Bryan, and Emma.” Carter, Emma, and the cute boy get up and sit where she is pointing. At last. His name is Kaleb. When Carter sits, he looks at me with a sad face. Too bad we aren’t going to be able to sit by each other. The teacher points at another spot by them. By the free throw line. “Okay. Stephanie, Dustin, and Mckayla,” she says. I take that back. I am going to sit kinda close to Carter. I get up and sit on the free throw line with the other two. Stephanie is tall with long brown hair. Dustin’s height is average, and has brown Bieber hair.

I look back at Carter, but he is not looking at me. Instead, Kaleb is. It’s like he is trying to figure out my thoughts. I look away. A minute later, I look back at him. He is still looking at me. Why is he staring at me? He is so creepy. Once Mrs. Thompson is done with the seating arrangements, she speaks.

“Okay we still have thirty minutes. Who wants to play dodgeball?” Everyone starts yelling and cheering. Even though this teacher might seem mean, she looks like she can be fun. She gets the dodge balls out and separates us into two teams. Since there isn’t much of us eighth graders or seventh graders, we do eighth graders versus seventh graders. Then I hear the whistle, and everyone is runs toward the half court line grabbing dodge balls. When everyone gets back to their free throw lines, they start throwing the balls.  Carter grabs two. One for me and one for him. He throws his first and hits some kid with black hair. He made a big fit. Me and Carter just laugh together. I throw my ball at this tall african american girl. She looked like she wanted to get out. I don’t think she likes dodgeball. I watch Kaleb throw a ball at a big guy and get him out. I stare at him for a moment and daydream about him. After a few seconds I get back to the real world.

With almost everyone on our team still in, and half of their team in, the whistle blows.

“Okay everybody, get your stuff. The bell is going to ring in thirty seconds.” I go get my stuff in the back corner of the gym. Carter goes to get his stuff, which is right by mine. The bell rings, then we head to our next class. Science. I hate science. I also think I suck at it. I have to go upstairs and find room 228. When we get into the classroom, we are told to sit anywhere we want. I chose the back table to the left corner, but this time Carter doesn’t sit next to me. He sits as far away from me as he can. I wonder what’s wrong with him. We were just playing dodge ball and having fun, but now we are both upset. I am upset because he is upset at me. I have no idea why he is upset at me. Did I do something wrong? Did he just realize that he doesn’t want to feel like he knows me anymore? I don’t know what, but I want to figure it out. I am going to figure it out.

I walk across the room toward Carter. He lifts his head up and sees me, but he just puts his head right back down. He is definitely mad at me for something.

I ask him, “Why are you mad at me?” He doesn’t answer. So I ask him again with a little bit of anger. “Why are you mad at me?”

He takes a breath. “I saw you,” he said after a while.

Then I say, “What do you mean you saw me?”

“I saw you googling that kid, Kaleb, in gym class. I thought you liked me, but i guess not. If you did like me, you wouldn’t like anyone else. Just leave me alone. Okay?”

Geez I did not expect that. I might like Kaleb a little bit, but I like Carter way more. And I can’t believe he would say that to me.

So i just say, “No. I will not leave you alone yet. It might look like I like Kaleb, but I don’t. I like you more. I don’t think you can see that, because you are worried about me getting blown away. And I thought we were friends, we are supposed talk to each other. I guess not if you want to stay mad at me like this. You wanna play the ignoring game. Fine I’ll play the ignoring game,” Now I got his attention. “I am trying to have a good day, and I’m not gonna have you screw it up. So bye.” Bam, that’s how it’s done. I guess we will have to see where that goes. I walk off back to my seat, and I hear him calling my name. I don’t turn around.

The teacher walks in and stands in the front of the room. “Good morning everybody,” he says, “I’m Mr. Pickens, your science teacher. You will not have assigned seats in this class. If you get out of control, then I will assign you seats. Today you can have a free day. Do whatever you want. Just behave.”

I see Carter from the corner of my eyes, and he is looking at me. He gets up and starts walking toward me. I keep my head down, facing the table.

“Listen I’m sorry about that-” he begins.

I interrupt, “Don’t apologize for anything. Just leave me alone for now, please.  Ok? You missed judged me! You thought I was that kinda girl that really REALLY likes a boy, A.K.A you.. and then likes another boy too. But I’m not like that. So if you want this friendship to work out, then you best be trying really hard. And you best be starting real soon! Because let me tell you something… there is nothing a girl hates more than being missed judged by a guy she might have had a shot with!” Let's see where that goes.

I flipped my long blond hair, and strut up to the teacher’s desk. ”Um, sir, I was wondering  what time we get out of this class”? He was obviously annoyed.

He did a dramatic sigh. “In thirty minutes,” he said without looking at me.

I stood there for a few seconds.Then I slowly went back to my seat. Carter was still standing there in my way.

I say, “Excuse me.” He wouldn’t budge. So I squeezed through him and the desk. There was about twelve inches between them. He tries to say something again, but I interject.. again, “Can you please leave me alone,” I say with an angry tone.

“Okay. Whatever.” He walks back to his seat and sits down. Carter looks at me for a minute, but then looks away. I can’t believe he would misjudge me like that. How rud.

I take out a piece of paper and a pen. I start drawing a C, then a a, then r, t, e, r. It spells Carter. I put a big fat x over his name. I look at the clock. We still have twenty minute left.. Ugh. I am so full of all this school stuff already. Then I see Kaleb walk over to me. I didn’t even know he was even in this class. I was so full with Carter.

He says, “Hey. It’s Mckayla right?” I nod. He continues, “Good. I overheard you and Carter, and I wanted to tell you something.” He pauses like he is waiting for an answer. He keeps going, “Since Carter is being you know a little jerk, I want to make it up to you to prove that you should not be treated like that.. EVER.” Awww. Kaleb is so sweet! I like Carter more, though. Maybe I can use Kaleb to make Carter jealous, and Carter will come back crawling to me.

I look back at Carter, and I know he hears what Kaleb is saying. He has a face that I have never seen on him, and I like it. So I say, “Umm, okay. I agree, but when do you want to make it up to me?”

“Tomorrow night at the carnival?” he asks. Ekk. He wants to take me to the carnival! Carnivals are so romantic. Carter already talked about how he is going to the carnival tomorrow. Kaleb will think that I like (like) him, and will want to try to act romantic. Then Carter will get all jealous when he sees us. This plan will work out great, hopefully. Thank goodness my family isn’t going or they will supervise us.

“Um, sure. I would love to.” The bell rings. I did not think that much time would pass by while we were talking. “See you tomorrow?” I say.

“See you tomorrow,” he says with a crack of a smile that girls love. I only love that smile on Carter.

Carter waited behind the class to hear what we were talking about. He is already jealous. Me and Kaleb walk out of class behind Carter. Time for my next class. I look at my schedule. Drama. That’s what me and Carter are into now. Lots of DRAMA. And I have that class with Carter too. Not Kaleb.

I feel bad for using Kaleb, but I really want Carter back to being my friend. Kaleb needs a girl that actually likes him. I like Carter, but now I guess I am having mixed feelings for Kaleb. Kaleb may be cute, but he is more than that. He is nice and sweet.

I go inside the drama classroom two rooms away from Mr. Pickens. There is going to be a lot of drama in this room. Carter sees me and looks away. He is sitting toward the front with another girl. Is he trying to make me jealous now. Oh well. I make it seem like I don’t care. She laughs at something he said. It can’t possibly be that funny.

The teacher stands up from her desk and says, “Okay, students. I am Mrs. Roberts, and I can be mean sometimes. If you are rude or irresponsible, that is when I become frustrated. These are the rules: No talking while either me and a student is talking. Be respectful. Be responsible. No eating or drinking in the classroom. When it is time to clean up that means it is time to clean up. And most importantly have fun.” I look over at Carter, but he isn’t looking at me. “Do whatever you want as long as you are at level one,” she finally said.

I look back over at Carter and he is standing up. He looks like is walking toward me, but he isn’t. He walks over to a guy sitting two chairs away from me. He looks at me, but he doesn’t stare. He smiles at me a little bit, but doesn’t have a big smile. He seems sad without us talking, but not too sad. I think of these things and wonder, are we ever going to make up? If we do, it will probably be awhile. I mean, i guess I over reacted a little, but he did not have the right to say that.

He saw me looking at Kaleb in gym, so what? I just can’t wait until tomorrow night. Like I said, I really do like Carter more, but it will be pretty cool to basically go on a date with Kaleb. And did I say how much I want to go on a date with him? He really didn’t clarify it as a date, but I’m hoping he thinks it’s a date. I think it is a date.

Then the teacher interrupts my thinking, ”Twenty minutes left.” Wow! Do I really think that long?

Anyway, Kaleb comes over to my seat to talk to me while Carter is talking to that one kid. “Hey, Mckayla,” he says with a smile.

Carter looks mad. Is Kaleb trying to make Carter mad on purpose? Even if he is, I like it, because Carter is now way past the jealous point. Just wait until tomorrow at the carnival.

Carter looks at me again. I don’t think he will stay mad at me, and I don’t think I will stay mad at him. I look at the clock for a second. We still have fifteen minutes left of this class period. At least all we are doing in every class is sitting, talking, anything we want really.

I just now notice that Kaleb was talking to me. He has been standing there for a couple minutes waiting for me to respond back. “Oh. Hey Kaleb. I’m sorry.. I got a little distracted.

He tries to play it cool when he says, “Oh nah. You’re cool. I was wondering if we could actually go to the carnival tonight instead of tomorrow. I don’t want to wait ‘til tomorrow.” An earlier date. I likie.

“Yeah. That would actually be perfect.” I look back at Carter. His mind is completely filled with a surprised expression.

“Okay. Cool. Six o’clock?” he asks

“Six o’clock,” I say.

Now Carter is probably going today by himself, instead of going tomorrow with his family. We now have ten minutes left. Kaleb sits back down. I wonder if we have any more classes together. I start to think of Carter. Is he going to stay mad at me? Is he the one that is going to apologize, or am I the one who will? Will he go to the carnival tonight or tomorrow? Will he see me and Kaleb being romantic and start to get jealous? Even if the last one happens, I will just be pretending to being attracted to Kaleb. I just wish I could pick the way my life could go, but my life is in God’s hands and always will be.

I get the drawing of Carter's name out without anyone seeing. I erase the x over his name. Now it looks better. I look at Carter, and feel inspired to draw a boy. A boy that I’m in love with. A boy that I fell in love with the first time I saw him.  A boy that made the words “love at first sight” come true.

I get a piece of paper out, and start drawing Carter. Brown hair, brown eyes, soft lips, a couple freckles on his nose. Even in a sketch he is cute. I draw his neck, shoulders,arms, hands then stop. I have to look back at Carter to see what the rest of him looks like. I look back at my drawing then draw his sides, waist, legs, and I add some more perfect strokes of darker blonde streaks in his hair. I never knew how cute a sketch could be!

I see the teacher get up and say,” Okay class, the bell is going to ring in a couple minutes. Start to gather your things, and get ready to go to your next classes.” 

I put my drawing in the back of my binder and my pencil in the pouch. Carter doesn’t go back to his seat to get his things. He just keeps talking to this kid.

Then I hear Carter say, “Steven, do you know anything about Kaleb?” His name is Steven.

Why are they talking about Kaleb? He didn’t do nothing to them, except make Carter jealous. That’s not Kaleb’s fault.

The bell rings. Thank goodness, but Steven didn’t answer Carter's question. I wonder if Steven does know anything about Kaleb. If he does, I don’t know if I should trust him or Kaleb. I’ve only known Kaleb for only half of a day. And I only knew steven for two minutes. I don’t think I should go to the carnival with Kaleb, but I really want to make Carter jealous. I also want us back to being friends so bad. I miss him! I miss talking to him! I just want to talk to him again. Maybe that will be tonight, the day of the carnival. I REALLY hope so.

I go out into the hall and head to math back downstairs. Too much walking today. I like my old, little school. I like little schools, because I don’t have to walk as far as I do here. I guess that tells you how lazy I am.

Anyway, I am about halfway down the stairs when i realize I forgot my math book at my locker.

“UGH! This is just great. first day of school and I am already gonna have a tardy!” I mumble out  loud to myself.

I head back down stairs, and the bell rings when I am not even a quarter way back to my locker. I hurry up and get to my locker. I put it my combination: 17, 49, 25, I don’t get it the first time. I do it again slowly. 17, 49, 25, and I finally get it.

I grab my math notebook, volume one, on the middle shelf of the three. I close my locker and head back down the stairs.

When I get back to math class, the teacher makes a big deal about me being late to her class on the first day of school.

“Why are you late? I know it is the first day of school, but you shouldn’t be late to class already. I will let you off with a warning this time. Imagine what would happen if every child was late to class.” She lets out a sigh, and says”Take a seat.”

I take a seat in the back on of the room. Everybody watched me as I do. I straighten up my books, and then I look around and try to find Kaleb, but there are a lot of kids.

Carter is in language arts right now. Up stairs. Far away. Too far. I need to be able to feel his hand touch mine, I mean I like the way my pulse speeds up when he looks at me. It makes me feel like the only girl in the world. I can’t wait until the carnival. I want to make up now. We will be able to next period. At lunch.

I look at the clock almost all period. I didn’t pay attention to the teacher at all. I think we were supposed to do anything we want. What I choose to do is look at the clock silently. I couldn’t understand side conversations around me. I didn’t want to. I just want the period to be over.

Finally the bell rings. Class goes by fast when you watch the clock. I rush out the room and into the hallway. I go in the cafeteria and look for Carter. He is sitting by himself in a booth. I walk over to him and he looks in my direction. He smiles. That is the smile I want to see for the rest of my life. He gets up and gives me a quick hug so nobody will see. He sits back down, and I sit across from him. I cross my hands in front of me on the table. Carter looks at them then back at my face. I feel him touch my hands. Then before I knew it, we were holding hands. I look around and a couple of other people are doing the same thing, except me and Carter are truly meant to be.

Carter looks directly in my eyes and says, “I am so sorry. I should have never said the things I had said, and I hope you can forgive me.”

“Of course I can, but I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have been looking at Kaleb like that. By the way, that carnival invite was totally not a date to me. Probably to him, but not to me. I could still go to the carnival with him. Only if you come too, and I am mainly going to go to the carnival with you. Not Kaleb,” I say.

“Sure, but let’s leave the Kaleb part out of it. Just me and you,” he answers with a really cute smile.

“I was hoping you would say that,” I say back with a cute, but not too cute, smile. Carter loves that smile.

I am so glad that everything is back to normal. I just feel bad for Kaleb. I think he got the idea that I liked him, and he really likes me.

Anyway, back to Carter. I wonder if Carter gets the idea that we are dating, but we aren’t, yet. I really hope we are going to date soon, and I’m pretty sure we will.

“I have to ask you something.” Here it is. The moment where he is going to ask me out. The whistle blows. Time to get our lunch.

“Ask me in the line,” I say. We go to line up in the line. when we get there, he hurries up and says it.

“Will you go out with me?”

Ekk! He really asked me out. I wonder if I am blushing. I wonder if he can hear my heart pounding. I stutter a little bit. I know I should say yes, but it feels like we are rushing into this. I don’t really care about that so I say, “Yes. I would love to.”

He has a huge smile across his face. I give him a smile back. Finally. We are finally dating. I am so happy! I just can’t believe it. My first REAL boyfriend. All of my other boyfriends weren’t real ones. But now I have a real one, who really truly likes me.

After we get our lunch, we sit back down at our booth. We stare into each other's eyes without any words for a while.

Then I say, “I can’t wait until the carnival. Just you and me by ourselves. It will be romantic.” I see a sparkle in his eyes, I stare into them, and I never want to look away.

“I know, and I’m glad I have the perfect girl right in front of me to spend the night with,” he says with that  smile I am crazy about.

I blush, and I am positive he sees me. We hold hands again, except this time I make the move of holding his hand. Carter looks at our hands then back at me. I am glad I moved across from Carter. And I am glad me and Carter are together.

“Mckayla, I know we haven’t really known each other for long, but I have to tell you something. My grandpa told me, 'The first time you fall in love, it will change your life. No matter how hard you try, you can’t get that feeling to go away. If she is the one, she will always be with you.’ And… I think that’s the feeling I am having. Like right now. I am really happy we met… I wouldn’t change it for the world! It is like we were supposed to meet,” he says with a smile and a couple pauses.

I say, “Your grandfather sounds nice. I believe it. When you fall in love the first time, it will change your life forever. You can’t get the old feeling back, because you have the new feeling, and you want to keep it. I have the same feeling with you, and I never want to change the feeling, because we are meant to be.”

I look down at our trays. Neither of us has ate anything. I take my hand, that isn’t holding Carter's, and take a bite of my mashed potatoes. They are warm and soft and good. Carter does the same thing. We are so cute together. Nothing will separate us. Me and Carter look at each other for a while, and we are both smiling. I can’t help the smile on my face. Neither can Carter.

Before I’m done with my mashed potatoes, the whistle is blown, and I jump a little. Carter looks at me, and gives me a chuckle. He saw me jump. Then I just think of something: My parents said I’m not aloud to date yet. I have to figure out something so they don’t find out.

“My parents don’t want me to date,” I say to Carter.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell them. I won’t tell anyone, so your parents won’t find out. Just us two are the ones to know...our little secret.” he says back.

“Thank you,” I say.

We get up to dump our trays, and go back to our table to get our stuff. I have language arts, and Carter has math. We say our goodbyes and go to our class. Now that me and Carter are together, that isn't my worry. Now I have to find a way to tell Kaleb I don't want to go to the carnival with him. And if he still goes he would see me and Carter there, and he would know why I really didn’t go with him. Or maybe there is a way I can go with both of them. No. I don’t want to risk losing Carter again. He is good to me, and I want to be good to him to. Plus, we are officially dating. He is my boyfriend, and I am his girlfriend. We have to treat each other right. We also have to be able to trust each other. I want to be able to trust him, and I know he wants to be able to trust me.

I head upstairs to language arts. I heard students talking good about Ms. Rapelo. They said she was nice, and she gives out lots of candy. Good thing I like nice teachers and candy.

Room 221 is close to the stairs. So I slide in there and take a seat in the back, like I did in every other class. We don’t have assigned seats in any class except PE. There are a lot of kids in this class. Some of them have their heads on their desk. Some are looking at the ceiling. Some are looking at the whiteboard in the front of the room, and a couple are looking at me. There are too many creepy people in this school, and a lot of them stare at me for some reason. I want to believe that I am supposed to be here, but these kids make me feel like I don’t belong here. It seems like they disapprove of me.

The teacher doesn’t get in the classroom until five minutes after the bell. Everybody talked while she wasn’t in the classroom. The teacher doesn’t say anything when she walks in. Wow. She is really nice, but I don’t see her giving out a lot of candy to anyone. But then I see her reach into her desk drawer and pull out a jar of candy. Candy bars, Jolly Ranchers, mini candy bars, and so much more that I can’t name all of them.

Then she heads straight to me with the jar of candy, and everybody stares at her while she does it. Am I getting candy? She stops right in front of me and hold out the jar of candy and says, “Choose ten.” Really? Ten? There is so much candy, I don’t know which ones to choose.

I end up picking out a Reeses bar, two Jolly Rancher (blue raspberry and grape), a Hershey’s bar, which I knew was Carters  favorite, candy cane, I don’t know why, two Cow Tales (one chocolate and one regular), two Hershey Kisses, and a Lemon Head. “Thank you,” I say once I am done.

Those kids probably think I’m going to eat them all by myself, but I’m not. She walks back to her desk, puts the candy jar back in the drawer, and sits down. I put all the candy in my pencil pouch. I wonder why I am the only one that got candy. Is it because I am the only one who didn’t talk? Oh well. I don’t really care about the reason.

The rest of the period, the teacher doesn’t talk, but all the kids do.

Once the bell rings, I rush out the room to go to my next class. I’m glad I have this class with Carter. And I am glad that it is only this period and next period until we finally get to go home. It has been a long first day of school.

As I walk to class, I think to myself: Why is it always the first day of school that is the longest.

I get to my class and sit in the back of the room, again. Carter walks in about a minute later. He sees me and smiles. He walks to the seat next to me and sits down.

“Hey Mckayla,” he says.

“Hey,” I say back, “I have some candy.” I open up my pencil pouch and pull out all the candy. “I want that teacher that gave you candy. Ten pieces. Wow.”

I hold out a Hershey’s Kiss and say, “Do you want a kiss?”

“Yeah,” he says.

He leans into me. I tap his lips with my finger.

“I can’t give you that kiss in school,” I say. He laughs.

“Dang!” he says staring at me.

I hand him the chocolate. I open up another one and pop it in my mouth. The chocolate is soft, smooth, and delicious. Then Carter puts his in his mouth. Then, I reach into his hand, and hand him the Hershey bar, and he smiles.

“Thank you,” he says.

I smile at him, and he smiles back at me. We are a good couple and we should always be a good couple in the future. We are good to each other, and good for each other.

“I knew I liked you from the moment I first saw you when you moved in,” Carter said kinda quiet. I bet he didn’t want anybody to know we were going out already.

I smile, and I know I am blushing, because Carter starts smiling too.

We must have been in our own little world with each other for a while, because we hear the bell ring. We grab our books, and start to walk out. I guess that nature doesn't really like me because then the most embarrassing thing ever happens. I am almost out the door, when I trip over my own feet. I hear a chuckle behind me. I look back at Carter, and he covers up his mouth. I have to give him a slight smile to let him know I am not upset about his laughter. I would have laughed too. Well, not at myself, but if Carter had been the one to fall, I would have laughed. Not at him, but with him.

He does what any cute caring gentleman would do, he takes me by my hand, and pulls me up, but he doesn't stop there. I guess that he is really taking this dating thing seriously, because he pulls me close by my waist,and kisses me. Not like a deep kiss, but just a small kiss. I pull back, and we start walking again. And, as we were walking down to the end of the hallway, he didn't let go of my waist.

Then, as we are walking down to Social Studies, he lets go. And my waist feels cool, cold… like I am missing something. I think it's because when he touches me, I get this fiery feeling that shoots through my body. LIke lava. But it doesn't hurt, I like it. It makes me feel safe, warm, and snug.

I think he can tell that I want him to be touching me, because he puts his arm around me. My chills go away, and I rest my head on his shoulder.

When I look up, I see that we still have a lot of way to walk until we get to our class. He takes my hand in his. Then all the sudden, I fell a different hand, but his hand is not soft like Carter's. NO, it's the opposite. Rough, and it's not holding my hand, its holding my wrist.

I look up and see the principal. Carter sees him too and lets go of my hand. When we intersect with the principle he stops up and says, “Woah. I don’t wanna see anymore of that while you guys are here. Understood?” 

I almost answer, but Carter steps aside and answers for us. “Yes, we understand.”

The principle nods his head and moves along. So do we.

It takes us another minute to get to the classroom. There aren’t very many  people in this class. Perfect. Now is the time we can really have time together while we are at school, because we still have time for each other when school is over with.

We decide to do something different in this class. Instead of going to the back, we sit in the front. Well, actually, Carter does, and I just follow him.

We get out a pencil, and paper, as it says on the board. I go ahead and label it: SS class. Then I put my name on it.

“Wooo, nice handwriting” I hear Carter say.

“Thanks?”

   When the teacher comes in,we both get quite. She doesn't look how i thought she would look like. She is wearing black and white. Her hair is in a perfect bun.

She walks to the front of the classroom, and as she walks past my, I smell her perfume. It is a really strong perfume, and I’m not sure what it is. It smells like a really strong vinilla perfume. She gets to the front of the classroom, and stares at all of us. She has the kind of eyes that burn into your soul. The kind of eyes that you can't forget, even if you want to.

She finally says, ”Hello citizens of America. I expect you to all know who I am. If you don't, start listening. I am your Social Studies teacher, Mrs.  Anderson. In this class, there will be lots and lots of learning. There will be minimal talking. There will be no goofing off. I expect all of you to be respectful, mature,and responsible. This is not kindergarten anymore. You are all grown up, so i expect you to act like it” She stops and takes a breath.

I start to think that she is going to pick up her lecture, but she doesn't. She just lets go of the long breath she had just inhaled, leading it into a journey through the air.

She then looks at the clock. “We have  25 more minutes of class, so I will pass out the rule sheets.”

She passses out the sheets, and walks back to the front of the room. I take one look at the sheet and there are so many words! And it is not an exaggeration. There are about a hundred words in just one  paragraph, and there are three paragraphs. This is going to be such long class period.

She speaks up again, “You will be reading this packet by yourself, and you better get it done in the time we have left.”

Everybody starts reading the packets placed in front of them. It says: “During your year in Mrs. Anderson’s class, you will be learning about world geography. You will be learning about other countries, and their physical features. You will also be learning about the independence and many important individuals to these countries.

There will be many papers needed to be written in this class, but not as many presentations to share with the entire class. Most of your grades are going to be graded on:

1.)How well you put your choice of words.

2.)How neatly you organize your thoughts.

3.)If you do or do not reach the requirement of the amount of ideas needed.

4.)How well you present your very low amount of presentations to the class.”

I flip to the next page, to continue reading.

“In this class you will need multiple things. Those things are: colored pencils, a ruler, many erasers and pencils, two spiral notebooks, a composition notebook, a pencil sharpener, and loose leaf paper.

The reasons for these items are:

1- You will need colored pencils because you will be expected to draw and color an exact replica of our countries map.

2-You need a ruler because I ask for perfection, and you will need to be able to draw perfect straight lines.

3-Pencils. You obviously will be writing in this class.

4-Spiral notebooks will be used for notes, and brainstorming ideas for presentations

5-Your composition notebook will be used for bellwork.

6-You will need to  bring your own pencil sharpener because I do not tolerate with any disrespect or interruptions during my class, and getting up too sharpen our pencil is a distraction.THerefor, you will need to  use your own handheld pencil sharpener.

7-You need a pack of loose leaf paper for any assignments I assign that are to be had in on the day they are assigned.

      I flip the page again. Oh thank goodness. I am almost done.

The last thing I would like to inform you and your parents on is the fee for this class. Your student will need 30$ for the field trip we will be taking to  the Historical Museum.This trip will be in 2 weeks. I expect ALL fee’s to be paid by then. I will have NO exceptions.

    I put the paper into my binder and look over at Carter. He is almost done. I wait. He finishes as soon as the bell rings. We pack up and head out the door.

“Wow” I say. “She is really strict.”

  “Yeah” He reply’s.

“But, I guess I am kinda excited about the field trip. I love history.”

Carter looks at me for a moment then just chuckles.