The beginings of love...
an excerpt

Chapter one: Introduction of friends… and enemies.

The beginning of the school year, and they decided I should be sent up a year because I’ve got all A’s. Great. Just what I wanted… Oh course it was all sarcasm. I’m going to be parted from my friends that I’ve know since I was little. Geez, do they have to put me up a grade?

“Hey, Willa! It’s good to see you!” Said Caitlyn. She was tall and pretty, with light, about shoulder length brown hair and beautiful dark eyes that would remind a person of a puppy’s eyes when she wants her way. It usually only works on the guys though. They fall for her easily when she makes that pitiful face. I’ve been wise to it ever since we became friends. Shes a nice person though…

“Yeah, we were worried that we wouldn’t get to see you since they made you go up a grade!” Said Deseray. She was cute, but a bit too dependent on other people, and sooo clumsy. But I suppose thats what the guys like about her, right? She has a boyfriend already, but she doesn’t say too much about him. She’d be the type that’s too embarrassed to speak of it. She is taller then me but not as tall as Caitlyn .

I smiled at them as we walked to the school. “Don’t worry so much! We’ll be able to see each other like we always do, just because we won’t be in the same grade doesn’t mean that we’ll never be able to see each other, so don’t have such a look on your face, kay?

“Well alright, but I’m still worried, going all the way up to the 11nth grade? You’ll be all alone! The girls in that grade are really mean and I’m afraid your going to get picked on!” Said Deseray with her concerned look. She does have a right to worry though, to be honest I’m worried about that myself. I’m much smaller than the girls in the 11nth grade, they’re all tall and slim, while I’m small and curvy. But that’s for me to worry about, I don’t want to get them worried as well.

“It’s ok Deseray, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine, after all I’m tough, right? I may be small but I kick like a horse!”

They laughed a little bit at what I said. We all knew that I was joking. The fact that I can’t run fast at all was proof enough. I’d rather run from a fight than stay and be beaten, so I guess that ensures my defeat if anything happens, doesn’t it? Anyway, if something happens I’m sure I can skirt around it and not get into any trouble. I’m used to doing things like that. I’m always the one getting picked on by people bigger than me. It can’t be helped, I started going to school a year earlier than anyone else, so I was always the smallest, and now I‘m going another grade up to were the people are MUCH taller than me. Not to sound dramatic or anything, my height used to bother me, but it doesn’t anymore. If I’m short, then I’m short, nothing I could do to change that fact.

Of course there is something that I’m looking forward too. Eli, a boy I’ve rarely seen, (yet he seems to like me quite a bit) is in that class. I didn’t get all strait A’s to get in this class just for him, but it would allow me some time to get too know him, so I‘m glad I was put up a grade. What I know so far about him is that he’s tall and the second most handsome guy in the school. Very athletic and seems to be a good hearted person, he always gives me a kind smile when we do meet. We hardly ever see each other though, he’s got after school things, I’m not sure what though. I don’t really know that much about him other than what I’ve heard other people say, plus he’s just so busy…

Well, how do I know that he likes me? It’s because he told me so a year ago and asked me to go out with him. I told him I couldn‘t because I can‘t have a boyfriend right now, only when i turn 17 can i have a boyfriend, just like the other boys who asked me out. It’s early August now and my birthday is in November. So if I did want a boyfriend it would be better if I new what kind of a guy he is.

I’m not really looking forward to having a boyfriend though, it just seems like too much of a hassle. Wondering what he’s doing, being so nervous that you can’t eat. And then when you finally know that you love him you find out he’s been cheating on you with his ex girlfriend or something. Not really high on my “To do list”. So I’d rater find out what type of guy he is first. After all he might be an egotistical jerk! And I certainly don’t want anyone like that.

We arrived at the school and the butterflies in my stomach started to move around as if looking for a way to escape from my body. Me and my friends parted as I took a step into the school. I was on high alert for anything, I always am. Bullying was common, and I certainly didn’t want to start any trouble. I went in to the class room to find a couple other people putting there things away. How great for them, I don’t know what seat I’m supposed to take. Is it alright if I take the one by the window? I stepped cautiously towards the seat I had chose when a girl stepped up to me.

“Excuse me, but that’s my seat!” She said, and I turned around and looked at her. Tall, and thin with lipstick and eye shadow, and with that look of “I’m so totally better that you so scram!” Was all over her face.

Just stay calm don’t get into any trouble on your first day.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t see any books in it so I thought no one had this seat.” I said as I slowly made way for a different desk. Preferably somewhere far away from her. She was the type to have a bunch of other girls like her around. I found that the seats by the windows were all taken, so I decided to sit near the door. It as far away as I could get away from that stuck up girl, so I was happy about that.

I put my books into the desk and headed off to the cafeteria. The noise of the students reminded me of the other years I had went to school. A familiar feeling I suppose. One that I would probably never forget. I went in to the large cafeteria and got me some breakfast.

Now, all I have to do is find a place to sit. I looked around the room, I spotted a table with a couple seats open and went over and sat down and started eating.

As soon as I held the spoon to my mouth, suddenly the room went quiet, I knew I was in trouble, so I looked around. Everyone was looking at me. With terror mixed with fear in their eyes. I put down my spoon and was about to move, maybe if I hurried up to another spot no one would say anything. But there was big mouth. The stuck up girl I had talked with just a little bit ago.

‘Oohh, someone’s going to get in trouble! You’ve just sat in Axel’s place!” She said as she laughed and put her plate a little farther down the table.

Oh my goodness, what have I done!? But theirs no time to panic, must think of a way to get out of this situation!

“Your in my spot,… move.” Said a voice from behind me, I quickly did as he asked. “Forgive me, I didn’t know this was your seat, if I did, I promise you I would not have sat in it!” I said as I looked at him. The tall, short dark haired guy in front of me had the kind of look that you knew not to mess with him. If you did you’d probably be beaten up.

“………Don’t worry about it. You’re new here.” He said as he put his food on the table. “ Just don’t let it happen again.” H said as he sat down to eat.

“Of course, I definitely won’t!” I said as I took a step backwards to go look for another spot. As I stepped a couple steps away from him, a foot from underneath me tripped me as I fell to the floor.

“Oh my! I’m so sorry! What a horrible thing to happen to you!” She said as she smiled at wicked smile at me. It was big mouth again, but this time with her friends. They all laughed at me as I sat stayed where I was.

I looked up where I was at them. “Oh, it’s ok. Doing such a dumb thing suits you very well! After all, you‘ve probably been in this grade quite a few times already” I said as I smiled back at her. She opened her mouth wanting to say something, but I stopped her. “If you wanted to get me mad or something you should have done something like this!” I said as I dumped all my food of her head, shirt and lap. The cereal with milk mostly got on her shirt then it poured down to her pants as she stood up.

She gave me the most evilest look I could have ever imagined. But it was pretty comical with cheerio’s stuck in her hair.

We just stared at each other. Suddenly she stepped up and slapped me.I put my hand up to my face. I could feel the tears coming. Stay still, and don’t show her any fear! And definitely don’t cry! I put my hand down and stared at her again. Finally she was the one that moved. “Come on girls lets go tell the principle what this stupid little brat did!!” She said as she and her angry friends stormed out of the cafeteria brushing off the cheerio’s from her clothes.

I sighed, knowing that I had made a horrible enemy as I cleaned up the mess I had made.

“…….Hey, shorty.” Axel said as he looked at me. “You were pretty brave back there, I’d never thought such a small girl would say such a thing to her! You‘ve got quite a fiery spirit. Here, you can sit by me. Jason, give her your breakfast.” He said as he looked at the guy across from him. It was obvious that he didn’t want to give it to me, but under Axel‘s stare I guess anybody would do as he said. He slid it over to my side of the table and sat down.

“No, it’s fine don’t worry about me, I wasn’t really hungry anyway. But it was such a shame to waste the food on a girl like her though…” I said as I pushed the food back to his side and got up. “Thank you for the offer to sit here, but I think I’d rather--”

“Sit down.” Axel said as he gave me a angry look. Needless to say I did as he said. The whole table was silent for a minute when the principal came with big mouth and her friends.

“I heard that you purposely poured your food all over her! Now, come to my office this instant!” I looked down not really knowing what to say.

“You’re wrong.” Said Axel as got up from the table. “She was the one who tripped this girl right here.” He said as he grabbed my arm and made me stand up where he was. “And when she fell on the ground, the food accidentally got on her. This has been a misunderstanding.” He said as he looked at the principal. “We’ve got more witnesses than her, everybody in the cafeteria saw it.” He said as he looked around the room.

“Is that so…. Well you girls will get off on a warning this time, but you’d better see that it doesn’t happen again!” He said as he went back to the office.

She stared at me, then at Axel. “Axel?! What the heck did you cover for her?!” He looked over at her, he seemed to be amused by this whole thing. “It’s about time someone dethroned you! And I for one like this girl much better!” He said as he pulled me over to where he was. “She’s the only girl who had the guts to talk back to you. She should get an award, and her award was that I cover for her.” He said as he sat down along with me. She stormed off to the class room.

Not even the middle of the day, and I’ve made a enemy, and I’ve been slapped, and I have a new nickname,… Shorty!

Chapter Two: Is it love that makes my heart beat so fast?

I looked over at Axel, and noticed what cold blue eyes he had. A bit scary if you ask me, but his eyes were beautiful,… or should I say handsome since he’s a guy? Well, it doesn’t really matter all that much. He’s definitely NOT my type of guy. Black clothes, chains on his belt… looks like a rebel,… or a dropout student. Although I must say, it does suit his character very well. Like it was made for him or something.. If fact it made him look quite good. I also noticed that one side of his hair was longer than the other side, and that it was braded, and at the bottom of it was dyed blood red. But why blood red? That’s quite unnerving to me actually.

“What the heck are staring at?!” Axel said with a displeased and angry look on his face. Oh goodness, was I staring at him? So embarrassing!

“Uh… I … was just… um… wandering why you dyed that part of your hair blood red?” I said to him.

“Because I wanted too, now stop staring, I hate it when people stare.” He said as he turned back to his food. I was kind of disappointed, I was expecting something more to it that that. Like his favorite band singer’s hair was like that or something. Oh well…

I sat there when all of a sudden I heard someone stop behind me. So of course, I looked around to see who it was.

And standing there…. Was Eli who had this mixture of confused, shock, delight, and happiness all in one on his face.

As for me? I knew I was blushing badly. Just seeing him made my heart race. He was really handsome, with short and kind of a light brown hair, and with these cute green eyes, and he looks strong, too. Not that I like body builders, I think body builders look … down right ugly to be honest. But when a guy has a bit of muscle,…well I can’t deny that I don’t like it. I suppose it’s because I like the outdoors, so anyone with muscles will be able to keep up with me a lot better.

“Hello, Willa. …..I’m surprised to see you here. What happened, did they move you up a grade?” He said as he gave me one of his, (Oh so dreamy) smiles. I looked down, one of the things I noticed I do when I get embarrassed. I could feel my blush even more from off my face as I tried to think of what to say without stuttering.

“Um,.. Y-yeah, they sent me up a grade…” I said as I fiddled with my hands that were on my lap.

“That’s great! Then we can be friends, right? The school just started today, so you probably don’t have any friends yet, do you?” He said as he sat down beside me, I blushed even more, if that’s even possible.

“Um… Sure… I… I really don’t know where anything is here in the school, so… It would be very nice to have people who could help me out…” I said as I looked away from his stare.

“Hey,… why is your face so red?” He asked. And I panicked.

“Um,… It-It’s probably just because of big mouth’s slap!!” I said as I looked at him and laughed at little.

“Big mouth? Who’s that?” He asked.

“Big mouth is Crystal. You know, that girl that’s been hanging around you every chance she gets?” Said Axel as he was eating. He swallowed and faced us. “Crystal tripped this girl here and made her fall to the floor. Then she poured her cereal all over Crystal! You should have seen her face! She looked sooo ticked off! And that’s when she slapped her. I tell you this little girl’s got guts. She didn’t even cry! It was wonderful!” He said as he started to laugh.

“…Do you want me to take you to the nurses office? If it hurts we can put something on it to stop the pain.” Eli said as he looked at me.

“Na, It-it’s fine don’t worry about it.” I said as I put my hands down on my lap. Everything went quite for a second. Then finally Axel asked. “Hey Eli, you called her by her name, do you know her from somewhere? I’ve heard you mention the name Willa before but...” He said as his sentence trailed off.

“Yeah, you remember. The girl I told you about last year? This is her.” He said as he smiled at me, I looked at Axel and the confused look that had settled on his face, but then he lifted his head to a sudden realization of who I was. Eli probably told Axel about me.

Axel looked me over once he knew. His eyes scanning me, believe me, if my face wasn’t beet red already, it certainly was now.

“Hmm, I approve.” He said as he went back to eating. I sat there stunned at what he just said.

“I knew you would like her, you two should get along quite well.” He said as he himself started to eat. In-between Axel and Eli, there I sat. Embarrassed, shocked, and wondering what else the day will have in store for me.

I got up from my seat and looked at the both of them. “I’m going to go on ahead and make sure I have everything.” I said as I turned around to walk back.

“Alright….Do you want me to go with you? Crystal will be there all ready, you know?” Eli said as he looked back at me. Yes it was true, I certainly didn’t want to meet her, but at least I wouldn’t be so horrible embarrassed!

I turned around again and smiled at them. “It’s alright! I handled quite well by myself last time. So don’t worry, if I can do it once, I can do it again!”

I walked up the long hallway and into the class room. Immediately everyone looked at me, with this evil “How DARE YOU!!” look on their faces. I stuck up my nose at them and sat down at my seat.

Thankfully they didn’t do anymore than give me those awful faces. I waited a while as the people began to come back into the class. And saw Axel and Eli come in as well. Eli smiled as our eyes met.

“Wow, what a coincidence... Meeting in the cafeteria and being able to sit next to each other!” He said as he sat in the one to the left of me. He looked over at me and grinned.

“Must be fate…” He said as he continued to stare at me. I just put my head down. Already exhausted by what he was insinuating.

Thankfully the rest of the day pasted without too much trouble, save for the fact that homework will forever be the thing I despise the most. Even if I get good grades, that’s doesn’t mean that I like to do them.

After school I headed off without the others, Axel and Eli was practicing on some kind of activity and my other friends were taking the bus to their homes. I walk back home. Even though it is quite far, there is a little park where I sit and do my homework. Nobody is usually there, so I always feel pretty safe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter three: Persuasiveness….

The whole park was wonderfully quiet, just like It had been the year before. The only sounds you could hear was the birds singing their beautiful songs, and the breeze blowing the leaves on the trees. Every once and a while I’d see people walking about, but not many.

I sat down on a park bench and pulled out my books. Math was always the hardest so I’ll save that for last. So I have language, spelling, and social studies, and my history paper.

About an hour and a half later I had finished all except the math. And two minutes into it I realize something is very wrong. It was way too quiet… No birds,… no nothing…

I started to panic, what could make them be so quiet? Is there some one around? Oh no! What if it’s a stalker? I grabbed my books and started to run when a hand grabbed me and pulled me back. I screamed as loud as I could and tried to pull away from him!

“Hey! It’s just me!” He said, and I instantly recognized the voice as Eli’s.

“Don’t you EVER do that to me again! I thought you were a stalker!!” I said as I put my head down in my hands. My heart had already started to beat fast.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d get up so fast!” He said as he looked at me.

“Stupid jerk! Think about it longer next time!!” I said as I threw my books back on the table and sat down on the bench. I guess it was to relieve the tension in my body. I put my hand over my heart, it was still beating fast. I turned back to him.

“Well,… What do you want? I’m busy, in case you didn‘t notice.” I said as I went back to studying.