• CHAPTER ONE

    One day I think this will be a major motion picture. I can’t say it will be great, but I can say it will be good.

    So the camera rolls in on my BFFL, Alysa. She is a beautiful, blonde, skinny, and smart girl. Oh, and I better not forget, she is the tallest girl in our class. She plays center/starter on the Rockwell High School basketball team.

    Sure Alysa is my BFFL, but sometimes she just ticks me off! She gets any and every guy she wants, because she is so beautiful, and she is favoritized by all of the teachers! I’m kind of getting sick of her perfect ness.
    * * *



    And there I am, sitting (well standing) there, while she gets asked out again by the guy she likes. So of course she says yes. And I get out of there A.S.A.P.

    Thank God I did or I would have heard the never-ending story of how her and Troy, (Troy=guy Alysa currently likes), belong together, and how she thinks that she has finally found “The One”. every time I hear one of these speeches I tell her the same thing over and over, “Alysa, every guy you date you think he’s the “The One”, but in the end he becomes the one you dump. So let’s just save some time and dump him now!” And then again she says, “I know you think that Troy is just a jerk, but this time I know for a fact he is different, he is nothing like Chad or Carson, or even Dustin! He’s different.”

    I hate it when she says that, because I can’t argue with her, because they are always different in the beginning, but when Alysa let’s her guard down, the guy goes in for it all. I just don’t want to see her hurt again, because it’s happened more than enough times for her to learn her lesson, but she never does! She just lets her guard down too soon. Sometimes the nice guys come up to her, the guys I know won’t hurt her, but she turns them down.

    Honestly, she has no clue on how to tell if a guy wants her for who she is, or if a guy wants her for her popularity!

    Well, I kind of can’t blame them, because I would do the same thing if there was a guy form of Alysa. Except there isn’t! But there is one guy I like, and that’s James Wilson. He isn’t popular, he’s ordinary, smart, funny, kind of cute, and I think he’s totally into me. That’s another thing that makes me mad! You think a guy is totally into you, but when you go for it, he turns you down! It’s like, how do you read a guy? I wish it was as easy as it was in 1st grade! If a guy liked you he would poke you in the back with a stick, but now guys…I don’t even know what they do! They are all awkward around you, and you can’t tell if they like you, are scared of you, or if the are in a hurry. Sometimes the guy you like just wants to be friends and that sucks big time!

    At this very second, as I was thinking about this, James came up to me. “Hey Marie, do you understand the math assignment Mr. H gave out? Because I totally don’t.” And I was like, “Really? I thought it was easy, maybe we could meet up at the library later and do it together.” And OMG! You’ll never believe this! He said, “Yah, I’d like that.”

    So later he called me we talked for a little while, and then we made plans to go to the library tomorrow night at 5:30. I was extremely excited. All of these crazy things were running through my head like: “what if he doesn’t like my hair? What if he doesn’t like my outfit? What if I forget to wear pants?” I was going ballistic!

    So the next day came and as you probably guessed I didn’t dare tell Alysa about my plans with James. So when she asked if I wanted to hang out with her after school I had to lie. Earlier it was okay to keep it from her, because I wasn’t lying. I was just, not telling her about it. This is hard…lying to a friend that you have known since 1st grade.

    I told her that I was babysitting my little cousin Carrie. And she said “that’s okay, I’ll just come with you.” so I had to lie again and I said, “Sorry I would really like you to come Alysa, but my aunt said that I can’t have anyone wit me when I’m babysitting her kids, it’s kind of a stupid rule if you ask me.” And then she said, “yeah, I guess it is a stupid rule, but I’m sure she has her reasons. Well I guess I’ll talk to you later Marie. Bye.” I said bye and then left her to go to the library.

    When I got there James was waiting. I know this isn’t really a real date, but I hope I feel a spark or something to that affect. I mean I really like this guy and I hope he really likes me… what if he doesn’t? And he is just doing this because he knows that I like him and he doesn’t want to hurt my feelings. But wait, if he knew that I like him and he didn’t like me back then he would just not talk to me, or he would’ve rejected my invite to do homework together. Okay, now I’m just confusing myself. It doesn’t make sense! I just have to quit thinking and it will all be fine. Well, at least I hope it will.

    When I got to the table that James was sitting at he stood up like a gentlemen…I thought chivalry was dead, but apparently I thought wrong. Not only did he stand up, but when I went to pull my chair out he pulled it out before I had the opportunity. Either this boy was raised right and listened to his mother, he read tons of manners books, or he was watching way too many romance movies.

    It was only ten minutes into the date and I already had “the spark.” The spark that I was hoping for. The spark that most people want to have on a first date…the spark that tells you that this is the guy you should be with.

    I know I sound like a cheesy love song but if you were me you would understand. He was everything that I want in a guy. He was sweet, charming, funny, tall, handsome, and a gentlemen. He treats me like I’m a treasure, not like I’m a piece of garbage that you can find laying on the streets in New York City. When I was with him I felt like I was on a pedestal in a museum in Greece.

    Well in case you were wondering which you probably were, the spark was sweet and romantic. We both finished a math problem and looked up and caught each other looking at the other. Even though that was the best moment of the whole night it was also the worst.

    The exact moment that I felt the sparks Alysa walked into the library and saw us. I looked at her and waved and I had a small smirkish fake grin on my face.