1 ~Chapter One~

Alice P.O.V.

I forced my eyes open as my alarm clock screamed in my ear.

I swiped behind me onto the desk until I felt the little black button that shut the damn thing up. I punched it a few times after it stopped for good measure and rolled over on my back and glared up at the ceiling.

'Is my education really that important?' I thought to myself.

Grumbling, I pushed myself out of bed towards my bathroom for a shower. I took extra time because the water was so warm and comfortable compared to the freezing temperature of the rest of my room.

I shuffled over to the closet and picked out my outfit for the day.

After I was dressed, I threw on my backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast. When I got downstairs, my mother was sitting at the table reading a paper and my father was looking through his emails. Neither of them paid me any attention as I poured syrup on my pancakes.

When my mother finally looked at me, I could almost feel the disappointment in her gaze.

"Alice, why must you wear such things? I had a nice outfit all picked out for you upstairs near your desk, but I can see you ignored it again," she said.

I just rolled my eyes and picked up my phone, turning it on. I always turn my phone off overnight and don't turn it on until the first comment about my appearance or attitude leaves my mother's lips.

"I like what I wear just fine, Mother," I said.

"It wouldn't kill you to wear what your mother picks out for you, Alice. What you wear makes you look like one of those 'emos'," my father finally said.

I rolled my eyes again just as my phone buzzed.

Best Friend

Hey bitch!

you ready to go?

I'm leaving if you're not out in the next 5 minutes!

Me

Okayyyyy!

Calm your tits!

There's this new thing, it's called patience!

Smiling, I excused myself from the table.

"Make sure you're home right after school today. We're having dinner with our new neighbors," my mother called as I proceeded towards the front door. I threw a thumbs up over my shoulder at her and heard a scoff from my father.

I walked outside and a huge grin slipped onto my face when I saw Diana in her black Jeep.

"Hurry up!" she yelled.

I jogged over to the passenger side and grabbed the handle as she lightly stepped on the gas. I caught myself before I fell flat on my face on the curb. I grabbed the door again and she went forward again.

"Really? We're gonna do this today?" I asked with a small smirk on my lips and my eyebrow raised.

She could only nod as a response from laughing too hard. After another minute or two she finally let me in. I climbed in and punched her arm as she continued laughing her ass off.

"Oh, you love me," she said with a huge grin.

"Uh huh, sure," I said as a smile formed.

I looked out the window and noticed a boy standing on the porch of the house next to mine, grinning. He quickly looked away when he noticed me I was staring back. I shook it off and plugged my phone into the Aux and put on the playlist that contains all the songs Diana and I like.

We smiled and looked at each other as 'Legends' by Sleeping W/ Sirens came on. We began singing along at the top of our lungs, gaining many weird looks from the people in my neighborhood.

I sang out the window and noticed a guy in the next car jamming out with us. I nudged Diana and pointed to him as we sang to each other. We came to a red light and the guy leaned out his window towards me and slipped a piece of paper into my lap then sped off when the light changed.

We screamed the last line and I unplugged my phone as Diana pulled into the school parking lot. We were both laughing and mocking the looks we got.

"Oooooooo," she said, "you got a guy's numberrrrr!"

I shook my head and opened my contacts and entered the number into my phone.

Me:

Um… hi.

This is the girl you gave your number to at the light.

???:

Hii

My names Lucas, what's yours?

Me:

Alice

Um… not to be rude but why'd you give me your number?

Lucas:

Well, you have good taste in music

And I thought you were really cute, so that's always a plus

I blushed as I read the text and looked around in case anyone noticed.

Me:

Well, I'm not cute but thank you

I looked up and noticed my teacher walk into class.

Me:

Well, I have to go

in class and teachers a bitch about phones

Lucas:

Alright, I'll text you later cutie

I smiled and quickly plugged my headphones in and started my music as I began shifting my focus to the front of the room. I'd gotten pretty good at reading lips since I always had my headphones on and the volume all the way up. I scribbled down notes and felt someone nudge my shoulder. I looked up and pulled one headphone to the side as I saw my teacher staring at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Miss Rodriguez, can you please repeat what I just said for the class?"

I rolled my eyes and looked at her dead in the face. "if the theorem found is Angle, Side, Angle, the triangles are not congruent because there is not enough information to prove congruence."

I finished with a 'duh' face and she narrowed her eyes at me but turned back to the board I slipped my headphone back on and quickly wrote down the rest of the notes and grabbed my other notebook from my bag. I opened to my last drawing I was working on. I looked at it for a second and then continued with it, adding extra details.

I glanced up at the clock as I finished and saw I still had 5 more minutes of class. I looked back down at the paper, satisfied with my work. I put all my stuff away and sat with my chin on my hands on the table and stared out the window. I zoned out for a second before I realized I was staring at someone. Not just anyone, the same person I saw this morning next door. I squinted my eyes and followed him as he entered the office.

'Must be new I guess.'

I shrugged my shoulders as the bell rang and was the first one out the door. I felt my phone vibrate and looked down to see a text from Lucas.

Lucas:

Are you out yet?

Me:

Yes, mercifully

Lucas:

What school do you go to?

Me:

West View

Lucas:

Really? I go there too!

Me:

Cool beans!

Lucas:

What class do you have right now?

Me:

English

Lucas:

Ah man, I have History.

hopefully, we have some type of class together

well, I'll text you later cutie, I have a quiz

Me:

Okie Dokie artichokie

I smiled and trudged towards my next class

I walked into my last class, art, and put my head down on the cold desk. I was exhausted. I had P.E. for my last class and we had run the mile today. As the rest of the class filed in and the bell rang, I heard the teacher clear her throat but I left my head on the desk.

"Class, we have a new student today," she said, "would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Oh. Um okay… My name is Victor Fuentes but I just go by Vic… I just moved here from San Diego…"

I finally looked up and froze. It was the same boy. Now that I got a close up look at him I noticed that he was actually pretty cute. He had beautiful tan skin and long brown hair that was kinda wavy. He was wearing a backward snapback and a Sleeping W/ Sirens shirt. He has a nose ring and a cute, awkward smile as he looked around the room.

Suddenly he made eye contact with me and we just looked at each other before the teacher told him to go ahead and take the only empty chair in the class. The chair directly next to me. I felt a blush creep up on my cheeks and looked away. I put my headphones on and got up to grab the materials I needed for my project. We were supposed to paint whatever came into our minds. It could be any number of random things, simply whatever we thought of. When I got back to my seat with my easel and paints I skimmed through my notebook and picked out a few drawings I'd done and began to sketch them on the canvas. I felt eyes on me and glanced out of the corner of my eye to see Vic staring at me.

I put my pencil down and glanced at the clock.

'Damn, I still have half an hour.'

Suddenly, a hand reached out and pulled my project off my desk. I looked over and saw the hand belonged to Vic.

"Damn, this is deep. What's the story?" he asked.

I looked at him for a second with slightly narrowed eyes as I decided whether or not I should trust him.

"My home life pretty much," I replied.

"Oh..." he said quietly, still looking at the sketch, "well, it's beautiful."

He smiled at me and put the sketch back.

I looked through my notebook for the rest of the class period, looking for things to add to my project. I packed everything up just before the bell rang and put my headphones on. When school ended, I was the first one out of the room and began walking home.