2 Chapter One - The Beginning...
It was a warm August evening. The sun was on its way down towards the horizon, in a matter of an hour or two, it will be gone for the day. The singing of the last of birds for the evening fill the late Summer sky as small clouds slowly row their way across the golden atmosphere. Below the clouds laid Briella and Nadia, in their usual spots, on the steep hill. Briella with a flower in her hand, while Nadia had her eyes out on the big river a couple of hundred meters in front of them.
Big ships and boats made their way into and out of the busy harbour, therefore making the view that bit more appealing and memorable.
"He loves me, he doesn't love me... he loves me, he doesn't love me... he loves me, he doesn't love me..." Briella sang gently as she pulled the petals of the daisy apart from the flower before throwing them elsewhere, away from her.
From the river, Nadia turned her gaze towards Briella, she chuckled gently as she watched her work her way with the flower.
"You still using that outdated way to determine your love?" Nadia asks.
Briella halts her actions, milliseconds later, she raises her eyes to Nadia.
"Well... yeah..." she replies before immediately going back to what she was doing only seconds ago, picking the petals off of the daisy in her hand.
"This is about that guy... isn't it?" Nadia asks. She doesn't even have to use a name for Briella to know who she is talking about.
"Yes... of which we will not mention his name..." Briella replies.
Nadia once again lets a smile grow on her face as she lowers her eyes to the flower in Briella's hands. "Alright..." she begins. "Do you still like him?"
"Well..." Briella begins. 'To be honest... I don't even know myself...' she thinks to herself. "Well... I... I don't know...".
"Hmmm... I could have sworn that you told me you didn't like him..." Nadia replies.
"What!? When did I say such nonsense??".
"Well, every time I ask you whether you like him or not... you reply with 'I don't, are you crazy!' and then that is usually followed by a high pitched laugh..." Nadia says.
Briella widens her eyes in surprise. 'Well, that's some close analysis of my behaviour!' she thinks to herself.
"Also..." Nadia begins. "What number is he? Crush One? Crush Two?...".
"Don't tease me...its not my fault that I fall for attractive people... very attractive people..." Briella replies, but seconds later, Nadia erupts into laughter.
Briella looks at Nadia as she laughs more and more.
"What? What's so funny?".
"Oh, nothing..." Nadia begins, trying to calm down. "Just the fact that you find Dylan attractive...". She just about finishes her sentence before bursting into another fit of laughter.
"And here I told you merely five minutes ago not to mention his name..." Briella replies.
"I know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!... But you gotta admit, he looks as ugly as a toad...". Once again, just as Nadia calmed down, she broke into laughter.
"Ahh... don't say that!" Briella replies, but the more she thinks over the words, the funnier they become. 'I-I see her point. He does rather look like a... a toad...' she thinks to herself, and it was that exact thought that caused her too to chuckle along.
"See! Even you are laughing!" Nadia points out, still half laughing, mainly because of the fact that she is out of breath.
"No, I am not!" Briella tries to convince her, but she is failing miserably as another chuckle comes out of her.
"Mmm, sure you are not!".
"Okay..." Briella begins. "But he does have a nose like a toad...".
Silence...
Suddenly they both burst into uncontrollable laughter. They laugh so hard that the two girls lay back onto the grass they hug their stomachs.
"You... you shouldn't have said that..." Nadia says through her tears and laughter. "Now... every time I see him, I'll remember this... In my head, he'll be known as 'toad face'.".
Nadia's words cause Briella's laughter to intensify as now she too has tears running down her face.
It takes a couple of minutes for them to settle down.
"Wooooo..." Nadia yells out as she takes a deep breath.
"Wow... my stomach is in bits..." Briella sighs tiredly, as she too takes a deep breath.
"I'll tell you what, I certainly was not expecting that..." Nadia says before sitting up. Briella follows only seconds later. "But yeah... even if you do like him... it's not worth it. He is moving away soon...".
"Yah... I know. It wasn't like I have this... hmmmm... intense crush on him, but it was strong enough for him to leave an effect on me..." Briella responds.
"Mh-hhm...".
Then, Briella returns her attention to the flower that is still in her hands. She goes back to plucking the rest of the petals off of the flower.
"But tell me..." Nadia begins. When Briella raises her eyes up to her, she sees a smug smile on Nadia's lips. "I never got to ask... Who was that 5th year you always had your eye on last year?".
Immediately, Briella's face becomes red as she knows exactly who Nadia is talking about.
"Ryan... was that his name??" Nadia questions.
'Ryan...' Briella thinks to herself. 'His name... it brings back all those memories... The first time I saw him was when I was in 2nd year. He was with a group of fellas when his eyes landed on mine and me on his. It was that one look that made me want him. Although he didn't grow on me at first, by the time I got to my 4th year, I had an intense crush on him...'.
"Hello? Earth to Briella... Briella are you okay?".
"Huh??".
"You zoned out..." Nadia starts, with a smirk slowly but surely growing on her face. "You were thinking about him, weren't you?".
"Who? Ryan??".
"Mh-hhm...".
"Pfff!" Briella begins. "Me? Thinking about Ryan?? Are you crazy!?". Her words were quickly followed by a high pitched laugh. Once Briella realised, she froze before looking Nadia in the eyes. "Now I see what you mean...".
"Yeah..." Nadia replies.
"But... I was not thinking about him...".
"Mmm, sure you weren't..." Nadia says.
"I wasn't!" Briella retorts.
"Alright! But we better get going, it's about eight, plus, we have school tomorrow...".
A look of dread develops on Briella's face. 'School...'.
"Come on! Let's go!" Nadia says as she stands up.
"Okay, okay! Give me a sec," Briella responds as she stands up onto her feet. She plucks the final few petals, with it ending in 'he doesn't love me'.
Her eyes widen, but soon a deadpan face was to be the most dominant expression on her face. 'It's all just a stupid game anyway...' she tells herself, prior to throwing what's left of the flower, before turning towards Nadia and catching up to her.
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"Alright! See you in school tomorrow, Briella!".
"Sure thing, Nadia!". With that, Briella enters the front yard of her and her parent's house, before entering the house itself.
Immediately she rushes up the stairs before getting herself ready for her first day tomorrow.
'I'm Briella McNamara, a 17-year-old secondary school student... My favourite pastime is to read. But I'd also get my source of entertainment from singing, playing instruments and acting. With me being 165cm, I can confidently say that I was not the tallest in my class...'.
Once Briella is done with her preparations, she dries her hair from the shower, and after that does she allowed herself to delve into the world of literature.
A smile of contentment grows on her face as her favourite author just released a new chapter for his book 'Poisonous Love'.
"Lena! No!..." Briella reads through. "Jack... we simply can't live like this... I- I have to leave... I'm sorry...". "No... please, Lena... Lena!!!!".
By the end, as always, the author manages to touch her heart, she feels her eyes tear up a bit.
"Wow... R. C. Hale... you are one good writer...".
With that, Briella powers off her laptop before going under the covers. Just as she was about to turn off the lights, she heard the front door open. By the sigh that came seconds later, she figured it was her father.
"Night, Dad..." she says under her breath before turning off the light, laying onto her bed and falling asleep.
