Chapter 1

My alarm goes off and I almost landed on the floor for reaching for it to turn it off.

I get up and open the blinds of my window. "Charlie, you better get down here now, you're gonna be late!" My mom yells.

"In a minute." I yell back.

I check my phone for new messages and I got one from Jeremy. He says he'll be here in an hour. He usually picks me up and gives me a ride to school.

Jeremy is my best friend. We've known each other since 5th grade. And now we're both seniors in high school.

As I walk to the kitchen, the aroma of coffee wafts to my nose and it wakes me up. Something about coffee excites me, sometimes I even look forward to it at night before I go to sleep. I guess I could say I'm sort of an addict.

I fix my self a cup of coffee and grab my favorite cereal which is cinnamon toast crunch.

I shovel food into my mouth as I listen to my parents talk about a trip they're planning, which I think is nice because I get to have the place all to myself.

Jeremy beeps his horn outside and I say goodbye to my mom and dad.

I hurry into his car and I am greeted with an indie rock song that he's been listening to for 2 weeks straight now.

He's drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Aren't you tired of this song?" I ask. It isn't even bad, I have even memorized the lyrics at this point.

"I'll listen to it until I hate it and that hasn't happened yet." He says.

I get what he means. You know when a song you've discovered just sound so good that you don't want to listen to anything else anymore and then you get tired of it, then you'll find another song that you'll love, and the cycle goes on.

Jeremy and I both have English class for first period and of course we sit next to each other.

It's Monday so people are talking to their friends and telling them about the awesome weekend they had.

Someone walks into the room and immediately, he gets greeted by a dozen of people giving him high fives and knuckle bumps.

Alex Caspian. I look at him with an unamused look on my face. His dark brown hair is parted to the left, which he hasn't changed since I got aware of his existence. And just like every cliché jockeys, he's wearing a jersey jacket. For chrissakes. He gets on my nerves.

Who the hell does he think he is, walking in like he owns the room. I wanna rip that smug smile off his face.

Alex's house is just in front of ours. How convenient.

I try to get to class earlier than him so I wont have to see him in the morning.

I try to limit our interactions as much as I can.

And considering that we're neighbors, and we go to the same school, it has been a struggle.

I think Alex's purpose of existence is to ruin my life.

"Keep staring Charlie, I might do a trick." Alex says. And everyone laughs. What an asshole.

I didn't even realize that I was staring.

I turn to Jeremy. "Got any plans after school?" I ask him.

"No, but I have to be home by 8 pm." He says.

"Wanna go to my place and binge-watch Game of Thrones? We could get pizza or something." I offer.

We've been rewatching the entire series in preparation for the new season that's coming out soon.

"Okay, but I get to choose the toppings." He says.

"Fine. Just no pineapples, please." I requested.

Do people actually enjoy pineapples on pizza? I only know one person who does, my grandmother.

The day went on and I managed to keep up with all the lectures.

Hanging out with Jeremy and binge-watching our favorite show for a few hours later would be so rewarding.

I look forward to it.