Chapter 1

*Morning, 6:30am, Aria's room*

Like any other morning, my alarm rings at 6:30am sharp to wake me up from a peaceful sleep. I turn towards my phone to switch off the alarm. I lay in bed while going through my phone, no text messages from anyone... What a sad social life I have.

Mum comes into the room to make sure I'm up and running. " Wake up honey, its time for you to get ready for school. You wouldn't wanna be late on your first day of school!" She says in her uplifting voice. 'The first day of school', the thought of it makes me feel sick to my stomach. "Alright". I weakly answer her and dash to the bathroom for a shower. I can't help but daydream while I'm brushing my teeth, wondering if he would be there, if he would notice me... should I approach him myself? But what if he ignores me since he's the captain of a football team and I'm just a shy nerd. Oh sweet lord of love, what am I gonna do with myself urghhh!"

'Bang, Bang, Bang!' Mum knocks hard on the door, "What are you doing in there, Aria? Look at the time, you're gonna be running late if you don't hurry!", she shouts. Looking at the time and comprehending the fact that its already 7:15am. Shit, I'm gonna be late! I quickly shower and put on my most basic high school outfit, denim jeans with a round neck white t-shirt with black stripes and an oversized black 'Vans' hoodie. I gently brush the knots out of my hair as I'm looking at my dressing table, unlike a girl's dressing table mine's completely different. Most girls have tons of makeup stuff, each item coming from various brands. All I have is an accessory box given to me by pop-pop and nana on my 16th birthday last year and in there is a necklace and a couple of bracelets. I don't think it bothers me much since I'm not much of a makeup girl. I hardly ever dress up.

"Aria!", mum screams my name from downstairs and I realise I was daydreaming again before saying "Coming, mom!". I quickly put on my black sneakers to finish the look and I grab my bag and phone from the charging port before running downstairs. I see mum and dad sitting there on the dining table. Mum's wearing a floral pale pink dress with the apron written in all caps 'THE BEST MOM', I gave her on Mother's Day and dad's gaze is as always fixed on the pages of the newspaper. Lola is looking at mum hoping she'd give her a slice of bacon but instead she says: "No Lola, you've already gotten your food! Don't be a greedy girl." Lola whines. I sit down at the table while mum hands me a bacon cheese egg peanut butter jelly toast. Averting his gaze from the newspaper, dad looks at me, then my toast and then back at me.

Finally, he speaks with a look of absolute disgust on his face, "How can you eat toast with peanut butter jelly and bacon cheese egg? These don't go together, darling. The combination is just stomach-turning."

"You have never tried it before, Charlie, therefore, thou shall never recognise its scrumptious taste." Dad rolls his eyes and we all break into a laugh.

Slowly sipping her hot coffee she asks, "Are you ready for your first day, sweet pea?"

I'm trying to slid a slice of my bacon to Lola. "Yes, mother", I say though I wish to say no because it means I would have to go back to the hell everyone calls 'school' and I would have to deal with fools all day. I pray the Lord would give me enough strength to just get through today. Amen.

*

I usually go to school with Ethan but he left early for basketball practice today therefore dad is sending me to school today. Dad inserts the key into the ignition and mum waves us goodbye. I'm going through my bag to look for my earpiece only to find that I've left them in my room. Great! How am i going to survive today? How could i forget the most essential item? Urghh i would have to socialise with morons. *cries internally*. Dad notices as I let out a disappointing sigh.

"Is something wrong, my dear?". He asks in a gentle voice.

"Oh.. well, urm nothing serious. Its okay."

"Its your last year in high school, after this you're going to apply into a university of your choice based on the choice of your career. Everything will be different after you leave high school. The friends you have now, will not all be with you for the rest of your life. Cherish the moments you have now with your friends because they'll never come back. Go out, break rules." He advices me to 'go out and break rules'?! He's probably just kidding. I know for a fact that him and mum would low-key flip.

"Haha, you're funny dad." We pull up in front of school.

"Daddy loves you honey. Have fun, but not too much fun." I smile at him and i get out of the car. Have fun?! High school is so NOT FUN. I'm on my way to my locker when Ethan taps on my shoulder.

"Hey Aria, what's up?". He asks.

"I forgot my earpiece at home". Finally being able to let out a cry.

"Oh my god Ari, you're hilarious! Here take my headphones." Ethan says as he hands me his large Beatz headphones, which obviously, I gladly accept.

"Thanks Ethan. Are you sure you're gonna be okay without these?"

"Duh! Just because I hang out with you doesn't mean that I'm an anti-social too. I have mates and I prefer communicating. Why don't you do the same? Its not like you're gonna be sentenced to death if you talk with someone".

Ethan is a sweet guy. He is my best friend. We've known each other since we were toddlers because he used to be my neighbour until his parents got divorced and he moved in with his mother. But that didn't stop us from seeing each other everyday. He is the captain of our school's basketball team therefore he is popular, even with ladies. But he never dated anyone of them. Sometimes I wonder if he is gay.

"Hey I'm not an anti- social, I just don't feel so comfortable with the thought of having a large group of friends. And besides I've got you and Mona, what more could I possibly want?"

Half smirking, he replies, "Whatever, Aria, suit yourself. Speaking of Mona, where is she?". Mona and I have been friends since elementary school. Mona is basically the only one who has been with me as long as Ethan has. Unlike me, Mona's wild, like super wild. She sneaks out to go clubbing and you can never see her with the same guy after a week. But despite her wild behaviour, Mona is very kind and considerate, she's really good at giving pep talks.

"I don't know, probably out with some guy.". The bell rings and we part ways to attend our classes. I'm on my way to Mrs. Davis's literature class when I saw him coming out of the teacher's office. Andre Williams, the heartthrob. It's been 4 years since I've had a huge crush on him. 4 years and I still haven't been able to make any move. He probably doesn't even know who I am. This year is going to be the last year I'll be able feast my eyes on him, ughh! I'm looking at him for so long it that it feels like I'm staring at him.

And that's when it happened, the eye contact. I quickly look away before i suffer from a heart attack. 'How can someone looks so good? Wait, was he looking at me?!!', I thought to myself. Suddenly, he started walking in my direction! Oh shit, he's walking towards me. 'Why? Why is he walking towards here? No, perhaps he's going somewhere else. Lets not overthink this yeah, catch your breath and calm down'. I'm so scared that I'm not sure what will I do if he stops in front of me, but why would he do that? I'm a nobody. 'Who am I kidding?'. I looked at the time and shit, I'm going to be late. I dash for Mrs. Davis's class before the bell rings.

I find a seat suitable for me, not the ones at the back nor the ones in the front, the middle ones are perfect as the air flow is good, the board is not too far nor too close. Just perfect. I sat down and started preparing for class. That's when the classroom door opens and Mrs. Davis enters the class. My jaw drops seeing Andre walking behind her, and all the girls in the class are squeaking with excitement about having the 'prince charming' of St. Mark's High in our class.

Mrs Davis gestured him to sit beside me as it was the only seat empty. He scanned the classroom and we made eye contact, again!! He sits on the empty seat beside me. He half-smiles at me and I look away. Yes, I looked away from those dazzling, honey brown eyes. What am I doing? I'm trying to focus in class but clearly I'm failing miserably. Looking at him, I'm wondering just how perfect can one look? God really took his time when creating Andre. He's not just any guy, he's the prince charming of every girl. I don't stand a chance. I'm way out of his league, like way out.

The bell for literature class rings and Mrs. Davis assigns us with pair work to 'break the ice between each other'. I'm packing my stuff, totally pretending he is not there.

"Hey, urm do you maybe wanna do it together, i mean like since we're sitting together and stuff?" He asks. Okay wait what?! Did he just asked me to do the project together with him? No Aria, don't get your hopes up. It's just a project.

"Urm yeah sure cool." I reply, playing it as cool as possible, as if I'm not dying to be his partner.

"Okay then. I'll text you", He smiles.

"Alright." I walk out of the classroom and I see Mona who is looking terribly hungover. Before I can say anything she goes, "Don't talk to me." We walk together and I hear this familiar voice screaming, "HEY DENIM BAG, WAIT UP! DENIM BAG!"

"Which one of the moron is screaming so loud this early morning? I feel like my eardrum's about to burst. Somebody find him his denim bag and tell him to shut up please!" Mona sounds irritated. But I wonder where is the voice coming from? Thats when I feel my hand being grabbed by someone and to my surprise its ANDRE! My heart feels like its about to burst.

"I said I'll text you but I didn't get your number." He chuckled nervously.

Me realising how dumb I was to have asked him to text me but not have given him my number," Oh, urm yeah sure, sorry. Its 018-xxx xxxx. My name's Aria, Aria Schbeck." Now I'm one of his contacts, saved as 'Lit class Aria (Denim Bag)'. Wow, denim bag and Lit Class Aria?! Thats how he chooses to remember me?? Well whatever, it's not like there's anything that's gonna happen between us.

"Okay Aria from Literature, I'll call you then, or maybe text you the details on our first meeting about the assignment." I'm sure he winked before he left towards the cafeteria. Mona's expression tells me she has no clue on what just happened so I filled her in with all the details and she just finds it hard to believe that a hot jock like Andre just so happened to be in the same class as me and wants to do an assignment together just because we sit together. Err yeah sure, I mean even I find it hard to believe.

Mona and I are sitting at the cafeteria having our break and she's telling me all about what happened last night. Honestly, whenever she tells me about how wild her night goes every time, I'm just wondering how is she still alive? Interrupting Mona's story and my thoughts, Janine sits down next to me with her tray. She has that smile on her face when she wants to exert something out of you.

"Hi Aria boo, how are you? OMG, what ARE you wearing bubs? You look like someone sabotaged your wardrobe, HAHAHA" She laughs and looks at me from head to toe with her judg-y eyes. " Oh boo, you badly need a wardrobe change, I wouldn't mind giving you some wardrobe advice of my own." She says while taking a sip out of my banana milk carton. Janine can even fool her mother with her kindness.

"No thanks, Janine. I'm quite satisfied with my wardrobe choice. Plus I don't like clothes that makes me the center of attraction, you know those revealing clothes you wear?, Yeah, I don't fancy those. Also I'm gonna need my banana milk back, I don't like sharing food." I said while snatching my banana milk from her. I'm wondering how is she going to react because she doesn't like to be rejected.

"Whatever, go ahead and wear those hideous clothes. It really is your choice. Plus not everyone has a good taste in fashion." Urgh, why does she have to be so annoying all the time? Can't she just get to the point about what she wants from me? "Since we're exchanging unwanted advice here, how about I give you one? You should start saving some money because if you didn't spend much money buying expensive clothes, you would have money to buy yourself milk instead of raiding mine." I innocently smiled.

She scoffed and before she could say anything else, I interrupted her.

"Janine, why are you here? Cause lets face it, we both know that you're not here to actually give me an advice on my wardrobe. So why don't you just get to the point?"

"Oh wow, you're clever, well I guess there's a reason why they call you a nerd. Anyway, let's get to the point. I heard that you and Andre are working on an assignment together. Now there's something I need you to do, go and tell Andre that you don't want to work together with him and that he should find someone else to work with." She said in a commanding tone and I tell you it was intimidating. One thing about Janine is that you should never get on her bad side, she'll make your life a living hell. There was one time she made a girl transfer school just because she wanted to be the prettiest girl in school. Janine is famous for her petty personality. But I don't want to tell Andre that I don't want to work with him because I do. When I finally had the chance to be with him even for a short amount of time, Janine just had to come and ruin it for me. But then again, I'm not too brave to go against her 'commands'.

"Why should she refuse to work with Andre, Janine? Just so you know, Andre is the one who asked to work together with Aria. So if you want to work with Andre, go talk to Andre yourself. And darling, next time be sure to get your facts straight. Now vanish before my eyes." Mona interferes. Mona hates Janine more than anyone else. It's probably because Janine spread rumours about Mona's losing her virginity to one of her boyfriends. And for revenge Mona sticked a chewed gum onto Janine's hair. Ew, gross. Janine had to cut hair in a hairstyle thats against her nature —— boy cut. She wore a baseball cap for about 3 months. Though I think it was pretty considerate of Mona to do that having said that Janine spread fake rumours about Mona. Mona even got in trouble at home thanks to Janine.

"Andre requested to work with you?! Ugh, thats such a lie. Andre would never even look at a girl like you. Ew Mona, I'm pretty sure your best friend's a liar." I'm taken back to the time where our eyes met outside the teacher's office. Why would Janine humiliate someone like that? What's wrong with my face, am I too ugly? Was he looking at me because I was ugly?

"Why don't you just walk up to Andre and ask him what's the truth? Maybe then you'll know what's up. Now if you would please excuse us, I'm getting nauseated by looking at the food waste stuck between your teeth. Bye." We pick our tray and walk away from Janine. Janine screamed in a high pitched voice, I couldn't really make out what she was saying. I don't know why but for some reason I feel cold shivers down my spine. We walk quietly when suddenly Mona gives me an advice.

"You need to learn how to stand up against her, she'll do anything to snatch your man. She's an evil witch, don't you already know that?"

"He's not my man, Mona." Giving her my half-hearted smile. As much as I'd like to address Andre as my man but in reality he's not really my man. I better get the facts straight in my head before I start crying over made up scenarios between Andre and I.

"Come on sugar bun, don't tell me you don't like it. We both know you love it." She stresses the love part and slaps me right on my butt. She's right, she always is. I'm enjoying making up scenarios where he is mine and only mine, but I live in the reality and the sad reality is that he is never gonna be mine therefore I should stop fantasising! Though I have to admit, it is fun to escape reality every once in a while but I know that I'll never ever be able to gather enough courage to ask him out, I mean I can't even talk to him without wanting to run away. When he grabbed me by the hand today, my knees were shaking so bad I thought I was going to fall right in front of him. However that's besides the point because he's never gonna date me even if I did ask him out. He is so out of my league. Guess I'm just gonna have to stay single for the rest of my life. Yay!!

*

The last bell rings and I'm packing my books when I see Mona and Ethan standing outside the classroom waiting for me. I got a bad feeling about it. Mona links her arm with mine and Ethan walks beside us and repeatedly bouncing his basketball.

"So I heard Andre wants to do an assignment with you and he grabbed you by the hand and biggest tea of all, Janine came to you and YOU rejected to do as she says? What in the world?! This is how you choose to go rogue?? All for that guy??" I shoot a look at Mona because she was the only one there who witnessed all that and she is the only one who could have told Ethan that.

"Hey, don't look at me like that." She says in her defence.

"Wait, so what? You weren't planning on telling me?" He had a bewildered look on his face.

"No, I just wanted to tell you myself, you know in my own words." And it's true, I was going to tell him myself. I've never actually hidden anything from Ethan anyway.

"She wanted to fangirl over him all over again, Andre this and Andre that, hahahaha geez Aria!" Mona broke into a hysterical laughter, she enjoys teasing me.

"On a serious note though Aria, finally some spice in your life. Your high school life's been so dry, no detention, no boy problem, not even a scandal boo. Its like you're the student model in our school, Mona points out. And she has a point, I'm socially dry but this thing with Andre is hardly gonna spark any attention, or so I think.

"We're just working on an assignment and that's it. Nothing is gonna happen between us." I tried telling them in a reassuring tone.

"Considering the fact that you've been crushing on him for like forever, I doubt that." She rolls her eyes and smirks like she knows she's right. And I wonder if a guy like him would ever fall for a girl like me.

Dad is late. Nothing surprising because he never was early anyways. Maybe I should take up driving lessons. At least I'll be able to drive myself anywhere I want. Mona insists to wait but Ethan tells her to go home and he'll wait with me instead. Mona leaves without arguing, guess she's probably rushing to see someone or go home and sleep since she's barely had any since last night.

I was checking for any notifications from mom or dad when Ethan's curiosity broke the silence, "So are you going to his place or is he coming to yours?" He asks with his eyes fixated on his phone.

"Oh, I really don't know. I'd rather just meet up at some café or someplace quiet and crowded at the same time to avoid any kind of sudden awkwardness."

"Do you want me to accompany you when you're with him? I should be free."

"He haven't texted me the details of when he wants to do the project. I don't think it'll be necessary for you to tag along though, it's not like he's gonna devour me up." I let out a light chuckle to ease the somewhat tensed situation.

"Didn't he just do that?" He said it so softly I almost couldn't hear him.

"What do you mean?" I asked, completely pretending I don't understand what he means.

"Come on, Ari. Stop pretending like you don't freeze from head to toe when you see him, and when he asked you to be his project partner, you were over the moon. Don't even get me started on when he grabbed you by the hand, you were floating weren't you?"

I opened my mouth wanting to deny it when Ethan interrupts, "Don't even try to deny it Ari, I know you better than anyone."

Why does it feel like I'm every other girl who has a crush on Andre? And that's when a jeep stops in front of us. The window of the jeep winds down and we see Andre sitting inside.

"What's up, Ethan?" He calls out to Ethan and all Ethan does is nod his head.

"Hey denim bag, how come you're still here?"

"Denim bag?? Seriously, he doesn't even know your name? " Ethan whispers to me sarcastically and I hit him lightly with my elbow.

"Urm, do you guys want a ride back home? I don't mind." He offered.

"No thanks, her dad should be on the way." Ethan coldly rejects Andre before I could even say anything.

My phone rings and its a call from dad, "Dad, how come-". Dad interrupts, " I am so sorry sweetie, I'm stuck in a meeting and I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to pick you up from school. Can you walk home with Ethan, baby? Love you, bye.

"Love you too dad, bye." I sighed as I disconnect the phone and I realise both Ethan and Andre and looking at me so intently.

"What did your dad say, denim bag?"

"First of all, the name is Aria, Aria Schbeck, not denim bag. And secondly, he says he's going to be late, apparently he is stuck in a meeting and he told me to walk home with Ethan."

I'm sure I saw a smirk on Ethan's face before he asked, "Ah perfect then, shall we go?"

"Why don't just come with me, I mean like I know you're a fitness freak and all but come on, pity Aria for a bit. I'll drop the both of you off. I promise I won't bite." Andre was insisting and Ethan looked at me as if asking if I was okay with it. I nodded.

I was going to sit in the front sit but Ethan gestured me to sit at the back. I don't get it, why is Ethan so skeptical about Andre. As far as i know, they were friends in middle school. Then they just stopped talking to each other, no one really knows why but there were rumours about Ethan being jealous of Andre's popularity and stopped being friends with him but i doubt that because if the problem is popularity, I think Ethan is just as popular as Andre. (Except Andre's proud of it and Ethan is not.)