SEPTEMBER 2015

The bell rang as the students raced their way out of the classroom. Who is not excited about eating lunch? As I had already devoured everything that was inside my lunch box during the first fifteen-minute break, I remained seated with a notebook on my desk and a pen in my left hand. I thought of the best way to execute the lines of the female lead in this short story that I am currently writing, but one person has decided to disrupt me and my peace — Jonah.

"What are you doing?" he asks. Jonah is a classmate of mine and, apparently, the guy I have been seeing for two years now. We are in our senior year of high school. Jonah is one of the most handsome guys on the whole campus; it is a real struggle to be with him. I am often the mean girls' target. His "best friend," as I have just heard, has feelings for him and is now trying to break us apart. She has her minions backing her up, and they have been recruiting people to hate me just because Jonah is with me. They get to me sometimes, but when he tells me that I am who he wants, I know there is no reason for me to listen to what the other people are saying about the two of us. We are happy; that's all that matters.

"I'm writing another chapter for this story." My response was so quick that my eyes did not even look at his face. This was the best story yet that I have ever written. I dream of becoming one of the most famous writers out there. I dream of holding a physical copy of my book one day and even holding events such as book signings! I will be the happiest person if that ever happens! A soft nudge has snapped me back to reality. I turn my head to the right only to see Jonah smiling at me. "What?"

"You know," he starts and slouches on the seat. "I heard this song and thought about you. Give it a listen; think of it as me singing it for you." He snatches the pen and then writes the title of the song at the back of the notebook: 'I Like That'. I could not resist the laughter, which just earned me a glare from the guy beside me.

"Sorry, I just did not see that coming. It is not like you to dedicate a song to me."

"Well, you're all I think about every second of the day." That made me blush. I did not think he would say that. Instead, I expected him to tease me right back. The smile on his face was as bright as his brown eyes, and I would always understand why the mean girls could never accept the fact that he was dating someone like me.

Later that afternoon, Jonah and I parted ways. Even though we were dating, I never let him walk me home, and although he did ask to do that for me, I refused him. It was not about my parents; having somebody take me home was something that I was not used to. My dad had always taken me and picked me up from school. Besides, people at our school were already giving me much more attention than intended. I do not want people who have not even spoken my name to stare at me like I am some sort of criminal just because I am dating a good-looking man. It never crossed my mind that seeing someone as gorgeous as him could be so troublesome. My feet dragged me to my room the minute I arrived home. Mom was in the living room, watching the afternoon news, while my two siblings were scrolling up and down their tablets. I have heard that Dad will be coming home a little late tonight because they will have a company dinner. My hands had found the same notebook I was writing in at school and took it out of the backpack; there was no way I was going to leave this chapter unfinished.

"Oh, a pen! I need a pen!" The notebook fell to the ground when I moved to open up the bag to get a pen. It then showed the last page, where Jonah had written the title of the song he had asked me to listen to. So I got up from the bed to turn on my computer and looked up the song on MeTube. It was sung by an American boy band that consisted of three brothers, namely, and in order: Cameron, Riley, and Timothy Martins. They were all beautiful; however, the middle brother had caught my eye— Riley. The more I listened to the song, the more it felt as if he were singing it to me. Every time he looked at the camera, it felt like he was looking right at me. It was the first time that I felt such a strong emotion, and I never thought it would be with a guy who does not even know I exist in this world. His eyes were a beautiful shade of hazel brown; I had wondered what it would be like to stare at them for a long time. His voice was not too strong or too raspy; if I were to describe it, I would say it was the most soothing voice I had ever heard in my life. It could even lull me to sleep. I would not mind if he sang all day.

I opened another window tab and looked up the band's history and social media. I found out Riley was more active on Tweeter, so I went ahead and created an account and followed him, his brothers, and the band. This was not what I thought would happen if I listened to the song Jonah had recommended, but I would be lying if I said that I was not happy I did, because I truly am glad and thankful. This was the start of my hopeless crush on Riley Martins.

This was the start of the story of Riley and me.