High School Love Story

Chapter 1

Chelsea looked out the car window, and then back at the makeup palette in her hand. She applied her seventh layer of eye shadow and tucked it back in her purse.

"Hey, bitches!" She called, rolling down the window. "Get in the car, we're going shopping." Her friends Marissa and Louissa hopped in the car.

"Suh-orry!!" Marissa apologized. "Suh-omeone was busy fuh-lirting with Carson McAdams and didn't leave." She glared at Louissa, who looked out the window.

"Lou..." Chelsea's hand went to her mouth, but then she realized there was lipstick on her hand, so she wiped it off and applied some more. "Tell me you're kidding."

"It was Mair! I swear, girl, it was NOT me." Lou shook her head, but Carson walked past the car and winked, and her red face gave it away.

"Magahd, Lou! You know Carson and I dated last year for eight months until he dumped me. Quit it!" Chelsea screeched.

"I thought you dumped him for Charlie ST, Chels." Lou fired back.

"Louissa! That's beside the point. Forget Charlie Seth Turner. There's a thing called fucking girl code. Ask Mair. Even she knows you can't like, or even LOOK AT someone that your girl dated, ESPECIALLY if they went as far as we did."

"She's right, Lou. Girl code first." Mair said. Everyone knew that Chelsea and Carson went up to third base in sophomore year.

"Well, Carson might like me. You know I was always single. Give me a chance. Please, Chels. I mean, come on! He winked at me. Please!" Lou gave Chelsea her pity face.

"Look, Louissa. You can look at him. You can flirt with him. You can date him. You can go to fucking third base with him, for all I care. But don't say I didn't warn you, and don't come shopping with us anymore. We have Alyssa anyway. Mair, where is Lyss?"

"She's on a date with Jason. Wednesday, remember?" Marissa said. Then she turned to Louissa. "I would feel bad for you, but girl code exists. Toodles!" They waved bye to her.

"You guys, Chels, Mair, you're my friends, you can't do th-" Louissa pleaded.

"Louissa," Chelsea interrupted. "It's clear you choose Carson over us. Now scram."

"Fine, but don't come back to me later and apologize."

"In your dreams, girl. In your dreams." Mair shook her head and Louissa left, shaking her head in disbelief. What had she done? She walked over to the school bench and put her head in her hands, tears streaming down her face.

"How did I lose my only three friends? The whole grade would die to be me, but right now I'd die to switch with someone else." Louissa started crying again.

"Hey, hey, hey." Someone put their arm around her. "What's wrong, babydoll?"

"Nothing, I-" She froze when she saw that it was Carson McAdams. "Nothing."

"Hey, come on. I know when something's wrong." Carson said. "Let's take a walk and let's talk. Come on!" He nudged her.

"I don't know, I- um.." Lou stuttered.

"Let's go, and let's talk." They walked around for hours but never really ended up talking about what happened, just everything else.

"And, I always felt that, you know, there was something behind why-" Louissa stopped when her phone rang. "Hold on, I need to take this."

"Go ahead." Carson said.

"Hey! Oh, mom?" Louissa paused. "I, um, was at the, uh, library, studying for a test... Were there any other people there? Oh, um, my study buddy, Carson McAdams. He's part of our, uh, study group. We just studied. Yep... Yeah, I'm on my way. Yeah, sure. Love you!"

"Have you hung up?" Carson whispered. Upon seeing Lou's nod, he released a big sigh. "Oh, thank god. Is she mad? Should I drive you home?"

"Oh! No, don't worry about it. I'll walk. It's the next block."

"Okay, then. See you at school tomorrow, babydoll!" They hugged and Louissa turned and walked home, but she couldn't stop thinking about Carson. She opened the front door and ran into her mother.

"Oh, um, hi mom." She stuttered. "I just walked home."

"Hello. Now please move to the side. I need to water the plants. Oh, and go upstairs and do your homework if you want pizza for dinner!" She called as she walked outside.

"Yeah, sure mom. Whatever." Louissa dragged her bag upstairs. "Isa! Milk please!"

"Coming. Miss Johnson." Louissa's maid Isa brought some warm milk upstairs and handed it to her. "Some warm milk with a chocolate swirl, three peppermint balls, and cocoa powder with only one gram of sugar. Enjoy!" Isa left the room.

"Thanks Isa!" Lou called and drank her milk. After dinner, she scrolled through Instagram, looked at Chelsea's page, and logged off. She got into bed and pulled on the covers when her phone buzzed. She opened it and saw a message from an unrecognized phone number. Good night, babydoll. See you tomorrow. Xoxo <3. Suddenly, a phone call came and Carson popped up on her screen. Lou picked up.

"Hey Carson!" Louissa said. "How'd you get my number?"

"Don't mind that, babydoll. Just realized I never caught your name...?"

"Louissa." She said.

"Louisa. Got it."

"No," she corrected. "It's Louissa, like Lou-is-sa."

"Ah, got it." Carson said. "But I'll stick to babydoll."

"Whatever suits you," Lou said, smiling. "Anyway, I've got to-"

"Yeah, just wanted to say good night."

"Well, good night, Carson."

"Night." He hung up.