The Stages of Love

Chapter 1

I giggled as Seth Roberts darted out of his chair as soon as our teacher left to get more paper.
Every year on the first day of school, Seth pulls a prank. The rest of our senior class was leaning forward in their seats, anticipating for him to complete the joke.
He smirked at me, nodding to the teacher's desk.
I tilted my head quizzically, but then caught on and shot him a half-smile.
Just as Seth opened the teacher's desk drawer, our principal and teacher strode in, a weary look on their face's.
Good going, I thought. The principal must be onto his yearly prank.
"Seth, I was hoping you'd have grown out of these silly pranks, but I guess not." clucking his tongue, the principal grabbed onto his arm roughly. "Amanda, you too."
I rolled my eyes, but obediently stood up and followed Mr. Davidson out the classroom door.
I may not have mentioned, but I'm usually Seth's partner in crime.
We were lead into the principal's office.
"Take a seat, you two." The deadpan expression in his eyes was starting to freak me out a bit. Did this guy have no emotion at all?
Wait, I already knew that answer after being sent to the principal's office countless times the past three years. This year is a clean slate. Not that it matters.
I'm actually not some kind of rebel-class clown-troublemaker.
I'm a girl who does what I want because that's the way I was raised. No, I don't have some mysterious past or dark secrets.
I'm just me - a girl looking for something that never seems to be found. Rarely, on seldom occasions, people find true love.
Now, I'm not looking for some cheesy love story like Romeo and Juliet, or the fault in our stars (which was a good movie, to be honest) but I want true love all the same.
I've always felt as if my heart had a hollow part, just waiting for that one person to fill it.
Seth nudged me, a slight smirk on his face.
Jocks, nerds, band geeks, musicians, 'bad boys', nice boys - I've dated a vast range of guys. Stereotypes mean nothing to me, it's like putting M&Ms in a skittles bag. Some think they look the same, but you can't tell what it is just by looking on the outside.
"Amanda, are you listening to me?"
My head snapped up at the sound of Mr. Davidson's voice. "Yes," I lied.
"This is the first day back to school, and yet you two are on strike two already. You're lucky I stopped you before you did whatever prank you were about to pull."
I narrowed my eyes. That prank was going to be the bomb! Mr. Davidson ruined it entirely.
I shot Seth a look.
"Ahem." the principal cleared his throat. "I'll think of a suitable punishment for you two - I already know detention will do no good. When I've made up my mind, I'll contact you. You kids are free to go."
We bolted out of our chairs and speed-walked out of his office.
"Wow, we should've gotten off scotch-free. I mean, come on, we didn't even do anything! What if we were getting a pencil?"
"As if." I grinned mischievously. "Besides, who knows what he'll make us do. Probably just sell cookies or something."
"I hope so, then I could eat them." Seth chuckled.
"You'd eat anything if I put chocolate chips on it."
"Not anything!" He stuck his tongue out in disgust. "I'd do it if you paid me a hundred bucks."
"Not happening." I pushed him playfully.

Later on, when I got home my brother greeted me with a hug.
"Jackson! You're home!" My older brother, Jackson, moved out a few months ago. He was the closest person in the world to me.
"Mom invited me for dinner - I've missed this place." He ruffled my hair, and I jerked away from him.
"Hey!" I frowned at him. "Well, I've got to go do something in my room, can we talk later?"
"Sure, sis."
I raced downstairs and headed straight into my bedroom.
I slammed the door shut, and locked it.
I flung my backpack onto the floor beside my bed, and stared at the collage of pictures on my wall. Me and Jackson, my cat, my friends, my mom, and Seth.
I stared at the picture of me and Seth - it was taken at a carnival thing that we went to last year...
I fingered my necklace. It was a locket from Seth, the very same picture that was on my wall.
I hated to admit it, but maybe my feelings for him are changing.
Even though I've dated nearly every single type of guy, I've never dated the boy next door.