Junior Hearts

Chapter One

"Oh! Sorry!" I looked up to see who I'd ran into as I picked my books up off the ground.

"It's cool, are you alright?"

"Oh um yes I..I'm fine, sorry." I had never seen the boy who was staring back at me. He was tall, probably six feet, had dirty blonde hair and sea blue eyes. 'Wow, he must be new, I would have remembered him,' I thought before turning my attention back to him.

"Okay well I'm glad you're alright, but hey, since I ran into you, can you tell me where room 514 is?"

"Oh yeah, that's where I'm headed, follow me." I turned and led the unnamed boy to our classroom. "Alright here we are, AP Calculus with Mr. Johnson."

"Cool, thanks." He flashed me a quick smile before walking into the classroom. I stood there for a minute, slightly dazed. 'Idiot,' I thought, 'why didn't I ask him his name?' I regained composure before following him into the room. 'Maybe this year won't be so bad,' I decided.

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"BEEP BEEP BEEP," my alarm clock screeched, reluctantly I rolled over and turned it off. 'First day of Junior Year,' I remebered, 'great, I can't wait.' I sighed before rolling out of bed. I could hear Noah and Liam laughing in the kitchen as they were waiting for my mom to finish making breakfast, they were more excited for their first day of school then I was. I slid open my closet doors, 'Nothing to wear, of course,' I finally settled on a pair of light jeans with rips, a thin, loose, long-sleeved maroon shirt, and my all black converse. When I was satisfied with my outfit, I walked into my bathroom to finish getting ready. I straighted my hair and put on a little makeup then stepped back to see my final "product." My long blonde hair fell perfectly straight down my back, stopping just above my waist. My mascara helped bring attention to my large, green eyes and a little lipstain helped my full lips stand out. Most people would probably agree that I was pretty, I'd been told it all my life, but I didn't really see it. 'Well, that's as good as it's gonna get.'I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs.

"Goodmorning honey! I made my signiature pancakes, I know how much you like them." My mom glanced at me before turning her attention back to making sure my brothers were all ready.

"I'm not hungry."

"Okay, well you really should eat something, but I made coffee too if you just want that."

"I'll just have coffee." I filled my cup then grabbed my jacket and my car keys. "Noah, Liam. Come on. Don't want to be late for your first day of eight grade, do you?" My twin brothers grabbed their backpacks and said bye to my mom before following me out to the car.

"I call shotgun!" Liam screamed before rushing past me and Noah towards my car.

"Hey! Not fair!" Noah protested as he chased after Liam.

"Why don't you both sit in back?" I waited to unlock the car until they reached an agreement. Liam would sit up front today, then Noah tomorrow and so on. I slid into the front seat of my Jeep and started it. I listened to Noah and Liam go on and on about how excited they were to get back to school and see all their friends. I was quiet, mostly because I wasn't quite as excited to be starting school again. I had lots of friends, but I had always felt like I had to put up a bit of a front to get people to like me. I had always been more interested in the learning aspect of school then the whole social and partying aspect, which would definitely not be viewed as cool. When I finally pulled up to Liam and Noah's school I had barely said bye before they jumped out of the car and ran up to the front doors. 'Okay then. I could just go back home, Mom and Dad are both at work by now...they probably wouldn't even find out...,' I laughed at myself knowing how dumb of an idea it was, of course they'd find out. I sighed before pulled out of the school parking lot and heading to my school, Blue Ridge High. Several minutes later I pulled into the parking lot. 'Okay Bradley, maybe this year will be better, just take a deep breath and get today over with.' I sighed and finally turned off my Jeep and stepped out onto the pavement. As I was walking up to the front entrance I heard someone calling my name.

"Bradley! Hey, Bradley! Wait up!" Reluctantly I stopped and turned to face him.

"Hi Sam." Standing in front of me was my best friend since I was three, Sam Reynolds, captain of the football team, also, my biggest crush since I was three. He had been my next door neighbor for as long as I could remember, we even carpooled to school all through elementary and middle school. He also drove me to school all of sophomore year since I didn't have my license. Unfortunately, being as popular as he was, there were lots of girls striving for his attention, and being his best friend, he viewed me as the girl he could hang out with who wouldn't be flirting with him the whole time. But how could they not like him, he was the ideal 17 year old boy; tall, perfect short brown hair, tan, muscular, what more could you want?

"Hey! I thought you wanted to ride to school together today?" He gave me a fake pout while waiting for me to answer.

"Sorry, I guess I never texted you back, but I had to drive Noah and Liam to school."

"I could have given them a ride too, my cars big enough," I didn't quite know what to say to him. How do you tell your best friend that it's been getting harder for you to be around him because he doesn't know how you really feel about him. "Oh well, it's cool. I'll get over it. Come on, we're going to be late." I gladly followed him inside, relieved that he'd dropped the subject. Sam and I headed to the front office to pick up our schedules and get our locker info. Sam walked me to my locker and we realized that our locker were right next to each other.

"I'm glad our lockers are so close," I said with a smile while thinking 'I'm so glad I'll get to see all the pretty girls who come try to talk to you everyday.' "Oh, let me see your schedule, I want to see how many classes we have together."

"Maybe one or two, considering you're a lot smarter than me, haha."

"Whatever, I'm only ahead of you in math," Sam handed me his schedule and I quickly scanned through it. "Okay, we have second hour, fourth hour, aka lunch, fifth hour, and sixth hour together."

"Cool! That's four out of seven classes. Aren't you so glad you'll get to spend even more time with me! Haha." Sam flashed me a smile and my heart sunk a little. "Hey, it looks like our first hour classes are right next to each other, want me to walk you to class?"

"Not today, I'm going to try to find Avery, she's been texting me since we got here..." I hoped Sam would sense the tone of my voice and just drop it and leave. Avery had been my best girl friend since freshman year, but she wasn't really looking for me, she was hanging out with her boyfriend, Mason, before class. She had been paying more attention to Mason lately since he was a senior and would be graduating at the end of the year, but Sam wouldn't think too hard about it, so it was a good excuse.

"Okay, fine," he flashed me his fake pout again, "I'll see you next hour then. Don't be late."

"Okay, see you then." I forced a smile and waited for him to turn and head to class. I sighed before grabbing my books for my first few classes and then shutting the door. Lost in thought, I turned and immediately bumped into someone. "Oh! Sorry!" I looked up to see who I'd ran into as I picked my books up off the ground.

"It's cool, are you alright?"

"Oh um yes I..I'm fine, sorry." I had never seen the boy who was staring back at me. He was tall, probably six feet, had dirty blonde hair and sea blue eyes. 'Wow, he must be new, I would have remembered him,' I thought before turning my attention back to him.

"Okay well I'm glad you're alright, but hey, since I ran into you, can you tell me where room 514 is?"

"Oh yeah, that's where I'm headed, follow me." I turned and led the unnamed boy to our classroom. "Alright here we are, AP Calculus with Mr. Johnson."

"Cool, thanks." He flashed me a quick smile before walking into the classroom. I stood there for a minute, slightly dazed. 'Idiot,' I thought, 'why didn't I ask him his name?' I regained composure before following him into the room. 'Maybe this year won't be so bad,' I decided.