How Not to Fall In Love

Chapter 1

I went through and deleted Chapters 2-5; sorry for the confusion. 

I am in the middle of rewriting Chapters 1-5 because I felt like I had started the story in the wrong place. So, please be patient with me while I start the story over again and get it going in the right direction this time. Thank you for understanding, A.L. 

There are some sensitive subject matters throughout the book. 

I took one last look in my visor mirror, then flipped it back up. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in, and felt like I would throw up all over the inside of my car. I've been away from everyone for three years, which was great. Of course, I missed my best friends, Sophie and Cole, but I had talked to them literally every day for the past three years. I sat there looking at Edward High School, dreading this moment the minute Dad told me we were moving back here a couple of months ago. He had no idea what he was bringing me back to. 

"Are you coming?" Sophie's face appeared out of nowhere. 

"Oh, my god!" I screamed. 

Sophie's head fell forward, and her long, curly blonde hair covered her face, but it couldn't muffle her laughter. She raised her head, tears in her eyes from laughing. "I'm sorry I scared you, Rylee," she said in between giggles. She took a few steps back to give me enough room so I wouldn't whack her with my car door. But then again, maybe I should've hit her with my door for scaring the shit out of me. I grabbed my bookbag, opened the door, and took a deep breath as I slid my foot out of the car onto the pavement. My canvas shoes looked so white against the dark pavement as I stood there and stared down at my shoes, waiting for them to start moving toward the school. 

"You see how this works is you have to move toward the school. The school doesn't move to you." Sophie tugged on my arm. "Everything has been fine so far." 

"Everything has not been fine so far." 

"Have you heard anyone call out your name?" She asked, waving her hand around. 

"Do I need to remind you what happened a couple of weeks ago in the cafeteria with Austin Hayes?" I pressed my lips together. 

" For one...No one heard him. And he hasn't called you that since then, so I think you're safe. You aren't that girl anymore, Rylee. You've changed a lot since you left. I don't think anyone else will remember you." 

"What did I call you?" A low, familiar voice said behind us. 

My eyes widened, and I discreetly grabbed Sophie's bookbag so that I wouldn't fall face-first onto the floor from embarrassment. 

"Don't panic." She whispered. 

I turned around; Austin Hayes stood there looking hot as hell, smirking at us. He took a step closer to us. He was so close that I could've sworn I could see flecks of gold in his dark brown eyes. "Did I hear my name mentioned between you two?" He smiled even bigger. "What were you talking about, Duckface?" 

And in that instant, I didn't know what had come over me, but it felt great for a change. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP CALLING ME DUCKFACE!" I screamed in his face while jabbing my pointer finger in his chest. "My name's Rylee, and you know it! Stop being a dick and call me by my name." I turned around and stormed off down the hall. 

"Rylee! Wait up!" Sophie called off in the distance. 

I got halfway down the hall when I paused long enough for Sophie to catch up with me. Her eyes were big with surprise. She stood there staring at me for a few minutes when I couldn't take it anymore. "What?" 

"Who are you?" She laughed. "The look on Austin's face was priceless." She laughed even harder. "You walked away and left him standing there with his mouth wide open. That was the greatest thing ever!" 

"We need to get going to class, Sophie." I glanced down at my smartwatch.  

She said she needed to go to her locker and swap out her books really fast before we headed to class. So we walked hastily down the hall as quickly as possible without getting yelled at by the teachers standing guard outside their rooms. Once she swapped out her books, we took off back across the school to Biology 204. Even after being here a few weeks, I was still unsure which way to turn at the end of the halls. I was just thankful I had most of my classes with Sophie; the rest were with my other best friend, Cole. 

"Are we going to be late?" I asked Sophie as we were practically running down the hall toward Biology. 

"Right on time, " Mr. Crawford said, walking up behind us, then paused so we could walk through the doorway first.  

We hurried into the room and sat at our table in the middle of the room. I grabbed the seat on the right side of the table. Sophie was still babbling about what had happened in the hallway with Austin. She kept going on about the look on his face after I got done screaming at him. I wished I had seen his expression, but I just wanted to get away from him.

In the middle of Biology, I kept looking down at the finger that I shoved into Austin's chest as I screamed at him. I wasn't expecting to find anything wrong with it, yet I couldn't pull my eyes away from my finger. I remembered the feeling that surged through my body when my finger touched his shirt. Every nerve in my body was awakened all at once, along with what felt like a hundred butterflies flying around in my stomach. This feeling was incredible, but at the same time, it was almost as if it was telling me to run in the opposite direction. 

Author's Notes:

This is my newest story. I think a lot of people are going to be able to relate to Rylee. 

If you like the chapter, please consider giving it a vote. Thanks! A.L.