take a chance

chapter 1

It was a day like any other. The sun was out, summer was coming to an end and leaves were just beginning to change color. All around the small town of Pickering, you could hear kids begging their mothers to let them skip the first day of school. Of course, they never did.

I entered the school like every other year. The first day of school was always the hardest. I was starting my junior year at Pine Ridge Secondary School. I looked around for my friends.

"Lindsey!" I heard someone shout my name from behind me.

I turned around with a grin. "Hey guys," I said to my friends, Lauren, Mel, and Steph.

Let me give you some background information on my group of friends. Laur is the queen bee of the school. She's pretty nice, if you don't get on her bad side. If you get on the wrong side of her...let's just say it usually ends with someone transferring schools, and it isn't her. Mel and Steph are her sidekicks. She never goes anywhere without them. They're always reliable, if not a little annoying at times.

Laur and I have been best friends since birth. Our mothers are best friends, so that makes us best friends by default. I don't qualify under the sidekick category. People see me as her best friend, not one of her sidekicks. Thank god. Although she can be a bitch, I love her.

Laur, Steph, and Mel took me by my arms and dragged me to our lockers.

We'd coerced poor freshmen to give us their lockers last year, so we could have lockers next to each other. Whenever one of us had a crisis, we would meet in front of our lockers.

We gossiped about summer flings and hot new teachers, same as every year.

"Did you know Kayla and Josh slept together?" Mel told us secretively.

Laur rolled her eyes. "That's old news Mel. Get with the program."

Whispers swept through the crowd of students around us, interrupting our gossip session. I craned my neck to see over the commotion. Everyone was staring at some guy that had just walked through the main doors. He was a ridiculously attractive brunette with brown eyes and wavy hair. I noticed that he was tall. 6'1, maybe 6'2?

Pine Ridge is relatively small. I pride myself on knowing everyone's names. I knew that he was definitely new around here. I had never seen him before.

I looked over at Laur. She was smiling like Cheshire the Cat. I rolled my eyes. I knew she had her eye on the new boy already. Once Laur made up her mind to go for someone, the poor guy was helpless. Nothing could ward off Laur's charms and flirtations. No boy had ever been able to resist Lauren Arendse before.

The new kid was oblivious to all the whispering and the stares. He was staring at his schedule and a map of the school. He furrowed his brows, looking lost as hell. He was so invested in his schedule that he tripped over someone's foot.

His books went everywhere. Papers went flying left and right. Everyone went silent with second-hand embarrassment, except for Lyall Goodman and his pack of cavemen friends. They were all hooting and high-fiving each other because Lyall had tripped the new guy.

Although Lyall had the word "good" in his last name, he was anything but. He was the wannabe badass of the school. Lyall acted like school didn't matter. He cut class everyday to go smoke and drink. We all knew he didn't give a damn about anything because he had his parents' fortune to fall back on.

The poor kid was lying on the ground, afraid to pick himself up, because he knew he would have to face a whole crowd of strangers that just witnessed him make a fool of himself.

I felt bad for him. No one was helping him. Everyone was frozen in a sort of petrified state. Finally, out of pity and impatience, I went to help him up.

I knelt down next to him and began gathering his papers.

"Thanks," he said the me with a sheepish smile, "I'm Shawn by the way."

"I'm Lindsey."

Shawn. It was a fitting name. He looked like a Shawn.

My thoughts were interrupted by his voice.

"Well, thanks for helping me, Lindsey. It seems like everyone here is pretty rude. You're the only person that's talked to me since I've been here."

I looked around at the now dispersing crowd. Laur, Mel, and Steph had vanished, probably to get to their 1st period classes.

"No, they're ok, you just need to get to know them."

I handed his papers back to him. "Mind if I take a look at your schedule?" I asked, "I could help you find your 1st class."

Shawn gladly handed his paper to me.

"Chem with Ms. Jordan in room 223? That's right next to my 1st period class. Come on, I'll walk you there," I offered.

Shawn looked so relieved. "You rock Lindsey."

"I know," I joked, flipping my hair.

"Someone's stuck up," Shawn teased.

I laughed. I was going to like Shawn, I could already tell.

//(cover creds to nugatory) //