To you, from James

PROLOGUE

Loud embarrassing prepubescent adolescents, also known as a sizeable portion of the student body of East Creek.

The yellowed walls (plastered with posters advertising the basketball tourney that was soon to grace the school) echoed the gossip about who the most athletic dude in the team was, or who looked the hottest eating tortillas. East Creek was obsessed with basketball, whether it was with the sport itself or with the boys in the team, known as the Hawks. It felt as though the entire school was held in a chokehold; that if the club one day vanished, the very fabric holding the school in together would snap and disintegrate, plunging the school into utter chaos.

Rebecca did not get the hype. Cringe permeated throughout her body whenever girls in her homeroom fuelled their delusional fantasies with even more delusional fantasies, just because someone on the team made eye contact with them for a split second.

There definitely was no "Invisible String" tying anyone to her, despite being a hardcore Swiftie for as long as she could remember. It felt like a rite of passage for every Swiftie's journey to start because their heart was broken by some red-flagged douchebag. She couldn't relate at all.

Rebecca Wilson, a freshman in East Creek, first set foot into the school a few months ago, but she already knew where the best place was to have a mental breakdown (in the bathroom beside the band room, because your crying will occasionally have an instrumental backing) and even where the basketball dudes hid their stash of cigarettes at, but she already had enough on her hands to be involved in drama, so she wasn't planning on snitching. TL;DR, She basically knew every nook and cranny of the campus of East Creek.

Rebecca knew she didn't look the best, but she didn't care that much. She wasn't in East Creek to find a boyfriend, or get scouted by Vogue, so she usually just rocked a messy bun, because she didn't like having hair in her face. She was proud of being a natural blonde despite what people say about blondies being dumb (heck no!), so she never planned on dyeing her hair.

She was more than happy with her squad of friends, Abby Hart (sadly, not a descendant of Kevin Hart) and Janette Beckham (even more sadly, not a descendant of David Beckham). Even though trios normally don't work out, Rebecca was certain that the three of them were platonic soulmates. Apart from some minor squabbles, it seemed like nothing stood between them.

Recently, their groupchat (named JAR of Secrets because Abby loves her puns) did a ranking of the Hawks, much to Rebecca's annoyance. James Sullivan, the captain of the team, emerged at the top of all of our lists. It was expected, because more than half of the female population (some guys too) of East Creek was obsessed with him. Maybe it was his caramel hair that glistened in the sun, or his cute wavy fringe, or his billion dollar smile.

James was actually the first guy Rebecca wouldn't mind dating, but of course that's a feeling that she buried so deep down that she doesn't even remember she has it. Besides, he already has so many girls obsessing over him and even more handwritten notes slipped into his locker every single day. What even are the odds?

A new semester of school was starting soon, and Rebecca spent most of her time binge watching Grey's Anatomy as a form of therapy from all the trauma that East Creek had given her last semester.

Needless to say, she definitely wasn't ready for what was to come.

__________________________________

END OF PROLOGUE
finished 14/7/23