Never Would I Ever (Previously A Wink, a Smile, and a Kiss)

Chapter 1

"I'm nervous," Amanda fidgeted with the book cover she held in her arms. The car ride was bumpy, and with her superstitous ways, she could only take it as a sign that today might not go well.

Amanda readjusted the mirror in front of her, so she wouln't tan. Her biological mother's Norweigan blood combined with her father's mess of ethnicities made her burn five minutes out in the sun.

"Honey, relax," her stepmother coaxed her. Unlike Katherine, her stepmother was always put together with a bluetooth always in one ear and her phone in hand. She was not exactly fond of Nick, Amanda's older brother, but treated Amanda as her own daughter because she was a baby when they first met.

"Shutup, you are so whiny," Nick kicked Amanda's seat.

"Why'd he have to come?" she asked.

"This is your first day at your new school. Your father couldn't make it and Nick is the second best thing!"

Amanda could hardly believe that, but she tried to keep her cool. She could not be red faced on her first day at her new school. Especially since she was transfering in mid-year as a freshman. Freshman year had not treaten her well already. Her friends from middle school who always made her feel as if she were at home, now gave her the cold shoulder. It seemed everyone at her old school had turned on her and she could just feel the ice frost over when she walked into a room. The last straw was that nasty girl picking on her.

Now that her parents had found out, they enrolled her into a new elite school. Amanda had no idea how elite it actually was until the compliments rolled in on how amazing this high school was and how it raised the best people for the future.

The hill it was placed on made Amanda sick and she knew that she would dread the car rides. Finally, the car pulled to a halt in front of the school, and Amanda sprinted inside, not taking a second for her stepmother to smother her.

"H-Hi, I'm Amanda," she panted at the reception area in front of the receptionist.

"Oh! The new junior! We are delighted to have you here," she pushed papers aside and handed her a thick folder with little slips of paper showing.

"Happy to be here," she said as the receptionist explained the map.

After a few minutes, the woman was called away and tried her best to explain the directions, but Amanda was completely lost in a huge school. She sat down against a locker after a minute, trying to figure out the map. Nobody could help her.

"Need help?" someone asked, looking in her direction.

"Hi, I'm kind of lost. My name's Amanda. New junior. Scared," she stood up, grabbing her new backpack.

"I'm Hayden. I'm also a junior," Hayden greeted her, taking a look at her map.

"You look like an eighth grader," Amanda screwed up her first impression just like that.

She mentally scolded herself for saying such a thing. Hayden was not the tallest person she had ever seen, but he was surprisingly cute, even with braces.

Hayden was obviously taken aback by her rudeness, but continued to guide her. The whole way she was flustered, wondering if he would completely hate her forever. They talked a little bit, and he told her the whole class was split into two classes with twenty-five students in each. He happened to be in the other class, which Amanda appreciated a bit.

"This is your stop. My class is over there," he stopped at room 208 and pointed to the room next to it.

"Thanks, and about what I said-" Amanda could not apologize because he had already left.

This is it. The start of a new era, I guess. Amanda thought to herself before opening the creaky door.

The teacher was too deep into the lecture to take a look at Amanda, but pointed to an empty seat. The girl next to it had her feet propped up onto the table and her head leaned back. The girl on the other side was giving flirtatious glances to a pimple-ridden boy that was using his phone under his desk.

"Hi. I'm Amanda. I feel like I've said that too many times today," Amanda looked at the girl with her feet on the desk with a friendly smile.

"Hey, I'm Cadence," Cadence greeted her.

All of a sudden the calm teacher turned around and screamed,"Who is talking?!"

Today was not going to run as smoothly as Amanda had expected.