How to Fall in Love in Three Easy Steps

Chapter 1

The gentle autumn breeze ruffled Jack's hair as he stood in front of his new life. He stared up at the daunting building, sighing when he realized soon it would be his own home. St. Francis Academy, the so-called place where there was absolutely no fun, no parties, no hot girls. Nothing but work. Jack cringed at the sight of it's gray brick walls and started to turn away when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Go in," his mother stated sharply.

"This fucking blows," Jack mumbled under his breath.

The two began marching towards the entrance of the school, Jack's feet dragging along the ground. Around him students rushed towards one another, greeting each other after a long summer off. Many students glanced over at Jack and gave him the once over. They whispered in each other's ears, analyzing his every move. Jack was completely oblivious to all of this as he tried to think of ways to escape from this hellhole.

All the students crammed in through one small door, still sprinting to find their friends. Jack's mom pulled his arm as Jack stopped moving all at once.

"Come on."

"Please don't make me go in there."

"It's for your own good, Jack. There's no way you're not going to this school. You won't be torn apart or overloaded with work. It's a good school. Now move your feet and get inside."

Jack and his mother were pushed in through the door by a wave of people. Quickly, they found the administrator's office and sat down in the waiting area. It was the only quiet place Jack had been in all morning. There was a muffled sound of kids outside running amuck, but other than that there was nothing but silence. A tall, lean man came out of a deep brown door to the side of the two. He ushered them both in and they sat down quickly.

"Hello there. My name is Mr. Hutton."

"Hi Mr. Hutton, I'm Joyce Barakat, and this is my son, Jack," Jack's mother said as she shook Mr. Hutton's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Jack," Mr. Hutton said, offering a hand to Jack. For a few seconds, Jack just stared at the hand with disgust. Mr. Hutton's hands were extremely calloused, his fingernails dirty, and his palms sweaty. Reluctantly, Jack shook hands with him, then nonchalantly rubbed his hand on his own pants.

"It's always good to have new students here," Mr. Hutton chirped, "Our class size is usually around 150 students, so it's always great to see some new faces out there."

Jack attempted to smile as his mom asked about the curriculum in the school and other boring business things. He was stuck in his own world and began to day dream about what his friends were doing right now. They were all probably walking into school, slapping each other on the back and waltzing through the halls like the seniors they were. Then Jack thought of Macie, a person who now brought pain to his heart each time someone mentioned her. When Jack told her the news, she kept trying to salvage what they had together, even though there wasn't much there, and say they could still be together. Eventually, Jack just had to break it to her that he had never felt much at all. Her eyes had filled up with tears and she just turned away and never looked back. Jack still felt awful, a souring feeling creeping its way into his stomach each time he thought of the look on her face.

"Jack? Are you listening?"

Jack shook himself out of his day dreams and glanced up. Both adults were watching him, obviously waiting for an answer to some unknown question Jack had missed.

"Um, I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question."

"I said, 'You don't plan on causing any trouble, right?'"