Breaking Walls (Lauren Cimorelli)

Chapter 1

Coley's POV

"Why don't you just walk up and talk to her like a normal human being?" Katie, my friend, whispered as we stood up from our desks in Spanish class.

"If it was that easy for me, don't you think I would've by now?" I whispered back.

She was referring to my crush, Amber Dawson.

I had originally met Amber at the beginning of the school year, when I bumped into her in the hallway. Cliché, I know, but that's how we "met". I immediately developed a small crush on her, and when I found out she was in my Spanish class, it got bigger. I had talked to her a few days later, when we were forced to have a small conversation in Spanish. Me, being me, and being nervous, talked a lot and barely let her talk. When she tried to tell me her name, I interrupted her and told her I already knew what her name was. Like, really Coley?

"Just walk up and say hi. It isn't that hard." Katie said with an annoyed voice.

"I can't do that. She'll think I'm weird." I said as I looked at Amber. She was surrounded by a group of her friends and laughing. God, her laugh was so cute.

"You know what? I give up with you." Katie said while dragging me out of class.

Katie and I almost made it out of class, but Amber decided to make an announcement while most of the class was still in the room.

"Hey, so, uh, in case any of you are interested, we're in need of some people helping out with the school play. Not actors or anything, more like stage crew. I'm a part of stage crew, and it's pretty fun. You don't have to be on stage or act, and you still get to have fun, be a part of the production, and meet people. So, if any of you guys wanna come help out, just come to the auditorium at 3:30 after school. Simple as that." She said while standing in front of the classroom. I could tell she was a little nervous saying all that, since she's pretty quiet and shy most of the time.

When she was done talking, everyone started talking again and walked out of the classroom, including me and Katie.

"You know what this means, right?" I asked.

"Uh, you get to see Amber wear all black clothing for the next few weeks? God, I can already see you drooling during the middle of class."

"No, I have to be a part of stage crew. She said they need more people, which probably means there aren't many people on it already. If I join, I'd have to talk to her and hang out with her," I explained.

"It's a good idea, but knowing you, you probably still won't talk to her, even if you're forced to." She laughed.

"Oh, shut up. Just watch, I'm gonna prove you wrong."

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I took a deep breath as I walked up to the auditorium doors. I was beyond nervous. What if she was annoyed that I was there? What if she just ignored me and talked to her friends the entire time? Ugh, I really need to stop overthinking things before they actually happen.

When I walked into the auditorium, I tried looking for Amber, only to see her talking to some older woman. It must've been the director or someone. Have I mentioned that I know nothing about theatre?

"Excuse me, who are you?" Another woman walked up and asked me.

"Oh, I'm here to be a part of stage crew. A girl in my Spanish class said they needed more people, so I wanted to help out." I started to explain.

"Oh, that's great! We don't really have any specific positions available, but we always need more people to help out with random jobs. Here, follow me, I'll show you something you can go ahead and start helping with." She started walking somewhere backstage while I followed her. As we passed Amber, I smiled. She looked so happy and way more comfortable here than she did in class.

As we walked further backstage, we walked into a small room where a girl was kneeling on the floor, painting.

"Okay, here you go. You can help with painting the scenery. Lauren can help you out, right Lauren?" she asked the girl kneeling on the floor.

As soon as she said the mysterious girl's name, the girl, who I now knew was named Lauren, turned around and looked at us. When I saw her, I couldn't help but notice how attractive she was. She had long, dark brown hair, with brown eyes, just like me. Except, she was actually good-looking.

"Uh, yeah. I can help her out." She said quietly.

"Alright, then I'll leave you two to it." The woman said as she left the room and shut the door.

Well, this was great. Instead of spending time with Amber like I wanted to, I had to spend my time with this random girl who'll probably bore the hell out of me and not even try to make conversation.

Little did I know how this "random girl" would change my life.

(A/N) Hey guys! So, this is the first story I've actually ever written (well, posted). The reason why this first chapter is so short is because I wanna see if people are actually gonna like this and want more of it. The rest of the chapters will be longer, I promise. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. If you have any advice, feel free to give me some. I'll try to update soon.

-Julia