Just Your Basic Love Story

Chapter 1: The Boy

I awoke in a hard, cold sweat. My head pounded to the sound of Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO on the radio. Good song, loud bass. I hit the snooze button and picked up my head to look at the clock. 8:30. Nice, I was going to be late for school, again.

I grabbed my school uniform and put it on as fast as possible. I grabbed my ELON hoodie and headed downstairs.

My dad was in his office, like every morning. He barely would come out working on those poems of his. My mom was at the table eating cereal when I walked in.

"Good morning." she said with a mouth full. I grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and grabbed my backpack.

"Very pleasant." I said with a grin. She nodded in approval with the smile on my face. I opened the door to find Virginia my neighbors dog on the front step.

"Have a good day Tori!" Mom yelled.

"Bye mom." I mumbled.

I sat on the steps and rubbed Virginia's belly. She was a beautiful golden retriever. I had grown up with her since Pre-K. As I received one too many kisses from Virginia, Megan's blue Porsche pulled up.

I was relieved to hear Megan's radio on the down low when I stepped inside the car. Her auburn hair sweeped down a little farther then her jaw line as she pulled into drive. She turned towards me with the same grin as always.

"Hey hey hey!" she said cheerful. I wasn't in the mood.

"Step on it." I said. The engine roared and we headed for school.

We stopped at every red light it seemed until we finally reached Yale High, or Yale the jail. Either way, it was our high school. The engine died, and we stepped out of the car.

Everything was the same as it had been before Winter break. The brick was cracking in the same places, the windows were broken in the same places. It was Yale the jail, literally.

It was true. Our high school had been the state jail before it became Yale High. There were still some of the old ruins of the jail like bars in some of the classroom windows that used to be cells. Some of the bathrooms still have bars on there windows from worry of escape when the prisoners went to the bathroom, pleasant right? It was the town failure other than, Haster McMahon, the town shoe-in. The only thing he was in was his house, all day, all night. They called him the loner of Fanner, Tennessee. A little town of NOTHING! There wasn't a single store except for one Gap and a Grade A. The only other stores closer than 2 hours are the stores in the Nashville Mall, in Nashville. Nashville is the town, the big ol' city. I barely go there, unless I am willing to take an hour and a half drive for Chinese.

Megan stiffled a laugh and I realized she had completely wandered away from me to hangout with Sara"Hot" Stevenson. The MOST popular girl in the history of the word Popular. Trust me. I would know. She was the half of the "it" couple. The other half was Timothy "Talk" Peters. He was the most popular guy in school. You know the story, the captain if the football team, the hottest boy in school! Yeah, whatever.

Every girl wants to be Sara, and every boy wants to be Tim. That's how Fanner works, that's how everything works.

I abruptly got hit from behind. I turned to see Jake Spinner. He was Tim's best friend and the boyfriend of the other most popular girl, Emily Hans. Emily was a dumb blond that would offend dumb blonds. It was no joke, because everyone was in on it.

I heard laughing and Jake's face immediately turned red. His red hair and freckles almost blended in with his face. He turned and ran to the lobby doors. He pushed one open and let it close behind him. I didn't know what to do so I ran after him. It was reflex, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach just began to jolt me forward towards him. My feet stumbled as I heard gasps from the crowd of kids surrounding Sara and Tim. One of the gasps was unmistakable. It was Megan. I heard footsteps from behind but I didn't turn. My body wouldn't allow me to. I just kept on running until I reached the lobby doors. I grasped the handle, and walked in.

The room was a light blue like always with that same ugly chandelier hanging lopsided. There were two couches with someone sitting on one of them. It was Jake. He wasn't crying or anything. He was as red as a red delicious apple just picked off the tree. He raised his head to look at me, but quickly put it down as the lobby door swung open. I turned to see who it was. It was Tim. Not Megan or anyone I would have guessed would run after me. It was the most popular boy in school, standing right in front of me. But I knew he wasn't here for me, he was here for Jake.

"Hey, Tori." Tim said awkwardly. He raised a hand but quickly put it behind his head as if he was scratching his neck. I took a step backwards as if he was holding a knife. Tim Peters, knew my name. Me, Tori Jackson, the most nerdy kid at Yale High.

"Sorry for what happened out there. I didn't mean to hit you. It was a complete accident." Jake spoke from behind me put I didn't turn. I was stuck. My feet almost like they were glued. I was mesmerized. His crystal blue eyes and pearly white smile light up the whole room like nothing I had never seen before. I had never considered the fact that he was gorgeous. I had never gotten the chance to look at him that way, that closely. He was like a dream...

"Hello Tori? I am so sorry and if you choose to ignore me, I completely understand. Are you okay?" Jake's voice came out so suddenly, I jumped. My stare ended and I shook my head in confusion. Jake came over to postion himself so he could see my face. He began to stare.

"Hey Jake. So that was quite a color you turned back there. Now what do you call that? Cherry?" Tim joked. A smile leaked out through the tips of Jakes mouth. The normal color returned to his face instantly. Then something happened, they both turned and stared at me. That was when I was positive, I was the red one now.