Everlasting Love

Chapter 1

As she walked mechanically into school for the third day that week, her unruly hair blew against her face. As much as she seemed to fix it, it would not stay into place. The windy weather from late October was not the only thing on her mind. On Monday she learned the boy she had been in love with since the fourth grade was available. Now, much to her dismay, he came with a considerable amount of baggage. This baggage was named Joni. Joni Emerald did not live up to her last name, she was no gem.

"Ashley, are you even listening to," my best friend Kyra asked "Are you going to pursue him now that he is single? I mean Adam Ludwick has been your crush as long as I remember. If you want my honest opinion I think you should go for it, before the wicked witch of the west wants to get him back. If you waste anymore time—"

As Kyra's voice droned on, I dozed off. Then I saw him. He was with his usual group of friends and the smile on his face was ever so present, despite what happened earlier in the week. He had a natural ease to him and with every step he took I wished I could capture that memory in my mind forever.

"Are you even listening to me? Here I am trying to help and you are too busy drooling over Adam," Kyra said in a mock tone.

As I rolled my eyes I simply replied with, "I was not drooling."

As I turned my head back to the perfect specimen that goes by Adam, he had moved from his previous location to grab his books from his locker. His shirt rose up ever so slightly and I had the pleasure of seeing a tiny bit of his smooth, tan skin. Freaking out would have been an understatement.

I finally turned my head away from where he stood to start my walk to class. I picked up my backpack, to make my way to first period. Kyra and I walked through the hallways talking about the newest episode of Pretty Little Liars. We were both arguing about who is the better boyfriend for Aria, when Joni herself walked by.

I could not help, but tense as I got a whiff of her no less than 200 dollar perfume.

"I don't know what he ever saw in her," I muttered.

Kyra did not reply, but she didn't have to. We both knew what her feeling were of Joni and speaking of her just made Kyra angrier.

When we finally reached history, we took our usually seats by Max and Ellen. Ellen and I have been trying to prove to Kyra for years that Max likes her, but she always replies with we are crazy.

"Have you made your move yet?" Max questioned me.

I rolled my icy blue eyes for the second time that day. They do not understand. Adam and Joni dated for 6 years. I had to respect his feeling and give him time to process his thoughts.

"It was going to come eventually, Ashley and you know that. They have been having troubles for as long as I can remember, " Ellen said.

Ellen was the gossiper in our group and you could always count on her to tell you exactly how she feels. It is sometimes a good thing.

"I know, I know. I need to give him time to process everything. I was planning on talking to him this Friday at Lauren's party," I replied.

We did not have time to finish discussing my nonexistent love life because the teacher walked in. And when Mr. Briggs walked in you stopped talking. He was the definition of scary. If you got on his bad side he would start deducting points from your paper simply because he does not like you.

As his voice grew louder it made my ears bleed. Well almost bleed. I knew I just had a few more days until the weekend. The weekend. This would be my time to talk to Adam. Parties were definitely his scene as well as any social event that had free booze.

I was waiting for the bell to ring by taking mediocre notes. I usually did well on history tests, but math next period was a different story.

I had math anti-obsession. Whenever I thought of it I either got mad or annoyed. I mean why are there so many equations and rules. Then on top off that, is the fact Adam's best friend is in the class. Hyatt was a major class clown, which took at least 10 minutes off of the class each day. In any other class I would welcome him with open arms to distract the teacher, but in math I need any help and time I can get.

When the long awaited bell came,  I was the first one out of my seat. I needed to talk to Ms. Polly about a question I had before the test tomorrow. As I was speed walking down the hallway, Kyra knew not to try and catch up with me because I was on a mission, I ran straight into Adam.

"Whoa, easy there speed racer," Adam said with a smirk on his face.

My breath caught in my throat as I looked into his deep brown eyes that were fixated on me. I offered him a shy smile in return.

"Sorry, I have a huge math test tomorrow and I need all the help I can get," I replied.

He handed me my book that slipped from my grasp at the initial impact and gave me one last glance before continuing down the hallway. Science I think. I memorized his schedule at the beginning of the year and tried to run into him in the hallways, well today I had succeeded.

When I finally walked through the door to Ms. Polly's class there was already a line of four students with questions that needed an answer to a challenging question. By the time the bell rang, only two more students got help and I was not one of them. I let out a small sigh and took my seat. I could not dwell on it for too long because I had the chance to talk to Adam.

Adam. His smirk. His eyes. His slightly sun-kissed skin. His—

"Ashley. Earth to Ashley. Dude," Trey taunted me.

"Sorry, daydreaming," I replied.

Trey, is not your typical high school theatre kid. He had glasses that only he could look cute in with pale skin. He has a boyfriend who goes to another school, but is still one of the manliest guys I know. One jock called him a sissy and had to go to the hospital because Trey let his fists do the talking. He also plays soccer and is one of the leading scorers for the school.

"I figured. Adam again? I swear if I was not in a committed relationship I would be all over that boy," He said longingly.

"But you are, so don't get any ideas," I replied with slight sass.

The rest of the class I tried my hardest to pay attention, apart from the remarks Hyatt, but that was seemingly unavoidable. As we stood up a few minutes before the bell to gather around the door like animals that have been trapped inside a fence their whole life, Hyatt called my name.

"Ash cash we haven't seen you at a party recently. You'll be there Friday, right it is going to be a good one," Hyatt questioned me.

"First off, don't call me that. Secondly I guess I could bless you with my presence." I replied smugly.

As the bell rang, we continued to tease each other walking down the hallway. All my ill feelings towards him for ruining my math learning slipped away as I started laughing at his next comment about some girl's highlights that looked like tiger stripes.

"Hey maybe that's what she was going for," I said while laughing.

The rest of the day went by at a steady pace and when the final bell rang I couldn't wait to meet with Kyra to go to our usual after school coffee place. Ellen's family owns Cool Beanz and since her parents seem to adore us more than Ellen herself, we get free coffee. 

"Ready girl? I need a vanilla frappe and blueberry muffin in my belly right now," Kyra whined.

With witty reply on the tip of my tongue, I looked away from Kyra to see Joni walk up to Adam. The reply was long forgotten as I waited for her to kiss him and say how much she wants him back, but that did not happen. Instead she handed him his varsity jacket and left without a second glance. As for me? I let out a sigh of relief and maybe even a smile.