One Of the Boys [An All Time Low Fic]

Pretty In Punk

Chapter 1,

Once upon a time, there was a girl who found herself falling for her best friend.

That girl was me.

Name: Liz Schechter. Age: 16. Status: Lovesick.

I was never your average girl. My hair was hardly combed, my clothes never quite lost their stains no matter how many times I washed them, I had a free-throw most guys on the basketball team envied, and I was tough as nails. I didn’t know how to cook, or clean, or even apply lipstick (not that it takes a rocket scientist to figure that one out.) I wasn’t afraid of bugs, and most of my friends were of the male species.

What happened to me? He did. Dark hair, beautiful, deep brown eyes, and a smile that could kill even the most bodacious serial killers. And I knew I was in love with him. Alexander William Gaskarth.

We’d known each other since dinosaurs roamed the earth. Well, maybe not that far back, but it was still pretty far. Our mothers were both best friends his family had moved to Maryland. Pretty much, I owe my tomboy behavior to Alex. If it weren’t for him constantly being attached to my hip for my entire life, I might’ve been Miss Teen USA by now instead of a future WNBA star. Growing up, I honestly didn’t mind being Alex’s female counterpart, and in all honesty, I didn’t see myself as his female counterpart. I pretty much called him my twin. And it was as close as you could get to the truth. Our birthdays are a few months apart but on the same day, we kinda look alike (both of our parents are from England), we’re into the same things, and we’re both very similar in personalities. Our families have often said that it’s almost like having a clone following the other around and that’s pretty much how it felt. If Alex wasn’t near me, I often lost track of myself.

So where did this all go wrong? Truthfully, it’s high school. High school is a demon. Before you get in it, you’re sitting at the water park with your best friend and he’s shirtless and you’re in a tankini and it means nothing and you feel nothing, the next thing you know, you’re both hitting puberty and things start growing and hormones start to devour your mind like little nanobots and all you wanna do is tear this guy to pieces and you really can’t help it. And then there’s the paranoia. “OMG. Do you think he thinks of me that way?” “He’s so cute in that t-shirt.” “I wonder if he notices me staring at him…” This, that, and the other. It’s all a load of bullshit, too, because, no, he never thinks of you that way. Yes, he’s way too cute in that t-shirt and it’s driving you bananas, and of course he knows you’re staring. Even the lunch lady notices that you’re staring at him. That’s what happened to me.

Honestly, it started the summer before sophomore year. Alex had joined the boy’s basketball team and started practicing with me every day during the summer. I was already on the girl’s team, so it was good practice for him. Whenever I would block him, though, my body would be too aware of his. Sometimes, my concentration would get thrown off and I would just wanna kiss him and then he’d get past me. “Come on, Liz. Can’t you at least try and block me?” he would say. Frustrated, and thinking that I was purposely trying to make him look bad when that wasn’t the case.

“Sorry, buddy.” I said blushing, but unfortunately, I couldn’t just shut my hormones off and I couldn’t block him right.

When school started, Alex’s hair had gotten longer, which weakened me even more than usual. His bangs just floated in front of his eyes, and his smile seemed to shine brighter. It was almost impossible for me to hide my admiration towards him. The sad part was, of course, I was just one of the guys.

So, take this picture of this smoking-hot, best childhood friend and then PhotoShop in the worst possible thing you could ever imagine. He ended up getting a girlfriend.

Adrianna was deadly. I mean, she was so beautiful, you already saw her future mapped out in front of her as she walked down the hall. She stood 5’8 to his 6’0, her body was perfectly thin and perfectly tan, her long black hair was silky and smooth, and of course, she had a knockout smile. She’s the type of girl you saw becoming a supermodel or a… a Neutrogena ad model or even a reality TV show star like those girls in Laguna Beach. Honest to God. And to put the icing on the cake, she was super nice, too. Like, Mother Teresa nice. Christian, a volunteer, and she donated to so many different charities, and every time she saw me in the hall it was, “Elizabeth! Hello! How’s your mother doing?” as if she honest and truthfully actually knew my mother personally. Psh, get real.

But… Alex was madly in love with her. Of course he was. She was one of those girls. The girl who would be prom queen while I sat in the back, decorating the wall. Why buy decorations when you can just ask Elizabeth Schechter to stand there all night and prom will look beautiful? So now I’m stuck with the painful realization that I’m in love with my best friend and he doesn’t even think of me in that way and to add insult to injury, he had a beautiful girlfriend. So what could I do to get his attention?

Can I change this summer before senior year? Can I stop being just one of the boys?

I don’t know, but whatever happens, I know it’ll change my life forever.