Crossing Lines

Chapter 1

 Chapter 1

White Springs, Florida

Present Day

            I made my way down the stairs and shook my head. School supplies were strewn all around the living room floor making it look like a bomb had gone off. Empty shopping bags were crumpled in a corner, adding to the overall messiness.

            Liam I thought, rolling my eyes. I started making my way around the room, picking up as much of the clutter that I could. Before I could get very far in the cleaning a loud honk resonated through the air, making me jump.

            “Liam!” I yelled, “Anna’s here! We have to go! You know how she gets when she has to wait.”

            “Jesus, Gracie, would you relax?” Liam huffed, thundering down the stairs. “It’s the first day of school. I doubt Anna cares if we get there late or not.”

            I huff. “Whatever jerk. I don’t even know why I put up with you.”

            He grinned wickedly at me. “Because you love me.”

            My breath caught in my throat for a split second. He didn’t even realize how right he was. Liam Montgomery had been my best friend since he moved to town when I was in Elementary School. He beat up a boy who had pushed me down on my way home. It was the start of our nearly eight year friendship. We did everything together and it wasn’t until I started high school that I realized I no longer thought of him as a best friend. Liam was ruggedly handsome with his out of control dirty blond hair and piercing grey eyes. He towered over my average height at a muscular six feet tall. It was ridiculous how often I got lost in those eyes of his.

            “Gracie? Are you in there?” Liam smiled.

            I blinked twice realizing that I had been caught up in my thoughts and forced a smile. “Sorry. I spaced.”

            Liam chuckled and held his hand out to me. “Come on. We don’t need Anna biting our heads off.”

            I sighed and took his hand as we made our way out of the house. In the driveway I saw our best friend Anna Sanger, sitting on her Mustang, looking thoroughly annoyed. My eyes met her icy blue ones and I knew we were in trouble.

            “Well, took you long enough” Anna snarked. “I’m pretty sure I aged two years waiting for you guys.” She ran her hands through her long blond hair, something she only did when she was agitated.

            I just rolled my eyes and blew her a kiss. I made my way to the car and hopped in the back seat. I laid my head back on the seat and closed my eyes, thinking of how different this year was going to be. I felt a presence next to me and opened one eye to see Anna looking at me with concern all over her face.

            “How are you feeling Hun?” she asked, touching my arm.

            I sighed, fighting the lump in my throat. “It’s just different. They’re not here to see me starting my junior year. I miss them. So much.”

“They’re still here Gracie, watching over you. And you still have me and Liam. Things will get better. I promise.”

The ride to school was quiet. No one needed to speak to know just how hard this day really was for me. When we pulled into the school parking lot, Anna squeezed my hand. I got out of the car and made my way towards my two best friends. Liam wrapped his arm around my shoulder and placed a kiss on my temple. Anna simply gave me a small smile as we started our trek through the parking lot.

When we were almost to the main building I got a prickly feeling on the back of my neck, almost like someone was watching me. I whipped my head around and saw a girl and a boy leaning against a car. They were both extremely attractive. The girl was inhumanly gorgeous and the boy was handsome in a dark, mysterious way. The boy seemed uninterested of what was going on around him while the girl was staring at me coldly. I met the girl’s stare and her entire body stiffened. She furiously whispered to the boy at her side, waving her hands wildly. The boy’s head snapped up and he looked straight at me curiously.

I had never seen those two before in my life. White Springs was a miniscule sized town with less than a thousand residents. Everyone knew everyone, so the fact that we had new students was big news. I continued to mull over our two new students as we made our way into the main building to pick up our schedules.

“Okay Mister Senior,” Anna teased, “How many classes do you have with us lowly Junior girls?”

Liam rolled his eyes and muttered, “Hopefully none with you.”

Anna stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed his schedule out of his hands. She quickly began scanning over all three of our schedules, determining which classes we had with each other.

Her eyes narrowed. “You jinxed it. You only have classes with Gracie this year!”

My mouth fell open as I snatched Liam’s schedule out of Anna’s hand. It was true. The only thing that worried me was how I was supposed to concentrate when I had him in so many of my classes. Torture, absolute heavenly torture.

Next to me, Liam was absolutely convulsing with suppressed laughter at the appalled expression on Anna’s face. I couldn’t help but start laughing with him when Anna’s face started turning red with annoyance.

“Oh cheer up Anna Banana,” I smirk, “At least you still have classes with me!”

The bell rings, sending kids scattering throughout the school.

“Well,” I said, looking up at Liam, “looks like you and I have first period together.”

“AP English. Oh joy.”

I nudged him in the side and rolled my eyes. He smirked at me, carelessly swinging his arm over my shoulder as we walked. My stomach got fluttery and I could feel the blush traveling up my face. We walked quickly to our class and were about to step inside when Liam stopped in the doorway, forcing me to stop with him. I looked to see what was wrong and noticed that he had his eyes trained on the desk in the middle of the class. The girl I had seen this morning was sitting there. I frowned.

“Whoa.” He breathed out, “Who is that?”

I put my face in a mask of indifference as I spoke. “That’s the new girl. I saw her this morning in the parking lot with a guy, also new. I don’t know her name though.”

“I’ll find her name out soon enough. You mark my words Gracie.” He grinned.

“Sure you will, Liam.”

As we walked into class I could feel the new girl’s stare burning a hole through me. I looked up and saw her glaring in my direction. Her blue-grey eyes were cold and distant, looking at me in utter contempt.

I sat down at a desk, contemplating what just happened. I knew why I didn’t like the new girl. Liam’s instant infatuation with her made me jealous. The question was, what had I done to make her not like me?