A Change of Heart

Chapter 1

Lilly's POV

I hated her.

I always did, ever since she first came here in fifth grade.

My best friend, Oliver, never minded her but I hated her.

I don't know what it was about her that I hated. People who knew her always talked about her smile and how it lit up a room or how her laugh was so contagious that it made people who were around her want to laugh. She sat behind me in class and always got the right answers and impressed the teacher every single time she got an answer right. People say we are only fifteen and that might change as we grow up but I don't think so.

The only thing that I could think of that I hated about her was that she made me feel something when I was near her. I don't know what and I can't describe the feeling. It was kind of like a roller coaster. When it starts off you feel neutral, not really knowing what to expect then you go up and down with feeling of excitement but also fright. Then at the end you either swear to never get on again or to go on again. I choose never to go on again but I always seem to around her.

I was squirting ketchup on to my hamburger while I waited for Oliver. He and I always ate lunch together and talked about recent events of the school. Somehow, he knew more about the latest gossip than I did. I glanced up from my table and saw Oliver.

At first glance I saw that he was talking to a girl. It didn't surprise me, he always flirted with other girls during lunch. Then they came closer to the lunch table and I got a closer look at the girl as she threw her head back and laughed at something Oliver said. It was her. The girl I hated. It was Miley.

Miley smiled at me but the smile slowly melted as I glared at her. What is she doing here? I thought. After a couple of seconds, I noticed Miley was starting to look uncomfortable and averted her eyes back to Oliver.

Oliver laughed nervously and shot a look at me. "Come on, sit down with us." Oliver then looked back at me and said, "Lilly, you know Miley."

"Yes, I do," I said glaring at my best friend since kindergarten. He knew I didn't like her. Why did he bring her over here?

"So, Oliver, are we still going to be partners on that class field trip we have to go on next Friday?" I asked Oliver, trying to pretend Miley wasn't there. We were going to an old house to look at artwork in our art class. As a project though, we had to work with a partner a recreate a painting we saw at that house by memory. Then when we were finished, we would look at a picture of that painting and see how close we were. Our teacher said something about it helping improve our memory but I never did like drawing or painting so I don't think I really paid attention that day.

Oliver laughed nervously and I could tell he was keeping something from me. He always had that nervous laugh and stupid smile on his face whenever he was keeping something from me. "Oliver," I said with a low tone to my voice that it would make Amber and Ashley run away.

"Ok, so Joannie kind of asked me to be her partner and you know I have a crush on her so I said yes," Oliver said. I was furious.

"Oliver, how could you? Choose some girl, a girl that was mean to me growing up, over your best friend. Now who am I going to be partners with?" I yelled.

I hated Joannie. She had been mean to me since I was a kid. I loved my kite and my balloon and Oliver didn't like her either. Now all of a sudden he had a crush on her and wanted to be partners with her instead of me? That didn't make sense.

"No, it's ok because I found a partner for you. I ran into Miley and I found out that she doesn't have a partner so I said that she could pair up with you," Oliver said with a smile, "that's why I brought her over here."