And I Fell

1 - The Boys

Damon Stone was beautiful. He was smart, popular, athletic, and had deep brown eyes that drew in every girl in our school. Except me, that is.

I hated him. I hated the way he smirked as he jogged off of the soccer field after scoring the winning goal. His crowd of adoring fans would go wild and hold up their homemade signs for him. I hated how he ran into his friends in the hallway and did that obnoxious chest-bump thing that every guy does nowadays.

I liked to think that I was immune to Damon Stone's charm. That wide smile he'd flash at the cheerleaders and teachers in the hallway didn't work on me. I knew what he was really like. He was the preppy rich boy who got everything he wanted if he simply said the word. I figured that as long as Damon stuck to his side of the school and away from mine, I would be A-OK.

You see, I'm an artist, not a jock. The only time I ever saw Damon throughout the day was when he crossed in front of me in the cafeteria lunch line. I used to think he was doing it on purpose. Then I started to realize the truth. Damon didn't even notice me standing there. His privileged self thought that he was the only one in line. That he could just cut to the front without any repercussions.

My best friend, Ash, was head over heels in love with Damon. She truly believed that she could get with him, even though he probably didn't even notice her either. I thought she was out of her mind. Ash tried out for the cheerleading team in hopes of having a better shot with him. In the end, she didn't even make the final cut. So she crawled right back to her usual lunch table for the outcasts, aka just her and I.

"What do you even see in him, Ash? He's a misogynistic pig." I grumbled one day at lunch. "Trust me, you don't wanna get caught up in that group."

"What group? Damon's?" Ash laughed. "Geez, Erin, chill. Nothing's wrong with Damon or his friends, for that matter. You're just jealous."

Jealous? I wondered. Of what?

"All I'm saying is that you deserve better." I said, reaching into my bag of chips. I rolled my eyes. "And no, I'm not jealous. You know I'm not into guys like him."

Ash smirked. "That's for sure. Who do you like again?" She tapped her index finger on her chin, and pretended to think for a moment. "Oh yeah, Mr. Perfect."

"Shut up," I said, hitting her arm and smiling.

That's right. I had a crush on our newly elected class president, Jake Tripp. Sure, maybe Jake was a bit out of my league too, but at least he was a nice guy and not a complete jerk like Damon. Plus, Jake wanted to host a car wash to benefit the art department, which I was all for, of course.

Ash crumpled up her empty wrapper after finishing her sandwich. "Hey, do you want to come over later? Now that I definitely don't have cheer practice after school, I'm completely free."

I could tell that Ash clearly didn't want to talk about how tryouts went. She usually talked all day long, but this was probably something she wanted to move on from quickly.

"Sure," I shrugged. "What time?"

"Just drive right over after the last bell rings." she said. She took a sip of her lemonade and grinned. "By the way, I also bought a ton of new outfits last week that I'm dying to show you. You can watch me try them on and then rate them."

I nodded and looked down at my lunch tray. That was so typical of Ash. She always cared about her appearance as if it were the only thing that mattered. "What am I rating them based on?"

"Well," Ash thought, as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "It's for the party at Damon's house this weekend. So... vote for whichever looks the hottest."