Love Over Friendship

Chapter 1

As soon as I walk out of the house I hop in the car as quickly as I can to get away from home as soon as possible. I hate being in the house with my parents fighting all the time. I mean, why can't they just get along? They've done it for nearly seventeen years already so why not now? All I hear all day every day is them screaming at each other's faces and blaming each other for everything. I like to think of school as my escape. It's where I get to run away from all my problems and act as if they don't even exist. I know no one enjoys school and I'm crazy for even liking it but it's the only place I can really be myself and make everything disappear from my mind.

On my way to school I drive to Melissa's house since can't drive at the moment because her car is getting fixed. When I arrive at her house she is waiting on the stairs to her house, bag on her back, with her long, blonde hair flying in the wind. Today she is wearing her black denim skinny jeans matched with her baby blue tank top. As soon as she sees my car she waves at me and shoots a smile my way. Then she climbs down the steps and jumps in the car.

"Hi!" she says as she pulls down the mirror to check her lip gloss and mascara have stayed on from the mild wind outside. Melissa has always been that 'picture perfect' girl. I swear she could be a model. She's got the perfect body, perfect looks, perfect life where her parents don't fight and she has boys chasing her everywhere. Not that she cares though because she's only focused on the one guy whose attention she's been trying to catch for so long, Alex. And then there is me: lightish brown hair, green eyes and average body. So as guys tend to like blondes I don't really get second glances when walking through the mall or along the beach and if I do it's probably because they saw the colour of my eyes and thought they were contacts or something because I admit, my eyes are a bright emerald in colour and look fake at times. They are the thing I like most about myself

"Hey, how've you been? Anything new on Alex?"

"No," she said checking her hair is perfectly straight and everything is in place before flipping the mirror back up and pouting her lips like a little kid does when they don't win a toy at a fair, "He says the occasional 'Hi' and walks straight past me like I don't exist, I just don't get it."

Although their appearances don't match each other with her being the model type and Alex being the nerdy but cute and shy looking emo guy, they would look really cute together. Alex has bright, blue eyes and long, straight black hair that hangs in his eyes. Melissa seems to really like him and I've never really seen her like a boy so long before. I guess the difference in their appearances is probably what attracted Melissa to him in the first place. I'm not saying she's one of those girls who go around dating any guy just because they know their beautiful and know any guy will fall for them, because she's not, but she has never acted so shy in front of a guy before. She is usually really comfortable when talking with guys and has a lot of guy friends but with Alex she turns into a statue. Melissa is actually nothing like she appears. She has had many boyfriends but she chooses them carefully. She always says to me just because a guy thinks she's pretty, doesn't mean she wants some douche coming up to her and thinking she'll go with him. Melissa has known Alex for ages but he's never seemed to notice her in that way. She knows he's a nice guy by the way she's seen him treat his other girlfriends but she just couldn't understand why he hadn't really noticed her feelings before.

"Don't worry, it'll hopefully get better. Hey, how about we organise a beach party this weekend and invite everybody? We'll go shopping after school so meet me here after last period and I know you know already, but invite Alex and tell him you won't take no for an answer!" I say laughing

"Okay I'll try but what if he says no -"

But before she can even finish her sentence I jokingly say, "No, I already told you not to take no for answer."

"Okay but what about you and Tyler, Dani? You guys have to get together sometime soon because you've liked him since like sixth grade and you can't just leave it as a crush forever. He's got quite a lot of fans so you might want to hurry up before he gets taken," she says as she gets out of the car after I've parked in my usual car park at the school.

It's true. Tyler was my best friend for as long as I can remember and in grade six my friendship for him turned into a crush. Everything we had together disappeared as we went into high school. He still says 'hi' sometimes when he walks past but we never really sit and talk like we used to. As he entered high school, Tyler soon became popular. He had girls chasing him the same way boys chase Melissa. But who wouldn't chase him? Tyler is probably the hottest guy in the school. He has golden blonde, shaggy hair that hangs just near his eye brows, perfect, sparkling white teeth and the most gorgeous dark blue eyes that just make you melt. To top it all off he is the quarterback for the school's football team. Nearly every girl falls in love with him the moment they see him. Though I used to be friends with him, I wouldn't know how to ask him to a beach party that I'd only thought up for Melissa and Alex's benefit. And if I rarely talked to him now wouldn't it be weird if I suddenly went up to him to ask him to a party?

"Yeah, but it's different between me and Tyler because we haven't spoken since forever so it would be weird to ask him to our beach party."

"Okay, but I really think you should talk to him some time. Anyway see you at lunch," she says as she smiles, turns and walks towards the school gates just as the chime of the first school bell rings.