Written By A Romantic

Prologue

I brush the stubborn strands of hair out of my eyes, scowling deeply and damning everything to Hell.

Loud, fast-paced music blasts my eardrums as I skate through the streets my uncle Charlie drove me around yesterday so I know how to get to school. I don't think being dropped off by a shiny Lamborghini would allow for my plan of laying low to work. When Charlie asked me why I wouldn't take a ride in his car I told him flatly that it was like a Wattpad story set up and I wasn't going to take any chances.

He doesn't know what Wattpad is, and I'm not going to tell him. He'll never get over the fact that I actually read anything other than the back covers of videogames.

A couple of horns go off when I ignore the red light but I ignore them as well. I twist the lollipop in my mouth a couple of times as I jump over a few fallen trash cans and tree branches that are bent down.

The trip only takes me 15 minutes because I follow the same road for most of the time.

Bakersfield High is exactly as what I thought it would look like: the one in every other American film, down to the same cliques of friends littering the car park and front lawn. It's disappointing really, how predictable this country is, but I guess I should appreciate the fact that it's not named 'Darkwood Academy,' or something equal vampiric.

A few heads turn but not many, which I expect, I mean it's not an extremely small town where everyone knows everyone, but it's not a huge city where you can bump into someone you've never seen before on the last day of the year.

I see a helpful sign that says "Main office" so I head there, flipping my board into my left hand and tossing the lollipop stick in a bin on the way with my right. I can't help but think I'm following the plotline of the movies based in American High Schools. Hopefully I can skip the part where I'm supposed to bump into the Quarterback of the football team which will set off a chain of events where we're thrown in each other's paths again and again and again until we eventually fall in love with each other, despite our two separate worlds that constantly threaten to keep our love apart.

When I open the doors, I try not to snort at the boy in the leather jacket sitting in front of the principal's office. The boy looks up at me, probably because I made a muffled noise, and when he does and our eyes meet, I have to chuckle.

His eyes, of course, are gorgeous. They're an assortment of green, making them it seem like all the colors are fighting for dominance so they all stand out. Hell, it's like they glow. His hair is a dirty-blonde and luscious with not even the slightest hint of product and his entire face is made up of an impeccable bone structure. The guy has prettier hair than I do.

And to top it all off, he smirks at me.

 "You've got to be shitting me right now," I half-smile, shaking my head.  He raises an eyebrow, his smirk still in place but his eyes betray the confusion. "Let me guess. Resident bad boy?"

 "Does my reputation proceed me?" his voice, as expected, is deep and rich and smug as hell.

I chuckle again, unaffected. "Nope; your leather jacket does."

This gets a quiet, short laugh out of him and his eyes crinkle at the corners.  "I'm Chase."

 "Cool. I'm Haley." I hold out my fist and he looks at it with a raised eyebrow and a crooked half-smile. "You're supposed to bump it, bro. C'mon, what kind of American are you?"

And just like that; everything around me disappears until I'm left confused in a white room. I can't even see the lines of the walls. What the hell.

 "What do you think you're doing!?" a shrill yet pleasant sounding voice cries. I can hear the indignation in her voice even though I don't know what's happening right now.