First Kiss, First Love, First Heartbreak

Chapter 1

Two years later

I pull into my parking spot with my best friend, Elizabeth, next to me. I turn off my car and unbuckle my seat belt. I open the car door and exit the car, and Lizzy does the same. I feel the crisp wind immediately. My hair flies into my face. I brush it out and readjust my glasses. "I literally cannot wait until thanksgiving break. I'm tired of being here." Lizzy says as we walk into the big blue and white building that we call school.

"Yeah, me too," I reply as we walk to our first period. "Oh my gosh Lizzy, this weekend was horrible. Matt started yelling at me saying how I need to start my college applications and how he wants us to apply for the same schools." Matt is my older brother. We're not twins, but we are in the same grade. He was born in September, and I was born in August of a different year. He's older, but only by eleven months.

"You should just ignore his ass. Plus, weren't you and Colton looking for colleges together?" Colton is my boyfriend of five months. He's everything my last boyfriend wasn't. I was young when I loved Jeremiah, young and stupid. But Cole is all that I need in order to be happy. He's the one for me, and this time I won't be the first to say the L-word. It just didn't end well last time.

I open the light blue metal door and walk in with Lizzy trailing behind me. "Yeah, we don't really want to do long distance, so we're trying to get into the same school." I like Cole a lot, but long distance is kind of out of the question. I feel like long distance is for couples who are too scared to let go. If you're meant to be, then you're meant to be. You'll find your way back to each other. But I don't know if Cole believes that. So if we don't end up at the same school, then we'll take a break. We take our seats at our desks and begin our lesson. I'm good at school. Actually, I'm good at a lot of things, but especially school. I enjoy being here and learning things that I'll remember for a long time. And school is like a timeout from my life.

As Lizzy and I walk to lunch, the wind picks up. I feel the cold gusts, which makes my homework fly. I chase after it, looking very funny. I can already feel that we're going to have a cold winter. Not that I'm complaining, I love the snow. There's just something about it that makes it so romantic. I trap my homework under my running shoes and pick it up. Lizzy comes over to help me. When she stands up, she pushes her blond, shoulder-length hair out of her face. Lizzy is really pretty, like natural pretty. But she's not a girl who shows off her looks or her body, even though that's perfect, too. We continue walking to the cafeteria. Cole is standing by the door waiting for us. His black hair isn't geled today. I like it better this way. I run my hands through his hair and give him a quick peck on the cheek. He smiles his smile that I'm all too familiar with.

He opens the door and holds it for both me and Lizzy. We enter the cafeteria and head straight for our favorite table, the table in the back. We walk over and drop ourselves onto the light wooden chairs. I pull out a sandwich and hand one to Lizzy. Her parents don't really care about her, and it hurts me to see her come to school with no food. She stays at my house a lot. I don't mind though as she's like my sister. Cole puts his arm around my chair and steals my sandwich. He takes a big bite while I protest, even though I like it when he does that.

He kisses my cheek, and I smile. Even though we've been dating for a while, my heart still skips a beat any time he's near or touching me. It's the best feeling in the world, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I take his hand in mine. His hands are rough, but they're exactly where my hands belong. I like the feeling of his hands, it's familiar. And one thing about me is that I hate change. It scares me. It's the unknown. We can't see what's going to happen, which is sometimes good but mainly bad.

Cole clears his throat. "Um, Livi." His voice is extra low, and that only happens when he's nervous. I hold his hand tighter so he knows I'm here.

I turn to face him. "Yeah?" I say it softly so he knows he can just say what's on his mind. We don't keep secrets, which is one of the best things about this relationship.

"Um, well, I heard from James, who heard from Lily, who heard from Betty that Jeremiah is coming back. He's going to start coming to school here again." After the day I told him I loved him, he moved. Out of nowhere, he just left. But now he's coming back? I'm not ready to face him. He's my past, and the past is the past for a reason. I feel my body tense. I know Cole feels my stiffness. He tightens the grip of his hand and puts one on my cheek."Hey, I'm here now. If you don't want him to talk to you, then I'll make sure he doesn't." I nod.

"Thank you. You know you're the best right?"

He pokes my stomach, which makes me laugh. "I know."

"Wait. Why is Jeremiah coming back?" Lizzy asks. I kind of forgot she was here. Cole shrugs. I don't want Jeremiah to come back. What if he thinks we're cool, or friends? What if he has a girlfriend? I shudder. "Liv, you okay?" I nod. I can't say anything because there's nothing to say. "Where's Matt?" I shrug.

I feel something. Either anger or sadness? Either way it's coursing through my veins. I felt so much for Jeremiah, but now, all I feel is hatred. I know, you should never hate anyone, but I do. He hurt me, until I couldn't feel anything. I produced so many tears for that boy. I look down at my hand, it's shaking. I look at my other one, the one Cole is holding, that one is shaking, too, but barely. I pull my hand away from him and hold them both against my chest. I can't see Jeremiah. My past. I stopped worrying about my past when I met Cole. He was out, out of my old life. I'm different now. I'm not the same girl who loved Jeremiah, and he's probably different, too. I'll just avoid him. My attention turns to my brother who just sat down across from me.

He gave me a little wave. "I'm guessing you've heard the news."

"Yeah, but I'm fine. Jeremiah is my past. Lizzy and Cole are my present and future, so I'm not worried." I sound a lot more sure than I feel. But as long as they think I'm fine, that's better for me. I feel my heartbeat return to normal, and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Maybe everything will be okay. Just because my ex is coming back doesn't mean anything, right?