Dear Maria, Count Me In

Prologue

Maria wasn't necessarily beautiful, but she did have a kind of badass look about her that caught all of the boys, and even some girls, attention. It was a soft yet harsh look complete with dark lipstick and an addiction to cigarettes.

Her attitude is what really made her style though. She was rugged and charming; she said things that others were afraid to say.

When her sister started her yearly "casual hookups and hangouts" with Ashton, she was taken along; she hung out with Luke and Calum while Ashton and Olivia did the dirty and Michael played games with his internet friends.

Maria didn't exactly hate spending time with the guys. She liked them and she may have even considered them friends, but when it came to Calum Hood she wasn't quite as trusting.

Calum had a reputation in their small, suburban town. He was a great kid with good manners and quite a lot of money. The only downside to Calum was that he loved to sleep around.

There was a different girl almost every two weeks and only God knows how many he had in between.

The only person Calum's actually taken a liking to was Maria. He found her difficult to read and challenging to get, which of course was always fun, he thought she was strikingly beautiful and liked the fact that she wasn't quite a supermodel.

Her eyes were black and her hair was brown. There was nothing outstandingly special about her except for the fact that she was a cigarette, and she just so happened to be Calum's nicotine.