If You Only Knew

Chapter One: The Bad Boy

 Chapter One: The Bad Boy

          “Are you crazy? He’s more like amazingly beautiful!” Amber Witt, a junior on my swim team, called to Tina Vine. They were talking about bad boy Blake. I got goose bumps just thinking about the six foot three, midnight-black hair, tan skin, and blue-green eyes that were like the ocean. Let me tell you, you could get lost in those suckers. Blake Wolfe was the most handsome man at Hideaway High, but he’s also the bad boy no one messes with. Back in eighth grade, Blake beat up Greg Host and got suspended for the rest of the year, since he drew blood. He sure had changed since we were little and I made him play dress up with me. Our moms are best friends so we would always be over at each other’s houses and we became best friends through all of our play dates.

          “Brandy! Come on!” My best friend Taylor called to me, her head inside the open door of the girls’ locker room.

          “Coming!” I called, shaking the image of Blake from my mind as I shut my locker and ran out to the pool.

          “Oh look at that freaking eight pack.” Tammy Crowd whispered to Tisaily Towne. Tisaily giggled and Blake’s face popped back into my head again. I looked up and there he was hovering over everyone who stood around him. He turned his head and his piercing blue-green eyes stared me down. I looked back at him and flashed him a smile, he smirked back. Or was it a smile? He had always been like that, you never knew what was behind his smile, but I did. Well, at least I used to. We hadn’t been as close as we used to be when we were growing up. I shook the memories from my head and focused back to what was currently happening around me.

          “Everyone in the pool now! Warm up!” Coach yelled as he walked through the gate and towards the pool. I jumped in the pool and began warming up.  “Start with laps!” Coach called as everyone lined up on the wall. I watched as everyone slapped hands and began their laps. I stared at the back of Blake’s head, wondering why I always ended up behind him in warm up laps. It’s like something is still pulling me towards himafter all these years. He was my first crush, and so much more. I watched as Taylor glided through the water towards Blake and slapped his hand. Blake glided through the water with grace, fast grace. I smiled as my mind returned to my memories of Blake Wolfe.

               

          Blake Wolfe, the bad boy that every girl wants; which included me. I’ve known Blake since I was five, we met on the ‘Little Swimmers’ swim team at the public pool in down town Clearwater Florida. Our moms were really good friends, so in turn we became friends. Whenever our moms would get together we would have our own little play dates that I always looked forward to. We used to take turns deciding what we would do on our play dates with each other. Sometimes I would make him play dress up and house with me and even play Barbie’s with me and other times he would have us go outside and play hide and seek or tag or adventure. My favorite memory had to be when we were out exploring in his backyard forest one day. We were walking along and he was holding my hand, leading me through all the shrubs and roots. I wasn’t paying attention and tripped over this really big root that had been sticking up from the ground, causing me to scrape my knee. I couldn’t help but start crying and Blake was trying his hardest to calm me down. When he couldn’t think of anything to do to make me calm down he leaned over and kissed my cheek, saying that would make everything feel better. That became our thing whenever one of us was feeling down or sad. I missed that.

When we entered middle school, Blake and I went our different ways around seventh grade. Then everyone found out about Blake beating up Greg and everyone was afraid of him, including me; but I still liked him. He was my day dream since I was ten. We entered high school and he had senior girls falling over him. The only reason for this was because they knew about him beating up Greg and he was the bad boy and every girl loved that about guys. In turn he had every girl falling at his feet, but he never had a girl friend and no one knew why. When we hit junior year, Blake and I had every class together. We had to work on a lot of projects together so we started talking again and becoming friends again. That’s when I knew I missed him and I was truly falling for Blake Wolfe.

          “Brandy?!” I heard Taylor call.

          “Yeah?” I asked snapping back into reality.

          “Swim your lap!” Taylor said. I looked up and saw Blake standing front of me with a smirk on his lips, he held up his hand. I slapped it and started my lap.

          “I saw you staring at him.” Taylor smiled as she sat down next to me on the bleachers at the football game.

          “Staring at who?” I asked as I watched James throw the ball to West. “Go, West, go, go, go!” I screamed towards the football field.

          “Blake Wolfe.” Taylor said quietly so he wouldn’t hear us from two bleachers down. “Do you like him?” She added in a hushed tone.

          “WHAT?! Are you crazy? No, he’s a bad boy.” I said quieter as I notice people starring.

          “Okay, I was just asking. No need to get defensive.” Taylor laughed as she patted my back.

          “I’m not being defensive.” I sighed. Okay, maybe I was being a little defensive. There was something about Blake Wolfe which my heart yearned for. I looked down two bleachers and saw the back of Blake’s head. His midnight black hair shined in the lights that brightened the football field. He sat straight, no slouching for him. Being a swimmer you don’t slouch, everything is straight with swimmers. I smiled at his back again, he seemed so strong. I yearned for his arms to be around me, to squeeze me.

          “WHOO!!!” Everyone screamed around me as the game ended and people piled onto the field.

          “Come on, Bran.” Taylor called as she rushed towards the field to see James. I smiled and stood as did Blake and watched him go down to the field with Tyler Grove and Billy Hobbes. I raised an eyebrow at them, and then watched Tyler pick up Ashley Taylor and nodded in realization. I looked over at Blake as I descended the stairs onto the field, he looked over at me and gave me that smirk of a smile and he winked at me. I smiled a big smile at him and met up with Taylor, James, and West in the middle of the field. I was surprised when West pulled me into a hard hug, knocking the wind out of me.