Knowing Her Changed Everything [ON HOLD]

Chapter 1

Walking into school down the senior hall with my sister, everyone greeted each other and I was surprisingly close with my sister and her friends. I bumped into Kevin on my way upstairs and we told each other about our summers, and what classes we had this year. We both were taking Video again this year. Throughout the day I found my friends and talked to them about summer. Before I even told them what I did, they guessed it, spending time with the family and going on vacations. Was I that predictable? I thought to myself. I was heading down to lunch when I saw Val walking up the stairs smiling. I think that was the first time I've seen her smile.

            Her eyes locked to mine for just a split second, and I was pulled back in. I wanted to get to know her, and nothing was going to stop me this year. I saw Kevin with Mr. Wildman and decided to see what they were talking about, which was nothing really.

"Hey Andrew, how was your summer?" Mr. Wildman asked.

"It was good, and yours?" I asked politely.

"It was nice, so who is your English teacher this year?"

"It's Ms. Banks."                  

"Oh, she's a great teacher." Mr. Wildman said.

            Kevin said he hadn’t gotten lunch, so he headed to the cafeteria. I said goodbye to Mr. Wildman and followed Kevin. We joined a table with our friends and they started talking about crushes, and girls that they wanted to get with. Someone glanced over at me and looked down.

"So Andrew, who are into? Or are you saving yourself?" Someone joked.

"Shut up." I replied, knocking his comment aside.

            My family is Christian and well, people know that I am saving myself for marriage, which is rare in today's society, so they joke about it.

"So you don't like anyone?" Jake pushed.

"If I did, you wouldn’t need to know." I said casually.

"Seriously? Tell us! This is a big moment for you!" Jake joked.

"Shut up. Kev I'm going to go, see you later." I said pushing away from the table and walking away.

            Walking out of the cafeteria I literally walked right into Val. Immediately she started to apologize.

"No, it was my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going." I said trying to meet her eyes.

"Well, sorry anyways." She said shyly looking up at me with a half smile.

            I didn’t know what to say so I smiled and nodded before I walked off. Turning my head back, she was looking at me, and I quickly whipped my head back and cursed myself for getting caught. I should have said something else, why did I freeze? How am I going to get to know her if I can barely talk when I'm around her? I don't have a crush on her; I'm just curious and want to know her I said to myself in my head.

"Andrew!" My sister called from the senior hall.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked as I walked over to her and her friends.

"So Jake told me that you guys were discussing girls, and he slipped up by telling me that you have a crush!" Heidi said with a huge smile.

"Jake misunderstood me, and I never said that. Really you can drop this." I said about to walk away.

"Andrew! Stop, we can help you." Heidi's friend Skyler, the one who I asked about Val last year, said.

"I think I'm fine on my own, but thanks." I said scratching the back of my head, and turning.

"You'll come back for help!" Skyler called out while Heidi and her friends laughed.

            I love my sister and her friends, but some things are personal. Walking by the staircase that led to the theatre wing that twisted leading further down I saw Val. Stopping in my tracks I looked around, I'm not sure why but I did, and followed her. Once at the bottom of the stairs she went down the right hall way that turned off and went into one of the practice rooms for musicians. Suddenly I heard the sound of drums. I never knew she played the drums, I only knew she played the guitar and wrote songs. She was pretty good to me, though I am not sure if I'm qualified to say if she's good since I know nothing about music, but it sounded cool. Ron came up, nodded to me and went in a different practice room. I never asked him why he turned Val down and suddenly I was bit with curiosity. Walking up to the practice room he went into I knocked on it and he motioned for me to come in.

"Hey, what's up?" Ron asked.

"I know this is random, but can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead." Ron said starting to play the piano.

"Why did you turn Val down last year, I heard she asked you out." I blurted out.

            The piano made a terrible sound and Ron stopped playing. He didn’t look at me for a moment, but finally decided to answer my question.

"I lied and said I was in a relationship because I was caught off guard. I mean she was a junior, I was a freshman, it's not every day that happens, and I don't know. I thought it was strange at the time. Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering." I said flustered.

"Right…I actually kind of regret not giving her a chance, she actually liked this band I liked that no one had really heard of. Eh, I was a stupid freshman. Wait, are you asking me because she was talking about me recently?" Ron asked with interest.

"No, she didn’t ask about you, sorry."

"What, no nothing to be sorry about, not like I care. Anyways was that all?"

"Yeah…" I said awkwardly as I left.

            Walking out I noticed that the drums had stopped. I really hope I didn’t put Val back in Ron's head… I probably didn’t stand a chance against him. He was almost my height and had orange hair; he wore jeans and a blue plaid collared shirt. He wasn’t preppy at all; he dressed more on the skater side. Val probably liked skater guys, not preppy guys. But that doesn’t matter; I mean I am just interested in getting to know her as a friend. Ron opened the practice room door, and I pretended like I had just hung up the phone. Walking back out to the stairs I saw Val sitting in the theatre hall, and so did Ron. Val looked up and saw Ron and fear flashed through her eyes for a millisecond but changed back to normal. Was fear what I saw? Why would she fear Ron? I asked myself a bit confused by her reaction.