10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love

Trying to Steal Your Best Friend's Crush

"Morning, Liz!"

Elizabeth froze at the doorway, squinting at the new guy. What was her house, the newest hang out for teenagers? Not even giving them a sigh, she shook her head as she nudged Vincent and Andre aside, jumping down the steps and trotting off to school.

"Wait!" the two morons called as they choked on laughter at her reaction. Like complete drunks, they stumbled after her with stupid smiles plastered on their faces.

Andre caught himself staring Elizabeth, and, for the fourth time that morning, told himself to act normal. Elizabeth jogged off to school, sighing inwardly in relief that things had gone back to normal. Not that she was appreciating the current situation.

Annie's eyebrows raised in shock as she pulled her shiny Mercedes Benz over. She had been on her way over to Elizabeth's house, yet here her friend was, turning the corner at a steady jog.

"I thought we were riding to school?" she asked with a furrow in between her eyebrows.

"We are," Elizabeth smiled grimly as she hopped into the passenger seat. "Drive before those idiots catch up!"

Not waiting another moments, Annie threw the car in reverse, and by the time the two staggering idiots made the bend, all they saw was a pair of headlights zipping off in the Star Lake High's direction.

***

Vincent stomped into Homeroom and fell into his desk, glaring at Elizabeth who ignored him and continued to pore over Pride and Prejudice.

"You ditched us," Vincent said in disbelief after a few moments.

Elizabeth looked up with boredom. "You figure that out by yourself?"

The entire class laughed; they grudgingly had gotten used to Elizabeth and Vincent's bickering.

Granted, most of the girls still jealously looked at the couple and more than a few guys still harassed Elizabeth every now and then, but the kids had accepted the fact that Vincent wasn't going to back down. While everyone pretended to hate Elizabeth, they secretly were rooting for the two. It was simply impossible to beat the pair. Besides; Elizabeth had shown everyone a side of Vincent even God didn't know.

Ms. Palena strolled into the room with her usual frappuccino she had recently discovered, and sang to the class, "Happy Friday!"

The class hooted and hollered; they were officially four school days closer to a blissful, parent free vacation with almost everyone in their grade going. A week in the woods with any electronics never sounded so fun.

"Before we begin the daily journal, I'd like to pass out these ballots. You write down your name, Homeroom period, and my name at the top. Write who you want most to be roommates with; the person can be from another class if you'd like. REMEMBER," Ms. Palena stopped at Vincent's desk, her hand with the paper in the air.

She leaned a little closer to his face, pronouncing every syllable like she was explaining a complex math theory to a preschooler. "It's not co-ed," Ms. Palena smiled grimly as she slid the paper onto his desk

The entire class cracked up, as Vincent put on a look of mock surprise and gasped in outrage. "WHAT did you say?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she neatly filled out the paper, printed Annie's name on it, and turned it in. Annie had already asked her dad if she could be Elizabeth's roommate; this field trip was going to be the best Elizabeth ever went to.

***

Annie stared, eyes wide, at Vincent and Andre's laughing figures during break. "I thought they were fighting! What happened?"

It took a while for Elizabeth to explain everything, and by the time she was done, the bell was ushering everyone off to class. Annie managed to wave good bye as she stumbled off to math. The moment she got into the classroom, Annie went up to the teacher. "Can I go to the restroom?" she batted her eye lashes at the young substitute.

"Uh, sure," he smiled, dazzled by her cute aura.

Annie barely made it to the empty bathroom before she kicked a trash can over, spilling paper towels all over the tiles.

"What the hell!" she whispered with venom and disbelief as she clenched her little fists. Elizabeth was so annoying! Why wouldn't the stupid girl break?!

Annie had tried everything. She had distanced Vincent from Elizabeth, and forcefully destroyed Andre's friendship. Instead of blaming Elizabeth, Vincent had completely forgiven her; didn't he know that she was trouble? That Elizabeth was a bothersome and unpredictable demon?

Annie swallowed her shrieks as she thought of every little plan Elizabeth had ruined so far. WHY was she so hard to manipulate? All the other students, teachers, and parents were putty in Annie's hands, so what was up with Elizabeth? If Annie wanted her to turn right, Elizabeth would veer left. If Annie expected Elizabeth to give up on Vincent and Andre, she'd patch up their relationship flawlessly.

Annie had gone through the trouble to pretend someone of her status would ever want to be friends with someone as poor as Elizabeth. She had gotten out of her way to get Elizabeth to trust her. She had even let the filthy beggar to sit in her car!

Heaving in frustration, Annie leaned on the polished marble sinks, and looked at her furious reflection in the mirror, imagining it was Elizabeth smirking at her and teasing her. Elizabeth wanted to play that way? Fine.

"You can have everyone thinking about how 'sexy' and 'clever' you are," Annie growled out loud. "But Vincent's mine!"