10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love

Notice: The following is a raw manuscript. The official book has been heavily rewritten. Please do not give ratings/reviews on other sites (looking at you, goodreads) based off of this, as it is a ROUGH DRAFT. Worst comes to worst, I might have to take this story down. Anyways, thanks, and enjoy! :)

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            “HE’S HERE, he’s here!”

            “Go get him!”

            “B-but…”

            “GO!”

            Two pairs of hands shoved timid little Amy from behind a red brick wall and in front of a gorgeous junior boy. He stopped to stare at the trembling brunette in front of him.

            “U-um,” the girl blinked up at him with wide caramel eyes. The hottest boy in Star Lake Private High was over a head taller than her. “My name is Amy.”

            “Yeah?” the boy drawled, running a hand through his messy black hair and trying not to yawn. He was going to be late for Orientation. Leave it to the women to swarm him on the first day of school.

            “Could….”

            She was starting to blush. Scratch that, she was as red as a tomato.

            “Could you go out with-”

            “Not interested.”

            And with that, Vincent Richardson broke yet another damsel’s throbbing heart. Shocking.

            He strolled past the girl and into the school, joining the masses of students pouring into the center yard.

            Everyone sat down on cushioned seats in the midst of floating autumn leaves, preparing for a neither short nor sweet intro to the school new year. Orientation speeches, no matter how highly promoted in the school’s fancy brochures, were utter torture.

            The highest scoring junior in school gave the speech, which usually meant “blah blah stutter blah multi-syllable word blah.” And, since the one giving the speech was most likely a nerd, the poor soul usually had no supporters.

            But Vincent Richardson was different. Excelling in art, music, sports, and academics, he had no doubt that he’d be giving the speech this year. Of course, he couldn’t be certain, since the yearly entrance exam results weren’t released until after Orientation- not that he was worried.

            “See? See? We told you he was hot!” two girls sitting a row behind Vincent gushed.

            “I know,” he heard another one whisper. She was obviously new. “I think I’m drooling.”

            “They say he’s giving the speech this year.”

            “He’s smart, too?”

            “I heard that every single girl in his grade asked him out last year. I know we did.”

            “So who’s his girlfriend?”

            “No one!” they gushed. “A model asked him out last year and he just walked right past her!”

            Vincent ignored the swooning girls behind him. Women were all the same. They tittered, claimed they were fat, and expected him to drop to his knees whenever they flashed their underwear at him.

            He sighed. Another tedious year… His cold personality would be taken as “sexy.” His ditching streak would be proclaimed as the “mark of a bad boy.” Then, sometime around Valentine’s Day, the girls would go absolutely insane and someone would get in a car crash.

            “Ahem.”

            The old, hawkish looking Chairman walked up to the gold engraved podium and began reciting some cheesy lines about remembering the past and hoping for the future. The usual.

            “And now, for the Honor Speech. This year, something very interesting happened with the exam results. We seem to have talent in this school.”

            Solemn Mr. Lockwood smiled briefly, and somewhere in the gasping crowd, a camera flashed.

            Vincent frowned. The entrance exam was an elite test pulled from various college courses and was said to be one of the toughest tests in Northern California. Nobody had gotten a full score before.

            He smirked.

            Seems like he did. The girls behind him clearly thought so as well as they whispered in hushed, excited voices.

            “We had two people with full scores!”

            The crowd exploded into conversation. They looked around for the two geniuses. Vincent froze. Two? How could anyone have possibly matched him? He was Vincent Richardson!

            “That is correct. Therefore, the staff and I have decided that both of our prodigies will be giving the speech.”

            Barely concealed groans escaped from the crowd. Two speeches, they grumbled. Great. Just great.

            “So let’s welcome your junior representatives, Vincent Richar-”

            The air was filled with earsplitting shrieks.

            “VINCENT!”

            “GIVE ME MY GIRLFRIEND BACK!”

            “SMART ALECK!”

            “I’LL LOVE YOU FOREVER!”

            “-and Elizabeth Blackburn, our top transfer student here at Star Lake High!”

            There was a slight lull as the Vincent and the other girl rose from their seats. He couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of his “equal.”

            She sure was unattractive. A plain girl who had worn a baggy old T-shirt to her first day at school, she had her long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and looked entirely unapproachable, to say the least.

            The girl moved like a mechanical doll and gave the impression that she was ready to stab someone with her pointy spectacles. Her eyes, which no one dared to meet, were an even sharper hazel.

            The strange couple walked up the stage and Vincent received the microphone first.

            “Well,” he started, “I’d say half the crowd loves me and the other wants me dead.”

            At this, a chorus of laughter and “duh”s greeted him.

            “But,” Vincent continued, “I’m glad I got the score I got and I just want to get school started, so… nice to meet you.”

            He lobbed the microphone to the girl. She reached up and swiped it from the air.

            “I, for one,” she announced, “am not happy with my current score in the least. It strikes me as none other than ridiculous that the famed Star Lake could possibly have two people get full marks on their entrance exam. The writers of the test clearly have no consideration for hard workers. Imagine; me, put in the same category as pretty boy here!”

            She jabbed an indignant finger at Vincent, who merely stared back at her in blank surprise. The girl’s scowl abruptly melted away with a tired sigh.

            “However, I, too, just want school to start, and so if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to class.”

            Without another word, Miss Elizabeth Blackburn exited the stage, leaving a flabbergasted audience behind.