10 Reasons, Why You Like Me

10 Reasons - Chapter 1

Chapter ONE

It all started with a party in the woods. Which, I realize, sounds odd. Or cliche. But honestly, if it weren't for that party, I would never have ended up on that airplane, to Minnesota. And that was where I met Anderson.

   The party was supposed to be the highlight of my year, let me start with that.

   I had been to a lot of parties in my three years of high school, but not everyone was lucky enough to be invited to the Parties in the Woods. We all knew approximately where they were held - somewhere in the Westwood neighbourhood - and who hosted - the Albert Brothers. But they were the popular seniors, and my friends and I were, well, not. We'd been hearing about these parties since the fall - they were at least once a month and a few girls in our Chemistry class, who were cheerleaders, had been to the last one. For some reason, I was desperate to attend. I mean, I had my reasons.

   "The party in the woods is next weekend," I told Rayna Delaney, a friend that I'd known since middle school.

   Rayna was half Italian and had the darkest, most beautiful hair. She kept it short but I still envied it entirely. I was the opposite, with stringy blonde hair that I could never get to look right. My Dad was born in Holland and so my brother and I ended up with blonde hair and fair skin.

   It was April now and I just wanted to figure out a way to get an invite to this party. Generally, Rayna and I - along with the rest of the senior class - attended parties regularly. Most often, my neighbour Krista Lewis and her friends would host. Her dad was out of town a lot. Rayna and I usually went together, but we weren't, like, best, best friends. She had other friends, a boyfriend, and a younger sister in who was a freshman. I had some other friends, mutual friends, and a brother who was a freshman as well.

   "Why are you so obsessed with this party?" Rayna asked me, with a laugh. "Is Connor going, or something?"

   Connor Nickels was my long-time crush, although I was sure he didn't even know I existed. A year ago, he bumped into me in the hallway, making my books go flying everywhere. I just stood there in awe of him while he apologized and picked up my biology text book. When he handed it to me, I was blushing. We had been going to school together for over three years, but he was like some sort of God, to me.

   I shrugged. "I don't know about Connor. I just... really want to go."

   "I can ask Allie," Rayna went on, as if this was the first time this idea had come up.

   Allie was her cousin, who was dating a popular jock. Of course, we had already asked her, many times, if she knew the details or could get us invited. But Allie wasn't really the partying type. She was smart and funny and was heading to Yale in the fall. She didn't care about non-important things like partying in the woods in a fancy neighbourhood.

   "Okay, thanks," I finished, slamming my locker shut. "See you in fourth period."

   But in third period that afternoon, my English Lit class that I was taking for University prep, I heard some girls talking about the party. They were sitting a row behind me, but they weren't exactly whispering.

   "Do you want to go? It's next Saturday night," Cassandra Wilson asked Trina Buckley. "Declan asked me himself."

   "Declan Albert asked you to go to the party in the woods?" Trina asked back, surprised.

   But I wasn't surprised. Cassandra was one of the most popular girls in the senior class. I'd known her since kindergarten, really, but she and I were never really friends. Of course she would get invited. She'd probably been to the rest of them, as well.

   "He did," she said, whispering now. "And I can bring two people."

   "Wow, lucky," Trina laughed. "I'll come, only because I have nothing else going on."

   "Awesome. So, who else should we bring?" Cassandra went on.

   I was so close to turning around, admitting to listening to their conversation. I wanted to go to the party that badly, I'd embarrass myself. But suddenly our teacher was talking, loudly, and I lost my chance.

Rayna was smiling as I sat down beside her in our fourth period. She barely waited for me to drop my bag and get settled in before she was talking.

   "So, Allie was a total flop, as usual," she began, then grinned again. "Buuuut... it turns out that my very own boyfriend got an invite to this exact party."

   "What? Ashton? How?" I wanted to know right away.

   Rayna's boyfriend Ashton Clark was on the wrestling team and was smart and cute, but was sort of a dork. He liked Pokemon and Avengers a bit too much. He wasn't exactly friends with the cool kids, although there were seniors on the wrestling team with him.

   "Well, I guess he remembered you saying you wanted to go to the last one. He heard some guys talking about it at practice and they said he could go. And bring two people." Rayna said this with a straight face, which blew my mind.

   "Oh my god," I said, fast. "For real?"

   She nodded, but let out a laugh. "It's just a party, Kelsey."

   "Yeah, I know," I told her, but inside I was freaking out. I was finally going to get to go to a Party in the Woods.

   When the day finally came, I changed five times, trying to find the perfect outfit. Ashton was told the party started "once it was dark", so he was going to pick up Rayna at eight-thirty and they were going to come and pick me up. When I was finally dressed - my favourite jeans, a tunic top with long sleeves and my hair down - I went downstairs to wait. It still felt unreal.

   "Where are you headed?" My Dad asked, as I walked through the kitchen to wait by the door.

   It was only just starting to get dark, I noticed as I looked out the back window.

   "Just out with Rayna and Ashton," I said, shrugging this off.

   He wasn't the type of dad that cared too much about where I was, as long as I was safe and wasn't getting into trouble. My brother was only fourteen and had a few more rules than I did - curfew and details of what he was doing - but dad was just laid back, I guess. My friends thought I was lucky that he wasn't over protective, but I thought it was a bit odd that he didn't seem to care what I did. He had a busy, important job and expected us to take care of ourselves, now that we were older. He had raised us on his own for the last few years, since my mother left us when I was twelve.

   "Be safe," Dad called out, watching as I went out of the front door.

   I waved as the door closed behind me.