You Belong With Me

Chapter 2 // A Smile That Can Light Up This Whole Town

The sound of a blaring alarm woke me up from my dreamless sleep, hitting me with dread as the reality of how early it was sunk in.

I reached out, turning off the alarm on my phone as I let out a groan.

School has always been something I enjoyed, but it was getting harder and harder to get myself to go lately.

It used to be easy until I had to start worrying about my whole friend situation - or rather lack-there-of.

Now all I have to look forward to is the work.

But let's be real here, just somewhat liking the schoolwork isn't going to get me through the rest of senior year.

"Only four months left of high school, Harper. You can do this," I whispered in an attempt to hype myself up.

I finally dragged myself to the washroom and eventually downstairs, grabbing breakfast before the bus came.

By this time Dad was already off to work and Mom was just leaving, insisting like usual that she didn't have time to drop me off and get to work on time - something I've come to terms with by now.

I made sure Avery was all set to leave for the bus stop later on - since her middle school starts an hour later than mine - and set off.

I was only half way down my driveway when I noticed a moving truck and another car following it pull into the house next to mine.

I wasn't even aware that the new neighbours were coming so soon until now. The house has been up for sale for a while, but just recently it had been sold.

I didn't really know the people that used to live there that well though, so it really didn't affect me all that much.

I was about to continue to the bus stop, when I noticed a guy with golden blonde hair jump out of the car, scanning the house.

Normally I wouldn't have paid attention to this, but I'll be honest here, he wasn't exactly ugly.

He looked to be around my age too which made me feel like a little less of a creep as I stared.

He suddenly turned to where I was standing and that's when I almost broke out into a sprint, freaking out that this guy caught me staring at him.

But instead of calling me out on it, or looking at me weird, he smiled, waving at me.

I felt a smile slowly form on my face as I raised a hand to shyly wave back. That's when I heard the bus honk at me, effectively ruining the moment.

Snapping out of my gaze, I turned around to see the bus parked and waiting for me. With one last glance back at the new neighbour, I took off running to the bus stop that thankfully wasn't very far from my own house.

As I climbed the stairs of the bus, the driver of course gave me the little speel about being there when I was supposed to next time since she can't always wait for me and yadda yadda.

But as I took my seat, all I could think about was the boy with baby blue eyes, blonde hair, and a smile that can light up this whole town.