How Not to Fall In Love

Chapter 2

"Hey, Sunshine!" Cole ran up to me in the hall and scooped me up in his arms." 

"Hey, Cole!" I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I've missed you." I buried my head in the crook of his neck. His dark red hair tickled the side of my forehead. 

" Sorry I wasn't here a couple of weeks ago; we were on vacation, then I got sick when we got home. Love your hair, by the way. So much better." He smiled. "And I love what's going on with your outfit. I see you gained some fashion while you were away." He smirked. 

"I had fashion before I left." I looked down at my ripped jeans, barely cropped top, and canvas shoes. 

"Honey, you were a fashion nightmare." He raised his eyebrow. "You came to school half the time, looking like you crawled out of bed without changing clothes. You wore oversized t-shirts that were wrinkled, and once in a while, you'd show up wearing jeans. Other than that, it was some wild pattern legging." 

It was an absolute miracle that I was friends with Cole. He doesn't sugarcoat things; he tells me the truth no matter if it's going to hurt my feelings or not. Maybe, that's one of the reasons why I am friends with him. And he tried telling me years ago I was a walking, talking fashion nightmare, but I wouldn't listen. It took me moving away to open my eyes to how I was dressing. 

"How are you and Eli doing?" I asked. 

Cole's eyes drifted off to the lockers, and his shoulders slumped down a little bit. "We broke up a few days before I left for vacation with my parents," he said. 

"Oh, Cole. I'm so sorry. I didn't know." I felt so awful for bringing up such a painful subject to him in the middle of the hall on his first day back to school. 

"It's okay. You didn't know. Besides, he was an asshole anyway. I'm sure I'll find another boyfriend. But, right now, I'm going to enjoy being single." He flashed me one of his bright smiles. 

"Hey, we should go get coffee after school?" Sophie said, glancing at both of us. 

I sighed. "I wish I could, but I have to take Julia home after school." Julia is my fourteen-year-old sister, a freshman here at  Edward high school. She's the complete opposite of me, as in she's never had to worry about being the awkward kid in school. I think she came out of our mother's womb with instant good looks and popularity. She's never had to work it like I've had to over the past three years. I often wondered if I could've been adopted or something. There has to be a legitimate excuse as to why we are complete opposites, especially since I'm the oldest. I was always under the impression that the youngest child was supposed to be the awkward one. 

"Maybe tomorrow?" Sophie asked. 

"Yeah, nothing else; I will drop her off home, then go," I said. 

"Will your Dad get mad for dropping her off home?" Sophie asked. 

"She's fourteen, not ten."

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting," Sophie said, walking over to her locker. 

"We need to get going to English, Rylee. Hurry up and grab your books." Cole motioned to his watch. 

"Sophie, I'll see you back here before Math." I grabbed my English book, then hurried off with Cole. 

Cole and I walked to English class, and it felt like middle school for a brief minute. We used to walk to English class together before I moved away during our eighth-grade year. It was our ritual, something we did together without Sophie. Like I'd walk with Sophie to classes without Cole. I don't think we ever had a class with all three of us together except for lunch, but we never walked to lunch. 

"Do you know much about the English teacher?" I asked. 

"Yeah, her name is Mrs. Hart. She's one of the better ones, but she does like a lot of reading assignments. I'm sure she'll assign us a novel to read here in the next week or two. But, then again, you like that kind of thing too." He glanced over at me. 

"I see you haven't changed." I laughed. 

He turned and looked at me. "Well, not in the way that you did." He smiled. "You look great."

"Thanks, Cole." 

"By the way, has anyone remembered you yet?" He said close to my ear as kids walked past us. 

I turned my head slightly and shook my head yes. Then, I proceeded to tell him what happened on the first day of school in the cafeteria when Austin Hayes saw me. I told him that he instantly remembered me and called me "Duckface Rylee" in the middle of the cafeteria, but thankfully no one heard him from all the commotion. 

We walked into English class, and my heart started pounding the minute my eyes saw Taylor Moss sitting in the middle of the classroom with a couple of her minion friends. I wanted to turn around and run down the hall, out the doors, jump into my car, and drive as far away from school as possible. The minute I would turn to leave, Cole would grab my arm and drag me back into class. I didn't need that kind of drama right now, so I did the mature thing, lowered my head, walked to the opposite side of the room, and took a seat toward the back of the class. Cole sat down in the chair next to me and looked at me like I'd lost my damn mind, and maybe I had lost my mind. All I know is that Taylor Moss was one of the girls that used to tease me nonstop in middle school. I just have to get through another hour; then I go to Math and play the same game all over again. 

I sat there in my seat, staring at the back of Taylor's long, dark, shiny hair and how much I wished someone would reach over and cut a big chunk of her hair and laugh at her. Like how she'd used to sit and tease me about my hair in class. The longer I sat there staring at the back of her head, the more I wanted to be the one to cut her hair. But, lucky for her, Mrs. Hart walked in and told us to take out our books and turn to page fifteen. 

Author's Notes:

Where is everyone reading from? I am hoping to update this book every few days. 

If you like this chapter, please consider giving it a vote. Thanks! A.L.