Caught In Haze

Chapter 1

Charlie's POV

Well I finally did it. It's my last day of high school. I can't wait to get out of this place.

It's not that I had a bad time here....... I'm just ready to move on.

I got an athletic scholarship to Hudson University to play soccer. So I'm not super worried about my future the way some of my classmates are.

"I can't believe I'm about to clean out my locker for the last time." Casey, my best friend, said walking up to me.

"I know it's kinda sad and awesome at the same time." I said smiling. I turned to open my locker.

"I don't understand why we even have to go to class today." Casey groaned while shoving random objects from her locker into her bag.

"I agree. It's not like we are going to learn anything." I shrugged throwing a bunch of empty water bottles I had in my locker into the trash can.

"True. At least we have a massive party to look forward to tonight."

"What party?" I asked looking at her.

She didn't answer instead she looked behind me at someone.

"Well hello there!" She said sweetly and I turned around to see who she was talking to.

"Oh hi... uh.... Noah." I said awkwardly.

Noah Haze.

I have had a crush on him since middle school. He was so cute and sweet. His brown hair was a little shaggy and his eyes were this incredible golden color and it was mesmerizing to look into them. He wasn't much taller than me but that didn't matter to me at all.

"Hi Charlie." He smiled sweetly at me. "Casey." He nodded at her.

"We were just talking about you." Casey said nudging me.

"We were?"

I'm confused.

"Really?" He looked at Casey then his eyes found mine again. I looked away quickly and felt my cheeks turn red.

"Oh yes." Casey grinned at me. "We were talking about your party tonight."

Noah's party! She should've led with that.

"You've never thrown a party before!" I blurted out.

"Uh yeah..... my mom is out of town. It's my last chance to throw a party before everybody goes their separate ways."

"Well count us in." Casey said wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

"Great! I'll see you later then." He smiled and walked away.

"I hate both of you." Casey said dropping her arm off of me and turning back to her locker.

"What?" I said innocently.

"You have liked that boy since we were all 12 and have done nothing about it."

I laughed.

She just glared at me.

"It doesn't matter now. High school is over. I'm going to Hudson in the fall and he's going to Ithaca. It was a crush that was never meant to be."

If Noah wanted to date me he had plenty of opportunities to ask me out. We basically grew up together playing soccer.

When we got into middle school we both joined club teams. Noah's team was owned by the same club that mine was so we had a lot of shared practices over the years and we always partnered up at those.