Love Is Hard

Chapter 1 - Meet The Gang

He shoots his head up and sends her a strong glare.

"Admit it Jenson, you. love. me. There's no one who can resist 'this'!" Kale says, running his hands down his 'oh-so-fine' body.

She gags. "I bet I can!" Suzy yells after recovering from her disgust.

"GUYS! Please don't fight. Remember last week's food fight? It was pretty rad and all..but you guys got slaughtered for it! Calm your farm, take a chill pill and sit back down." Seth says, trying to pacify the situation.

Suzy and Kale hadn't even noticed they'd stood up in the process of arguing.

"Seth, shut your trap and keep out of this! Me and Soozy Woozy have a score to settle!" Kale argues.

Seth backs away, lifiting his arms up in defeat. The rest of the people in the cafeteria look widely amused by the situation.

"Kale, being angry doesn't look very attractive, does it? It'll give you wrinkles!" Taliah squeals in slight disgust, interrupting the exchange of death glares.

Suzy rolls her eyes dramatically. "Really Taliah, really?" she mutters.

Taliah shoots her a look of distaste and 'hmph's off to Kale.

He pulls her into a full-on make out session with all the disgusting sound effects.

"GET A ROOM!" Seth yells playfully in the middle of their 'fun'.

Kale sends his best friend a wary look. After what seems like eternity, they finally break apart leaving Taliah's hair messed up.

"Have I aged, Seth?" Suzy asks, smiling cheekily.

Seth grins back, giggling softly.

"Taliah..it's over." Kale says easily.

"Why?" Taliah shrieks.

"I'm sick of you." he says without hesitation.

Her eyes fill with tears and she struts away, flicking her hair obnoxiously.

No one is surprised by Kale's actions. The gang are all used to this. It's like a daily occurrence for them.

"Was that number 239 or was it 572?" Suzy says, emphasizing the 572 with her voice by making it louder and her obvious murderous gaze.

"Neither. It was 603!" Kale says while laughing.

The whole gang roll their eyes.

"Amelia, want to come over today? My mum's baking strawberry shortcake! Your favourite!" Suzy asks happily.

Amelia drops the banana cupcake she was eating and squeals with delight.

"Definitely." she says before talking a sip out of her coffee with 10 cubes of sugar.

Amelia, as you can probably guess, is a sugar addict.

"Simon, you can come too. My dad's written the latest installment of 'The Crook And The Nanny'. He told you come over and read it." He nods shyly.

Simon, by first look, appears to be a shy nerd type of boy but the truth is, he used to be a biker gang leader. Ever heard of Fang?

"Oh..and Seth..you can come if you want but there's no particular reason for you to come. Just waltz your way over, mum won't mind." Suzy smiles.

"Sure. Be expecting me then." he says, saluting swiftly.

Seth is a cool, calm guy. An all-rounder but excels at basketball. He's nice but loves to joke around but also has his serious moments.

Suzy turns to Kale.

"Kale, you're not invited. Though you'll probably come anyway." Suzy mutters before he has a chance to attack her with all sorts of puppy eyes.

And Kale? He's just Kale.

Kale smirks. "You know me well." he says arrogantly.

Suzy sighs. "How can I not? I've known you for my whole life. I'm starting to get sick of you actually." she says.

Kale opens his mouth in shock. "You can never get sick of me!" he says cockily.

Suzy turns away in disgust. "Well, I'm leaving, to go soothe a heart-broken friend." she says, glaring at a certain heartbreaker.

She stands up and pushes her chair in. The wind blows her dark brown hair in all different directions as she walks out of the cafeteria.

"Oh, how I love that girl." a sigh escapes Kale's lips as soon as Suzy is out of sight.

"You've liked her for...17 years and she hasn't got a clue?" Simon asks, shocked.

Amelia rolls her eyes. "She's more dense than you think. She's worse than me. And I'm pretty dense. My head..is thicker than the world's biggest sugar cube." Amelia says, stating the obvious.

Seth chuckles. "So when are you going to man up and spill the beans?" he asks Kale.

He sighs again. "I don't know. I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me. She hates me! It's all my fault for being so impeccably perfect.. She must be so jealous." Kale says, no hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"You are such a cocky jerk, Kale." Amelia says.

Kale flicks back his imaginary hair in a girly way. "Of course. Thanks for the compliment."

Everyone rolls their eyes.

An awkward silence commences after that statement..

"If you're not going to tell her, I reckon I might blurt it out by accident one day.. Is it better you saying it or her hearing it from me?" Seth threatens, breaking the ice.

Kale gasps. "You wouldn't do that!" he exclaims in mock surprise.

Seth looks at him, bored. "I'm serious, Kale. If you don't confess soon, I'll snatch her away from you. You know that I've had a crush on her since the start of this year." he says with a complete serious look on his face.

"Seth..you weren't joking about that?" Kale asks, surprised.

Amelia and Simon grin.

"Kale, 10 bucks each, remember?" Simon says.

Kale smiles nervously. "But...I...I can't accept this!"

Seth looks around, astounded. "You bet on this? Really?" he says, very unhappy.

Kale scratches his head anxiously. "Well, I didn't think I'd lose.."

Seth sighs tiredly. "Are you giving me permission to take her from you? Because I will."

Kale looks dazzled.

After a moment's hesitation he replies with strong determination, "If she really likes you..if she's happy with you...I guess you can take her..but I'll win in the end. I'll snatch her away from your very hands."

"Game on." Seth says, smiling wickedly.

Kale nods.

"Game on."