30 Days To Fall In Love

Prologue

A/N - This book is currently being edited. The first >1< chapter/s have been edited so far, sorry for any confusion/errors in the storyline - feel free to point them out to me. Thanks for reading :) 

Jake

How had I not noticed her before? The moment I saw her, my heart stopped. No, that’s not right. It sped up so that it hammered, unstoppable, in my chest. Could they all hear it? It was throbbing in my head and my cheeks were running red with humiliation. Nobody was paying any attention to me anyway, but I felt like everyone was staring. I suppose we all were staring - just we were all staring at her.

She came into the classroom breathless and shook her hair out from the bun that had been holding it in one place. It fell like water, like a chocolate waterfall, like a silky chocolate waterfall.

‘Sorry I’m late - I’m new here, I got lost,’ the girl explained.

Mrs Holmes shook her head and a small smile crept onto her face, ‘That’s quite alright. Emma, isn’t it?’

She nodded. Emma nodded. Emma - that was a beautiful name, the sort that could run off your tongue like music.

‘No need to drool, Jake,’ Callum sniggered. He was my best friend and sat next to me for registration. He was usually wrapped up in his own thoughts, so the fact he’d noticed me staring wasn’t good: I probably looked like a stalker.

Emma scanned the room for an empty seat. I mentally cursed myself for letting Suzie Pinn sit next to me. She snorted when she laughed and cursed you in foreign languages. If I hadn’t mumbled ‘yeah whatever’ when Suzie asked if she could sit next to me, I’d be exchanging phone numbers with Emma by now... Well, maybe not right that moment.

She took a seat next to Anna, a quiet girl who usually kept to herself or her books. Still, she flashed Emma a quick smile when she sat down and started whispering to her and looking at each student in the class, clearly telling her all of our names.

When class had finished, Callum and I dawdled outside, trying to find a way to escape the beginning of our first lesson of the year.

‘So... Emma, huh?’ he said, chuckling.

‘What about her?’ I said, feigning nonchalance. I wasn’t any good at acting casual, though, and Callum knew it.

‘I just thought she was cute, that’s all...’ he said, watching my expression carefully.

‘You thought she was cute?’ I said, again trying desperately to act unbothered.

‘Yeah, I was thinking about asking her out. Would that be okay, Jake?’ he said, laughter shone behind his eyes.

I said nothing, my fingers balled into fists.

‘No, wait! I have a better idea!’ Callum beamed. ‘What do you say we have a little competition? If you can’t get her to go out with you in, say, thirty days... I’ll ask her out!’

‘That’s ridiculous - you don’t even like her!’ I snapped.

‘I’m kidding! I just wanted to see if you liked her: that’s all, I swear.’ He started chuckling again.

‘What?’ I muttered, starting off on my trek to the English block.

‘Nothing...’ he said, laughing. ‘See you at lunch.’ Then he set off in the opposite direction, lifting his hand half-heartedly to say goodbye.

‘Yeah, see you...’

That wasn’t such a bad idea though. Maybe I should try it. I could see if Emma and I could ever fall in love in thirty days. That shouldn’t be too hard, should it?

Thirty days to fall in love. Simple...