cherry stems (Book 1)

Chapter 1

Didn't you love seeing that moment when the main character has this huge realization? The moment that made you realize this was the peak of their character development. Sitting in my seat, I wanted to squeal in excitement as Lira from To Kill A Kingdom was realizing that maybe she didn't hate the prince she was supposed to kill. I had about 50 more pages until I was about to end the book. Surprising as it is, I was excited to write a quick summary of the book and the character growth. The assignment was something fun and simple since the semester just started, and for the professor to figure out where we were since it was Fiction Writing 129.

            Just as Lira was about to lean in for a kiss with her killer prince, the sound of multiple whoops and woos fill my ears, causing me to get out of my fictional world. I place my bookmarker in between the fold of the paperback, holding onto it still open. My curiosity made me want to look where the obnoxious noises were coming from.

I was currently sitting outside in a grassy area on campus. The tree branches were swaying back and forth, the air crisp and flowing through the lower part of the courtyard that I was sitting in. So many students laundered about, eating lunch, study groups, and the group of boys that were shouting at each other as they threw a pigskin around and were tackling each other.

I resumed back into my book, grabbing some chips that I packed in a little snack bag. I had to be prepared when it comes to reading. It was like watching a movie in my head, the words being so vivid it made a moving image form, and who doesn't like eating a snack when they're watching a movie? Psychopaths, that's who.

            "Watch out!"

            It was too late for me to react. I couldn't tell which thing to focus on. The stinging on my hand or the fact that my pomegranate juice soaked into my book, some getting onto my pants. Literally, why the heck did this have to happen as I was getting to the best part?

            I look up to the group that was playing around with the football. There were six of them, looking in my direction and most of them just had these hideous smiles that didn't sit right with me. It's like they purposefully threw it at me to be jerks.

            "Oh, you really did it now, man," one of them snickers, nudging the closest male in the side with his elbow. I'll assume it was the one who tossed it in the first place. His black hair was parted in the middle, his bangs stopping short at the ends of his eyes. He seemed to be in comfortable clothes, light gray joggers, and a very oversized black shirt, the sleeves past his elbows. If he wasn't laughing at me right now, I probably would have found him attractive but that's out the window.

            I pack up the little stuff I had laid around me, mad that most of my juice found a new home that was my book. Picking up the football, I walk towards them. I shove the football at Casanova in his chest. That got a little grunt out of him.

            Good, asshole. Should have shoved it where the sun doesn't shine, Tomma.

            I wasn't that bold for that. What I was about to say took a lot out of me. I was never one to be confrontational, but why should I just ignore this?

            "You going to replace this?" I ask. I blink a couple of times for him to get the hint that I was serious, but it seems to give off the opposite effect. The corner of his lips peaks up, forming this smirk that made me want to smack it right off his face.

            Tomma, let me take over! Let me do it for you.

            "No, it was an accident." That lie seems to make the smirk grow even more. More to the point it just turned to a toothy smile and I could see his straight white teeth. This may have set a tiny little fire inside of me. "It wasn't my fault your juice spilled all over it. Who reads physical books in 2020 nowadays? Come on, granny, where is your nook?"