Hold On To Forever

Chapter One

"So what's up, dude?" asked Chris. He shot a basketball right into the hoop. 

"What, what's up?"

"Oh come right out man. You've got that stupid grin on your face for about a month now. I know the signs. So who is that lucky girl this time?" He cocked his eyebrows and threw the ball to me.

"It's not like that. It's....different this time. She's different." I sounded stupid even to myself.

"Seriously dude, I swear you're turning all soft on me. But i've got something on my mind too. It's Steph, I swear that girl's got a thing for me."

"I wouldn't know." I shrugged as nonchalantly as I can manage. "So what you gonna do about it? Ask her out?" 

 "Of course, dude," He said patiently as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and I was a mildly retarded three-year-old.

I stopped in my tracks. "But you don't even like her." 

"Awwww dude, is it that girl that's making you turning into a pile of mush?" He made his voice all squeaky and made kissing faces at me. "Anyway, who cares if I like Steph or not? She's hot and she fancies me. What's more to worry about? 

That's the problem with Chris. I know he's my best mate and all that, but that guy was a serious player. It usually doesn't bother me when he was up to his tricks, but this time I was not going to let it happen again. It's not like I'm the nerdy sidekick to his bad-ass superhero or whatever, but when it comes to girls, he was always the one with the charming smile and devil-may-care attitude that makes the girls go wild since kindergarten. 

"Sure dude, good luck." I muttered and sighed as the basketball I just threw with as much precision as I could bounce right off the edge of the net and landed in Chris's hand. So close.

  Sure, I've had one or two relationships in the past, but I was not really as into girls as Chris, until I met Steph, that is. It's not really one of those love-at-first-sight dramatic affairs. She was just this new girl from a small town at my school, and for some reason she started hanging out with me and eventually Chris. End of story. Until I began to realise that she was not like the other shallow, materialistic girls who only ever cared about lipstick and heels and gossip and hot guys. She was just her. The day that I almost asked her out was also the day that she confessed to me that she was in love with perfect, captain-of-the-basketball-team Chris. Perfect.

How I wished everyday was like this. Chris-free and alone with Steph. But when he was around, she gets flustered and self-conscious and totally unlike herself. I guess being a kind-of nerd has it's merits after all, if it means having more time to hang out with her alone.

"Dude wake up! You're totally not yourself today." I heard her say as her math notebook landed on my head with a sharp tap. "This algebra thing is seriously giving me a major migraine." 

"Urgh, you're giving me a major migraine." I laughed as she threw my pillow at me. How I hoped she knew how true those words were.

The weekly math tutoring sessions at my house was kind of the only thing worth looking forward to at my current pathetic state. And it helps that she wasn't the typical high school girl that's head over heels in love with the captain of the basketball team. I've never ever heard her gush over Chris or anything, for that matter. But I didn't doubt for a second how huge her crush on Chris was, as her actions when he was around proved.

"Okay. I have a proposal." She smiled mischievously and closed her math textbook.

"You're always up to something." I rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically. "Shoot."

"How about," she enunciated her words with exaggerated slowness, "I give up math for the rest of my life."

"Well, how about, " I pretended to consider and hid my smile, "No?"

"Awwwwwww, but I'm so tired and it's a Sunday. Can't we do something fun for a change instead of Math?" She scrunched up her nose and pouted when she said the word as if it were something socially unacceptable. Or in her books, it probably were.

How can I possibly refuse that expression on her face?

"Okay, okay, you got me. You finish these exercises and I'll take you someplace fun."

"You're the best, Connor!" She leaped up with newfound energy and proceeded to work on her Algebra. 

"I thought you said you were soooooo tired you couldn't possibly do another exercise?"

I smiled and shaked my head with exasperation as she stuck her tongue out at me.