Meet Me There

CHAPTER ONE: ASHLYN

Breaking up with Brock was a good thing, I gave my reflection a pep-talk one more time before leaving the locker room. You made the right choice. Life is better without him.

I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm my first day of school jitters. My blonde hair looked okay after being in a ponytail for this morning's 6:30 am drill team practice. My blue eyes were maybe a little tired looking, but that was to be expected since I'd slept terribly last night. At least my new outfit rocked—an awesome floral printed blouse with dark skinny jeans. It had felt like Christmas when I'd found the last shirt in my size at Chic Girl Boutique. Being a tall girl made it hard to find clothes that fit just right.

I inspected myself one last time before pulling my bag over my shoulder and leaving the deserted locker room. All the other drill team girls had left five minutes ago, excited to see everyone again after summer break.

I made it to the top of the stairs that led away from the gym and scanned the hall. There were different clusters of students standing around, but no Brock.

Good. I breathed a sigh of relief. He'd always waited for me in the mornings last year, and it was nice that he had decided to change his routine as well. If I was lucky I might be able to avoid seeing him all morning. Junior's and Seniors didn't usually have many classes together so if I could figure out a way to avoid him at lunch I might not have to see him at all.

I was just walking into the main hall when I saw a poster that made my stomach drop.

Not again!

I rushed forward in and ripped the paper from the wall. There was only one person in this school who would do something like this.

I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill Luke Davenport.

I stared at the flyer in my hand, reading over the advertisement with a hand-drawn picture that I assumed was supposed to look like me. It looked like a kid had drawn it.

BOYFRIEND WANTED

For: Ashlyn Brooks

Junior. 5'7"ish. Dancer. Blonde hair. Blue or Green Eyes. (I think).

He was starting this up again? I shook my head and read over the headline once more. He didn't even do his research before posting the ridiculous thing. I was five foot eight and my eyes were most definitely blue. No, I didn't have one green eye and one blue eye like this hideous portrait suggested—something he might notice if he ever took the time to actually look at me instead of pulling these annoying pranks.

But he'd been pulling pranks like this since last spring. It all started with him slipping extra baking soda in my cake during Foods class. One prank led to another and before long we were in a war. I thought he'd forget about our rivalry over the summer, but apparently, he still had nothing better to do with his time. We'd always kept our pranks fairly harmless, but this...this was going too far. How long had these fliers been up? And how many people had seen them? Had Brock seen them and thought I had posted them. I was going to throw up.

I read the rest of the flyer.

Seeking guys with the following qualifications:

Happy to commit. (Good 'ol ball and chain.)

Loves to pamper his girl.

Tall, dark, and handsome preferred, but short and squatty are OK.

Must love shopping for hours at Chic Girl Boutique.