Meet Me There

CHAPTER ONE: ASHLYN

Must be fine with watching chick flicks over football.

If interested call Ashlyn at 315-555-7892

Or wait for me by my black Mercedes after school for your interview.

My jaw dropped. He actually put my real number on there. I crumpled the flyer in a ball and looked down the hall that was bustling with students. There were identical ads taped on lockers all along the row. I rushed down the tiled floor, knowing I only had a couple minutes before the bell rang and I had to go to my first class. I ripped down sign after sign, going down the main hall as fast as I could in my wedges.

The warning bell rang.

No!

I made a dash at one last flyer and barely ripped it down before the hall was completely full of students rushing to their first period classes. I threw the offending flyers in the trash and headed to my locker to grab my History notebook.

My friend and next-door neighbor, Eliana, saw me as soon as I turned the corner.

"Did you see them?" Eliana asked in a hushed tone, her blue eyes searching mine for signs of a freak out.

I nodded. "Just barely. I took down as many as I could on my way here."

"Me too. Your brother and I started yanking them down as soon as we got here, but we could only get the ones in this hall."

I opened my locker, resisting the urge to punch it. "Why does Luke keep doing this? Doesn't he have anyone else he can annoy?"

Eliana leaned her barely five-foot frame against her locker, her notebooks hugged to her chest. "I have no idea, but we definitely need to get him back good this time."

"For real." He'd taken these pranks to a new level of public humiliation. He needed some public humiliation himself.

My brother Jess walked up behind us then. "Do you want me to take care of Luke this time?" he asked in his protective, older brother voice.

"No. You don't need to get involved. Though I am open to suggestions for revenge."

Jess checked his watch. "The late bell is gonna ring in a minute, but we'll talk more about this after school." He looked at Eliana. "See you at Math Club."

She nodded and then Jess left us.

"You guys have Math Club on the first day of school?"

Eliana shrugged. "Not officially. But since Jess and I are in charge this year he figured we should go over some stuff with Miss Maloney today if we could."

I couldn't keep a grin from spreading across my cheeks. "You guys are such nerds."

"And proud of it!" she grinned back. "Anyway, I better get to class. But I'll grab any flyers that I see on my way. Sorry about this. Luke went overboard this time."

I was almost to my history classroom when I spotted Luke. He was leaning against the wall as if he'd been waiting for me to walk by. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd stolen my class schedule from the office. When our eyes met, a smirk lifted his lips. He pushed himself off the wall and his long legs fell into step next to mine.

"How's your first day going?" he asked.

"Fabulously," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Pretty much a dream. I've always wanted to see a cartoon version of my face plastered all over the school. Did you draw that picture yourself?"

He grinned. "No, actually my neighbor girl was selling her art on the sidewalk last weekend and her picture reminded me so much of you that I had to buy it."