The Deal with Fletcher

CHAPTER 1

The deal with Fletcher van Dyck is that he isn't a dick. Nor is he from a place called Dyck. Contrary to his last name, Fletcher van Dyck is one of the most kindest guys you could ever meet in our small town. Scratch that. Fletcher is one of the most sweetest guys you could meet in the whole damn world. That's why I was surprised to hear that over the weekend, Fletcher had gotten into a fight with none other than my cousin Brandy.

Apparently, over the weekend, Brandy had held another one of his infamous parties. I had never gone to any of them before despite being his cousin, but I always heard wild stories about what happened there. One time a guy drunkenly got on top of the roof and fell asleep. When he awoke to his right senses the next morning, he realized he was deathly afraid of heights and the firefighters had to be called in order to help get him down. Another time some girl drank so much that she clogged all the bathroom toilets with her puke. The plumber wasn't quite happy with his job and neither was Uncle Jeff when he had to pay the plumber who overcharged, and an additional air duct guy to get rid of the stinky odor that remained. Least to say, Brandy was notorious all around town for his untamable parties. And the fact that the golden boy of Collingwood High School had gotten himself involved in the untamable is what surprised me.

According to Melissa, my friend who was always caught up on the latest gossip and drama in Collingwood, she had been there when Fletcher landed the first punch. After that, everything went downhill. Just like they always do at Brandy's parties.

There had been some girl. It always was some girl when it came to Fletcher. She was possibly another victim of 'The Dyck Project'. Anyway, they had been talking and Fletcher went off to get them some more drinks. Brandy found an opening and drunkenly started flirting with the girl. He ended up calling her some not-so-nice words and when Fletcher returned to see Brandy talking to his girl of the night, he attacked.

It was typical Fletcher behaviour, taking a girl under his wing and basically making her his charity case. Fletcher was notorious around town for the Dyck Project. To any new citizens, it would seem as if Fletcher was a player, simply taking girls and letting them go when he felt like it. But if you grew up in Collingwood, you knew that was the complete opposite of what he did.

Fletcher took girls under his wing who were insecure. The types of girls that were quiet and shy and couldn't stand up for themselves. He didn't give them makeovers per se, but he did turn them into confident women, which was nice if you were into the female empowerment stuff, I guess.

In my opinion, it was pretty stupid. Most girls did turn out confident which was great and as a feminist myself, I loved it. However, I didn't enjoy seeing all those girls looking heartbroken, sad glances thrown Fletcher's way when he wasn't looking, all because these girls thought they could be the one that Fletcher opened up his heart to.

Back to the point, Fletcher wasn't a bad person. He was sweet and though I didn't agree with the Dyck Project, I still liked him. Plus he was pretty attractive, with his sandy brown hair that was always tousled to perfection, his hazel eyes that always seemed to be a different colour each time you looked into them, and his athletic physique that made all the girls, and even some guys, swoon. Fletcher van Dyck was the whole package, your dream man come true.

Sure, maybe I did dream sometimes that I'd be the next girl Fletcher picked, except it would be different because I'd actually be the one to figure out his mysterious past and fix him while he also fixed me. But it was a dream and a stupid one at it. Speaking of dreams...

"Hey, Hadley. Daydreaming again?" It was my best friend Audrey. She punched my arm lightly as she leaned against the locker beside mine.

"Hey," I greet back. I blinked my eyes, forcing myself to clear my thoughts of all things Fletcher. I wasn't one of those girls. I was confident enough, and I didn't need no boy or man to fix me.