The Last of the Firedrakes [Watty Award Winner 2015]

CHAPTER 1 - CHANCE

School was a disaster.

I had to hand in an incomplete homework assignment because of Cornelia, and I got a week of detention because of it. I knew Cornelia hated me as much as her mother did, but she was much more clever and sly about it.

As the day trudged on, things steadily got worse. I failed my algebra test since I couldn't concentrate, got kicked off the volleyball team because I was late for practice again. And to top it all off, I had no friends, so as usual I had to eat lunch on my own. Just a regular crappy day in my life.

I was sitting in the school cafeteria, minding my own business and moving a piece of dried-up meatloaf around my plate, when a mousy girl with huge glasses whose name I couldn't remember came up to my empty table and handed me a note.

I took it and looked up at her, my eyes narrowing. "What's this?"

She looked down as she shuffled her feet, avoided my eyes, and walked away.

I opened the note and glanced over it hurriedly. My heartbeat quickened. This was no ordinary note. It was from Alex Carrington, the most popular boy in school.

I scanned the crowded lunchroom rapidly. Alex was sitting at a corner table, chatting animatedly with a group of his friends, all part of the football team.

While I was busy admiring his high cheekbones and stylishly cut blond hair he looked up, and our eyes locked. He had the bluest eyes I had ever seen, and to my utter surprise he smiled and winked at me conspiratorially. My eyes darted back to my plate, my face flushed. How embarrassing to be caught staring at him.

I tried to keep a straight face while my overjoyed heart did somersaults. Could it be possible that Alex Carrington had actually noticed me? I'd had a crush on him ever since the seventh grade, but he'd never given me a second glance. Until now, I thought with a silly smile on my face.

His note said that he wanted me to go with him to Kimberly Walden's party on Friday night. He could have come over and asked me himself, since he didn't seem the note-passing type. But I could have been wrong; maybe he was just being discreet.

I wanted to get a moment alone with him. I gathered my courage and waited outside the cafeteria, preparing myself to finally talk to the boy of my dreams.

He walked out of the school lunchroom surrounded by his friends and a gaggle of giggling girls, some of whom I recognized as Cornelia's friends.

"Hi Alex," I said abruptly, as he passed by me standing awkwardly alone in the hall.

He stopped and turned. "Well, hello there." His boyish charm utterly disarmed me, and I forgot what I was going to say.

He put one hand on the wall beside me, his blond hair flopping into his twinkling cerulean eyes. "So, what's up?" His voice was soft like a caress.

"Um, I got your note." I looked down and shifted from one foot to the other. This was the first time I had actually talked to him, and I desperately wanted to make a good impression. Although I knew I wasn't doing a very good job of it.

He raised his eyebrows, an amused smile forming on his lips. "My note?"

"Yes." I figured that maybe he didn't want his friends to know about us yet, so I lowered my voice. "To go to Kimberly's party on Friday. I just wanted to tell you in person that I would love to go with you."

To my utter dismay, Alex Carrington laughed at me. "Why would I go to Kimberly's party with you?"

"But the note?" I spluttered, fishing it out from my scruffy blue knapsack, still confused, while a growing dread started to creep into the depths of my stomach.