Here I was standing in the office, my eyes bulging out of my eye sockets as I looked down at the paper in my hand.
"Are you okay?"
No, I wasn't okay. Being okay was the furthest thing from what I was right now.
I looked up, "Mrs. Richardson," I said quickly, "I can't do this program anymore."
She looked at me for a second in shock. "Is there something wrong?" Mrs. Richardson sounded concerned.
At this point, I could barely breathe. My hand went up to my chest as I looked down at the name on the paper one more time.
"Nope, everything is fine." I forced a nervous smile onto my lips. "I just can't do it." My words were coming out rushed, so I took a deep breath to try to calm myself down. "I know I signed up for this program to help new transfer students feel more welcome and all but I..." My eyes landed on the paper once again. "I just remembered I have a lot of school work that I need to focus—"
Mrs. Richardson suddenly let out a sharp laugh which shut me up immediately. I looked over at her confused and she just shook her head at me. "Miss. King, you aren't trying to get out of this now are you?" She asked and I tried to speak but she spoke again. "It's too late for that I'm afraid. You're the one who signed up for this program, and you will have to go through with it. The transfer student is coming in a day. You need to make sure to show him around and make him feel as welcome as possible!" She exclaimed. "I'll see you later!"
And with that, she was done talking.
A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I walked towards the door. As soon as I left the office my best friend Kiera Knight, was already waiting for me. "How'd it go?" She questioned me. "Hey... what's wrong?" She then asked when she saw the look on my face.
There was nothing I could say, so I held out the paper so that Kiera could see. She gave me a look for my strange behaviour but she took the paper out of my hands anyway. "On behalf of our school, we would love to personally thank you: Khloe King, for joining our wonderful mentoring program. The transfer student you will be monitoring is named..." Kiera gasped, "Hayden Ross?!"
"I know," I mumbled.
"What!" Kiera practically screamed. "Hayden Ross?" She questioned and I continued to give her a blank stare. "Your neighbour Hayden Ross!"
That's when I took a deep breath and shook my head quickly grabbing the paper out of her hands. "This is ridiculous." I forced a laugh. "There is no way my neighbour Hayden Ross, is the transfer student at our school."
Kiera looked skeptical but she nodded her head anyway. "Yeah, you're right." She said, "Technically, Hayden Ross hasn't been your neighbour for quite some time now."
That was very true. The first time I ever laid eyes on Hayden Ross was when I was ten years old. I was outside running around with my older sister Luna, with popsicles in our hands that were clearly melting because of the hot summer sun but we didn't care. My hair was tied in pigtails that I remember my mother forced me to wear because it made me look cute.
I remember that Luna suddenly stopped running and pointed at the house beside ours and that's when I saw him. He jumped up and down as he looked at his new house. Luna and I stood there eyeing him and as if he could feel us standing there, staring at him like idiots he turned around and gave us both a cheeky smile. His brown hair was messy but his hazel eyes sparkled under the glistening sun, and that's when I knew there was something different about Hayden Ross that I could never forget. I knew it was stupid because I was only ten years old and those types of feelings to me were foreign because I was so young, but I really did feel something strong towards him. Sadly, I had to realize that he would never return those childish feelings back.
I lived beside Hayden for a total of five years and he never seemed to really notice me for me. He would smile at me once in a while but, I was still a shadow. It wasn't like Hayden Ross completely ignored me because it wasn't anything like that, he just never saw me in the way I wanted him to. When we were younger we were closer though. We would laugh and smile. Until one day we didn't. He stayed away from me and I couldn't understand why. I went to school with Hayden for a total of five years and still nothing. He did notice Luna in the way she wanted him to, but then again everyone noticed Luna.
That's why I was almost relieved the day that Luna came into my room with the biggest smile on her face and told me that she was moving away to go to one of the best colleges in the country. I wasn't even surprised that Luna had gotten into such a prestigious school, she was always the smarter one. But the reason why I truly was relieved was because I was hoping to shed the image of being just Luna's little sister. I was tired of living in her shadow.
"Khlo," Kiera snapped her fingers in front of my face to gain my attention. I quickly looked up at her and she continued. "It's not him." She confirmed. "I mean... how could it be?" She laughed and I laughed along with her. "I know you were—"
My cheeks burned. "It wasn't an obsession." I blurted out quickly. "I just thought he was cute."
Kiera rolled her eyes at me, "Okay, whatever you say Khloe—" She suddenly stopped talking and averted her eyes towards the end of the hall and I slowly turned around to meet her gaze.
Walking down the hall was Aiden Pierce.
Being my naive self I thought what Aiden and I had was special. I was depressed at the fact that my parent's marriage failed, and as much as I hated to admit it, I did miss Luna a lot.
When I was fourteen years old my mom asked if I wanted to move a few towns over with her after she and dad called it quits for good. I honestly didn't mind moving away, because even dad was going to be selling the house that I had lived in for ten years, to downsize so I agreed to move in with my mom. At least I wouldn't have to see Hayden ever again.
When I first came to Ryder High I was nervous because I wanted people to like me. I didn't want to be in anyone's shadow anymore. So you can understand my excitement when Aiden Pierce, the school's star basketball player asked me to be his girlfriend only after a few weeks of being at this school. I should have known.
If they weren't already my cheeks were burning profusely and I quickly looked away from Aiden and his new girlfriend, Ashlynn Lewis. I could feel my blood boiling, and when I looked over at Kiera she looked just as angry.
"I can't believe him!" Kiera hissed, "Walking around with her as if he didn't cheat—"
"Stop!" I whispered to Kiera as I heard their footsteps becoming closer.
Ashlynn looked over at me and she smiled.
She smiled!
I do have to say that it was very embarrassing to find out that your boyfriend was cheating on, you from the hushed whispers girls would whisper each time I would walk into a class. Aiden didn't even have the decency to tell me himself. After we had broken up he went straight to Ashlynn and made it public, but not technically because everyone else seemed to already know he was seeing her behind my back, except for me. Aiden was my first boyfriend, and we had been dating since I was a freshman. Now today, as a senior I realize how stupid I was. I thought that Aiden would actually want to be with me forever.
"Whatever." Kiera huffed. "Let's go, Khloe." She grabbed my wrist, dragging me in the opposite direction of Aiden and Ashlynn. "You know, you're better than her?" Kiera said trying to lighten up the mood and I laughed.
"Of course I know I am."'
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After a long day of school and almost having a heart attack five times, I was very happy to be home. I could hear my bed calling my name as soon as I stepped through the door.
"Hey, Andrew." I smiled looking over at Andrew as I threw my bag on the floor.
Mom and I moved in with Andrew and his six-year-old daughter Alicia, a little over a year ago. We lived alone together for about two years until she told me that she meet a nice handsome man with a very good job. That was true. After mom and dad got divorced she didn't have to work another day in her life. The house I previously lived in with my family wasn't small at all, but it's safe to say that Andrew's house was definitely bigger.
As for Alicia, I didn't mind becoming an older sister. I was always so used to Luna bossing me around, I often wondered what it would feel like to have a little sister instead of being one myself.
"Hey, kid." He threw a lazy smile my way. "How was school?" He questioned.
"You know," I sighed and Andrew laughed nodding his head knowingly. "School is school," I mumbled and my eyes shifted towards mom, who was running around in the kitchen. I don't think I've actually seen her spend so much time in the kitchen making meals. "Mom?" I said and her head snapped up to look at me.
"Oh, hi sweetie." She smiled, planting a quick kiss on my cheek. "I forgot to tell you that my friend and her family are coming over."
"What?"
"Yeah!" Mom nodded her head excitedly. "I don't think you would even remember them. I haven't seen her in years and I heard they're new to town. How funny is that? We ended up back in the same place." She said turning back to the pasta that was currently burning over the stove. "I thought I'd make dinner too."
"It's not even dinner time," I mumbled but mom just rolled her eyes and turned around.
Great.
I was going to have to sit around the dinner table and pretend like I cared about what my mom and her friends were talking about. "Who are they?" I wondered.
"We used to—" The doorbell rang, so mom stopped talking and looked over at the door. "Khloe, go get the door please."
I sighed as I dragged my feet to the front door. I really didn't know who these people were, but I hoped this dinner wasn't going to be horrible like all the other ones.
I quickly pulled the door open and I was met by a woman with a warm smile who immediately pulled me into a tight hug. "It's so good to see you again, Khloe!"
"Do I..." I said slowly, "know you?" I asked and in all honesty, I didn't mean to sound rude, I was just completely confused. "I'm sorry."
The women slowly pulled away from me and laughed. "Oh don't worry about that, I suppose you wouldn't remember. I'm Lisa and this is my husband Michael." She smiled and pointed towards the man beside her. I gave them both a quick smile.
My mom quickly came running from the kitchen and gave both Lisa and Michael a hug. "It's so good to see both of you again! Khloe, you must remember Lisa and Michael, we lived beside them for a while." She smiled and then her smile suddenly dropped ever so slightly. "Where is Hayden?"
"Mom?" I squeaked out nervously looking over at her. "Who the hell is Hayden?" I tried to whisper but I'm sure Lisa and Michael heard my loud mouth.
"Oh," Lisa smiled, "He's always been slow." She quickly turned around, "Here he comes now!"
My jaw dropped to the ground and suddenly I felt like I couldn't breathe all over again, like when I read his name on that stupid paper. It really was him. I would have gone sprinting towards my room but Andrew was standing in the way watching me closely.
His piercing eyes slowly travelled to mine and it felt as if he was burning holes into my shaking body. I felt my face go scarlet red from the embarrassment.
Well, this definitely is not how I imagined I would see Hayden Ross after three whole years.
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I hope you guys enjoy the first chapter! I don't know how it was but again i hope it was good :) Come back for more!! I'm really excited for this story❤️