Lost In The Stereo Sound

Natalie's POV:
"Nat," my mother yelled from downstairs, "are you finished unpacking?"

"No," I yelled back. Not even fucking close.

The whole afternoon, I'd been laying on my unmade bed staring blankly at the unpacked boxes with scribbles of what was inside of them on the sides.

How in the world did I end up here in this godforsaken town? Not that it wasn't nice or anything, it just wasn't comparable to Florida. I was in a terrible mood. Maybe it was because of the fifteen hour drive up here yesterday. That was brutal.

I turned over on my stomach and rested my head on my hands. Here I was, seventeen, about to start my senior year in high school, in an entirely new school hours away from all of my friends. I was angry, scared, and sad.

My group of friends I had were with me since kindergarten! It wasn't like I had a choice to stay either. My dad moved to Los Angeles after the divorce was finalized a few days ago. That's what the divorce was really about. He had gotten a seven figure job offer in California and accepted it without telling my mother. When he finally brought it up a few months ago, she literally freaked out and haven't stopped fighting since. Not that I blame my dad for anything he's done, but Los Angeles was too far for me to move away to. He understood this very well and promised to visit me whenever he had to fly to New York for business. I wasn't angry at either of my parents, I was mad with the situation. My mother decided to move to Maryland to be close to her parents while she got back on her feet, so to speak. I don't know why, really. It wasn't like she was a single mother a three kids younger than six or anything. She just had me. But I guess that wasn't any of my business.

"Natalie, you haven't done anything!" my mother said as she walked into my room.

"Sorry," I said monotonously.

"You have school tomorrow," she said. "It's nearly dinner time!"

"So?" I argued.

"I know you're exhausted so you should probably get some sleep tonight," she said sitting on my bed and rubbing my back. "Here, I'll help you," she said walking over to open some of my boxes.

"Thanks, Mom," I said getting up to help her.

Within an hour, we unpacked my entire room. I made sure it looked exactly like my old room. The walls were already a pastel yellow color and I put up the same decorations I had before in a similar fashion.

"I'm going to go downstairs and order some Chinese. What do you want?" my mom asked taking some empty boxes in her hands.

"Uh, chicken almond ding and chicken fried rice," I said.

"Sounds good," my mom said as she walked down the stairs.

We ate and I helped my mom unpack her stuff before I passed out around eleven.

"Natty!" my mom called from downstairs. "Wake up!"

Feeling like pure hell, I climbed out of bed at the ripe hour of six. I walked into the adjoining bathroom and turned on the shower. Grabbing a tight fitting jersey American Apparel ivory colored dress, a bra, and thong, I went back into the bathroom and stepped in the shower. The steam woke me up as I washed my hair and shaved my legs. Putting some mousse in my naturally blonde wavy hair, I started to put on my clothes. I was cold, so I rummaged through my dress and found a navy mid-length cardigan to wear over it. I found some silver bracelets and looked in the mirror. I was as ready as I'd ever be for the first day at my new school.

"Natalie, do you have everything you need?" as I poured myself a bowl of cereal.

"I think so," I said taking a bite.

"You look cute," she said hugging me.

"Thanks," I said eating as fast as I could.

"I got you a present," she said. "Well, I guess your father did, mostly, but still. It's from us."

"What?" I said thinking something along the lines of clothes.

"Come here," she said walking to the window.

My dad was standing outside pointing at the driveway. My mouth dropped.

"Dad! You didn't have to do this!" I yelled running outside.

"Oh, please, honey. My signing bonus could buy at least ten of these," he said nonchalantly.

"How did you know I wanted this car in this color?" I asked marveling at the beauty of my new Lexus SC 10. It was a dark red/maroon color and had tan leather interior. And seeing that there was no top, it was a convertible.

"Because, I remember how jealous you were of Laura," he said. Laura was my spoiled cousin from La Jolla, California. She received a BMW Z4 on her fifteenth birthday. I know. "I know you're seventeen and all but-"

I cut my dad off with a giant hug. "You're the best," I said squeezing him tightly.

"You should probably leave soon, Natty," he said kissing the top of my head.

"I know," I said frowning.

"It will be fine, my dear,"You've always been good with making friends."

After learning a few things I should know about the car, I went inside to put my converse on and grab my school bag. With one last check in the mirror, I stepped outside bidding goodbye to my parents. I got in my new car and took a minute to take everything in. I inhaled deeply, loving the smell of new car. I slipped my aviator sun glasses and took a deep breath. Putting the key in the ignition, I started it up and began my drive to my new high school. I plugged my iPod in at a stoplight and pressed shuffle. Old- school Jimmy Eat World started playing loudly. I loved the feeling of driving with the wind in my hair, music blaring in the late-summer mornings.

To my dismay, the parking lot was nearly full seeing that it was fifteen minutes to the first bell. Sighing, I traveled to the back of the parking lot. There were two spaces left. One was next to the dumpster, which was intruding on at least half of the spot, and could hardly fit a smart car. The other, was full with people. I guess I'd have to ask them to move... As I pulled up, they all turned towards me. There were a few girls, but mostly they were awkward looking boys with weird hairstyles and obscure clothing. One boy caught my eye because he was sitting on top of the car. He was so... intriguing. Laughing to myself, I pulled up next to them.

"Hi, um, do you think I could park here?" I asked turning down my music. The brown haired boy sitting on the car jumped off and walked over to my car.

"Sure," he said motioning everyone else to move away from the parking space. "Sweet car."

"Thanks," I said trying to get him away so I could park. I was running late as it was.

"Are you new?" he asked narrowing his eyes at me.

"Yeah, why?" I asked getting impatient.

"Because you're too hot for me not to have noticed," he said casually.

"Right," I said practically snorting. "Look, can you move? I've got to get inside so I can possibly make it to class on time."

"Only if you're not busy Friday," he said leaning in the car.

"I am," I lied. "Move."

"See, I think you're lying," he said not moving an inch.

"Fine," I said putting my car in drive and let the brake go so that I moved a little.

"Whoa!" he said backing off. "I'll find you later." Winking, he and his friends walked off into the school.

What the fuck kind of school is this? I grabbed my bag and keys and walked into the building. It was relatively small for a high school.

"Hi, I'm new here and-"

"Oh, you must be Natalie," an older woman said with glasses on sitting at the front desk of the school.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Here is everything you need to know," she said. "Your text books are in your locker. Your locker is on the yellow paper and your schedule is on the blue paper. If you could fill the rest of the papers out for me by tomorrow, that'd be great."

"Ok," I said grabbing the stack of papers in her hands. "Thanks."

"Good luck, dear," she said smiling.

I turned around to find many people staring at me. To be honest, I didn't care, it was just weird. Shrugging it off, I wandered down the halls to find my locker. Dropping off the many blank notebooks in my bag, I looked at my schedule.

"Looks like you have first period with me," a voice in my ear said. I jumped.

"What the hell are you doing?" I said turning around to find that brown-haired kid from the parking lot grinning like an idiot.

"Just being nice," he said as the bell rang. "French class is this way."

"Right," I said digging in my locker to find a notebook and the textbook.

"Come on, we're going to be late," he said crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

"No one said you have to wait for me," I said closing my locker. He rose and eyebrow at me.

"What's your name?" he asked as we walked down the hall.

"Natalie," I said. "What's yours?"

"Alex," he said guiding me though the masses. Everyone seemed to know this kid. He was greeted by almost everyone we passed. "Are you sure you're busy Friday night?"

"You don't give up, do you?" I laughed.

"I always get what I want," he said. The bell rang again. "Shit."

"Nice of you to grace us with your presence, Alexander," our French teacher said.

"I was helping a new student find this class," he explained hurrying into the back of the room. He took a seat next to a lanky kid with black hair. A streak of bleach blonde was running through the front of his hair. I recognized him from the parking lot.

"Oh, sure," she scoffed. "You must be Natalie. Welcome."

"Thanks," I said finding a seat in the back next to Alex.

"As I was saying before, the exam will be on Friday..."

I tuned her out and felt a tap on my arm. I turned my head to face Alex.

"This is Jack," he whispered. I waved at the lanky kid.

"Hey, I'm Anne," a girl to the left of me whispered. "You're new right?" I nodded. "Find me at lunch," she said. I turned back to Alex and he shook his head no.

"Why?" I mouthed.

"I'll tell you later," he said shaking his head.

French class ended and I found my next class which was calculus. That was a snore. My next class was creative writing. To my surprise, Alex was already seated at the back of the room when I walked in.

"Natalie!" he yelled. Everyone looked up and stared at me. I waved and made my way back next to Alex.

"Hi," I said taking my seat. "You keep showing up."

"It's what I do best," he said.

"I wouldn't have guessed that you'd be in this class," I said.

"It's, like, the only class I'm doing well in," he said with a laugh.

"Interesting."

"Well, I'm in a band, so..."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked quizzically.

"I write our stuff," he explained. "You know, lyrics."

"Right," I said.

"Hello, class. This week we will be focusing on poetry," our teacher said.

I turned to face Alex and ask him about what we had been doing in this class but he looked like he actually concentrating instead of doodling in his notebook. His notes were clean and orderly unlike his notes for French, if you could actually call them notes.

"I'm ditching next period," Alex said as class ended. "I'll see you at lunch."

I waved as he walked away and sneaked out the side door. I looked down at my schedule and saw that I had modern history. That class was actually exciting. When it ended, I made my way down to the cafeteria.

"Hey!" Anne yelled running up to me as I entered.

"Hi," I said getting in line to buy myself some food.

"So, I just wanted to warn you about Alex," she said.

"Oh, I just met him this morning," I said. "I'm not like, with him or anything."

"Ok, well, basically he's a cocky asshole," she said. "We dated last year."

"Yeah?" I asked as I grabbed an apple.

"Yeah. I mean, I feel sort of weird telling you this, but he dumped me right after I lost my virginity to him," she said. "Literally, the next day."

"That's unfortunate," I said feeling even more weird.

"I know it's probably too much information for just meeting you, but it's not the first time he's done something like that," she said. "I just don't want to see another girl fall into that trap."

"Uh, thanks," I said grabbing a tray of curly fries and a diet coke.

"See you around!" she yelled as she ran off with a group of friends.

I paid for my food and walked to out to my car to go to starbucks for some real coffee drinks that aren't from a machine.

"Skipping out on me, Natalie?" a voice said from behind me. Not even bothering to turn around and see that it was Alex, I got into my car.

"How am I skipping out on you?" I asked starting it.

"I said see you at lunch," he said getting out of his car and into mine.

"I don't recall inviting you into my car," I said. This kid was unrelenting.

"Dude, relax," he said bucking his seat belt. "Where are we off to?"

"Starbucks," I said giving up and backing out of my spot.

"I didn't think that our first date would to Starbucks," he said.

"No one said anything about a date," I laughed.

"Yeah, ok," he said turning on my stereo. Jimmy Eat World's Clarity began playing. "Sick album."

"I know," I said. "You can never go wrong with Jimmy."

"How do you even know where to go? I thought you just moved here," he said eying me suspiciously.

"GPS, duh," I said pointing at the dashboard.

"Ok, Mrs. Richy Rich," he scoffed. "What's this button do?"

"It makes the top go down," I said.

"Yours or the car?" he said smirking.

"Jesus," I groaned. "You are ridiculous."

"I'll take that as a maybe," Alex said.

"Look, I'm not into you," I stated matter-of-factly.

"Yet," he said casually.

"Stop," I said pulling up to the Starbucks drive-thru.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Grande coffee of the day with cream," he said loudly.

"Make that two!" I yelled out the window.

"That will be $5.76. Please pull forward to the next window."

"I got it," he said pulling out his wallet and fumbling to find a Starbucks gift card.

"No, it's fine," I said fishing a twenty out of my purse.

"No, I sort of crashed this," he said throwing his card in the open window.

"Thanks," I said smiling.

"Since I paid, this technically is a date," he said smirking.

"You're so annoying," I said taking a bite of my apple.

The rest of the week passed in a similar manner to what happened on my first day. The course work was easier than my old school, so I was left with a lot of free time that Alex talked himself into. It all started on that Wednesday when he showed up at my house.

"Natty!" my mom called from downstairs. "Someone's here to see you!"

"How did you find my house, ya weirdo?" I said walking down the stairs. My mom took that as her cue to leave and she disappeared in the kitchen.

"A little bird told me," he smirked. "Natty?"

"Shut up. My name's Natalie."

"Sure, Natty."

On Friday, he came over later than usual.

"Let's go somewhere," he said as we were sitting in my room as usual.

"Where?" I asked.

"My friend's house," he said. "He lives, like two blocks away."

"Alright," I said getting up. "What makes you so sure they will like me?"

"Well, for one, Jack thinks you're the hottest thing. And you're cool," he explained. "Don't worry about it."

"Whatever you say, Gaskarth," I replied picking up my keys. It was almost ten at night and I checked in on my mom saying I'd be home by my usual curfew, one thirty.

"Those won't be necessary," he said grabbing them out my hand.

"Why not?" I said grabbing my bag as we walked downstairs.

"It's close and we can walk," he explained as if it were obvious.

Alex tried grabbing my hand at least thirty times in the two blocks to his house. I laughed it off, but I could tell he was getting discouraged with each time I turned him down. And I would never admit it if you asked, but he was starting to grow on me. Big time.

Alex's POV:
I swear, that girl did NOT know how beautiful she was. She never wore make-up and rarely did anything special to her hair other than put it up.

"Here we are," I said stopping at Jack's house. You could hear the music loudly from outside.

"You never said anything about a party," she said nervously.

"Natty, it's just some of my friends, not some psychopaths," I said with a laugh.

"Ok, Gaskarth," she said grabbing my hand, finally, as we entered the house.

"Yo! Party's here!" I yelled as we walked in.

"There's a lot of people here, liar," she said hitting my arm.

"Relax," I advised as I brought her over to my close group of friends and their girlfriends. I introduced her to them and she greeted him kindly. "Want a drink?"

"Yeah, of course," she said.

"What do you want?" I asked preparing myself for the possibility that she didn't drink.

"A beer sounds good," she said smiling. "Please?"

"Hell yeah," I said walking into the kitchen.

I grabbed two Keystone Lights (yeah, we're pretty classy), and walked to the kitchen door. I peered around the corner to see if she was mingling with anyone. Natalie had moved from my group of friends to where the speakers were in the corner. She was nodding her head to the beat and dancing. Just when I thought this girl couldn't get any more amazing, she goes and pulls a stunt like that. Nothing was more attractive than a girl who was confident enough to dance alone. I was tired of those girls who watched what they ate and drank. I could tell you exactly how many calories were in a tall Starbucks latte, thanks to my previous girlfriend.

Natalie looked so beautiful too. Her blonde hair was messy, hanging past her shoulders. She was wearing a form-fitted black dress with a light blue hoodie and black converse. There was something so sexy about the fact that she didn't even try to look pretty. She noticed me and smiled walking toward me.

"There you are, asshole," she said grabbing a can of beer out of my hand and took a long drink from it.

"Shit," I murmured.

"What?" she said looking slightly self-conscious.

"Nothing," I said. "Want to dance?"

"Not with you, Gaskarth," she said walking back toward the speakers. Just as she was almost there, she turned back and smiled. "You coming or not?"

I felt something inside of me that I'd never felt in my life. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew that she was something special. And that I wanted her in my life. God, I wanted her.