Breathless

I’m going to be completely honest with you; whoever you are. I’m terrified of falling in love, I hate perfection and fairytales. I have the worst luck with boys; they always end up cheating on me with one of my two step sisters. One actually cheated on me with both of them. To my surprise, everyone considers my family perfect; until they find out I’m in the family as well. One good reason why I’m never invited to any big parties, or go out to dinner with them, or even just be seen in public with them.

My last name was changed to my mother’s maiden name after my father met Isabelle, my step mom. She changed him; and not for the better. He treats my step sisters like angels. He gives them money whenever they ask; but me, I work two jobs. He’s a traitor.

Today was the first day of September, my sister’s favorite day. She always knew that something would happen this day, she just knew it. She was killed when I was 7 by her fiancée. I trusted him; he lost that trust. He still hasn’t been caught which forces me to live in fear.

But as I trudged down the empty streets in the rich neighborhood here in Huntington Beach California, kicking a rock down the middle of the street, almost getting hit by a car was the last thing I expected to happen.

“Watch where you’re going asshole,” I said kicking the front of their car. They got out; the driver was a man. A very short man; taller than me, but still short. He had short, bleached blonde hair with splotches of black in random areas. He was hot, very hot. His eyes we’re an amazing brown that I could and was getting lost in.

“A girl as pretty as you shouldn’t be walking in the middle of the street at 6 in the morning,” He said smirking and walking closer.

“A girl has to get to school somehow. And right now, you’re going to make me late.” I said turning on my heel and walking again.

“How about I give you a ride?” He called out, stopping me in my tracks. I turned around to face him.

“Two things my mom taught me were never to sneak cookies into my room and never take rides, or candy, from strangers.” I called back. He smirked again.

“My name is Johnny.”

“Aria,” I responded.

“Now I’m not a stranger. You going to Huntington High?”

“Yeah,” I responded walking back to him.

“That’s exactly where I was headed. Get in, or both of us are going to be late.” He said. I smiled and got into the passenger side of the car. “Seatbelt,” He reminded me as he got in. I did as he told me before he took off down the road.

“Drive fast much?” I asked.

He chuckled, “Only to impress the pretty lady.” He said winking at me.

“You can’t impress me if we’re dead. Keep your eyes on the road.” I told him, hiding my blush with a smile. He smiled back before taking his eyes off of me and looking back at the road. “So why are you going to Huntington High? You can’t possibly be a student.”

“Exactly what I was going to say to you,” He said. I blushed again. Stupid boy… “My best friend is the new music teacher; he begged me to come help him out on his first day.”

“Ah, I see. Well I have two of his classes.” I said.

“How’d you manage that?”

“I’m not proud of it but I got my step mom and dad to pay the school so I could have two music classes instead of taking PE.” I explained.

“So you’re a music lover?”

“More like a music addict.” I said smiling.

“We’ll at least you’re addicted to music and not drugs or alcohol.” He said smiling at me. Johnny was easy to talk to; I could see us being friends easily. But then something hit me.

“Drop me off two blocks away from school,” I told him.

“Why?” He asked confused.

“I’ll explain later.” I told him. He nodded and pulled over to the side of the road and let me out. He stopped me before I could shut the door.

“When is your first music class?” He asked.

“4th, right before lunch,” I told him.

“I’ll see you then, Aria,” He said. I smiled and closed the door and he drove away. I sighed and finished the rest of the walk to school. I met my two best friends, Lance and Mel, outside of the school. I gave both of them long hugs before they wrapped their arms back around each other.

Most people would find it awkward have only two best friends that are dating each other. Them always kissing, cuddling and all that, but I find it comforting. I never thought love existed but they showed me it was possible to fall in love.

I just have to get over being terrified of it before I experience it myself.

We stood outside for a few minutes, talking about random shit that happened over the summer when we weren’t all together, before the bell rang for first hour. We split up, taking our separate ways to our first hour classes.

My first hour was history with Mr. Call. He was a bald old man that really needed to learn to shut up. I swear he was always talking unless we were taking a test or watching a movie. It irritated me to no end.

I took a seat behind Katrina, the ruler of the school, slouching back in my seat. Mr. Call greeted everyone that walked in and then shut the door when the bell rang. If that door was shut, you were late. I shut out whatever he was going on about for the next hour; it was the same thing every year on the first day of school.

Don’t cuss. Don’t wear inappropriate clothing. Yada Yada ya. Just shut up old man, please. I am begging you!

Thankfully, the bell for second hour saved me. I grabbed my stuff and literally ran out of that class room. I went to my second hour, which was math with Mr. Love. He was awesome. Everyone called him Dr. Love. He let us have fun in his class, and some of his jokes were actually funny. Unlike the stupid jokes most teachers try to pass off as funny.

And if someone cussed, he didn’t yell at us for it. We ate in his classroom too. But he always made sure we got our work done. Remember back in elementary school when you used to have birthday parties in the class room? Yeah, we do that. He’s that cool.

“Dr. Love,” I said smiling and giving him a high five when I walked into the class room.

“Aria, your hair is brown!” He exclaimed.

“I know, it looks awesome huh?”

“Defiantly,” He said smiling. I skipped over to my seat next to Lance and put my feet up on his lap. After everyone came in, he started talking.

“Alright, I know that every single one of your teachers is going to be talking about the basic rules you hear every single year; so I’m not going to. You guys all know my rules and I know you obey them. So, let’s start the year off with a movie! Anyone seen Twilight yet?” He asked. Half the class booed, the other cheered. Mostly the girls cheered.

“Yeah, I did too. It was lame. So, we’re watching Inception.” He said putting the movie in as we all cheered. Like I said, he was that cool. Lance scooted his desk closer to me so we could talk.

“So have you seen the new music teacher yet?”

“No, but I have seen his best friend. And if he is anywhere as hot as him, then this might just be a pretty damn good year.” I said smiling. Lance chuckled quietly.

“Mel had him first hour. She said you two would look “insanely adorable together”.” He said. I laughed a little.

“Her and her matchmaking addiction; what are we going to do with this girl?”

“I know what I’m going to do with her,” He said wiggling his eye brows.

“Okay gross, I love you guys but I don’t need to know about your sex life.”

“You’re just jealous because you don’t have a sex life.” He joked, sticking his tongue out at me. I stuck mine back out at him and we tried sticking our tongues out farther than each others before Mr. Love told us to stop making out. We laughed along with the whole class before sitting back in our seats and watching the movie.

Third hour was my free period; I could go to any class room that didn’t have a class in it. When I looked at the list, I saw my music class was open this hour. I decided to stop by and surprise Johnny and hour early. I walked down the halls to the class and saw it already had quite a few girls in it already; drooling over Johnny and who I am guessing to be Mr. Haner.

I walked in and Johnny instantly looked up at me. He made his way past all the girls and wrapped me in a hug.

“Thank god you’re here. These girls are beasts!” He whispered in my ear. I giggled as he set me back on the ground. “Bri- I mean, Mr. Haner!” Johnny called over to the teacher, grinning wildly. Mr. Haner looked up and him.

“What?” He asked. The girls that were talking to Johnny had already been glaring at me, but now the ones talking to Mr. Haner were too.

“This is Aria, the girl I told you about.”

“The one that walks in the middle of the street?”

“That’s the one,” He said smiling.

“I leave you with him for two hours and you’re already talking about me. Tsk, Tsk. What am I going to do with you?” I asked, taping his nose. He blushed in response. Brian rolled his eyes and went back to talking to his little fan girls.

“He’s an asshole when I find the prettiest girl before he does. Don’t mind him.” Johnny said.

“So now I’m pretty huh?” I asked.

“And much much more,” He said, running his hand through my long brown hair. “Did you dye this?” he asked changing the subject. I let it slide. This time.

“Yeah, I’m naturally blonde. I needed a change for my senior year though.” I said smiling.

“I bet you look beautiful either way,” He said making me blush again. “You blush a lot around me,” He pointed out, poking my cheek.

“I do not,” I said stubbornly, covering my cheeks with my hands.

“Do to,” He said back. The bell rang for fourth hour, earning groans from the girls in the class. They left and I picked out a spot in the class. Front and center. Johnny walked past me and whispered “do too.” Before going to help Mr. Haner out with something.

This was defiantly going to be an interesting year.