Bad Boys & True Love

“I think I’m in love,” Christina moaned as she stared out of my bedroom window. I rolled my eyes at her dramatics—unless she actually did fall in love whenever she saw a guy shirtless, which would be even more ridiculous. “How do you resist from staring at him twenty-four/seven?”

“Well,” I started, “I’m not creepy.”

She took no offense to that and continued to stare out my window and at Sean Winters. He was a senior at our school, and hot—but way too out of my league. He seemed way too cool to date a junior like me, so I gave up on him only months after realizing that I had the perfect view of his bedroom.

“You know, if he notices you I will never speak to you again,” I threatened. She giggled. “Seriously, I’ll never live it down. He’ll always think I’m his stalker neighbor and that, my friend, is infinitely worse than the friend-zone.”

“Which you’re not even in,” she pointed out. I scowled at her. “Shame. He seems nice.”

I scoffed. “You mean his abs seem nice?” I corrected. She turned around and gave me a sweet smile that made me grin.

“Hey, if he wants to stroll around his room without a shirt on, I’m not going to complain.”

I laughed and grabbed a pillow off my bed to throw it at her. “Shut up! I thought you came over so we could finish our English paper and hang out.” I felt like such a nerd for pointing out the paper thing. It made me wonder how Christina and I became best friends in the first place—we were polar opposites. She preferred going to the mall and pointing out hot guys while I enjoyed snuggling up with some of my favorite books. And it didn’t stop there; she was tall and lithe with flowing brown hair that always looked perfect, and I was a midget with hideous mousy hair.

I might have liked flirting with guys if I looked like Christina, because they always flirted back. Besides, I couldn’t if I wanted to—I tended to get socially awkward around the opposite sex.

“We will, we will,” she mumbled. It really must have been quite a sight—she looked so focused on staring at Sean.

“Christina!”

“What? He’s hot, Stella!” she whined. “I just want him to come over and confess his love to me already.”

“But we need to work,” I grumbled. “I got an eighty-seven on my last paper! That’s not acceptable.” She snorted from her rooted spot. I was tempted to throw something a bit heavier than just a pillow. “Please stop being weird.”

“I’m being weird?” She whirled around to give me an incredulous look. “The hottest guy in school is ten feet away from me and he’s—holy shit! Some girl just came in!”

I tensed up automatically. I knew I didn’t have a chance with him, but it still hurt to hear it.
“You’re not going to watching them hook up, are you? And give me a play-by-play?”

She didn’t seem to notice what I was saying. “Dude, you won’t believe this—it’s Megan Walters!”

My heart sunk a little deeper. Megan Walters was very popular at our school—for being sophomore class’s biggest slut. Her dad was some plastic surgeon or something, so she was fifty-percent fake. I even heard that she had fake boobs. And she was only sixteen!

“Okay, gross, I’m done,” Christina said abruptly. “She’s suffocating his beautiful throat with her tongue.”

“I thought he was dating Emily what’s-her-name?” I said.

“Emily Jenkins? No, she cheated on him or something,” Christina replied, eager to gossip. “It was at some party or whatever and apparently she got wasted and slept with Drew Buchanan. I bet Sean was devastated.” She sighed.

I toyed with the fabric of my bedspread. I wouldn’t have done that to him; Emily was stupid. And not just because he was good-looking; our moms were friends, so I knew for a fact that he was a nice, respectful guy—the perfect boyfriend. Stupid Emily.

“Aw,” Christina cooed suddenly and I looked up, “you’ve got this jealous blush going on.”

I threw my arms over my face while she rolled over and laughed. “I hate you,” I mumbled into my bed. Her hysterical laughter didn’t cease at my harshness.

“Don’t be ashamed. We’re all jealous of Megan and Emily here on planet Earth.”

I sat up and avoided eye-contact. “Whatever. Can we work please?”

Christina sighed. “I’d rather not. Can’t we talk about Mike?” She grinned at me. “So…he asked me out yesterday.”

My jaw popped open. Mike—the Mike Lewis—was a very hot guy in our grade on the junior varsity football team. He was adorable and Christina’s favorite subject to flirt with. “And you said yes?!”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “I told him I’d think about it…”

I shoved her shoulder. “Why’d you do that? I know you like him.”

“Well,” she chewed on her bottom lip, “he’s a flirt. He was hitting on Kelly Markowitz within minutes of asking me. I don’t think I can trust him.”

I looked at Christina carefully. Guys always asked her out and she always thought of an excuse. I didn’t doubt that Mike started hitting on other girls afterwards—but he was an arrogant guy, and I’m sure he was just trying to ignore the fact he’d just been rejected. “I think you should say yes. You two are so alike I’ll probably have to fight for my best-friend-status.” I grinned. She slowly smiled back.

“That won’t be necessary; not even Mike could beat you. You know me better than my mom.”

My heart swelled and I hugged Christina. She was like my sister—the one I’d always wanted.

There was a knock on my door and I saw my mom’s head peek through. “Stella, we’re leaving in ten minutes for the academy,” she warned. “And Miss Silver says you better bring a back-up pair of Ballet shoes because she won’t lend you another this time.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay. And it’s not my fault I bled through my last pair.”

“Just be ready.” She closed the door behind her.

I crawled out of my bed, purposefully ignoring my window as I walked towards my closet. I picked out my pale pink tights and solid gray leotard and grabbed my last two pair of ballet slippers.

I gave Christina an apologetic smile. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“No,” she corrected, “I’ll call you tonight…right after I call Mike.” Her face was flushed.

“Aw,” I cooed mockingly. She laughed and called me a stupid ballerina as I fled the room.