Temptations

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The moving van pulled up to a plain, yellow house with white trim and classic glass shutters in the kitchen window. The porch was big, with a wooden swing and a large, white front door. The lawn had obviously been tended too and the bushes were trimmed.

“Well girls, welcome home,” my dad said, opening the trunk of our car.

“The house in Arizona was bigger,” Stacy, my sister, stated, picking at her nails.

“Your attitude was better there too, apparently,” my mom frowned, “Could you at least pretend like you’re happy to be here. We haven’t even stepped foot into the house and you’re already complaining.”

“Well it’s not like I asked to be moved all the way to this hellhole. I know Ada feels the same way. What the hell, mom?”

“I know it was hard to leave your friends behind, but you girls will make new ones. You start school tomorrow, there is plenty of time-“

“Tomorrow? You’ve got to be shitting me, mom.”

“Stacy Anne Burke!”

“Alright, alright, enough already!” my dad intervened. “Stacy, do not argue with your mother. Just go inside, I’ll bring your stuff in.”

Stacy huffed and stomped inside. Great start to a new life, don’t you think?

Noticing my uneasiness, my dad nudged me forward, “Come on, Chief, you'll like it here.”

“Oh I wouldn't doubt that,” my attention strayed to the children laughing and playing in the street. There were women out in their gardens and men washing their cars. It was a picture perfect neighborhood.

“If you run, you can beat Stace to the better room.”

I tried to hide my smile and allowed him to push me towards the house, giving in and running up the stairs.

I let Stacy have the bigger room, feeling more comfortable with the limited space; I didn't have much to fill it with. It only took me an hour to unpack all of my books and posters and put my clothes in the closet. I sat down on my bed with a huff, surveying my new “home” for the next who-knows-how-long.

I was looking through some of my old pictures and smiled. As much as I hated to admit it, I had met some pretty cool people in Arizona. Even someone I considered a best friend. That was big in my book, not something to be taken lightly. But it wasn’t that way for everyone and I had learned that the hard way.

Shelby was the best friend I had ever had. We had only known each other a short time, but it felt like we had been best friends for years. I had stayed in Arizona for about 2 years. That was the longest time I’d ever spent anywhere. At first I was a little weary of making friends; I always was. But something about Shelby made me want to try.

It was probably how cool Shelby seemed. She was pretty, smart and insanely popular. Naturally, anyone would be drawn to her celebrity status. Once I was seen around with Shelby a few times, people started to notice me as well. Me; the girl who never had amounted to much and didn’t ever expect to, had people lining up to be her friend. As you can imagine, it was only a matter of time before things got out of hand…

Todd McBride was the epitome of a perfect guy. Tall, handsome, strong- the list could go on forever and much to my surprise, he picked me. We were the “It” couple and I couldn’t have been more in love if I tried.

Homecoming, sophomore year, I decided it was time. I planned on spending forever with Todd and I had thought he felt the same way. It was supposed to be special. It was supposed to be a time I never forgot. Well I’ve definitely never forgotten, much to my dismay.

I tore the picture of Todd and I into two pieces and threw it into the trash. I never wanted to remember the slime ball that ruined my life.

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“Uh hi we're the Burke's, we're new here. Um...”

“Oh yes! We've been waiting for you girls all morning! Let me grab your schedules here...Just a moment, dearies, this place is such a mess...Ah, here we have it,” she pulled two pieces of paper from her file cabinet and handed them to us, “Now, I must warn you, unless you check out the map I have given you, you will have some trouble finding your classes. Best of luck to you both. Do enjoy your day, girls.”

"Thanks,” I gave her a small smile and handed Stacy her copy of the map and schedule.

“Oh you're quite welcome, Miss. Burke,” she gave me a cheerful smile and went back to typing away at her computer.

“Could you be anymore awkward? It’s no wonder you don’t have any friends” Stacy smirked, looking over her schedule, “Aw crap...I've got Trig first period. Who the hell takes math first period?”

“Karma’s a bitch, huh, bitch?”

“Excuse me? You little gremlin, if anyone’s a bitch, it’s you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck me? Fuck you-“

“Ahem…”

We turned to see probably one of the most attractive guys either of us had ever laid eyes on. Tan skin, gorgeous brown eyes and great hair. “Um sorry to interrupt, but I heard one of you mention you had trig now? I’m actually headed that way right now. I could show you the way, if you’d like?”

Stacy smirked at me and turned to the gorgeous boy, “I would love it if you showed me around.”

He looked at me, “How about you?”

“It’s fine, just make sure she actually gets to class. Don’t let her talk you into any storage closet rendezvous,” I rolled my eyes.

Stacy ignored my comment and looped her arms through the boys, tugging him down the hall.

Navigating the halls of this school wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. I found my 4th period class in no time.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to room 106. Everyone looked up at me. I looked at the board and instantly blamed karma for putting me in a Sex Ed class half way through the year.

“Well hello,” the teacher smiled, “Something I can help you with, dear?”

“Um yeah, I’m uh new here,” I scratched the back of my head and ignored the looks I was getting from the girls in the front row.

“Ada Burke, is it? Welcome, why don’t you go have a seat in the back next to Liam?”

I quickly made my way to the back of the classroom and took my seat next to a cute boy with short, almost caramel colored hair. He smiled and turned to me once the teacher started talking again.

“Hi there, I am Liam,” he help his hand out for a shake, which I returned.

“Ada, nice to meet you.”

“You as well, Ada,” he smiled again and I could help but smile back, it was contagious, “Where are you from?”

“I came here from Arizona actually.”

“Wow,” his eyebrows went up, “You must hate it here. Always cold and rainy.”

“I actually like it. It’s so green,” I snickered and Liam joined me before turning back in his seat and began taking notes.

Before I knew it, the bell rang. I said goodbye to Liam and set out to find my next class. Somewhere down the hall someone grabbed my arm. Startled, I turned around and found myself face to face with a cheerful looking boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and friendly smile.

“Er...hi?”

“Hi!” he chirped, “I'm Niall. I noticed you looked a little lost.”

“Actually, I'm not too far off-”

“Sweet, I will show you the way. Always ready to help a damsel in distress.” His charming smile was enough to win me over. I handed him my schedule and followed his lead.

“So where did you come from?”

“Arizona.”

“Ah,” he nodded, “You’re a long way from home, Dorothy. Must be tough.”

I shrugged, “I’ll manage.”

We came to a door marked room 125. Niall opened the door and walked towards the back. He got a few hellos from some athletic looking guys and a couple waves from some pretty girls.

“You seem quite popular.”

“Nah, just friendly,” he smiled, patting the seat next to him.

“Guess I just made my first friend,” I laughed a little, almost happy at the thought. The room slowly filled with students and just as the bell rang, the last student trickled in. He walked over to Niall and I.

“Harry, hey!” Niall stood up and waved him over.

I couldn’t breathe. I hated myself for being so cliché but it felt like the world stopped spinning the second he looked over and smiled at Niall. His smile, his saunter, his eyes, holy mother of God, I was going to have a heart attack right here in my seat.

“Niall,” he nodded to his friend and his eyes glided over to me, “New girl.”

“Her names' Ada, she just moved from Arizona,” Niall beamed, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

“Oh really?” Harry raised an eyebrow, taking the seat on the other side of me. “I lived there once,” he said breezily, kicking his chair back and folding his arms behind his head.

“Harry used to move around a lot too. When his dad left, his mom-”

“I don't think we need to get into my boring story, Nialler,” Harry cut him off ruffling the blonde boy’s hair.

Niall shut his mouth and turned forward, listening to the teacher, “My bad, Hazza.”

We remained silent through roll call and half way through class Harry broke the silence, “So how was fornication class this morning?” he smirked.

“You lucky S.O.B,” Niall groaned, “Where the hell where you? Mrs. Sampson started to pull out the diagrams and it was just...”

“Unpleasant?”

“Unpleasant indeed,” Niall nodded.

Harry chuckled, “I was busy.”

“Oh,” Niall got a knowing look on his face, “You meet with Erica in the boiler room again?”

“No, you twat,” Harry scrunched his nose, “I was helping Mrs. Stiles file some papers. Erica and I are never happening again.”

“Ever?”

“Ever.”

Niall took that as an acceptable answer and went back to taking notes on proper grammar in everyday conversations. I noticed a couple of girls in the class stealing glances at Harry now and then. I’m guessing he’s the “off-limits”, mysterious, every-girl-secretly-wants-him type.

“Miss. Burke, is Mr. Styles distracting you from taking notes?”

Every head in the room snapped to look at me. Harry glanced over and I wanted to slap that smirk right off his perfect face. Once the teacher gathered everyone’s attention again, I slumped in my chair. Fucking hell.

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Niall insisted I sit with him and Harry at lunch. Considering I hadn’t made any other friends yet, I couldn’t really refuse. I wondered where Stacy had gone off to, if she had made any friends, then reminded myself that she no doubt had made friends and probably had plans to go out tonight already with said friends.

Liam and the tan boy from this morning were seated at the table Harry and Niall led me to. Liam looked up at my and smiled, “Ada! How lovely to see you again. Looks like you got caught up in the wrong crowd of people.”

“You know each other?” Niall smiled, “Oh brilliant, now we don’t have to do awkward introductions.”

“Actually we do,” the tan boy spoke up, extending his hand, “I’m Zayn, nice to meet you again.”

“Well you’ve made your way around the block, haven’t you, Ada?” Niall winked at me. “Have you met Louis yet?”

“Louis? No, I don’t think so-“

“Well what do we have here?” Another tall brunette with a quiff meandered over and sat down between Zayn and Liam. “Isn’t anyone going to introduce us?”

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Niall chuckled, “Louis this is Ada, Ada this is Louis.”

Louis reached out and took my hand, placing a light kiss on top, “Pleasure to meet you, Ada.”

“Give it a rest, Lou,” Harry spoke for the first time, his deep voice a large contrast to Louis’. “You’re gonna scare her off; she’s only just arrived.”

“I’m only joking, Haz,” Louis grinned, “She is quite lovely though, yeah?”

“I mean it, Lou,” Harry warned, his eyes never looking up from the worn out book in his hands. I tried to sneak a peak at the cover and was surprised to find him reading The Outsiders. I never would have pegged him for someone who enjoyed reading.

“So Ada, we are throwing a party at Louis’ Friday night. Would you like to come?” Liam asked. Harry looked up just in time to catch me staring at him again and raised an eyebrow.

Blushing, I turned my attention to Liam, “Party? Uh that’s not really my scene.”

“Figures,” Harry scoffed.

“Well what’s the supposed to mean?” I glared at him, unable to stop myself.

Harry put his book down on the table and turned to face me, “You wouldn’t last 5 minutes at a party. Look at yourself.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?”

“It’s a fact. You reek of virginal, innocent goodness. You’ve probably never even been to a party before.”

“Unlike yourself, Mr. Styles, I have better things to do than loiter at other people’s houses until I’m too plowed to move”

“You wouldn’t miss it anyways. It’s not like you have any friends there.”

“You’re really immature, you know that?”

“Thanks, I consider it one of my best qualities,” he smirked.

I smiled sweetly, “Well I’m sure you’re the only one that does.”

“So does this mean you’re not coming? Or…” Louis cut in.

Not taking my eyes off of Harry, I answered Louis, “I would love to actually.”

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