Once again, I found myself in a Happy-Go-Lucky mood.

With that mood in place, and since mom wasn't home just like she said she wouldn't, I decide to busy myself with making dinner for us. I scoured the fridge for any possible options and came up with the boneless chicken thigh, and a bunch of different vegetables and decided I was going to make a chicken vegetable stir-fry.

Mom was still not back even after I finished with the cooking and setting the table. Not wanting to sit by idly while waiting for her, I decided to try out my crippled hand in writing some of my left-over assignments.

Bad idea.

You could read what I tried to write, but you would have to be angling your head all kinds of direction to get a good read. But if you are into that sort of reading, I guess I wasn't all that bad.

"Honey, I'm home," Mom called as she opened the entrance door. "Oh, wow. It smells terrific in here."

"Yeah, I made us dinner." I walked towards her to help with her handbag and together we walked to the kitchen. "Figured you would come back hungry so, yeah."

She smiled and pulled me into a hug, "I am famished, thank you. What did you make?"

"Chicken veggie stir-fry."

"Ooh, sounds yummy, can't wait to try it."

And I let her try it. Silently. Okay, I got a confession to make. My Happy-Go-Lucky mood aside, I had an ulterior motive for being extra.

"Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"I wanna ask you something. Just don't get all weird about it, okay? It's not a big deal."

Mom raised her head from her plate where she looked like she was enjoying herself from the way she had her mouth full and looked at me. While she creased her brows and threw me a look that clearly said she was a bit confused, she continued chewing the rest of the food in her mouth.

"Okay. Ask away."

Here goes nothing.

"How did you know?" I asked. "When you first met dad, how did you know that you liked him?"

Her eyes widened. I don't think she ever expected me to ask her that kind of question. After her initial shock was gone, she smiled one big toothy smile.

"Wow, this is new and exciting." She pushed her plate away from her, got down from her chair, and came around close to me. "This is about a boy, isn't it? God, this is exciting. My daughter and I speak about boys for the first time. Come on, move over," she scooted me over. "I wanna hear all about this."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I knew it. She always wanted to hear if I had any interest in a boy, and this was her chance.

"It's not a big deal, mom," I said "It's just that. Well, there is this boy, Logan, and... I don't know. I mean, I know that I think he's good looking and that I find myself nervous around him but, I don't know what that means, or maybe, I'm just afraid of what that could mean. Really, I'm just confused, and I guess that's why I wanna know how did you know?"

"Wow, okay um­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­... Well, I guess, it's different for everybody," she said. "But when I first met your dad." She took a deep breath. "He was the most handsome guy I think I ever saw at that time."

Well, I kinda thought Logan was hot when I first met him. Of course, that was before I remembered it was him who punched me then I didn't think so anymore. Not until recently that I started getting mixed confusions.

"I remember having this pull or attraction toward him," she continued. "Whatever I did, I couldn't shake him."

A small smile danced on my lips as I pictured both my parents young. I wondered again what it could have been like if they were still together.

"But of course, he wasn't single. He was dating this blonde bimbo, whose name I can't remember for the life of me. God, I hated that girl." She rolled her eyes. I couldn't believe my mom just told me that. I couldn't help the grin that came after.

"Really?" I exclaimed. "Oh my God, mom, then how did you two end up together?"

She took a deep breath and turned fully toward me. "That is a long story which I would love to tell you, but some other day. Today I wanna talk about you," she said. "To answer your question about how did I know? I guess I would say, I just did." She shrugged. "When you meet someone you like, you find yourself thinking about them most of the time, and whenever he's around, you feel giddy and at peace at the same time. Like you are complete, you know?" She asked. "Look, all I'm saying is, relationships are about taking a chance and do what feels right for you. No one knows how a relationship is going to turn out in the end, and that's what makes it exciting." Taking my hands into hers, she looked me in the eyes and added.

"If you feel something towards this Logan boy, just stay open-minded and follow your heart. See where it goes, he might surprise you. Besides, even if it doesn't work out, then at least you've tried and put yourself out there. Just remember one thing, don't do anything you don't want to do, no pressure. You, Amelia, are young, full of life, and you should experience this thing at your own pace. And most of all, be safe, please promise me you will be safe."

I nodded my head, then leaned in and hugged her. "I love you, mom."

"I love you too, honey; I love you so much."

*****

The next morning, I woke up energized after the talk with my mom. I was utterly in good spirits. I felt lighter and happier. Definitely a bit less confused.

I should have known it wouldn't last.

I was seated down in a classroom. Suzy wasn't there yet; I guess she was late. Busy trying to identify and mark points of interest for the upcoming subject when I felt a presence in front of me. My head jerked up, only to find Charlotte with her entourage looking down on me.

That was a shocker.

You don't just get paid a visit by Charlotte freakin' Baily. She was just one of those girls you want to stay as far away from as humanly possible. I, for one, never wanted anything to do with her or her two followers.

Remember what I said a while back about her signature high ponytail? Well, she didn't prove me wrong. The girl rarely lets her hair down her shoulders. Seriously, I could count on one hand how many times I've seen her hair down over the years. At that particular moment, she had her hair up on that signature tight ponytail I was talking about.

Something was wrong though.

For some reason, her small nose was flaring in what I can only call as anger and the way her blue eyes had locked down on mine as if she was wielding me to combust in flames was startling, to say the least.

"Amelia Alfred." She licked her clad in red lipstick thin lips. That's another thing I would call her signature look by the way. No joke. The girl only ever uses red lipstick. "Just the girl I wanted to see."

The moment she took a step closer to my desk I knew shit was gonna go down. Excuse my French.

"Err, hi Charlotte." I smiled. "Can I help you?"

She didn't bother replying to my greetings. Instead, she slammed her manicured hands on my desk and sneered.

"Heard you were getting really cozy with Logan. Tell me something, did you know he was mine? Or are you just being slutty and simply don't give a shit?"

I blinked and gaped at her before I looked to Makayla then Rose standing just behind her. When nobody could clarify my silent question, I looked back at her.

"Excuse me?" I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. Did she just call me a slut?

Charlotte gracefully stood back up and just as gracefully planted her smooth skinny arms against her small waist. Clearly showing me, she was much better than me.

"You heard me, don't play innocent. I know you heard me." She turned back to her entourage. "Isn't that right, girls?"

Makayla, her second in command, I guess, from the way she always seemed to be standing at Charlotte's right side, scoffed, then pointed her finger on my face.

"She definitely heard you, so you might as well just stop playing dumb Amelia," She said just before she tossed her black curls over her shoulders.

I stared at her. The way her natural curls bounced right back her shoulders and the way her brown skin glistered on the small sun that peeked through the window was naturally beautiful. She was beautiful. When she narrowed her brown eyes at me, I look back to Charlotte.

"That's right, playing dumb doesn't suit you." Of course, this came from the third and final in command. Rose. "It only just makes you look stupid."

Now, pardon me here but to be honest, I had no idea why Rose would use that particular line on me. In my opinion, she was the stupid one. Not that I would ever voice that out loud. But really, sometimes I wonder why she was even at school in the first place.

She had zero interest in academics. I don't think she knew what was going on half the time in the classroom. She cared more about if her brunette hair was intact, or if her nails looked perfect, or whether her mascara was in place. She was those type of girls who just blurted whatever comes to their mind without any thoughts to it. Even if whatever they blurted, was utterly off-topic. It really didn't matter.

It was too quiet.

Only after looking around did I realize nobody was speaking. And I mean the whole classroom. But the eyes of everybody though, the eyes spoke volumes. Watching and judging and waiting for things to escalate. I didn't blame them though, even if the tables were turned, I don't think even I would have said anything against Charlotte.

Just like any power-hungry or a drama-hungry person who knew they had all the powers, Charlotte slammed her hands back to my desk, but this time, she leaned in a bit closer, hovering just in front of my face and on instinct, I moved my head back.

"Stay the fuck away from him, Amelia," she spat. Her eyes hard, her face in a sneer. "He belongs to me so, keep your ugly paws to yourself. Heed my warning, I won't tell you so nicely next time."

If that was nice, I'd hate to see the opposite.

She turned around, but just before she left, she threw me a look over her shoulder and waved her fingers.

"Bye-bye now. Have a nice day."

Her entourage threw me one last disgusting, lingering looks, then turned around and hurried after Charlotte.

I couldn't breathe.

My heart was pounding at an alarming speed and a considerable knot twisted itself on my stomach before it started rising towards my throat. I tried taking deep breaths in and out, but it wasn't working. I could feel the eyes of students drilling the back of my head. Some kids even started to point their fingers my way and whisper to one another. The walls were closing in on me. Afraid I would suffocate in that classroom, I picked up my stuff and bolted out of the door.

There was nowhere else for me to go so, I went straight to the bathroom. Thankfully, there was no one else in there since everyone was supposed to be in classrooms.

If there was one thing, I hated the most, that would be high school drama. I always kept myself so far away from it. Now there I was, the drama had found me at the time I didn't expect. Nothing was making sense. Nothing was going on between me, and Logan. Was there? I mean, not that I know of.

Okay, so I admit, I find the guy attractive and we have this weird back and forth going on, or friendship, or whatever the heck you wanna call it. But that is that. There was nothing more to it. Was there?

I took a deep breath to pull myself together.

Since I didn't want to go back to the classroom full of prying students, I decided to go to the library instead. I wasn't sure of anything else but I was definitely sure of one thing.

I wanted to stay as far away from Logan if it was the last thing I did.

So, I did everything in my power to avoid him that day. I didn't even go to have lunch with the guys, and somehow, I managed to go throughout the day without any other incidents.