Simone

I watched Aria Sinclair, my best friend since we were in diapers, about to leave the library. She was being dragged away by Nate Marks, the new principal's son.

I watched as her face turned a cute shade of bright crimson and I could see her big hazel eyes go wide behind those insufferable glasses. I hated those glasses, they made her look like a seventy-something grandma.

Nate was taller than her and took long, casual strides. I giggled as Aria took several short strides on her short legs to keep up. She was practically running. As they approached, I wondered where they were going. I whipped out my phone and quickly sent her a text, 'Text me the details!'

When they were just about to pass by me, I leaned against the adjacent wall and bent my knee so that my foot rested on it. Casually, I pretended to be looking at something really interesting which happened to be my dad's Instagram feed. Ugh, how embarrassing. He still had photos of me when I was twelve on there.

As they passed by I cast a side glance their way and saw that Nick didn't pay any attention to me. Good. I sure didn't want him to see what I was looking at. Aria looked at me while he pulled her along. She looked absolutely terrified. I smiled at her with reassurance.

According to my knowledge, this was the first time Aria had ever talked to a boy, sat that close to one, and had gone anywhere with one. It made sense that she was scared. Plus she had that whole anxiety disorder issue she had to deal with that made everything ten times harder.

Nate stopped mid-stride and I watched them.

"Hurry up!" He exclaimed. And then he saw me. His blue-grey eyes were mesmerizing. I stared at them in awe and slowly drunk in his whole image. A grey hoodie under a men's leather jacket, loose jeans, and mustard loafers. Fashionable and hot. He didn't dress like any of the other guys at school who mostly paraded around in sweats and t-shirts. No, Nate Marks was hot. Incredibly hot.

He pulled up a hand and sent me a wave that had my heart beat racing. I waved back and offered a coy smile in response. As he turned to go, I found myself thinking jealously that for once I wished I was Aria Sinclair.

                           ~°°°°°~

When I reached home and slung down my purse, I didn't use backpacks, onto the ground I found myself thinking of only one thing. Nate Marks. God, he was so hot. And I wished that I was the one he was dragging along instead of Aria.

I pulled out my phone and texted her.

'Nate is hot! I call first dibs.'

When she didn't reply right away like she usually would have I frowned. Was she still with him? A pang of guilt hit me. Why was I feeling so fricking jealous? That wasn't me.

"Simone? Is that you?" My Dad called from somewhere in the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes and checked the time on my phone. It was five minutes past five. I was late. And now Dad was gonna give me hell.

He appeared from around a corner with his arms crossed over his chest and an angry expression. I kicked off my shoes and tried my best not to look him in the eye. Maybe if I pretended that I hadn't done anything wrong then maybe he would let me off easy? Fat chance. I should've known better than to think that Dad would let me off without a lecture.

"Where have you been Simone?" He asked with a hint of anger.

"I'm home Dad. Can we just forget this?" I said, feigning exhaustion.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "No we cannot 'just forget this'. I want to know where you were and why you decided to skip choir practice today."

I shrugged. "I had other things to do."
Like stare into Nate's gorgeous eyes.

Dad frowned. "Tell me you weren't with John Parker's boy. What was his name again?"

"Ethan," I filled in, "And no I wasn't with him."

Ethan was the kind of guy who had more girlfriends than he could count. Because of it, he was labeled a manwhore but he was also good looking and had girls falling at his feet. I'd been his girlfriend for a few dates before we decided that we'd be better off as friends. Ethan was nice and didn't try to tell me that Aria was a waste of my time, like his other friends did.

"Then where were you?"

"Dad, I'm only a few minutes late-"

"That's besides the point Simone! Church is important! Don't you get that? What kind of example are you setting if the pastor's own daughter doesn't even show up?" Dad fumed.

I could feel my anger rising. "It was one time!"

"Third time," He corrected. "And the other two times you were fooling around with Ethan." His eyes widened. "Tell me you guys aren't having sex."

I grabbed my purse and pushed past him. "Omigod, I am so not having this conversation with you."

Dad threw up his hands in frustration. "Somebody has to. Your mother certainly isn't here to do it."

"She would be if you hadn't driven her away!" I said and ran upstairs before he could get another word in.

As I slammed the door to my room closed my legs wobbled over to the bed. Arguments with Dad were exhausting.

We were always fighting. Ever since Mom left he started getting really protective of me and set up all these rules that I had to abide. I really hated them and I'd told him countless times that I wasn't good with his strictness. He never listened. It was like my opinion didn't matter to him anymore.

He forced me to join the church gospel full-time instead of my irregular drop-ins that I was doing before. I didn't mind the gospel that much because I loved singing but that wasn't the only change. Dad started using me as some great example other kids should follow and was really pushing the religion on me.

It wasn't like I didn't believe. I did. What I didn't like was all the pressure he was putting me under to be his perfect little daughter or something. I wasn't perfect. Mom wasn't. Dad certainly wasn't. Nobody was. So I didn't understand why I had to be.

I pulled out my phone and texted Aria.

'Call me when you get this. I really need to get out of here.'