The reason that I'm coming up with these stories is because I wanted something else I could write when I had writer's block for 'Now or Never'. No, these stories will not be in-progress at the same time so whenever I resort to writing a chapter for this story, I'll just save it and wait until I finish my other one. :)

Happily Never After

It was free period, and I was sitting in the far back at a table in our school library with some of my teammates who were also on the football team. These guys were supposedly my "best friends" even though they're the ones who got me into drinking and smoking.

I wasn't paying attention to the Sports Illustrated magazines they were all poring over; I was focused on the girl across the room.

She wasn't one of those shallow females who would make their cleavage seem more appealing by pulling down their shirts every time I walked by. If anything, she seemed disgusted by me.

That only made me more attracted to her.

Her name was Mitchie. I've seen her around school, and she might even be in some of my classes. Not that I would know, because I'm always surrounded by the egotistical idiots I happen to socialize with. I remember her face from middle school, though.

Her hair is dyed black with blue streaks going through it, and she wore a lot of dark makeup on her eyes—well, as far as I could tell, she had makeup on one eye, because her hair was mostly swept over her other. She wore a lot of t-shirts from undiscovered bands, she almost always had a long-sleeved hoodie on, and even during the summer, she wore skinny jeans. For shoes, they were always Converse or Vans. She was pretty predictable as far as her appearance; at least it was for me because I've been secretly keeping an eye on her whenever I could convince my crew that the media center would be much cooler to hang out at than the bleachers. Even on days when they want to go somewhere else, I make up an excuse about having to research or something just to see Mitchie.

That sounds like I'm a stalker, but I swear I'm not. She just…intrigues me.

But now that I think about it, she's changed a lot since middle school. Her hair used to be brown, and she always had a bright smile on her face. Her wardrobe consisted of any regular clothing a preteen would wear, and she'd talk a lot during class.

As a matter of fact, ever since high school, I don't think I've even seen her speak a word.

She was sitting at the window, reading a book as usual, with her earphones plugged in. Women and multitasking—I don't get how they do it.

All of a sudden thunder cracked outside. She looked out the glass at the water that was pelting against it and almost smiled.

She must've felt me watching her or something, because right then, she turned toward me and caught my glance.

I looked away as fast as I could, but not before catching her roll her eyes at me.

"Look, the emo chick finally noticed you," Nate whispered to me.

"What?" I asked, panicked. I was shocked. Did he know about my attraction or something?

"She's good at art and you're failing. You're trying to get her to help you cheat, right?"

"Um… Yeah, of course."

I didn't know she was good at art…

The bell claiming the end of free period rang.

Nate and everyone else gathered their stuff from the table.

"I'm gonna stay here for awhile," I said to them as they were leaving.

I looked back toward the window to see if Mitchie was still there, but she had already left. I looked around for a moment and jumped when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around and there she was.

"Hi there," I said, nervously. I didn't think she'd ever actually talk to me.

She glared at me.

"So…" I continued awkwardly.

"Why have you been watching me?" she asked, bold.

I made a little 'psh' noise and tried to laugh it off. "Watch you?"

"You really think I haven't noticed you there, gawking for the past month?"

"Well, I uh—" I had absolutely no idea where I was going with this. "Do you want to go on a date with me?"

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

I shrugged even though I actually didn't know where it came from.

She looked strangely at me, as if she was trying to figure me out. "No, not really."

Ooh, that stung.

"Okay then," I said, getting my books. "I have I to go."

She continued looking strangely at me as I passed by her.

I lied; I didn't have to go. I had lunch, but I already ate during free period.

--

It was finally the end of December, the day everyone was waiting for.

Winter Break!

After being rejected by Mitchie, she apparently had a big mouth and told everyone about it. So for the last few weeks, I've been bugged by every single soul of our school. Not only do they think I'm insane for asking out the "outcast", but they rub it in my face that I was turned down. It happened to be a big deal to people that the star quarterback got rejected by someone in her clique. I happened to convince Nate that I did it as a joke, so as a result, that artificial news spread around the school like wildfire, too.

People at school either think I'm a loser or a jerk. In other words, I don't think I've ever looked so forward to getting away from school.

I turned down any offer to go grab something to drink after school and rushed home as soon as I was allowed.

I was ready to have a two-week marathon of sitting in front of the TV and getting fat. Of course, my coach wouldn't approve, but it's not like he'd be around to watch me.

Just as I shoved all my schoolwork under my bed, my mom walked past my bedroom door carrying a load of dirty laundry.

"Have you packed yet?" she asked.

"Packed for?—Oh. Right."

I completely forgot that my family was going to take a cruise to the Bahamas to attend my cousin's wedding, and we were leaving tomorrow morning.

--

We were standing in front of the large ship carrying our luggage.

After going through many unnecessary passport and security checks, we were escorted to our cabins so we could settle in. I got my own room as did my parents.

The ship wasn't even moving and I could already feel nauseous just from being on water.

I threw my suitcase on the bed and took off to check out the rest of the cruise. They must have some entertaining things to do if my parent's paid 750 dollars per person for a week of sailing.

I found the dinner bar, but I eventually strayed away to the pizza parlor because there was this huge family who took up most of the seats.

I picked up a slice of mushroom and cheese pizza, sprinkled some parmesan cheese over it, and sat down at a little booth.

I looked over at the family. Man were they diverse as far as appearance.

There was even one girl with black hair and blue streaks just like…Oh no.

I waited until she turned around so I could see her face better.

Surely enough, there she was.

Mitchie Torres, a girl destined to ruin my winter break and lower my self esteem.

Keep or delete?