CHAPTER ONE-Intro

I walked into the choir room and dropped my bookbag on the floor, shed my coat, and sat down on the risers. I sighed, exasperated, frustrated, and confused. Why couldn't someone have just told me it was right by the lunch room? I knew where that was. No, everyone here had to be difficult and tell me a roundabout way of getting here. It was my first day of high school at Gallatin High. I'd just moved to Tennessee from Alabama due to my parents getting divorced and I was far from happy about it. My dad had custody of me, and he was always working, so I was pretty much alone. The other students were filing in slowly, after all, it was the first class of the day, and I could feel all of their eyes on me. Of course their eyes were on me, none of them had ever seen me before.

I pushed my long brown hair out of my face and looked around at the other kids who were climbing to the rows on the risers above me. Great, now no one wanted to sit near me. This was going to be tons of fun, I could already tell. A small, brown haired boy sat down next to me and I had to resist rolling my eyes. He was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a wrestling t-shirt, and he looked like he belonged in elementary, not high, school. I placed my head in my hands and thanked God that there were only eight weeks left in this semester. Hopefully after the summer I could move back home with my mom. The bell rang and the teacher checked attendance from her podium. She went through a few names before crossing mine.

"Lyndsey Grace Carmichael?"

"I'm here." I called out, just loud enough for her to hear me.

She continued calling names and the boy next to me kept staring at me, I could feel his eyes burning holes into me.
"Kenneth Nixon?"
The boy beside me responded. His voice was deep for his body, I thought. I sat up straight and looked forward when the teacher called class to order. She started writing our assignment on the white board, something my backwoods school in Alabama never had, and sat down at her desk. I groaned to myself; we had a partners' assignment--and I knew absolutely no one. I sat still while everyone scrambled off the risers with their partners and flocked to different corners of the room. I looked up and around to see who was without a partner. Only one other person was alone--the kid that had been sitting next to me, Kenneth. He had his hands shoved into his jeans pockets and was standing a few feet away, looking lost. Was he new, too? I had no choice but to partner with him, so I stood, grabbed my things, and walked over to him. He was staring up at something on the wall, not paying me any attention, so I tapped him on the shoulder. He wasn't really as short as I thought he was, maybe half an inch shorter than me. He turned to face me, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, his brown eyes sparkling.

"I don't have a partner...." I said.

"Me neither. I guess we're kinda stuck with each other, huh?" he replied. His voice was definitely deep for his tiny body, and he had a southern drawl and a beautiful smile.

"I'm Lyndsey...."
"Kenneth..."

"I guess we'd better get started." I said.

"Yep."

Kenneth and I sat in a corner away from all the other groups and got started on our assignment. We finished quickly, and spent the rest of the class period talking.

"So where are you from?" he asked me.
"Alabama....south Alabama."
"Wow."
"You're from here?"
"Yep, lived here my whole life."
"Oh. Who's your favorite singer?"
"Well, my Daddy is a country musician....but my favorite band is Guns and Roses."
Guns and Roses? Really? What year was this, 1980? My favorite bands were still boy bands, I hoped he wouldn't ask.

"Wow...my mom and dad went and saw them in concert once."
"Lucky!" he replied, his brown eyes widening in awe.

"Yeah, I stayed with my aunt that night. They wouldn't take me."

"Aw, why not?"
"I was only like eight."
"How old are you now?"
"Sixteen."

"Me too. I know I look ten, but I'm sixteen."
I laughed and pushed a stray piece of hair back behind my ear. The skinny brown haired boy who I assumed would be annoying was actually pretty cool.

"So apparently you like wrestling....who's your favorite?"
Kenneth's head snapped up and he stared at me for a moment before replying.

"Chris Jericho! You like wrestling, too?"
"Yeah....I saw your shirt and I had to say something. You probably think I'm weird cause I'm a girl and I like wrestling or something."
Kenneth shook his head, grinning.

"No, not at all, I think it makes you amazing....who's your favorite?"
I felt myself blush. The bell rang, interrupting our conversation.

"Jeff Hardy. Hey, do you know where Mrs. Clausen's algebra class is?" I asked, donning my coat and grabbing my bookbag.

"Jeff Hardy is AWESOME....and yeah, it's my next class. You wanna walk with me?"

"That would be awesome. I got so lost on the way here."
Kenneth stood up and pulled on his backpack. "What other classes do you have?" he asked as we exited the choir room.

"After algebra? I have English, Science, and History, and in that order."

"Which teachers?" Kenneth asked, taking a right down a long, crowded corridor.

"Umm, Wood, Smith, and Vest."
"We have all of our classes together then..."

Thank God, I wouldn't get lost. I wasn't quite sure yet if Kenneth and I would be friends, but I hoped we would. He was really nice and we shared a few common interests. The more I looked at him, the cuter he became, too. His eyes and smile were amazing. By the end of the week, we had exhanged numbers and e-mail addresses, and spent every break and lunch period together talking. By the end of the semester, he was my new best friend. Sadly, the day after school let out though, I had to leave Tennessee for the summer. I'd be back a week before school started though, which was now comforting, contrary to eight weeks before when I was praying for God to send me back to Alabama.

Kenneth and I walked out of the school office with our report cards and sat on the front steps. "Sucks that you're leaving tonight." he said, folding his report card into a paper fan.

"Yeah...I'll be back though...and I'll call you and stuff. My mom has free long distance." I replied.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm gonna miss you. Me and Brandon and Chris and Tim all will."
"I'll miss you and Brandon and Chris, too. Tim, maybe not so much. He's all the time picking on me. So annoying."

"It's only cause he has a crush on you." Kenneth replied, staring off into the distance.

"Ew! Gross!"
Kenneth chuckled and stood up, dusting off his jeans.

"I've got band practice. I'll walk you home before it gets too dark. Your dad's probably wondering where you are anyway. We've been gone for hours and it only takes ten minutes to walk to the school from your house."

I nodded, standing up. I stuck my report card in my back pocket and walked slowly with Kenneth toward my house. We chatted a bit along the way, mostly about our plans for the summer.

"You looking forward to going to your mom's?" he asked.

"At first, I was, then I realized I'm leaving you and Chris and Brandon behind. No more sitting in Chris' garage while you guys play for a while....what am I gonna do in the afternoons?"

Kenneth shrugged.
"I dunno. Sucks. What about all of your friends there?"

"My mom moved, remember? She lives in a new town now, too, where I know absolutely no one."
Kenneth wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked. My house was now becoming visible, which meant goodbye was getting closer, too.
"Lynds, with your personality, you could run into someone with your buggy at the grocery store, apologize, and become instant friends. You'll have a great summer, and you'll probably forget all about me. It's okay though..." he said, sniffling.

I looked over at him. He had better not be crying, I hated seeing anyone cry. His bottom lip was poked out, but he was fighting a smile.
"You meanie. Fake crying. You know I hate when people cry." I said, pinching his side.

"Ow!" he said, pulling away, grabbing his side. We walked the rest of the way to my house in trudged slowly across the yard and up the steps to my house where I hugged my best friend, not wanting to let go.
"I'll miss you." I told him.
"I'll miss you too, but I'm only a phone call away. You better call me." he said.

"I will, I swear."

Kenneth placed a kiss on my cheek and hugged me tightly one more time before leaving to walk home.I pulled open the screen door to my house and went to my room, tears forming in my eyes. The reality that I wouldn't see Kenneth for nearly three months was finally setting in, and I was really torn up about it. I checked my suitcases to make sure I had everything and flipped the light off, pulling my luggage behind me. I set it by the front door and waited for my Dad to get out of the shower so we could leave. I wiped a tear from my cheek and pushed the front door open when I heard his keys rattling. He helped me load my luggage in his truck and held my door open for me; I climbed in the cab, silent, wishing it was the last week of July already. My dad got in and started the truck and I stared out the window as we started driving south.