Right, so this is a bit like a Sarah Dessen story I think, although it is completely original. I'm totally terrified of putting my own original story out there, so please don't be TOO harsh, although I would die for some reviews!

Read on…

"Leo! C'mon, get your butt down here! We've gotta get to school in like…" there was a pause while the voice presumably checked the time, "five minutes ago!"

"Coming," I yelled down the stairs. I ran like crazy, slinging my rucksack over one shoulder (I had decorated it with badges and drawn all over it, creating random doodles in fabric pens) and pulled on a pair of electric blue Converse, trying to tie the laces and run down the stairs at the same time. Long story short, it didn't work, and I ended up just tucking the laces into the shoes.

Ten minutes later, my brother Harrison was pulling over into the school lot and we were both running through the main doors and down hallways, on our way to our first classes. I burst through the door to my English class without pausing to knock or catch my breath, which is how I ended up standing there, sweaty and panting, caramel corkscrew curls falling out of my sloppy ponytail, looking unbelievably crap in ripped skinny jeans, an old grey tank top and my oversized navy hoody, almost tripping over my laces – which had come out of my shoes where I had tucked them in – and face to face with possibly the most gorgeous boy on the entire planet. Damn.

Before I go into detail over how I embarrassed myself, let me describe just how gorgeous he was. First off, he was tall. I was a sucker for tall guys – not too tall, because let's face it, I was five feet and one teeny little inch, I just had a thing for the tall type. Then there was the dirty blond hair, just messy enough, not too short or long, not too pale or dark, and not curly. I wasn't sure what it was, but I didn't like guys with curly hair. Maybe it was because I had curly hair, I didn't know. Anyway, so there he stood, like an angel who had deemed us mere mortals worthy of a brief encounter. He wasn't spotty, he didn't have a huge nose, he wasn't freakishly skinny. In fact, from what I could see, he was pretty darn ripped. He had warm, sparkling blue eyes, and dang was his smile sexy. I almost fainted there and then when the corners of his mouth turned up. And he wasn't just smiling. He was smiling at me! Granted he was probably laughing at me, but still, a girl can dream.

So now comes the cringy part. I stood there for an idiot for a few seconds before saying, (forgetting that my entire Advanced English class was watching us, including my evil and unnecessarily strict teacher, Miss Hawk) "Oh. Erm, hi. I'm Léonie. Léonie May." And then smiling at the Sexy Beast right there in front of me, smiling away.

"Ronan Cole. It's great to meet you, Léonie."

I flinched, realising I'd missed out something crucial when introducing myself. "Everyone calls me—"

"Ah, Miss May. So glad you could join us."

Great. Just great. This is when it starts to get embarrassing. Miss Hawk being her usual self and using her freakishly good memory to figure out that this conversation had bad timing. God, she had bad timing. I'd just started talking to the fittest boy to ever walk the earth!

Slowly, I looked past Ronan The Fit Angel-Boy at where Miss Hawk sat behind her desk, glaring at me over her weirdly small glasses. "Sorry I'm late Miss Hawk. Car wouldn't start," I lied easily. In actual fact, I'd overslept. As usual. I was a very good liar, since I always needed a new excuse for something different, every single day.

"Do you have a note from your parents?" she asked quickly, hoping to catch me out. She always seemed to use her Evil Witchy Sixth Sense when I was lying and rat me out. Only person who could, I swear.

"No," I said, trying not to smile, "my dad is away on a business trip so it's just me and my brother at the moment, Miss."

She raised one too-perfect eyebrow.

"And your mother? Let me guess, she had a terrible cramp in her wrist and therefore couldn't write a note explaining it wasn't your fault in any shape or form that you were almost twenty minutes late for class?"

I winced at this, any and all urges to smile disappearing completely. This time, though, I put on a fake half-smirk and stated calmly, "No, but you're close."

"Then, Miss May," she exclaimed, rolling her eyes, "please do enlighten me."

At this I paused – seemingly for effect, but really because I needed a moment to get the courage to say it out loud, seeing as no teacher had ever pushed me this far when questioning as to why I had no note – and said at last: "I don't think you want to know that, Miss Hawk."

"Oh, believe me, Miss May," she scowled, saying my name mockingly, "I really do."

Taking a deep breath to steady myself and then forcing myself to smirk a little more, I said in a very level and controlled voice, something I had never told anyone. Nobody had ever asked. Miss Hawk was a new teacher last year, and everyone else in the small town of Coaldon Bay High School already knew the whole story, seeing as it had been in the local paper and had been all anyone talked about for a good few months – when I say small town, I really mean small. "She died six years ago. Well, more like five years and forty-nine weeks ago, if we're gonna be specific."

There was a kinda universal gasp when I said that. I guess the class never thought I'd say it aloud, and Miss Hawk's gasp was out of pure shock. I had never seen her so surprised in my life, and there was another emotion plain on her face. Something I hated to see even more than the date of my mom's death on her gravestone. Pity.

"I see. Well, you understand that I will have to give you a detention, Miss May, despite the circumstances. Now please take a seat and get out your books, and our new student will finish introducing himself."

Ha. You all thought the cringy part was over, I'll bet. No, don't worry, it gets far, far worse. You ready? I wasn't.

I started to walk towards my seat – it was at the very back of the classroom – when out of nowhere, I tripped. And fell. Flat on my face. In front of my entire class. And the meanest teacher at Coaldon Bay High School. And the sexy newbie, Ronan Cole. And my half-zipped rucksack went flying, books covered in doodles – what can I say, I doodle when I'm bored – and bright gel pens went flying. Can you say embarrassing? I know I can. Because it was. Embarrassing, I mean.

Very, very embarrassing.

I think I just about died from the cringy-ness.

"Oopsy daisy," I mumbled, hurrying to move into a sitting position and start to grab all of my school crap, shoving it hastily into my back. I ignored the loud laughter echoing around the room.

Dang. That was not fun.

Should I continue? Let me know! Review, please, it would completely make my day.

Sophy

Aka BrokenDreams33

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