Author's Note: Hey, guys! So, this is my first story on here, and it's basically about the boys' freshmen year in high school. If you're wondering, this story will continually be in Blair's POV, so I won't need to put Blair's POV at the top of every section. I've been working on this for a while now, so if you could take the time to read through the first chapter, I'd really appreciate it. Please remember that this is the first chapter, so it's basically just introducing characters and plotlines. Also, I want to warn you all that I am extremely bad with tenses, especially when I am writing creatively, so please don't comment on that as I already know that I need to work on that. Just to give you an idea, the character of Blair Boleyn resembles Karlie Kloss, who is shown in a few pictures that are linked on my profile, along with some other important characters' appearances. Thanks, enjoy & review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush, unfortunately. (As well as any other brands/companies, etc you may recognize).
Beep. Beep. I woke up pretty easily that day to my alarm, even though it was a Monday. Pressing the snooze button, I opened my eyes to complete darkness. I reached my arms out to stretch and almost immediately pulled them back down to wrap them in my comforter. Although I was inside, it was still another ridiculously cold day in Appleton, Minnesota, the temperature probably below freezing, yet again. But then again, what else was new? It was December, so obviously it wouldn't be summer weather, especially not in Minnesota. Come to think of it, we'd probably just had another blizzard last night.
I knew I was going to have to get up eventually, so I flung off my comforter and grabbed the first sweatshirt I saw. Why I went to bed without a sweatshirt puzzled me. And why was my fan on? I could be weird sometimes, I thought as I flicked off the switch that controlled the fan and instead flicked the light switch on. I groaned, the light momentarily blinding me. Even though I'd woken up relatively quickly today, I could tell already that it wasn't going to be a good day.
After a good 10 minutes of back-and-forth over what exactly I should wear, I ended up grabbing a turquoise dolman style long-sleeved top, a pair of dark wash jeggings, a chunky knitted bright purple oval scarf, and a rolled-over pair of grey Uggs, fur side out. Not feeling like doing much else, I sprayed something in my hair to de frizz it a little, and decided that my natural waves were good enough for today. As for my makeup, I simply did the usual; foundation, eye primer, a light-colored eyeshadow, mascara, and lip balm, sometimes lipgloss. I then brushed my teeth.
Now that I was done with my normal routine, I noticed that I had a considerable amount of time to kill before my ride to school got here, so I grabbed my MacBook Pro and opened it. I clicked immediately on Safari and then clicked on Facebook in the bookmark bar as a force of habit. I noticed that I had 3 notifications. I opened them, seeing that the first one was telling me that my best friend Ali had tagged me in a handful of pictures. Deciding to check that later, I saw that my co-captain for the JV cheer squad, Julie, posted in our cheer group. I clicked, wondering what it could be and why I didn't know about it yet.
Julie Cameron: Hey guys, practice is cancelled today, but don't forget that we have the huge game on Friday!
Weird. Usually, if one of us was told something like this, we would tell the other before posting about it. I reached for my iPhone, realizing when I unlocked it that she'd texted me about it yesterday. Oops.
I went back to my notifications, seeing that Ali had posted on my wall.
Ali Connors: lol at the pictures from last night…
Okay, now I might have to quickly look at those pictures. I went back up to my notifications and pressed to view all of the photos that I was tagged in. The first photo that popped up was one of me, Ali, and our friend Taylor. I realized that these pictures were from the party at my friend Dan's house that we'd all attended. The next one was of Ali and I, hugging but smiling toward the camera, the one after that was in the same position, but I was sticking my tongue out and she was making a duck face. They continued on like this, most of them of my friends and I hugging, or posing, with the occasional one of me on Dan's back. I remembered that he was ridiculously drunk, and had insisted on carrying me around the house.
I flipped through the pictures until I got to one picture and stopped. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, just a normal picture of Ali, Taylor, my friend Cassidy, and I with our arms behind each others backs, but the weird thing was the guy on the end.
Was that…Logan Mitchell?
I squinted closer, trying to confirm this thought. It's not that I didn't know who he was, I'd known him since kindergarten, but I'd never talked to him. From what I'd heard, he was sort of nerdy, in the sense that he got really good grades and was really smart, but apparently, he was supposed to be really cool too. In the picture, he had his right arm around me, and was holding a red cup out to the left of him, but he wasn't smiling at the camera. Rather, he was laughing at someone in back of the camera man.
Hmm. Kind of weird. Oh well, it was one picture, who even cared? I shut my laptop and, realizing it was time to go, grabbed a banana nut muffin, my purple Jansport, and walked out the door just in time to see my ride pull up.
Finally, the end of the day had come. School was boring, as usual. I'd managed to get through the day without seeing Logan, who I was still hung up on for whatever reason.
I made my way down the stairs and saw Ali waiting in a hallway by the lockers. I always left school with Ali, our after school ride drove us both home. Today, Ali was wearing a tribal-print long-sleeved dolman top similar to mine, a pair of black leggings, some black UGGS, and today, her dirty blonde hair was straight.
"Hey." She said as I approached her.
"Wanna go to Starbucks or something? We don't have practice today." I suggested.
"Yeah, sure, let me just text Bri to tell her that we don't need a ride today." She pulled out her black iPhone. Once she was done, we put our bags down for a second to put our winter coats on. Mine was white with a brown fur-trimmed hood, hers was almost the same but it was navy blue. Thankfully, Starbucks was only a minute away, so we could make it there easily. Plus, it was a frigid day, and we both needed some warmth.
Unfortunately, when we got to Starbucks, everyone seemed to have the same idea because the coffee shop was packed. Luckily, it was a pretty big Starbucks, so there were a few open tables.
"Mint hot chocolate with whipped cream, please. Oh, and a smore." I smiled at the barista, handing over the appropriate amount. Yes, I ordered a smore; contrary to apparently popular belief, a lot of cheerleaders love to eat, especially unhealthy things. Obviously, I was one of them.
"Vanilla bean latte, a smore and…Do you want to split a slice of pumpkin bread?" Ali asked me. I nodded. I loved pumpkin bread, especially around the holidays.
"And a slice of pumpkin bread." She added, also giving the barista money. We walked over to the receiving counter, waiting for our orders. I glanced around, trying to see if I knew anyone that was here. At a quick scan, all I saw were 2 sophomores that I momentarily forgot the names of, a bored-looking senior named Jack typing on a laptop with a cake pop in his mouth, and 3 seniors named Kylie, Amanda, and Lila sipping coffees around a table. Besides that, I didn't see anyone else but…Logan Mitchell? Again?
This was the second time that he'd popped up randomly in my life today. Again, I took a second glance to make sure that it was him. Oh yeah, it had to be. I knew for sure because of the extremely good looking, tall and gorgeous boy sitting next to him, who was named James Diamond. While Logan was known as the nerd with swag, James was the freshman class's unmistakable pretty boy. He was self-obsessed, extremely cocky, kind of an airhead, and carried around a black comb with him at all times, and rumor had it, even a mirror.
James was also on the JV basketball team, which I only knew because he told just about everyone…and because I had to sit there during his games. Besides all of that, James was known as the freshman class's man-whore, and was rumored to have already slept with half of the girls in the grade. To me, that seemed a little exaggerated, but I knew for sure that he'd definitely gone out with at least half the girls in my grade. How Logan and James had become friends was beyond me, but there they were, sitting with 2 other boys.
I saw the grey beanie and knew immediately that it had to be Kendall Knight. He always wore that thing, and I could see dirty blonde hair peeking out from the bottom of the beanie. Kendall was captain of the JV hockey team. He was really, really good. Surprisingly, Logan also played hockey, on the JV team as well. I didn't know if James played or if he was any good, I just knew he wasn't on the team as it conflicted with basketball. I'd seen the two of them, as well as their friend, Carlos, play before. They were actually all good enough for varsity, even, but everyone knew that freshman weren't allowed on the varsity team. It was just common knowledge, for all sports, even cheer.
I knew that the last one had to be Carlos Garcia; process of elimination. The four of them were inseparable, and although his back was turned to me, I could tell by his helmet and short stature that it was him. Honestly, he kind of freaked me out sometimes. Not because he was weird, just because he could be really crazy and random. And a little dangerous at times.
Suddenly, Ali tapped my shoulder excitedly.
"Blair, oh my god, look! Oh my god, that's Kendall Knight! He's so hot." She gazed dreamily in his direction. I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Ali to go boy crazy. Kendall wasn't anything special to her, I knew that. Ali obsessed over any boy that was within 3 feet of her, generally.
"Cool, Ali. Let's go find a table." I took my hot chocolate and smore and tried to direct her to an open table. There was one problem. There weren't any.
"Great. Now where do we go?" She whined. I shrugged.
"Why don't we just go sit with Kylie, Amanda, and Lila?" She suggested. I snorted.
"Yeah, and why don't we go hang out with the Kardashians while we're at it?"
"Chill, just a suggestion." This was useless.
"C'mon, let's just walk back to school." I pulled her, at this point, just wanting to leave.
"Wait, let's go ask Kendall!" She told me, proud that she'd come up with something. I laughed hollowly.
"Um, let's not." I started to drag her out the door, but she resisted.
"Seriously, Blair? They're not even seniors or anything. Who cares if we don't really know them, let's go." This time, she took control, walking me over to the table.
"James, there's a reason why you're not allowed to have that thing during class." Logan sighed.
"First of all, my lucky comb is not a 'thing'. Second, I do not get distracted by it. That teacher just has it out for me." He replied.
"James, you forgot to take a test because you spent the entire class period trying to fix a piece of hair." Kendall reminded.
"Well, it wouldn't go down!" He protested.
"James, that's not an-" Logan stopped talking when we stopped at their table.
Kendall turned his head and stared at us.
"Um, hi?" He said, his green eyes filled with confusion.
"Hi, I'm Ali!" Ali told him excitedly. He laughed.
"Yeah, I know who you are. We've know each other since kindergarten, remember?"
"And this is Blair." She told them, seemingly oblivious to what he'd just said.
"Can we help you?" Logan asked, giving us a questioning look.
"Do you mind if we sit here?" Ali asked.
"You girls are hot and all, so no offense, but there are like, 30 other tables here." James pointed out. Clearly his airhead reputation wasn't too far off.
"Yeah, obviously." I said sarcastically, motioning to the lack of empty tables.
"I was just joking, babe." James tried to play it off.
"Sure you were." I muttered under my breath.
"So…?" Ali questioned, with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Yeah, come sit over here, Ali!" Carlos replied excitedly. She smiled and plopped down next to Carlos. Unfortunately, the only seat left was in between James and Logan.
"Great." I breathed, reluctantly taking sitting in the seat.
"So, you're Blair, right?" James turned and flashed a thousand-kilowatt smile at me.
"Obviously." I rolled my eyes, was the boy deaf? Not only had Ali announced it a minute ago, we'd also known each other since kindergarten. "Forgetting" someone's name and then asking them it to try and start conversation? Classic player move.
"I'm James."
"Um, we've known each other since kindergarten." I restated, deciding that yes, he had to have some sort of memory issues if he couldn't remember that.
"I really don't know how I could've possibly forgotten you." He winked, and I heard mock-vomiting noises coming from Logan besides me.
"How many girls have you used that one on today?" I cocked my head to the side.
"Smart and sexy. I like it." He said smoothly, earning another gagging sound from Logan. I simply rolled my eyes.
"So, Blair. How about this Saturday, me, you, the movies, popcorn, and a dark, dark theater." He winked again. Logan gagged yet again, and I stifled a laugh.
"Is that the best you can do?" I challenged.
"I could be more straight forward if you want." He smirked.
"Entertain me."
"Let's go make out on Saturday." He shrugged, actually believing that I'd made it that simple.
"And your reputation precedes you even more."
"Huh?" He suddenly became extremely confused.
"It means you're even more like what she heard about you before she met you now that you said that." Logan interjected. At least someone around here knew something.
"Yeah, I still don't get it." James resigned. Logan and I simultaneously rolled our eyes.
"You're even more of a dick than she thought you were before, dipshit." Logan dumbed it down even more for James.
"You couldn't have just said that?" James asked frustratedly. Logan rolled his eyes and extended his hand to me.
"I'm Logan. Judging by your response to James earlier, I'm guessing you already knew that." I smiled slightly, at least he could pick up on things too.
"Perceptive, aren't you? Even though we already know each other, I'm Blair." I shook his hand and then released it.
"And you know how to be a gentleman." I smiled and stated so that James could hear.
"Hey, I can be gentlemanly!" James protested.
"Yes, because ordering someone to make out with them on Saturday is just so classy." I smiled sarcastically at him.
"I can be a gentleman, if that's what you want, baby." James said seductively.
"And that's why you don't get any normal girls." I concluded. Logan nodded in agreement.
"My girlfriends were all normal, thank you very much." James defended.
"If by normal you mean excessively slutty, then yes, they were definitely very normal." Logan added.
"Shut up, at least I've had a girlfriend."
"He's joking."
"No, he's not."
"Yes, he is." Logan reassured.
"James is not joking."
"He's joking."
"He's so not!"
"Would you stop talking in the third person?"
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
"You are an actual idiot."
"At least I've had a girlfriend!" James said again.
"Is that your comeback for everything now?"
"Maybe."
"It's stupid."
"It's still true. You've never even ki-"
"So you're a cheerleader?" Logan asked, cutting James off. I nodded, sipping my hot chocolate. I'll let the whole girlfriend thing go, for now.
"That's really cool. So are you the girl they throw in the air?" James interrupted. Weird. He actually seemed genuinely interested in something I did.
"You mean the flyer? Then yes, but I can back spot too." I laughed momentarily at his confused face. I looked to Logan, expecting to see him prepared to explain, but even he seemed confused when it came to this topic.
"The back spot is the girl that catches the flyer's torso and holds her ankles to make sure that she doesn't fall. She's the girl in the very back." I told them. They both sighed in understanding. James smiled, impressed. James Diamond, actually thinking about someone other than himself? Somebody pinch me.
"I play right center for hockey." And the conversation was back on him. I really shouldn't have gotten my hopes up much.
"And I'm starting point guard for basketball."
"You play basketball?" I asked sarcastically. He grinned proudly and nodded. I rolled my eyes; of course I knew he played. I had to sit there and watch him every game. There's really not much else to do during games, honestly.
"Yep. Varsity." I almost spit out my drink in actual surprise at this.
"Varsity? You're a freshman." I interrogated. There was no way James was on Varsity. He was probably saying it for attention, everyone knew that freshman didn't even get to try out for Varsity, much less make it. I wouldn't know if he actually was because I only really saw him at JV games.
"I guess I'm just that good." He said smoothly, flipping his hair as he did so. I hated that he was good enough to make Varsity.
"Don't get too impressed, the Varsity coach saw him make a really good play and asked him to fill in during one game at the last second. He's not actually on Varsity." Logan said, rolling his eyes at his friend's arrogance.
"Well, well. So I guess you're not on Varsity." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Thanks a lot, Logan." He huffed, turning away.
"Does he do that all the time?" I faced Logan now.
"Whenever he sees a girl within walking distance. Apparently he's also a part-time Cuda model." Logan snickered.
"Hey! That was once, and in my defense, that girl was so hot!" James jumped into the conversation.
"Yeah, okay, James." Logan gave up.
"It was twice." He whispered into my ear a second later, causing me to giggle a little bit.
"So…are you guys coming to the big game on Friday?" Ali asked everyone, deciding to reinclude Logan, James and I in the conversation.
"We weren't planning on going, but if you guys are then we will, I'm sure." Kendall stated, earning collective nods from the rest of the guys.
"Wait, why are you guys going? Isn't that a Varsity game?" Carlos cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"Well there's a JV game right before that, which we have to be at, and also we want to support our teammates." Ali said.
"Plus, it's the biggest game of the year!" I added. Every year, there was a huge basketball game between Appleton High and our rival school, Alexandria High. Last year, Alexandria beat us by 2 points, so this year, tensions are high. The game on Friday was sure to be the biggest yet.
"I still can't believe we lost by 2 points last year! 2 points!" Ali yelled angrily.
"Damn Aardvarks." Kendall muttered. As you might have been able to tell, people were pretty intense about the whole rivalry thing that was started years ago.
"Well, thanks to James, we can win this year." I glanced at him expectantly. He shot me a puzzled look.
"I thought we went over this, I'm not actually on Varsity…" He reexplained.
"I know that, but there's still the JV game, and the least we can do is beat them in that so we have something to rub in their faces. James is the best player on the JV team." I informed the entire table. Logan snickered, while Carlos simply looked confused. Kendall whispered something in Carlos's ear, and he perked up, seeming to understand now.
"And since James is apparently so good, he can lead the JV team to victory!" Ali continued happily. James's eyes grew wide, obviously aware that he wasn't that good.
"Yeah, James, lead us to victory!" Kendall mimicked, thrusting his fist in the air. This got him a small punch in the arm from Ali, who obviously wasn't upset, but probably just wanted an excuse to touch Kendall.
"I think James is just scared because he knows that he's not that good." Carlos smirked.
"I am good!" James yelled defensively, causing Kylie, Amanda, and Lila to look over and look at him strangely. He turned away, embarrassed.
"If you're so good, then you wouldn't have a problem with betting on it, right?" I challenged, staring him down. James gulped semi-loudly but then regained his cool.
"What are we wagering?" He shot back, regaining confidence. I looked over to Kendall for a suggestion, and he immediately chimed in.
"If the JV team loses, you have to wear a dress of the girls' choice on Monday." He folded his arms over his chest, satisfied. James gasped in horror.
"And, you have to be Ali and my's servants also." I added, making a greater look of horror replace the current one on his face.
"No way!" He refused, turning away from us with his arms folded over his chest.
"Well, obviously James isn't man enough to do it, so…" Logan began. That did the trick; James whipped his head around.
"Not man enough? I am the most manly out of all of you! Not to mention the most attractive."
"Well I would hope you'd be more manly than Blair and I." Ali laughed.
"Fine, I'll do your stupid little bet. But if we win, which means that I win the bet," James began, a devilish smile forming on his face, "one of you two," he motioned to Ali and I, "has to be my girlfriend for a whole week."
"Wait a second, that's unfair!" I protested.
"Yeah, we only have you doing things for a day, so that doesn't work." Ali backed me up.
"The guys are gonna torture me for weeks if I have to wear a dress to school! I think a week is well deserved!" James screamed.
"He's got a point." I glared at Logan, now he decided to step in? I then sighed in realization that he was right. It would only be fair.
"Fine." I grumbled, but I knew that it wouldn't have to come to either of us being his girlfriend, because he probably wasn't as good as he said he was. I'd never really paid that close attention to James specifically during games, and one lucky play that landed him on varsity for a day didn't mean anything. Like I said, it was a lucky play.
James extended his hands to Ali and I, who shook them. At the same time, a beep emitted from Ali's iPhone. She picked it up and glanced at the screen before setting it back down.
"Blair, Bri's here to pick us up." She told me, grabbing her empty cup and cake bags and throwing them out.
"When did you text her?" I hadn't seen Ali even pick up her phone since we'd gotten to the table; she was too infatuated with Kendall.
"When I told her we were coming here. There's still Varsity practice today, so she's leaving now anyway." I shrugged and threw my trash out, both of us putting on our jackets and getting our schoolbags.
"See you guys Friday!" Ali waved goodbye to the guys, who seemed to be getting ready to leave as well.
"Bye!" Carlos yelled back excitedly, and then was told to calm down by Kendall and Logan. James was fixing his hair, as usual.
We walked out of the door to Starbucks just in time to see a white Infiniti sedan pull up. We both got into the car to go home, knowing that by Friday, one of us would no longer be single.
So, what do you guys think?! I know it's just an intro and doesn't really cover anything that the summary discusses, but those things will come up later in the story! Also, I wanted to make it clear that the character of Blair is loosely based off of me, even though I am clearly not wildly popular and do not attract the attention of gorgeous boys that resemble James Maslow. I intended for Blair and I to be similar in many ways, but I wanted to make her have more of a charmed life, so that the fallout would be better when everything came crashing down. I think that's about all I wanted to say, except maybe to review and let me know what your thoughts were, anything I can improve?
xoxo, Jess