"Chyna, you're late!" My mom yelled to me. She had her briefcase in her hand and was fixing her tie.

"I know, I know," I groaned, pulling on a pair of purple converse. I stuck some bangles onto my wrists and grabbed my Guess bag and my car keys.

"Have a good day, OK?" Mom said, kissing me on the cheek. I smiled. "Of course. And you, too." Mom nodded and I followed her down the grand staircase and out the big front doors.

The circular driveway was where my car was, while mom's was in the garage. She headed to hers while I headed to my silver hummer with the music note on the side door. I opened it and climbed into the smooth seat, sticking the key in my ignition.

Mom headed out first, and I followed. I honked as we went our separate ways.

While on the road, my iPhone beeped.

"Siri, read the message please!"

"From: Lexi. Chyna, you are so frekin' late! Make sure you're there for my party invite party! Does that make sense? Paisley says hi! Hi! That was Paisley. OK, see ya!"

I chuckled and turned into the parking lot of Webster High. My parking space was all the way in the back, and students were every which way, trying to make it to class on time.

My parking space came into view, but I was surprised to see a red Volkswagen buggy already parked in it.

I groaned. "This is just what I need," I mumbled to myself.

A guy with shaggy blond hair that I'd never seen before stepped out. When he saw me, he frowned.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered, "You're in my spot."

"Your spot?"

"Yeah, dude, I paid for that spot."

The boy's cheeks tinted red. "Oops," he said, "Sorry bout that."

"You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I actually moved to San Francisco from New York City."

"You moved here from New York?"

The boy smiled. "It's kind of a long story."

"Well, I've got time. Keep the space. I've got another one, anyway. Wait for me!"

I backed out of that side of the parking lot and moved to another space near it, where I neatly parked the car. I grabbed my keys, stuck them in my bag along with my phone, and put on a swipe of Juicy Couture lip gloss.

The guy was still standing near his car. We walked towards the doors of the school while talking.

"OK, so what's this story?"

"Well, my grandpa died."

I sniffed. "Aw, that's so sad!"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, and we had to find a way to take care of my grandma. And my dad had just lost his job, so things were tough. So then he found a job here working at an art store in the mall. He's a really good artist. We found a house here, moved, and now we're close enough to my grandma to take care f her and still have normal lives."

I nodded and we stopped at the front door.

"I didn't catch your name. I'm Chyna. Chyna Parks. Nice to meet you...?"

"Fletcher Quimby. I hope we'll meet again."

"Most definitely. See you soon!"

I hopped up the stairs, and behind me I heard, "Yeah, soon."


Who was that?

I read the text message during my English 3 class. I was sitting at the back, so no one could see me. No one would tell anyway. They knew what would happen if they did.

A boy named Fletcher. He just moved here.

I typed as fast as I could. A girl named Robyn passed me the sheet of paper we would be working on. The title said Shakespeare: To be or not to be?

He's cute :)

That was Lexi. But it was too late for her.

Too bad. He's mine! All mine!

I giggled when I read her message.

Someone's got a crush there, doesn't she?

Of course I do! We've known each other for years!

What if he's not interested in you?

I dreaded that question. What if he wasn't? But no one could reject Chyna Parks, right?

Then he's yours. All yours.


After school, I walked Fletcher over to his car. We had had several classes together that day.

"So, where do you live?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "In a condo, just up from Porterman's Circle."

I smiled. "Cool! I live in PC. We could go up together!"

Fletcher flashed his toothy smile, and his blue eyes shone. "Awesome!" He unlocked the door to his car and threw his book bag in the passenger seat. "Bet you I can get out the parking lot first!"

I laughed and ran up to my car, unlocking it and climbing in in one swift motion. I started it and backed up, but was no match for Fletcher's small car. He was out of the parking lot and halfway down the road before I finally pulled in front of him.

I scrolled through my phone's playlist until I finally found the song I was looking for. Luckily, no one knew of my obsession with Spongebob.

"F is for friends who do stuff together!"

"You is for you and me!"

"N is for anywhere and anytime at all down here in the deep blue sea!"

"Lalalalalala..."

I pulled into Porterman's Circle and stopped in my driveway. Fletcher stopped too and rolled down his window.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Talk to you later, OK?"

"Bye!"

And off he went, away from Porterman's and down to another world.


The next day was dark and gloomy, and not to mention it, pretty stormy. But even through all that, I was pretty happy, because I would be able to see Fletcher again.

I put on my varsity jacket with the Webster logo on it and walked down the staircase. My father was never home. He was always at work, because he was head of the police department and had loads of work to do. My mother was a famous lawyer and pulled in tons of money from her law firm.

I grabbed a donut that was sitting on a rack, thought better of it, and put it back. What would Lexi think?

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts.

Who could it be? It obviously wasn't mom or dad...maybe it was the UPS guy making an early delivery. I walked up to the door and almost laughed when I saw who it was.

Fletcher was standing right there, soaked to the bone. His hair was hanging down his face and he smiled when he saw me.

"Hey, Chyna," he said.

I chuckled. "What happened to your car?"

He sighed. "It broke down, and I don't have the...I can't fix it."

I nodded and threw him an umbrella. "Then let's go!"

It was funny; I'd known this boy for less than 24 hours and he was already driving with me to school! Unbelievable!

I revved the engine and pulled out.

"You look pretty wet over there, young man."

Fletcher rolled his eyes. "You think? What am I going to do? I can't go into school like this!"

We were just about to pass a street of stores when I had the perfect idea. I stopped the car and opened the door, opening my umbrella on the way out.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To get you something to wear!"

We walked into the store, and a lady with big glasses gave us a funny look. "Aren't you kids supposed to be in school?"

I smirked. "What are you talking about?"

"You obviously can't pay for any of this, and I'm not trying to lose my job by taking pity on you. There's a Walmart nearby."

I fumed and took out my wallet, showing her my array of credit and debit cards. "You think I don't have enough money to pay for this?!"

The women looked shocked and embarassed. She ran into the back room.

I smiled and turned to Fletcher. "Let's look for something for you to wear."

We sorted through the racks of clothes together. We tossed stuff into a pile, and Fletcher took them into a dressing room to try them on.

"No."

"No."

"No!"

"Definetly not."

"Maybe..."

"Uh..."

"Perfect!"

Fletcher was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a yellow t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. I took out my credit card and passes it to the women, who qucikly scanned it and gave me my reciept.

"Have a good day."

"You too."


I was sitting at my usual table, along with Lexi and Paisley.

"So, I heard you and Fletcher came to school together." Lexi stabbed her fork into her evergreen salad with low fat cranberry dressing.

"Yeah," I said, picking at mine.

Paisley looked in her compact mirror. "Does this shade of pink make me look fat? I hate this shade of pink."

I sighed and turned to the window. I missed Fletcher already. He had to meet up with all his teachers to catch up on the work we had already done.

"Anyway," Lexi continued, "My party is tomorrow night and I have the perfect outfit planned! You're coming, right?"

I smiled. Who could forget Lexi's party? It was going to be the party of the year. "Totally! I won't miss it."

Lexi wink. "You can even bring lover boy if you want."

I blushed and turned back to Paisley, who was sipping a diet Pepsi. "Remember," she said, "No junk food."

I nodded and picked up my bag. "I'll see you guys, OK? I have to go meet...Mr. Durham about my algebra homework."

Lexi waved her hands and I quickly rushed out of the cafeteria. Instead of heading to my algebra teacher, I went the opposit way into the library. Fletcher was already there, stacking books on top of each other.

"Hey," I said, sitting down next to him.

"Hey," he replied, "What's up?"

"Nothing much." I stared at his brownie, just sitting there on top of foil. Fletcher noticed and grinned. "You want it? I'm not such a big fan of brownies."

I shook my head. "No, no. Lexi would never approve. It would just go to all the wrong places and I'll never be accepted again. I worked so hard to get to where I am today, and it's not so easy. But, lucky for you, you met me, and now you're actually a somebody. Trust me, without me, you would be a hopeless guy with no friends."

Fletcher's face fell and he grabbed the brownie, taking a bite. "Thanks for your help," he said. I then realized what I had said and regretted it.

"Oh-mer-god, Fletcher, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it, I swear."

Fletcher gave me a faint smile and broke the brownie in half. "A little won't hurt." And then he gave me a piece.


Fletcher and I were on our way home, him in the passenger seat, me driving.

"Can I drive?" he had said as the last bell rung.

I rolled my eyes. "Not unless I can see your license." That shut him up. His license was in his broken car, at home.

I rolled past Porterman's Circle and kept going. "So, where's your house again?" I asked him, making a left turn at Sundown Avenue.

"On Westley street," he said, "Right near here."

I kept going and turned onto Westley street when I saw it. I kept driving, and finally Fletcher stopped me.

"Right here," he said.

I nodded and he opened the door to get out.

"Wait!" I said. Fletcher turned around. "Yeah?"

I quickly scrawled my number down on a peice of paper and handed it to him.

"See ya."

And then I drove away.