Chapter 1

A New School Year

My alarm clock went off, and I knew exactly what that meant. It meant the start of another boring school year. Luckily my last high school year. I unwillingly got out of my bed and walked down the hall to my bathroom. I stripped down out of my cloths and got into the shower. Like every other day the cold water hit my bare back and made me shiver. When I was done I quickly wrapped a towel around me trapping in all the warmth. I sprinted to my room to get some cloths on. I sniffed around in my closet for something clean. I picked up my black top with my purple tank. They smelled pretty clean to me. I looked around for some pants, but all of them were stacked into a pile on my floor. So I had to look for something else. I found my plaid mini skirt that went perfectly with my shirt. I got dressed and grabbed my messenger bag, making my way down stairs. Like always no one was home. My mom was in South America. Something about a mid-life crisis, and my dad left when I was only 6 years old so I never expected him to be home. I grabbed my keys and walked outside to my car. I never really took my car to school since I only lived a few minutes away, but I was always to lazy on the fist day of school.

When I got to the school there were only a few people. I let out a sigh. I hated being so early. I slowly walked into the school, taking all the time in the world to find out what I was going to have this year. I went into the office and the secretary handed me my schedule. I walked out and went to find my lock. I looked in and all my books were already there. I took a look at them and saw a very firmly book. I took another look at it and saw that it was my L.A book from last year. What the hell! I stormed into the office.

"What the hell! Why do I have L.A again?" I screamed at the secretary.

"Well, Myra your grades last year weren't very good."

"But why Miss Davis!?" I kept shouting at the old secretary

"You don't have Miss Davis anymore. She retard during the summer." The secretary keeps a calm voice the whole time I was shouting.

"Oh. I'm sorry for flipping out on you. Who do I have now?" My voice was in a more gentle tone.

"You now have Mr. James." She turned around and got back to her work.

"Thank you and I am sorry about earlier." She waved her hand at me. I turned and walked out of the door, going right back to my looker. I took out my books that I needed for my first two periods. The bell rang and I looked at my schedule and saw that my first period class, which was L.A, was down on the third floor and I was on the fourth.

"Shit!" I mumbled to myself. I ran down the hallway and down the stairs. I skipped stairs as I went down. I rushed down the hallway and burst through the door. The late bell just rang as I slammed my way through the door.

"You're lucky." I unfamiliar voice came from the front of the room. I looked up and it was like a truck had just slammed in my chest. The man I was looking at was gorgeous. I couldn't help but stare. He had the most vibrant blue eyes that I had ever seen. His silky black hair fell in front of them and just below his eyes there were the most kissable looking lips. My breathing became heavier. He spoke again, "I would have had to given you a detention if you were late."

"What!" I said breathless. "Since when did students get detention for being late?"

"Since your principle made it a rule. I tired fighting against in but the other teachers agreed with the principle." He ran his long fingers through his black hair. I looked for an empty seat in the back but there were none. "There's an empty seat right here." I blushed bright red when I saw that the only seat available was the one that was right in front of his desk. This seat was meant for students with behavior problems but the class was full.

I quickly walked to my seat as the others watched.

"Okay then. Since I'm new here we're going to go down the rows and introduce ourselves and tell us a little bit about yourself. Okay, let's start with you." He pointed at me and twitched his finger upwards indicating for me too stand up. I stood up out of my seat. I looked at the teacher and he nudged his head in the direction of the other students.

"Ummm, hi. I'm Myra Nicolette De Luca. I full Italian. Umm, I hope to be a painter/writer when I get older, and I want to visit France. But first I have to learn the language." I looked over at the teacher and he had a sweet smile across his face.

"That's a very lovely name." He smiled at me. "Do you know how to speak Italian?"

"Ciao mi chiamo Myra Nicolette De IL luca, Ed IL suo nome รจ?"

"What does that mean?" His face gave off a confused expression.

I gave a little chuckle. "It means, hello my name is Myra Nicolette De luca, and your name is?"

"Well I tell you what, if you teach me how to speak Italian, I teach you how to speak French." I felt heat rushing under the skin of my cheeks. I sat back down as the others began to introduce themselves. I didn't listen to a word any of them were saying. My eyes were on Mr. James's face the whole time. I never took my eyes off his gorgeous features.

When the bell rang I felt like smashing it. Before I could get out of my seat, I saw a shadow appear over my desk.

"Miss De Luca, I don't think it was very nice to ignore all the students as the were introducing themselves." I blushed and look up. He was leaning over my desk.

"Oh s-sorry." I stuttered tripping over my words. His face was very close to mine. I could feel his sweet breath on my face.

"Well, next time just try to pay attention to the other students." I got up from my desk and was about to walk out the door. "Oh and Myra." I stopped and turned to face him.

"Yes?" He smiled at my and my knees went weak.

"Try not to be late." I nodded my head and turned around to walk out the door. I went to my next period and then the next one. All my classes were just slugging by, taking their good old time. Finally the last bell rung. I got up from my desk and walk out the door to my looker. The best part was that I had to pass Mr. James's class room to get there. As I got closer to his room, all the butterflies began to flutter around in my stomach. I got closer and closer. Then I heard a huge crash. And the next thing I know it, I'm lying on the hard tile floor. My eyes were shot, but I could feel the hard tile underneath my back. I heard a familiar voice telling everyone to give me some room. The soft voice whispered in my ear.

"Myra, are you okay?" I didn't open my eyes. I felt something wet on them. "Someone go call a nurse!" The soft voice turned commanding and loud. I felt someone's hands pull and lock mine around their neck. The tile floor left my back and was replaced with two hard arms. Shortly after I felt my back hit a soft paper covered bed. I knew from the paper that I was now in the nurse's office.

"Miss De luca, can you hear me?" I nodded my head slightly. The little movement made my head throb with pain. My eyes closed tighter. "She probably has a concussion. Let me just clean her up and I give her some pain killers. She'll be able to go home after a few minutes."

"Okay. Do you mind if I stay here. I'd like to know if she's okay before I leave."

"No not at all. Stay as long as you'd like." I laid there just listening to them talk. My head still throbbed with pain. After a few moments when the pain started to ease, I slowly opened my eyes.

"Hey." Mr. James was leaning over me. I smiled up at him, and he smile back at me.

"Hey." My face blushed as his bright blue eyes stared into my green ones. His hand moved my red hair to the side of my face. I sat up to quickly and fell right back into the bed.

"Are you okay?" He asked his voice filled with concern.

"Yeah." A let out a little laugh. "I just got up a little too quickly." He chuckled a little bit. I tried getting up again, this time I took my time. I stood up, and immediately Mr. James put his arm around my waist and my arm around his shoulder. "Umm, thanks."

"No problem." His smile widens. When I started walking his hand tightened around my waist. "So do you need a ride home?" His face was filled with hope.

"No, I have my car here. I'll just drive home. I only live about 5 minutes away." He shook his head.

"I don't think you should be driving home with a concussion. And besides I need to make it up to you, I did hit you with the door." I looked at him and he had a sweet smirk on his face.

"What am I going to do about my car?"

"I can always pick you up tomorrow for school and then you could drive it home."

"Okay." A huge smile spread across his face. He helped me walk outside to where his car was. "Nice car." He had a nice shiny black convertible. He leaned me against his car and opened the door for me. He slowly lowered me into the passenger's seat. He closed my door and then over the drivers. He started the ignition and drove away.

"So where do you live?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Oh just turn left up here at the light. My house is the big white one." I started to drift asleep on the way there.

"Are you okay?" I nodded my head slightly and fell asleep. "Hey, Myra we're here." A soft voice whispered in my ear. I didn't open my eyes. I felt myself being lifted up and carried to my house. He laid me down on something soft and laid my head on his lap. I slept for a little while.

"Myra, are you awake?" I slowly opened my eyes and saw myself looking up at him.

"Hey."

"Hey. When are your parents going to get home?"

"My mother is in South America."

"What about your father?"

I turned my head to look away from him. "My father left when I was 6." Talking about my father always made me choke up. A tear escaped my eye. Mr. James took one finger and wiped it away.

"I'm sorry I upset you." I looked back up at him.

"It's not your fault."

"I think you need to get some rest. I'll pick you up tomorrow." He grabbed the pillow and blanket that was lying on the lounge chair. He replaced his lap with the pillow and put the blank over. "Bye." He whispered silently as I drifted off to sleep.