Will Always Be

Chapter One

“Did you know,” Melissa Berkley says loudly, “that the average teenager has sex by the time they’re sixteen?” And it could be my imagination but I swear she turns and looks at me as she says it.

Abby Morgan, her best friend and partner and in crime, looks at her for a second, then follows Melissa’s eyes and smirks at me.

“Sixteen?” Abby asks innocently. “I thought it was fifteen.”

I roll my eyes and try to concentrate on the homework from last night that’s lying on the desk in front of me. I’m in sixth period English waiting for class to start, and Abby and Melissa are trying to embarrass me, which they’ve made a habit of lately.

“Maybe you’re right,” Melissa says, even louder than before.

A quick glance around the room lets me know that almost the entire class is now listening to her. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Ashley,” she says to me. “I mean, not everyone has sex appeal.” She twists around in her seat and her and Abby start laughing.

My English teacher, Mrs. Green, takes this opportunity to come in and start the class, which is actually a blessing because I would much rather listen to Mrs. Green’s lecture than anything Melissa Berkley has to say.

My history with Melissa is kind of complicated, to say the least. I’ve known her since we were kids. Or maybe I should say, I’ve known who she was since we were kids.

Some things you should know about Melissa Berkley: 1) She’s probably the most popular girl in the junior class. And it’s not because she’s nice, either. I mean, I guess she’s nice to the crowd that she hangs out with, but if you don’t roll with the most popular kids in school, trust me when I tell you, she won’t bother with you.

2) She has to be the center of attention. Seriously, if a topic of conversation is not focused directly on her, she somehow finds a way to turn it back around so that it is. Even in class. If Mrs. Green is talking about a play or something, Melissa will raise her hand and say things like, “I know all about that. It’s just like that one time that (fill in the blank here with one of her numerous self centered stories.)”

3) She owns half of our town. Well, actually her parents own half of our town, but she acts like she does. When I say they own half of the town, I mean they literally own half of the land in our small town. Her dad owns three restaurants, the movie theater, tons of houses that he fixes up, rents out or sells, and various other little stores and shops.

4) She wants my boyfriend, Austin Givens, and me to break up more than anything else in the world. She even has a list of the reasons
why
we should break up. I know this because she keeps the list in the front of her daily planner and gladly shows anyone who wants to see it.

5) She hates me. I know this because she takes pleasure in coming up with new ways to get under my skin on a daily basis.

The weird thing about Melissa and me is that our contact was non-existent until a few months ago. She didn’t even know I existed. She could have cared less about my life. But that all changed last summer.

My family and I went on a vacation to Florida for a few weeks last summer, and one of my Mom’s good friends from her book club was there with her family. Enter Austin Givens. I knew who Austin was, but we definitely weren’t friends. He hung out with people like Melissa and Abby. And me? Well, I didn’t.

At first it was kind of awkward. But before I knew it Austin and I were actually becoming friends. We did everything together. And then it started to become more than that for me, but I was terrified to tell him.

After vacation I didn’t hear from him for the rest of the summer. And then on the first day of school he completely ignored me. I was really upset. Melissa and I ended up getting into this altercation in gym class over it (which landed me in these stupid anger management classes that were the most boring thing on earth. Um, hello, I don’t have anger problems. At least, I don’t think I do, anyway.) I pretty much bitched her out in front of her whole lunch period. And Austin totally stuck up for me and told her off, which was really sweet. It still gives me butterflies just thinking about it.

Anyway, Austin has been my boyfriend ever since that day in the caf a few months ago. It’s still totally crazy to me that one of the most popular boys in our school noticed me and wants me. The great thing about Austin though, is that he acts like none of that even matters. He knows his popularity has nothing to do with who he is as a person, which makes me like him even more.

After that day Melissa definitely laid low for a while. Neither she nor any of her friends bothered me. And for a while, I thought that was it -- that she’d forgotten about me. But just when I let my guard down she started back up again.

Most of the time I’m really good about ignoring her. Probably because Austin’s so good about listening to me vent about it and making me feel better about the situation.

He assures me that she’s just jealous and that ignoring her is the best way to make her stop. He thinks that sooner or later she’ll get bored, realize what she’s doing isn’t working, and let it go. She’ll eventually move on to some other victim. And I know he’s right.

But sitting in English class right now makes it kind of hard to remember that. All I want to do is take the eraser that’s in my hand and throw it as hard as I can at the back of her perfectly straight-haired head.

Just kidding. Kind of.

***

“So then,” I say slamming my locker door shut, “she pretty much announces in front of the whole class that I have no sex appeal.” My best friend Alexa laughs and pushes her long blonde hair behind her ear.

I’ve known Alexa since I was a freshman. I’d just moved here from South Carolina and knew absolutely no one. We had three classes together and by the third day of school she had taken me under her wing. We’ve been inseparable ever since. I doubt I would have made it through my freshman year without her. Actually, I feel like I wouldn’t have made it through
any
year without her. She’s a really good friend.

“That statistic is totally false,” she assures me.

“Of course it is,” I say as we start to walk down the hall together. “No way she knows that type of shit off the top of her head. She clearly just made it up to try to mess with me.”

“Oh, hey, Alexa,” Austin says, walking up beside her. “You haven’t seen my girlfriend around anywhere, have you?”

Alexa pretends to consider this for a second. “Hmm…I’m not sure, what does she look like again?”

“Well,” he says slowly as if he has to think about it, “she’s kind of short with brown hair, brown eyes, this really cute smile…”

“Oh her!” Alexa exclaims. “I think she’s somewhere obsessing over whether or not she has sex appeal.”

Austin stops walking and turns to me with a confused expression on his face. I shoot Alexa a dirty look and she laughs nervously.

“Well,” she says, “I better go. Don’t want to be late to class.” Then she takes off down the hallway leaving me to explain myself to Austin.

“So,” he says, taking a step closer to me and brushing his lips up against mine,

“no sex appeal, huh?”

He smells sweet, almost like candy. He’s wearing a dark red long-sleeved shirt and faded blue jeans; his hair is spiked a little in the front. As he smiles at me with his perfect white teeth I’m reminded all over again of how completely gorgeous he is.

“It’s nothing,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Just Melissa coming up with new ways to torture me. You know, the usual.”

“Ahh,” he says knowingly, “well, you could always push her into a wall again if you want. I mean, it worked out for you so well the first time so…” He shoots me a cocky grin.

I laugh sarcastically. “Ha-ha, very funny,” I say, sniffing at the air around me.

“Wait a minute, are you wearing cologne?”

He blushes and pulls back from me a little bit. “No.”

I grab his hand and pull his body close to mine again. “You totally are.”

He sighs as a shy smile comes across his face. “Okay, so I know it smells totally girly but my mom bought it for me. I had to wear it. It would have hurt her feelings otherwise. Plus, if anyone smells it they’ll just assume I’ve been kissing you again.”

This is exactly what I love so much about Austin. He’s nice. Like, not just for a guy either. In general, he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever known. I mean, how many teenage boys do you know who would wear cologne they hated just because their mom bought it for them?

I smile up at him. “Now that, Austin Givens, is what I call sexy.”

He smirks. “Oh yeah? Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about what Melissa and her stupid friends say.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, pulling him even closer to me. “Why’s that?”

“Because you, Ashley Livingston,” he says leaning in so close now that his lips are almost touching mine, “definitely have sex appeal.”

And then he kisses me again.

Chapter Two

“You know,” Alexa says as she takes a bite out of her sandwich, “for someone who says she’s over what Melissa and Abby were saying about her, you sure do keep bringing it up a lot.”

It’s a few hours later. Alexa and I are sitting together during our lunch period. I just finished telling her how over the whole sex appeal situation I am. But then I have continued to, you know, like bring it up every thirty seconds.

“Well,” I tell her sternly, “it’s because she said it in front of the whole entire class. Literally everyone was listening. She said it like there was no way in hell Austin and I could ever be having sex because of how totally unsexy I am.”

“But you and Austin aren’t having sex,” Alexa tells me matter-of-factly.

I sigh. “I know that, but it’s not because I’m unsexy. It’s because we’re waiting for the right time.”

Alexa nods and takes a bite out of her apple. “I know that and you know that, so who cares what Melissa says? Plus, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think. I’m sure the whole class didn’t hear.”

I breathe and try to let myself relax a little. Alexa’s right. Let Melissa and Abby tell people whatever they want. They have no idea what they’re even talking about. And Alexa’s probably also right that the whole class didn’t hear. And if they did, I’m sure people have better things to do than go around telling others stupid things like who does or doesn’t have sex appeal.

“So,” Alexa’s little sister Karli says, slamming her books down on the table, “I heard you have no sex appeal.”

“What?” I gasp.

Alexa sighs and shoots Karli a dirty look. “Good job, Karli. I’d just gotten her to calm down.”

Karli shrugs. “What? I’m just saying what I heard! Nothing wrong with that!”

“Who did you hear that from?” I ask her.

“Rick Warrington.”

Rick Warrington? Is that a joke? Who the hell is Rick Warington? I’ve never even heard of him. How could he possibly know I have no sex appeal?

“Who the hell is Rick Warrington?” I exclaim.

“You know, my friend Rick Warrington. The one who dated Sarah from our Spanish class last year,” Karli tells me as if I should know who she’s talking about.

Which I don’t.

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” I ask.

“It doesn’t matter who he is,” Alexa says. “What matters is that you definitely have sex appeal. So who cares what anyone else says. Right, Karli?”

Karli considers this for a second.

Here’s the thing about Karli: she’s a little bit crazy. Not in, like, a bad or scary way. It’s more of a “I don’t give a fuck what you think of me, so hate on me if you want”

kind of way. The thing about people like that, though, is that usually they’re really honest. And really loud about it. A lot of people don’t like Karli for this reason. But if you just give her a chance, you’ll see that she probably has the biggest heart out of anyone you know.

“Well,” she says slowly, “usually people who know they’re sexy are the people who have sex appeal.”

“Oh,” I tell her, “well, I know I’m sexy for sure.”

“Mmm…” she says shaking her head. “I don’t think so, but nice try.”

I sigh. “What are you doing here, anyway? You aren’t even in this lunch.”

Karli shrugs. “What does that matter?”

“It matters,” Alexa says jumping in, “because if you get one more detention it means you’re eligible for suspension, which means you have to tell Mom, which means you’ll be grounded for sure.”

Karli rolls her eyes, swings her tiny body up from the bench, and starts waving her hands around widely as she jumps up and down. “Mr. Lewis! Mr. Lewis!”

Alexa gasps as she tries to pull Karli back down into her seat. But Karli squirms away and Alexa ends up losing the battle. Now Mr. Lewis is walking toward us, grinning. This is what I meant when I said Karli is a little crazy. She can take any situation, turn it bad, and then make it even worse within a matter of seconds. And of course, she somehow gets away with it.