Why are all boys so rude? And annoying? And mean? And weird? And crazy? And- ugh! I used to think this for a while. Actually, I still kinda do think it. But not as much. It all changed after I met him.

I was walking down the hallway, my binders and books in my arms, heading to my locker to grab my stuff for the second half of the day. Someone bumped into me and I accidentally dropped my stuff. 

"Hey!" I shouted. "Watch where you're going!" 

The tall boy who ran into me looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes at me. I swear I heard him mumble something like "Girls." As he walked off, not bothering to apologize. I kneeled down and picked up all of my binders, and reached for my Social Studies book. 

But someone got to it before me. From their hand, I could tell it was a boy, and I expected him to take off with my book, but he didn't. Instead he handed it to me. I grabbed it from in and looked up. The boy smiled at me. 

"Sorry about my friend. He can be a little... chaotic sometimes."

I studied him. He didn't seem to be lying, and.... he was kind of cute too. His tan skin went well with his side swept brown hair, and his bright blue eyes gave him a splash of color, and I couldn't help but stare. Maybe for a little too long. I quickly turned away. 

"It's fine. You don't have to apologize, it wasn't your fault." I told him. "Still. Someone needs to apologize." He argued. 

"Oh! Gotta get to class, bye..." It took me a second to realize he wanted my name. "Ember." I finished for him. "Ember Davis."

I hurried over to my locker, quickly opened it, and switched out my binders. As me and my friend Kenzie walked to science, she quickly caught up on my mood. 

"What happened?" She asked teasingly. "Nothing" I breathed. She wasn't buying it, so I told her "I'll tell you at lunch."

30 minutes couldn't have taken a longer time, but it was finally lunch time. I sat down with my friends Savannah and Cameron, Addison, and of course Kenzie. "So?...." She asked. I sighed. There was no getting out of this. 

"Fine. It's not a very interesting story though." I told Kenzie, but of course she still looked intrigued. So did Savannah and Cam. "I was walking to my locker, and a boy ran into me." I paused, and Kenzie signaled for me to continue. 

"My binders were knocked out of hands, and.... The boy's friend helped me pick them up. He apologized for his friend even though it wasn't his fault and...." My voice trailed off as I heard his voice. Laughter on the other side of the cafeteria, but I could see him. Kenzie followed my gaze and tackled me. 

"That's the boy who helped you, wasn't it?" She squealed. "Yes." I sighed. "But, I don't even know his name!" Kenzie smiled and shook her head. 

"That's Lake Anderson! He's pretty popular, and he's in our ELA class!" I hadn't realized Addison had been listening until she added "He's also in our gym class. How did you not know that?" 

I... don't know. Was he really in me and Addison's gym class?

Turns out, he was in our gym class. And we played dodgeball. And he was a team captain. "Choose a girl first." Mr. Tall  told him. He didn't even contemplate his options before he smiled and said "Ember." Addi nudged me forward. 

I told myself Lake only picked me because he thought I was good at dodgeball- which I was I guess- but that didn't stop my heart from fluttering as I walked over. "Thanks for choosing me." I told him. He flashed me a smile. "Of course."

The rest of the day seemed to go bye pretty quickly. My team won dodgeball, and, well, that's pretty much it since gym is my last class of the day. Nothing happened on the bus ride home, except for Savannah pressing me for details about gym. 

I finished my math homework quickly, and I didn't have any other homework. I read some and I wrote some, I ate dinner, and I went to bed. So, yeah, pretty uneventful.

The next few months also seemed to go by pretty quickly and uneventfully. Lake and I became a little bit closer, but we were just friends. We were in the same book club once for ELA, and whenever either of us were chosen to be a team captain in gym, the other would be on our team. 

Of course, my friends still wanted details of everything, and had started to try to get me out of the 'friend' zone with Lake. I knew there was no point in trying to stop them, so I didn't.

It was April now, my birthday month, and it was also the month that happened to be that of the Spring Fling. Flyers and posters were everywhere, and everyone was talking about it. 

Who their dates were, what dresses or suits they were wearing, who they hoped the king and queen would be. Why there's a king and queen for a Spring Fling, I have no idea. But it was the topic.

My friends and I were walking to the doors leading outside to the bus loop, but we were turned around by someone calling. "Hey! Wait up!" Lake. We all looked back to see Lake, and his friends. With him was his twin brother, Jace, and Andrew, Aiden, Reid, and James. 

My friends started twirling their hair around their fingers and acting casual, and I rolled my eyes. They had already been asked to the dance. Addi was going with James, Kenzie was going with Jace, Savannah was going with Reid, and Cameron  was going with Andrew. 

"What?" I asked Lake. "We're gonna miss the bus soon." Savannah said, and Kenzie elbowed her, while smiling. "Umm" Lake started. He seemed nervous. Jace nudged him forward and whispered "C'mon man." Lake started fidgeting with his hands. But he looked me straight in the eye as he asked, "Ember, would you like to..... go to the dance with me?"

PART TWO

"How about silver? Or pink? Or- ooh, maybe a dark green!" Kenzie squeals. 

"Why did I agree to this again?" I sigh. After I said yes to going to the dance with Lake, Kenzie insisted on taking me shopping for a dress. I told her it wasn't it big deal, and that Lake probably just asked as a friend, but she just shook her head and took me shopping anyway. 

"Because, Ember, you need a good dress for the dance. Oh, did you know that this year's theme is fairy tale? It's gonna be so fun! I can't wait for Saturday night!" 

She keeps going on and on and on, but I'm not listening. I'm staring at a dress on a rack. It's navy blue, goes just past the knees, with a beautiful floral design. 

"What are you...." Kenzie's voice trails off as she follows my gaze. "O.M.G. It's perfect! And it's on clearance too! Ember, we have found your dress!" I sigh, knowing she won't give up till I admit "It is a good dress."

So we buy the dress, and spend an hour more at the mall getting manicures, which I was less than thrilled about. "Did we have to get these manicures?" I ask Kenzie, studying my silver and gold painted nails. 

"No. But you have to admit they look good." Kenzie replied, looking at her own white painted nails. She was right. They did look good. 

The spa we went to was called Serendipity, and it's one of my favorite spas. Me and my friends would get pedicures there at least once a year, usually for someone's birthday, or Christmas. 

"Besides, when was the last time you got your nails done?" Kenzie asked. "Ummm..." was my only reply. "Exactly." Kenzie argued, walking towards the exit of the mall.

 "Okay, now, you have your dress, and your nails done. Now all that's left is hair and makeup, but you can do that tomorrow." 

Yeah, the dance is tomorrow night. I was not all good. I was nervous, and I didn't know why. I mean, all I would be doing is dancing with my friends. It's not like it's any different from any of the other school parties we've had. Right? 

"Yeah, I can do my hair and makeup tomorrow. But... do I really need to do so much stuff? It's just gonna be like any other school dance." 

Kenzie sighed. "You keep telling yourself that." And with that, she walked away.

"Come on Mom! Do I really need all this makeup?" I groaned. She just shook her head and said four words. "It's not that much." 

Um, yeah, it was a lot compared to what I usually had on. I pretty much never wear makeup, and now my Mom's got me wearing concealer and foundation and blush and mascara and I don't even know what else. But at least I'm ready for the dance. 

Kenzie should be here- my thoughts are cut off by the doorbell ringing. I run downstairs and open the door. Kenzie's standing there, looking like a princess in her dark red knee length dress.

 Her thick curly brown hair is pulled into a high ponytail, and she has just as much makeup on as me, though she always has some makeup on. Her dress goes perfectly with her tan skin and petite frame.

Looking at her I feel like her opposite. My fine golden blonde hair is half braided half down, and while my dark navy blue dress does pair well with my fair skin, I don't come close to comparing to Kenzie. 

"Don't just stand there, Ember. Get your mom and let's get going!" She tells me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Oh, yeah, sorry." 

Kenzie's mom is on call tonight at the hospital that she and my mom both work at, so my mom is driving us both to the dance. I go to get my mom, but she's already one step ahead of me and heading to the door. 

"Well? Are you two coming?" My mom asks as she sits in the driver's seat of the car. Me and Kenzie smile and hop in the back seat, and tell my mom to turn on the music.

Me and Kenzie jump out of the car and my mom pulls away. We walk inside of the highschool, and stare in awe as we wander the halls to the gym. 

When we get to the gym, it's an even more amazing sight. The walls are covered in vines with millions of purple, white, and pink flowers. There are oldish looking hand lamps on all the tables, and the ceiling is strewn with fairy lights. 

"Kenzie! Ember! Over here!" We spin around at the sound of Savannah's voice, and me and Kenzie run over to her. She's with Cameron and Addison, and all three of them look equally stunning. 

"Wow." I breathe. My friends also looked stunned, but they weren't looking at me or Kenzie. I spin around and followed their gaze. They were staring at their dates- and Lake. 

Lake honestly looked amazing. He had on a white dress shirt with an open black suit jacket, and black dress pants. Somehow his navy blue tie seemed to be the exact shade as my dress, and his whole outfit seemed to make his blue eyes pop even more. Not to say his friends didn't look good, but dang. 

He spotted me and flashed me a smile that made my heart flutter. He waved to me and I waved shly back. His friends and him ran over to us, and of course all my friends ditched me and left me alone with Lake. 

"Sooo..." I said, nervously trying to make small talk. But I didn't need to, because the music soon started to play. A small smile played on my lips as Lake grabbed my hand and took me over the the dance floor. I giggled as he started to dance, and I danced right along with him.

Me and Lake danced for a while, laughing and having fun. I eventually got thirsty, so we sat at a table and Lake went to get us some punch. After Lake was out of sight, two girls walked up to me and sat down. I recognized them as Sophie and Lucy, possibly the most popular girls in our whole school. 

"What do you want?" I huffed. Lucy glared at me. "What do you think we want?" She asked snarkly. I obviously knew, but I didn't say anything. "We want," Sophie continued for her, "For you to get away from Lake." I sighed. Figures.

"You don't deserve him, Ember. So stop hanging around with him so much." Lucy said, with a hint of envy in her voice. These girls really don't get it, do they? We're just friends. 

"You know that's really his choice, not mine. And besides, we're friends." Sophie scoffed at my reply. "I bet he's just using you. He probably has it out for one of your friends." Lucy snapped. 

"That's- that's not true!" Sophie turned her nose up at me. "Oh yeah? How can you be so sure." I tried to tell myself it wasn't true. That he wasn't using me. But some little part of my mind betrayed me, and I believed her. "I-I..." As if things couldn't get any worse, Lake walked up at that exact moment, and as soon as I looked at him, I took off.

My eyes burned as I ran, up one flight of stairs and another, to the roof of the school. I threw open the door and stepped outside, the spring breeze giving me the chills. I sat down by a wall, getting little protection from the wind. I used to come up here with my friends all the time to study. 

As I looked up at the starry night sky, the warm tears rolled down my face. I was probably there for about half an hour before anyone came up. 

"Ember?" Out of everyone it could've been, it had to be him? Lake sat down beside me. "You okay? What happened?" But I ignored his questions, and instead asked one of my own. "How did you find me?" I asked, my voice thick. 

"Kenzie told me you might be here. You didn't answer my question by the way. Why'd you run away?" I stared up at the sky for a while, not answering before I mumbled "Are you using me?" He frowned. "Why would I use you Ember?" 

He tried to look at me, but I wouldn't meet his eyes. "Those girls. They told me you were using me. To get to my friends." He looked at me questioningly. "To get to your friends? For what?" He asked. This was turning into a really awkward conversation. 

"I don't know. Maybe you like one of them." I mumbled. His mouth seemed to twitch with a smile, maybe holding back a laugh. "You think I like your friends?" Now it was my turn to frown. "Why not?" Lake leaned in close and looked me in the eye. 

"Because, Ember, I like you." And he leaned in even closer, and pressed his lips against mine.