Chapter 1

"You want to go to the mall today?" my mom asked me from across the table during breakfast. I choked a little on my cereal.
     "Uh, no thanks Mom," I said quickly, stuffing another spoonful of Cheerios into my mouth.
     "Why not?"
     "I have things I need to do," I lied, processing the cereal.
     "Like what?"
I quickly tried to think of something, "I have to clean my room."

"Amelia, your room is already clean. And plus you spend too much time cooped up in your bedroom as it is, the mall will be a great way for you to get out."
     No Mom, if I go to the mall with you, my friends will see me and will know that I lied to them when I said I was busy and couldn't go with them. And then they'd laugh at me because they would see me with YOU. That's what I should have said.
     "Mom, I don't want to go. And you're not going to force me to go."
     She pushed herself away from the table, "Fine, if you don't want to go, you don't have to. Chase and Ty are out of the house so you're going to have the whole place to yourself, is that all right?" She stood up.
     Chase and Ty are my brothers by the way. I just lived with my mom and brothers. My mom and dad divorced when I was seven and I haven't seen him since then. And no one likes to talk about him. I want to know more about him, but whenever I bring up the topic, everyone ignores me. I hate that.

I motioned my eyes up at my mom and answered, "Mom, I'm fifteen. I can handle most things."
     "All right, well if you're not going, I'm going to leave now." She grabbed her purse and keys off of the kitchen counter.
     "See you later," I spoke with my mouth full of cereal. I was careful not to choke again. It tends to happen a lot actually. Mom waved to me then was soon out of the house.
     Minutes later, I had wolfed down the cereal left in my bowl and then once the white dish was empty, I took it to the sink.

Ding, DONG! I jumped as I heard the doorbell ring and accidently dropped the bowl in the sink. It made a huge crack in the dish. Oops. Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong! Well someone was really impatient. I rushed to the door and opened it up.

Once I saw who was standing there, my heart did a back flip inside my chest.

It was Victoria Gladstone, the girl I had a crush on. She flipped her blonde hair onto her back. "Um, can I use the phone? My friend's car just broke down and I don't have my cell," she asked, out of breath. Did she just climb a mountain or something?
     "Uh,... SURE!" I spit out the last word. I hope I didn't spit on her. Did I spit on her? She didn't seem to react that much when I practically shouted that last word. Maybe I'm just over thinking things too much.
     "Thanks," she smiled. I guess I didn't spit on her. Phew!
     I welcomed her into my house and showed her the phone in the kitchen.

Her soft, perfect hand grabbed onto the device and she dialed several numbers. She held the phone up to her ear.

I was standing a short distance away from her and I could smell her flowery perfume linger in the air. I wonder who her friend was that was driving the car. And why did she come to my house? We have plenty of neighbors, so why didn't she go to one of those houses? I thought.
     A minute later, Victoria was off of the phone. She stepped over to me like she needed to ask me something.

And then she did, "Do you go to Charleston Girl Academy?"
     I responded, "Yeah."
     She smiled, "I thought I recognized you. Don't you hate it how we have to wear like ten layers of clothing when it's like really hot outside?"
     "Yeah, it's miserable."
     "It's insane. If they were going to make us wear uniforms, they should make us dress accordingly to the weather. We have one strict school, that's for sure." She wants to talk about uniforms? Why would she want to randomly talk about our uniforms? I thought.
     "I agree," I said, ignoring my thoughts. She shifted her handbag strap farther up her shoulder.
     "Do you have a Chatter account?" she asked.
     "Um, yes."
     "Oh good. Your name is Amelia Gates, right?"

"Yeah."
     "I'll make sure to friend you tonight on Chatter." She smiled.
     "Okay," I smiled back. Her eyes moved from me, to the front door, and then back to me again.
     "Well it was nice meeting you. I better go before my friend starts to worry. I'll talk to you later?"
     "Sure."
     "All right, well I'll speak to you soon!" She waved to me and then walked to the door, leaving a path of flowery scent behind her.

She stepped out of the house.
     I took in a deep breath. I felt all warm inside. She was so perfect. And she had no idea how I felt about her.

Gosh, I think my life just got ten times more difficult.

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