Disclaimer: All characters and places are mine, unless indicated. If you want to steal my stuff, go ahead. Just know that you won’t be any better off with it.

Author’s Note: Due to my lack of interest in Lejos de Romántico’s plot, and the horribleness of it to boot, I decided to change it to something (better?). So hopefully enjoy this “new” version. If you want to call it that.

Much thanks to Jessica for being *really* blunt and honest (in a good way) and for being such a good friend and support. Love ya, hun! :)

Summary: A geeky girl and a not so popular jock. A common combination to be found at any typical high school, including Eldon High. But what happens if the geeky girl is Indian and the not so popular jock is Mexican? Who knows what’ll happen.

Prologue

No one had ever expected it. But that’s the best part of it; it came as a surprise to them. The biggest surprise of their lives. They had never expected it, and so were taken aback when Adam and I broke up. Maybe “taken aback” isn’t the right word for it. Who would have ever expected for Nirupa, geek extraordinaire, and Adam, annoying jock, to break up? And to be more ironic, on the day of their first anniversary? I mean, really; who would have expected that coming right at them, like a fastball.

Adam and I had a perfectly good reason why we caused chaos to happen at our school by breaking up. Or what we had thought then was a good reason. In the end, it ended up not being a good reason, but the biggest mistake we could have ever done in our lives.

What was the reason? After a year together, we felt it was better if we were apart; we didn’t need the endless arguing that we had been plagued with and the annoying headaches. We got along most of the time, but we started to get sick of each other in the end. Adam didn’t want to be tied down, and I wanted to experience everything that life offered. Having a boyfriend didn’t fit that criteria; it only prevented me from going out there and reveling in everything that was there.

Adam and I didn’t hate each other; it was the exact opposite. We loved each other. I guess the words to describe it were that we needed some space – some time away from the other person. If it went on any longer, we would drive each other nuts to the point where we could no longer stand to be in the same room for one second anymore.

We weren’t irritated with each other, honestly – it was, in our minds, time for a break. We needed to think. All of this was mutual, so no hearts were broken, nor were there any regrets. Later on there would be regrets. Big regrets.

Maybe we weren’t ready for a relationship. Or maybe we had rushed into it too fast. For whatever reason, it caused us to rethink what exactly we wanted to be.

Might as well start off things by telling who exactly who the hell I am. Name’s Nirupa Reddy, nice to meet you. I’m a true blue Westerner, so yes, I drawl a lot. Definitely fitting nicely into the stereotype of drawling, laid back Westerners. I also happen to be a geek. Not the stereotypical one with huge glasses who happens to be a suspender wearer and has a calculator in the chest pocket. A unique geek – that’s what I am. I read books by the minute, and can always been seen with a book in my hands. It doesn’t matter what genre or what topic – I read any and every book there is. All the ones that I can get my hands on, anyway.

Moreover, I’m Nirupa Reddy, geek extraordinaire, who dated a jock. Now that’s breaking the rules of high school romance. If there even are any rules for high school romances. Most likely there are, just like there are rules for everything else.

Not just any rule, though. I broke the #1 rule at Eldon High School. Never, under any circumstances, date a person who is not of your own race. The unspoken yet abided by rule. The unbreakable rule, which Adam and I broke.

It wasn’t like we could help ourselves. We had been attracted to each other as if the other person was a magnet.

Now that seems exaggerated beyond belief, but it’s true. Truer than anything else you could find in this world. And you know, it wasn’t our fault. Maybe it was, depending on how you looked at it. Adam and I were somehow irresistibly drawn together and we entwined ourselves to each other.

You’re probably wondering about Adam now. He’s my best friend, above all things, and my soulmate. Or so I thought. He’ll still be my best friend, no matter what.

Adam’s one of those people you can’t help but be drawn to. It’s like they have an aura that you can’t resist and which ends up with you being somewhat connected to that person. He’s shy yet outgoing at the same time – almost like a hermit crab. Adam’s everything all in one person. He has every trait that you could think of – which would be annoying, but for me, it isn’t. Maybe it was one of those things that drew me to him. Maybe it was just him that I was drawn to. Everything that made up him and was him. His essence.

Maybe I’ll just never know. Either way, even though the break-up was mutual, I soon found myself sinking into a lethargic depression. I couldn’t get myself out of it – it was if I had caused this whole thing, as if I had caused myself to sink, to fall down. And never get back up.

I knew that it wasn’t my fault, though. Nor was it Adam’s. It wasn’t because of me that I was falling into this deep abyss that I couldn’t get out of, and it wasn’t because of him that I was depressed beyond all recognition. It wasn’t our fault. Later after I got myself out of the hellhole I had been in, I realized the truth. The truth that had been there in front of my eyes all along. Only I hadn’t seen it. Or maybe I had just refused to see it, to deny that I felt this way. That I felt more than “platonic” feelings for my best friend.

It hit me like a tidal wave, smacking me in the face harshly. How could I not have seen it? Why had I refused to see it? Questions filled my mind, searching for answers, but never getting any. I couldn’t believe it had taken me this long to realize, to acknowledge my feelings for him. To acknowledge that things were deeper than I thought they were. That my feelings ran deeper than what met the eye. For such a smart geek, I was such a stupid girl.

I realized I was in love with my best friend.

Who knew such an epiphany could change so much?

- end-

Important Note: Nirupa liked Adam while they were dating, but didn’t realize that she loved him until they broke up. Let me know what you think.