Chapter One: Friction, Baby

“Mind if I sit down?” I asked the brunette boy sitting on my favorite bench in the parking listening to his iPod.

It was two weeks until I had to enter the hell hole I had tried so desperately to avoid since I was little, also known as high school. I was about to be a freshman, and I was less than thrilled about it. All I could think about were all the horrible things that might go wrong. You know, getting lost in the halls, not having any friends in my classes… Basically, if there was a worry involving high school, I had it.

Usually whenever I got upset, I would take a walk to the park in town. It’s a quaint little thing, and I adore it. It’s peaceful and relaxing. I’d get to the park and then sit on my favorite bench to just clear my head. My favorite bench was in between the playground set and a pond. It was the perfect location to just sit and do nothing. I found myself sitting there a lot during the summer before freshman year.

This brings us back to the brunette boy sitting on my favorite bench. Usually, if someone was already sitting on it, I’d tell them to move and tell them off for sitting on my bench. Most people in our small, south-central New Jersey town knew that it was my bench, so they didn’t bother with it and chose other ones. It was mostly out-of-towners I had to kick off. This boy definitely wasn’t from around there, which meant I could kick him off. However, something about him stopped me from going into psycho-bitch mode.

Maybe it was his posture on the bench (he was sitting up straight firmly against the back of the bench; most people around just slumped on it). Maybe it was the stud earring in his left ear (in that conservative town, no boys had earrings). Maybe it was the type of iPod he was using (it looked more like the iPods I had seen people in England use). Whatever it was, I was curious about this boy. So I decided not to tell him off and to instead be polite so I could figure him out.

I should probably mention that he was blasting some band into his earphones, so he actually didn’t hear me when I asked to sit down. I had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. He pulled out his earphones and flashed me a golden, pretty boy smile. I practically melted on the spot.

“Yes?” he asked me. I heard an accent in the one word.

“Mind if I sit down?” I repeated.

“No, go ahead,” he told me, still smiling that adorable smile.

The accent was another red flag. I was betting on it being English, but I thought it could have been Scottish or Irish too. I was eager to keep talking to him to figure it out, so I tried to keep the conversation going after I sat down.

“What are you listening to?” I asked.

“The Shins,” he replied shortly.

Yes! Something I could talk about him with.

“Oh, I know them!”

He seemed much more interested in talking after I told him that, “Really? No one I know has ever heard of them.”

“Well, I don’t know that much about them. I only know them from the movie Garden State.”

“What movie?”

“Garden State… You’ve never heard of it?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“Hmm, you’re not from around here, are you?”

The boy flashed me that smile again, and said, “Was it the accent?”

“No,” I grinned, “It was your posture, the earring, and the iPod. The accent came later. Where are you from, anyway?”

“England,” he told me, “Oxford to be exact.”

Aha! I was right, he was from England!

“You’re from England? That’s so cool. I’ve always wanted to go there. So what brings you to New Jersey?”

“My dad’s job does. He works for a publishing company in England, and they have a branch in Philadelphia. They stationed him here. We’re here for at least four years.”

“Why don’t you live in Pennsylvania closer to Philadelphia?”

“My dad liked New Jersey better. He’s been here before for business trips, and he’s stayed both here and by Philadelphia.”

“Oh. I’d personally choose to live in Pennsylvania, because I like it better.”

He only nodded. Seeing the conversation faltering, I desperately tried to start another conversation, and the only thing I could come up with was, “How old are you?”

“Me? I’m fifteen. I just turned fifteen.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“July thirteenth.”

“You beat me.”

“Pardon?”

The “pardon” got me. I started giggling and grinning like an idiot. I pulled myself together enough to say, “I just mean that you’re older than me. I don’t turn fifteen until November.”

“Ah, what’s your birthday?”

“The twenty-second. What grade are you going into?”

“Uh, ninth, I believe. I don’t really understand the system here.”

“That’s so cool! So am I! Are you going to the local high school?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“That’s awesome. Are you nervous?”

I asked him a little too eagerly, and I tried to calm down, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m a little nervous, yeah. I mean, I haven’t really met anyone around here yet. You’re actually the first person I’ve met that’s my age.”

“Well, I could introduce you to my friends if you want.”

He looked visibly uncomfortable when I said that, and he shifted his iPod nervously in his hands while saying, “Oh, thank you. But no thanks, I really don’t work well with strangers.”

I laughed, “My friends are alright, but if you really don’t feel comfortable meeting them, its okay. But hey! I just realized I don’t even know your name!”

“And I do not know yours either. It’s William. William Coleman.”

“Nice to meet you, William Coleman. I’m Allison Marks.”

That’s how my friendship began with William, or Liam, as I called him. He was such a cool guy. I learned very quickly that he was really mature for a boy of our age, and he was so much fun. I could talk to him about anything, and I’d only known him a very short time. We talked about school, our families and friends, books, movies, music. I trusted him, which shocked me, because I trusted so few people. I found myself loving Liam.

But before you get all ahead of yourself, I meant love as in a friend. It was strictly platonic, no emotional attachment or intimacy. Okay, there was some emotional attachment. I mean, he actually became my best friend. However, there was no intimacy. I didn’t have romantic feelings for him, and it just made it all the easier for me to talk to him.

Notice the past tense verbs here. If only it could have stayed that way…

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Notice: I know that “Sweethearts” isn’t done yet, but I really like the idea for this story. The movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” sort of inspired this story, only I like the plot for the story much better than the movie. Don’t get me wrong, “Sweethearts” is still my number-one priority. That will get updated and finished before any other story, including this one. However, I thought I’d post this just to get some feedback from people. I realize that there isn’t much to go on yet, as this chapter is so short. I just wanted to give you a taste of the story. P.S. The story’s title is actually the name of a song by Better Than Ezra. The chapter’s title is the name of an album by Better Than Ezra. Every chapter title will be a song or album name by Better Than Ezra.