Chappie 1-

“Love is a figment of imagination.

People who fall in love are living in a world called fantasy.

Fantasies are broken when reality gives you a swift kick in the behind. That’s when divorce occurs.

Our legal system…has to tolerate these reality kicks because we, humans, are too stupid to acknowledge fantasy from reality.

So, I tell you students of Kentley College, stop living in the fantasy world and join reality.”

That was my speech. Yes, I actually stood up in class and spoke five sentences on my topic: Love.

I wish I had a camera though; the looks on people’s faces were wonderful!!! My English teacher, Mr Chuteny had a frozen, polite smile that quickly turned into a grin.

A big, wide, and almost joyous looking grin.

That’s when I knew that something was wrong…I do not make teachers grin. Never have and never will.

“Who else did Love as their summer topic?” Mr Chuteny asked smoothly, as if he had anticipated my speech.

About half the hands popped up.

“In response to Liane’s enlightening one…” he quickly added.

One measly, hand slowly raised and I knew before looking that it was Josh’s.

“Why Josh, why don’t you stand next to Liane and present your speech; so the class can compare.”

My eyes spoke a million burn-in-hell-glares as Josh; Mr I-am-a-pig-and-scumbag-in-the-whole-entire-world swaggered to the front.

“Love is when two lonely souls meet.

Love happens everyday, whether it be inside school or at home.

Love is the same. It brings joy, compassion and hope.

People who don’t believe in love, live in a fantasy.”

That son of a bitch…guess who won? Stupid Josh. His was only FOUR sentences. He only won due to the female population that was too busy gazing into his eyes and sighing. The guys were all his friends so he won by a mudslide. I ignored the wink he sent before sitting back down.

5 letters buddy, P-r-i-c-k.

“I demand a rematch!!!” I roared with an accusing finger at Josh’s tall, cocky frame.

“Liane, you do bring an interesting issue and one that has me thinking of your plan.” Mr Chutney continued in a patient tone.

What plan???

“Class, Liane has given me a brilliant idea!” his hands clasped in front of him and he started strolling towards the front.

What IDEA?!?!

“We shall divide the class into two groups and you will have a debate. A debate about Love”

Giggles erupted and male egos inflated. I was stunned, shocked and …and… that wasn’t my plan!!!

“People on Josh’s team shall be for and Liane’s, shall be against. Now…shall I create teams or will you be able to assemble yourselves in an orderly manner?”

Before my very eyes I witnessed a rat race. You’d think that all the females decided to rush over to Mr Idiot’s side, while guys looked amused.

I think time slowed down because the next thing I knew, Liam casually swaggered over, flicked his sandy mop of hair with a charming smile back at Josh and what looked like the whole female population.

Girls sighed and fought over whom Liam had smiled at.

Liam, a charm-a-holic happens to be Josh’s best friend. Also the hottest guy in the planet! My heart raced at the casual arm he slung around my shoulders. I felt his warmth on the side of my body and his male scent flooded into my senses, causing heat to rise into my cheeks.

“What do you think you’re doing man?” a commanding and irritated voice came strongly across the room. As I looked towards Josh, I saw his slight frown and felt Liam’s arm tighten around me. This stopped the giggles and everyone listened with an open ear.

“Liane can’t work by herself dude” was Liam’s only reply.

“She worked on that crappy little speech by herself” Josh justified.

“Hey!!! It was better than your FOUR sentence piece of shit!!!” I hurled back. Stupid Josh, he had to ruin my moment with the irresistible Liam.

“Get your butt over here man!” Josh sternly demanded.

“I can’t just leave my girlfriend here all alone dude”

What the?!?!?!?!?

I think someone fainted but I was already turning towards Liam with an eyebrow raised.

“Liam man, she can’t be your girlfriend” Josh calmly stated across the room, not paying attention to the huddle of girls that had started fanning Mindy, the girl who had fainted.

“Why not, Joshua?” Ouch, Josh always hated being called his full name, which is why I do it most of the time.

It was Liam’s perfect sparkly green eyes versus Josh’s blue. Did I mention that I have this thing for eyes? Well, other than Josh’s.

I looked across the class and saw that guys had already returned to their seats while the girls and Mindy, who had recovered, were glaring at me.

“She’s already got a boyfriend” Josh cockily replied.

“Oh really? Who?” Liam’s arm was now officially crushing my shoulders and I stepped forward, shrugging off the tanned delicious arm. Why do guys always act like in not here?

I LOVE drama.

So, to include myself into a conversation that is obviously about myself, I said the first thing that came to mind. Unfortunately, that’s when stupid Josh decided to speak aswell…

“You’re looking at him” I declared rashly to Liam as Josh said simultaneously…

“Me” Josh calmly stated with a crooked smile. Wait—he smiled? Not smirked. I checked again and yes, it was a crooked smile. Maybe he’s on crack.

I can’t believe I just said that I was going out with Josh!!!

Someone pinch me, please.

Okay, your probably wondering what he looks like and why I think he’s ugly when the female population doesn’t. So, I’ll give you a brief description of Josh, the Loser with a capital L.

Loser has blue eyes with wavy black hair. His tanned olive skin goes very well with his hair and the eyes are a contrast. Can’t really blame the female population for adoring his eyes. Idiot a.k.a. Loser can fill out many broad shouldered shirts and his washboard abs isn’t that bad…He‘s also got full plump lips thanks to his Spanish background. I on the other hand have white skin but due to school, my arms are tanned.

Odd I know.

Liam on the other hand… has green eyes; dark thick brown hair that is currently matted like straw…very hard to explain, it looks like he used gel to straighten his hair but then decided to flop some over his forehead and messed up the rest.

Like me he has lips…his are brown, mine are pink-ish. The only major difference is that he has a pretty good build.

And of course I don’t like Liam, I just sit...and daydream about his beautiful features and that doesn’t mean I like him right? Well anyway not only does he have a really good built but he is so charming! I remember when I was five…

Flash back

“Why did you take my Lilly Bear and throw it into the sand pit, Lilly Kay?!?!” I shouted across the childcare centre.

“What? That ugly bear had the same name as me! Do you know how offensive that is to a pretty girl like me, Liane?!” She scolded back at me.

Then Liam, walked passed me towards the sand pit and picked up Lilly Bear; he walked pass Lilly Kay before he handed me my bear.

He turned around to the irresponsible four year old and said “Pretty? Pretty ugly Lilly Kay, you wish you looked like that bear” as he pointed to my Bear

“You made that bear look ugly because it saw you!” he teased and all the kids in the centre laughed.

I poked my tongue out at Lilly Kay as she stomped her feet and started to whine to Mrs Smithies.

Liam took my hand and we ran to the cubby house.

He hugged me and said, “Don’t worry no one will harm Lilly Bear, I’m your superhero I will guard this cubby house and keep you all safe” the six year old boy turned around and guarded the old wooden cubby house.

Lying on my back I felt the damp grass soak into my blue jumper. I was in my park…well, it’s not mine literally but I like to think it is. It’s the size of a large football oval and many games are often played here. But since it’s winter’s, no one wants to freeze their butts off, expect me. If I sat up I would see the familiar row of trees in the distance…I was lying in the middle of the oval and not giving a care to the world.

I lay here all the time. Thinking about what’s happened or what’s going to happen is one of my favourite past times. I concoct all my devious threats and plan’s here and think of it as a second home.

Right now, I’m thinking of what happened after Josh and my little outburst.

It’s quite funny really.

The class was in shock, naturally. You see, Josh and I have had this little feud ever since I was 10 and he…well…he did something really, really, really bad.

It’s so bad that I can’t even talk about it.

As everyone resembled a goldfish, I quickly grabbed my books and ran…I ran to the park. My park.

Yes, I know I’m a coward but well…my life’s complicated alright?

I usually run…well, that’s what people say anyway. Then again, people say a lot of things. I was contemplating on whether I should head home and dry myself off when I heard someone walking towards me. His shoes created a mushy sound on the wet green grass.

“Go away Loser” I immediately said…I knew who it was even before I turned around because there’s only one person that knows my second home.

Joshua

“We have to talk about today, Slut” he replied in the same tone as mine.

Damn copycat…I sighed as I closed my eyes. Might as well give him what he wants so then he’ll go away.

“What, Idiot?” I asked bluntly.

“Look, bitch, since we told the whole class about our ‘relationship’ we have to do something about it and unlike you, I don’t want to seem like a liar” he pointed casually as he sat next to my shoulders.

“I’m not the Liar, Stupid. We can just say that it was a mistake anyway” I amended.

“We can’t.”

“Why not?” I was getting annoyed. I had suggested a solution and this Git contradicts me?

“Liam”

Okay, let me explain. Liam and Josh have always been a tad competitive.

Quite sad really since they both have their strengths and weakness.

But I understood what he meant.

“Liane, what happened to us?” Josh quietly asked.

“Don’t you dare bring that up again Josh”

“You have to stop saying that. Stop doing this. Stop running away. Stop running from me!” he yelled.

I was silent. He was right though. I did run from him and I just continued to do it. As I was sitting up, I decided to once again. Run.

Josh must have read my thoughts because he leaned over, pushed me underneath him and lay on top of me while pinning my arms to my sides. His baby blue eyes had turned into a storm and he was now glaring at me.

I felt the pent up anger within his lean body and focused myself to be unresponsive.

“Let me go, Josh”

“Not till you tell me why you run from me, from us” he’d calmed down now.

His eyes were starting to unnerve me. My jaw clenched and I gave up on any sort of restraint. I tried kicking the guy but he was too strong and used his own legs to press mine down. My arms had been strongly banded to my sides and I glared at him with black daggers.

“Let me go”

“No”

My short black hair had fallen onto my face and I felt Josh’s rough fingers gently brush them off my face.

“Let go Joshua. I mean it. I don’t want to be near you or around you. Don’t you understand how much I despise you. I hate you.”

“Hate this”

My eyes almost popped out of my head as I felt his smooth lips press urgently and hard onto my own.

It was just like last time. I felt my heart race and mind start to fog.

It felt…it felt…it felt like when you have an ice cream on a hot summer’s day after playing in the pool.

It felt like the warm rays of the sun shining on your face after a day of rain and hail.

It felt like holding a sleeping baby gently in your arms while rocking back and forth.

It felt like you’ve just finished your exam after months and months of preparation and study.

It felt like lying in a hammock and gently swinging with the breeze while drifting to sleep.

It was too good to be true.

Flashback

“Hey sexy lady”

“What up cutie pie?”

“I want to try something”

“Uh huh…What is it?” I ask cautiously…the stuff we’d done before was really stupid.

“Don’t worry, it won’t be like last time, I promise.”

“Uh huh…that’s what you said the time before the last time” I retorted with a poked tongue.

“Hey! That was fun! You’re just a sore loser!” my blue-eyed best friend replied with a poked tongue.

“I won that contest”

“Did not”

“Do you even remember that contest?”

“Uhh…umm...”he looked around for a diversion.

“The contest was about who could stand on their heads and eat as many tic tac’s without puking” I explained again.

“Oh I remember that. I won that competition”

“Did not”

“You puked!” I yelled.

“Yeah, well…whatever” he said with a shrug.

“What did you want me to do this time?”

“Just hold still and close your eyes, okay?”

“Okay…” I replied with a careless voice as I flopped onto back onto my bed.

I felt Josh’s body move from his sitting position at the end of my bed to where I was lying and I thought he was going to start tickling me like usual.

I felt him breathe on my face and my only logical thought was, oh no! He’s going to burp! The loser!

I felt damp, warm lips press softly onto my own and knew that our friendship was ruined.

All because Josh kissed me.

My hands pushed at his firm chest just as my body bucked upwards and he let me go.

I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the tingling sensation on my lips and ran.

As I ran, I scooped up my school bag and closed my eyes in dismay when I felt someone holding onto the bag. I did mention that Jerk was athletic, right?

“I’m not letting you leave till you tell me why we split”

“If you can’t figure it out yourself then you’ll never understand, dickwad.” My shout echoes across the grounds as I swivel around, unaware of my clenched fists.

“You want to know what happened. You want to know why YOU ruined our friendship? You want to know why I hurt?

You want to ease my pain or some shit? Huh?

Well, you know what? I don’t ache, I don’t hurt.

I’ve made myself a better person after you ruined me.

So you can go screw yourself because I’m fucking PERFECT!!!” Yanking my bag out of his slack grasp I ran.

This time, he let me go.

This was stupid but I didn’t know if I was disappointed or relieved.

Arriving home, I furiously scrubbed at my lips with the back of my hand. Opening the white, wooden door with the other I prepared myself for the family.

Now, my family’s not bad or anything. It’s just…I think they liked Josh more than they ever liked me, or these are my teenage hormones speaking.

“Finally, your home!” Dad spoke as he beckoned me towards the dinner table.

Mum was placing plates generously mounted with grilled fish, rice and stir-fried veggies. Dad quickly took a seat at the head of the table while I sat to mum’s left.

Glancing about, I saw that two seats were empty.

“Where are Tom and Allan?” I quietly asked.

“They both wanted to eat in their rooms” Mum explained indifferently.

“Can I?”

“No” came the strict response from Dad

“Why?”

“You give us no reason to believe why you should eat up there” Mother frostily and haughtily retaliated.

“Why is Tom and Allan allowed?”

“Why don’t you ask them for yourself?” Dad quipped with animosity.

“Now, unless you have a good reason why you want to eat by yourself then speak now” Mother decided.

I hated eating with my parents and I figure if my reason included Jerk-face then they’d let me go.

“Josh asked me to call him when I got straight home and he doesn’t mind if I eat while I talk to him.” My loose lie must have worked. Unless it’s because they heard the name Josh that they said:

“What are you still doing here? Go to your room this instant! I better see the phone in use!” Father roared.

I quickly grab the fork, dinner and phone. Sauntering upstairs into my haven, I was blocked by Tom.

“How’d you get out of dinner?” he asked suspiciously.

“Calling Joshiepoo, you?” I briefly explained.

“Calling Angela” he sarcastically voiced in a hushed tone.

“How is she?” I ask loudly.

Tom’s face was hilarious! He narrowed his dark eyebrows and loudly spoke back

“She wants to go out on Saturday with you and Josh”

I was gob smacked. My mouth dropped open at Tom’s poked tongue and I loudly yelled back

“I don’t think Josh would mind but Mum’s been right when she said that I need to study”

All of a sudden, almost on cue, Mum’s voice yelled out form the dining room

“You need to take a break, why don’t you take the whole weekend off and be with Josh”

“Thanks Mum!!!” Tom wickedly shouted back and grinned at me while adding

“You should call Josh and tell him the good news” before he smirked off.

I entered my sanctuary. Glancing at the desk with a mountain of homework, I decided to tackle later. I quickly jumped online at the laptop next to my pile of homework.

No one interesting was on and worst of all, I knew that I was stalling from calling Joshie.

Bravely, I grabbed the phone and quickly dialled the familiar number that I unfortunately never seem to forget.

After about three rings I was prepared and anxious enough to hang up.

“Hello?” a strange monotone spoke to me.

“Hi…Joshua, it’s—“I began.

“I know who it is. What do you want?” his accusing tone made me worry. Especially when I shouldn’t be worrying.

“I…I…umm…I’m sorry Yoshie” I pitifully and genuinely offered as a peace offering.

“That wasn’t what you were saying this afternoon” he replied cautiously.

“You know I’m temperamental” I argued. I thought of a plan to make this weekend work.

“Look Lenny, seriously…what’s with the apology, which seems pretty genuine so far. Did you kill someone? Do you want me to help dig the grave?” he said slowly.

“I don’t want you to help me hide a body…I want you to go out with me…”

Hey everyone!

Did you all miss me? Sorry it's taken so long for this brand new story! i was gently reminded of my promise and now i want to say that the next chapter will be up within the next 7 days, even if it kills me.

Okay, i really hope that people do review because i'm semi-satisfied with this new story and if enough people don't like it then i shall start afresh!

Hope to update and reply to reviews soon!

Miss Me