Chapter 1: Problems

Rain pitter pattered on the wet pavement. Bright flashes of red and yellow glowed through the dim fog. A steady stream of teens flowed from of the buses to the front doors of the school. Some mingled with friends while others went to their lockers.

A streak of brown and white rushed past the entrance and down the right hallway. As she neared her locker, she spotted a few familiar faces.

“Sarella!” they called.

Ignoring them, she twirled her combination. She was met with a wave of books crashing to the floor. She groaned as she bent down to pick them up. The warning bell rang; five minutes left. She hurriedly shoved the rest of her books in her locker, frowning when it didn’t close. She gave it a hard kick, satisfied when it clicked shut. She sped off to her first class, hoping she wasn’t late.

Through the first part of her day, she was bombarded with question after question from her friends, wondering why she didn’t show up yesterday. Sarella waved off their questions, telling them it was nothing to worry about.

“Now this is what I call a lunch!” Sarella’s smacked her lips.

Her mother always packed a special lunch on Fridays. Sarella reached for the sandwich, smiling in satisfaction as her friends drooled over her lunch. Homemade lunch beats cafeteria food any day!

When lunch was over, Sarella and her friends headed to their lockers to retrieve their books. By the time Sarella arrived in her classroom and sat down, the PA system crackled and popped, indicating announcements. “Would Sarella Lionel please come to the Principal’s Office? That’ll be all, thank you.”

“What did I do?” she questioned.

Her friends shrugged their shoulders. Begrudgingly Sarella walked to the principal’s office by herself. A feeling of impending doom settled uneasily in Sarella’s stomach. As she turned the knob of the door, she was greeted with a bright smile.

“Congratulations!” The principal took her hand and shook it enthusiastically. “I never would have thought of this happening in my school, but always expect the unexpected, I say. I was surprised to hear you won!”

Sarella let out a breath of relief. She wasn’t in trouble! Good. Then her eyes widened as the last part of the sentence registered. “Wait, won what?” she asked suspiciously.

“You don’t remember? Well, can’t blame you. It’s been nearly 3 months since the contest.”

“What contest?”

“There’s someone here to see you, Miss Lionel. Follow me please.”

Sarella curiously followed the principal to the front doors of the school. And damn that curiosity for making her so curious!

“What contest were you talking about?” she asked.

“You’ll see.” The principal chuckled.

Sarella frowned, unhappy with the answer.

He pulled out a walkie-talkie and shouted ‘Let ‘em in!’. A moment later, the front doors opened. In walked a blond haired boy with dark sunglasses adorning his head. He wore black pants and a blue collared shirt. Two large men dressed in black suits flanked him. Then came the cameras and tv reporters.

A female TV reporter slid up to Sarella’s side. “We’re here with Armada High School student Sarella Lionel, winner of the date contest! Sarella, how do you feel about being the one girl of millions to date Chris Veraldo?”

“WHAT!?” Sarella screeched.

“That’s right.” The singer slung his arm around her shoulder, “I get to be your boyfriend and attend your school for the next three months.”

“No thanks!” Sarella shook off his arm, disgusted. She accusingly pointed a finger at the pop star and narrowed her eyes. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

Chris was completely speechless. One of the tv reporters told her camera man to stop recording, completely expecting the opposite response. Good thing this event wasn’t live!

“You should be more respectful to our guest.” The principal admonished.

“I won’t!” Sarella said. “I give respect only to those who’ve earned it. He..” she pointed at Chris. “deserves no more than microscopic crumb!”

“Ms. Lionel!” The principal exclaimed, shocked.

Sarella ‘hmph’ed and walked away, refusing to speak.

“Don’t you walk aw—”

The bell rang.

The principal quickly ushered the tv reporters, bodyguards, and singer out the door, apologizing profusely. He couldn’t afford any more commotion. He told the singer to come back tomorrow, early, so they could avoid the crowd.

The principal walked back to his office, rubbing his temples. That didn’t go well at all! He sighed as he popped some painkillers. The next three months will be clearly be unusual. He must keep a close eye and make sure nothing… illegal would happen. He sighed again.

“You did this, didn’t you! I would NEVER enter any such a contest! This is your fault!”

Sarella had cornered her friends and was grilling them for answers.

“What are you complaining about? You get to date one of the hottest guys in the country!” Casey giggled.

“Have you lost your mind? Oh, that’s right. You’ve never had one! There’s nothing up there except air!”

“Ouch.” Casey muttered, frowning. “You didn’t have to be so mean.”

“I have better things to do than date a spoiled brat! Why did you curse me so?”

“Well, you didn’t meet us at mall. So when we saw the booth, we thought it would be funny to enter your name as a joke.” Andy replied.

“You shouldn’t have signed me up without my permission!”

“You weren’t there! Besides, there was one chance in a million that you would win. It was harmless.” he contradicted.

“You call this…” Sarella waved her hands about, “…HARMLESS?!”

“C’mon! You’ll become popular, living the highlife like the stars!” Casey whined

“Then you be his girlfriend!” Sarella growled.

Andy opened his mouth to retort, but Sarella cut him off with a wave of her hand. “I don’t want to hear it! Out of my way!”

Sarella pushed through her groups of friends, storming down the hallway. The next few months were going to suck. Today was only a small example of the chaos that will swallow her school. Brr… She shivered from the thought of it.