Chapter One

To simply put it, love triangles suck. Okay, as a fictional story, it's not that big of a deal. But realistically, love triangles really do suck. Think about it, two people are in love with the same person and that single person is practically forced to choose between them. It's the hardest choice in the world.

Take Guinevere for example. She's possibly living proof of how much damage love triangles can do. Many have come to claim that it was her fault that Camelot fell. Who knows? Maybe it really was her fault. It was she who chose the really hot and strong Lancelot over the really good and powerful King Arthur. She broke Arthur's heart, and he was supposedly a pretty cool guy. Because of that love triangle, some bad shit happened, Camelot fell and there was some sort of Dark Age. This is further proof that love triangles are bad.

As for the fictional variety, there are some love triangles that have pissed me off to no end. For some reason, I always find myself rooting for the wrong person. I don't know why, maybe I missed something. I remember watching shows like Felicity and Dawson's Creek, and being tortured by the ongoing love triangles. I mean, seriously, why do they always end up with the guy I don't want them to end up with.

Anyway, back to my actual point. The main reason why love triangles suck is because someone always ends up hurt. No matter what, someone's going to be left out, or killed off. Then the person that two people were in love with is probably going to feel bad about it. At least, I certainly would be...

"Melanie Carmichael! Are you even listening to me?"

I snapped out of my reverie, looking up at the source of the voice. "Sorry, Andrea," I said, looking up at my brunette best friend. "I'm just a bit tired from taking my sister to the airport at three in the morning. I haven't gotten any sleep at all."

I knew my mom could've taken her, but I wanted to be the one to say goodbye. My sister and I were close, and I couldn't bear saying goodbye to her hours before her departure. Instead, I stayed up all night with her, talking about nothing and everything.

"I can tell you're tired from the slow pace we're running," Andrea giggled, gesturing to the pavement underneath our runners. With a lopsided grin, I glanced at the rest of our gym class that was a good half of a lap ahead of us. "Miss Carver is gonna be pissed when we finish last."

"Oh well, I have a good excuse," I shrugged. "Why don't you go on ahead? I don't want you to get into trouble too."

"No way," she said, shaking her head vigorously for exaggerated emphasis. "Leave no man behind, er... woman I mean."

I couldn't help but smile in appreciation. "Aw, Andy, thanks for keeping me company," I said.

Rolling her eyes, she replied, "If Miss Carver kills me, you owe me one."

"Mentally noted."

We ran for a minute or two in silence in an attempt to catch up with our classmates. "So, what were you thinking about so deeply before that you couldn't hear me?" Andrea asked me suddenly.

I blinked, thinking back to my inner monologue rant. "I was thinking about my sister and her stupid love triangle," I told her. "And how sad it was when she started going out with Ryan." Andrea raised her eyebrows in question. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Ryan... It's just, what about Jimmy? He really liked Amanda, but she had to choose, and she chose Ryan."

"Yeah, love triangles are evil," Andrea said. "What made you think of Jimmy all of a sudden?"

Pursing my lips, I remembered back to the trip to the airport the night before. Everything had been going fine until we made it to the security line where Jimmy O'Brien, Amanda's former classmate among other things, was working. He just so happened to be working as a security officer. "We kind of ran into Jimmy at the airport," I said.

Andrea scrunched up her face in sympathy. "Oh gosh, that has to be awkward," she said.

"That isn't the half of it," I continued then paused for a breath. "After Jimmy and Amanda stuttered some greetings, the metal detector went of and he had to prod her with that handheld detector thing. Then, out of nervousness, Jimmy dropped the thing and they both bent down to pick it up."

"Let me guess, they hit each others' forehead."

"Exactly," I nodded. "It had to have been the most painful thing to watch. Afterward, they didn't say a single word. Amanda just waved goodbye to me and I've been waiting for her to land to find out what the hell was going through her mind. She must've been horrified..."

"Poor Mandy," Andrea sighed. "Such a dramatic life... I kind of envy her."

"Who would want to deal with all that drama?" I said incredulously. "It seems like way too much to handle... and kind of painful, particularly the head butting."

The two of us skidded to a stop at the finish line panting to catch our breaths. I clutched my knees to steady myself since I had been feeling a bit dizzy. I moved to stand straight, but paused when a shadow was cast onto the ground in front of me. Looking up, I made eye contact with a very disgruntled looking gym teacher. Oh no, the wrath of Miss Carver.

"Miss Carmichael and Miss Lennox, what lame excuse do you have for coming in last?" the petite gym teacher questioned us sternly.

"Oh, I have plenty of lame excuses," I said. "You never seem to want to believe them."

Miss Carver raised her eyebrows at me. "Miss Carmichael, I guess I shouldn't be surprised..." she muttered. Turning to Andrea, she shook her head. "But Miss Lennox? You're on the track team, so I'll let you go. Melanie on the other hand, I want one more lap from you."

I rolled my eyes as Miss Carver turned and started walking back towards the school. "Great..." I sighed. "Andy, I guess I'll meet you in the locker room then..."

- - - - - -

Exhausted from having to run an extra lap, I pretty much stumbled into the locker room. I received a few sympathetic glances from my classmates who all disliked Miss Carver immensely. Hating teachers was a common sport amongst the students at my school. Sighing, I sat down on a bench in the locker room and stared at the tiled floor in a daze.

"Melanie!" Andrea exclaimed, shoving my drawstring bag into my arms and tossing my backpack on the floor beside my feet unceremoniously. Upon glancing at my face, her eyebrows furrowed with concern. "Aw, are you okay? You look a little pale..."

I blinked a few times to get rid of the blurriness. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm always pale. But I'm a bit tired from the running."

She pursed her lips before going back to her locker. Lowering my head, I opened my bag and slowly began changing back into my white tank top and trusty pair of light blue jeans. I stuffed my runners into her locker and shoved my feet into my favourite pair of skate shoes.

"Melanie," Andrea muttered, bending a bit to see my face. "You look like you're gonna be sick."

I sighed and ran a hand through my vibrant red hair. "I'm okay," I insisted. That was one of the things I loved about Andrea. She always seemed to care so much about everyone. "I probably need a good fifteen hours of sleep, but I'm feeling alright."

She nodded in satisfaction as I threw the rest of my gym clothes into her locker and slid the lock on. After slinging my backpack over my shoulder, we made our way out of the locker room just as the bell rang. "Crap, I have math... I think," Andrea said, fishing her schedule out of her pocket. "Yeah, I do. Crap..."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing at the fact that she had to check her schedule to figure out which class she had. It was the third week of the school year and most people were able to get to their classes without any problem, even the freshmen. All except for Andrea.

"Whatever, you have a class with both Ronnie and Bobby," I said. "I have biology all by myself. I don't even have a table partner to dissect with. It's depressing."

"Aw, poor Melanie," she said, pulling me into a tight hug in the middle of the hallway. I gasped and struggled in her surprisingly strong grip. "I'm sure you'll make a buddy in that class."

When she finally let me go, I snorted derisively. "Are you kidding? Everyone in our grade is so clique-ish," I stated, rubbing the oncoming sleep out of my eyes. "No one will even talk to me in that class."

"Don't worry, someone's bound to open up," Andrea assured me. "Hey, maybe some new kid will show up and you'll be able to befriend them before anyone else can. We'll assimilate them into our own clique."

"Oh right, our own little 'clique'," I giggled.

"Andy! Carmichael! Over here!"

We both turned to see a blue haired boy and a dark haired girl heading our way. I smiled at the two as they came closer. "Bobby, Ronnie, what's up guys?"

"Nothing new," Ronnie shrugged, pausing to flip her dark hair over her shoulder. "Baked some cookies in foods class today, the boys ate it all up in like five minutes." She paused and gave one of our classmates a beautiful pearly white smile as he passed by.

Ronnie Delia, Andrea Lennox and I have been best friends since elementary school. I can recall us and a fourth girl being forced to sit together at the same table in the third grade. Ronnie was the pretty girly girl, Andrea was the tomboy and I was the shy loner. The other girl, who's name shall remain unmentioned for now, was the rich spoiled brat. We didn't get along very well to say the least. But after having the four of us work together, we slowly stopped hating each other, and eventually we became friends, which turned into best friends.

"Hey, babe," Bobby muttered. I glanced up just as he leaned down to kiss Andrea.

Wrinkling my nose, I prodded Bobby in the stomach. "What's with you guys and the PDA?"

Andrea grinned mischievously. "Only making up for the time lost when he went away to the Bahamas," she said, kissing him again on the cheek.

"Aw, I'm sorry if it bothers you, Carmichael," Bobby said sincerely. "If it helps, I'll publicly display some affection with you if you want."

I scrunched up my face and shook my head. "No thanks, Bobby..." Possibly one of the craziest people I've ever associated myself with, Bobby Kirk. The three of us girls met him on the first day of highschool. At the age of thirteen, it was apparent that he was insane. Well, he wasn't really that crazy, but he was pretty weird.

We quickly became friends with him, and since he had no guy friends, everyone thought he was gay. Bobby had a really bad time at school until grade ten when Andrea told him that she liked him. They'd been dating ever since, and I have to admit that I was kind of jealous. Andrea had a boyfriend, and Ronnie's gone through a lot of boyfriends. But me... I had never had a boyfriend. Though I believed that not having a boyfriend wasn't a big deal, I was embarrassed to admit that I hadn't had my first kiss yet.

"Dudes, we should really get going!" Ronnie exclaimed. "We're totally gonna be late to math, and Mrs. Dingle is totally gonna pissed off."

"When is she not?" Andrea said, pulling her curly brown hair out of her ponytail. With a sad smile, she turned to me. "Sorry, darling, we have to go. See you at lunchtime?" I nodded just as they turned to leave me standing there by myself.

The hall was emptying, and I knew for sure that I would be late to class. After rolling my eyes at myself for standing around so long, I proceeded to head to class. A few seconds passed before everything started going fuzzy. I blinked rapidly a couple times and continued on with determination. Mr. Newman wouldn't be mad if I was late, but I hated having that evil little number inscribed on my report card under the 'lates' column.

I was nearing the science hall when I spotted a group of girls coming towards me. Lowering my head, I began walking faster. I always hated walking past big groups when I was by myself. As I passed them, one of the girls brushed shoulders with me. "Watch where you're going!" she screeched.

With wide eyes, I looked up at the girl. It was Mina Renhold, my self-proclaimed archnemesis. Why was she my archnemesis? There were too many reasons to count. I shot her the nastiest glare I could muster until she disappeared around the corner. Obviously, glaring at someone behind and walking forward is not exactly the safest thing to do. I nearly cried out in surprise when I walked into something very solid and warm.

"Oh, sorry," said the moving wall.

I furrowed my eyebrows, craning my neck to see who it was. My mouth almost dropped open when I realized it was Adam Miller, the cutest basketball player in school. "Crap, I wasn't watching where I was going," I said, feeling my cheeks grow hot.

He leaned down to look at me, his black hair falling into his gorgeous sapphire blue eyes. Oh God, a girl's dream come true, Adam Miller was leaning close enough for me to able to smell his wonderful cologne. It was even making me dizzy. "Hey," Adam muttered. "Are you okay?"

At that moment, I vaguely wondered why he asked me if I was okay. "Yeah, never been better," I nodded, which I immediately realized was a huge mistake because then everything began spinning around. The last thing I recall was Adam catching me in his arms before it all went dark.

- - - - - -

I stirred awake, finding myself lying in a lumpy cot wrapped up in some itchy blankets. I could distinctly smell the antibacterial soup and bandages. My head was pounding and I felt sick to my stomach. From what I could see through my half open eyes, I was in the medical room.

Everything seemed like it was spinning still. My eyelids were heavy, and refused to stay open. All I could remember was glaring at Mina and walking into something that smelled heavenly...

"Hello, dear, how are you feeling now?"

I forced my eyes open to see the school nurse, Miss Perkins, enter the medical room. "Not very well," I managed to mumble.

"I imagine so," she said with a smile. "You did faint, after all."

My eyes widened suddenly, remembering that I fell into Adam Miller's arms in the hallway. "Oh..." Now that's embarrassing. I could just imagine what he would say to all his popular friends.

"What class did you have this morning?" she asked, placing a hand on my forehead.

"Gym," I grumbled. "I ran like four laps. It was hell..."

Miss Perkins raised her eyebrows as if she was extremely interested. "And did you sleep last night?"

I shook my head. "No... I took my sister to the airport for a late flight. I wanted to say goodbye."

"Ah, it all makes sense now," she said, turning around to scribble something on her notepad.

Just then, Adam strolled into the room casually, his blue eyes scanning the room briefly. After a moment, he looked at me curiously before glancing at the nurse. "How is she?" he asked quietly. He sounded almost... worried.

"It seems that Miss Carmichael here fainted from exhaustion," she stated in a matter-of-factly tone. She smiled at me sweetly and patted my arm. "I'll call home for you and see if one of your parents can drive you home. You need to rest, so don't try to get up yet, okay?"

I nodded slowly as the nurse left the room. It took me a while to realize that I was alone in a room with Adam Miller. This fact caused me to blush profusely. I seriously hoped he thought my flushed face was because I was sick.

He walked closer to my bed silently until he was about a foot away. "You're Amanda Carmichael's sister," he said. "Am I right?"

"Yeah, you knew her?" I replied.

"Well, she was the best student council president we've ever had," he stated, sitting on the cot beside mine. "And she was a really nice person."

"Ah, of course," I nodded. My sister, Amanda Carmichael, was more or less famous at our school. Being one of the nicest people ever, she was friends with everyone, even the outcasts. She was smart, kind and pretty, everything a boy wanted and everything a girl wanted to be.

Meekly looking into my jade green eyes, Adam offered me a small smile. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, much better," I said.

He gave me one of his charming lopsided grins. "So, you were just swooning at my feet because you were overwhelmed by my manly hotness?"

"What?" I said incredulously. I must've given him the weirdest look, because at that moment he just laughed.

"I'm kidding," he chuckled, a faint blush appearing. "I was just testing you to see if you were fully conscious. Seems like you're lucid now."

Miss Perkins swiftly reentered the room. "Young man, why aren't you in class?" she questioned. "It's nice that you want to take care of your girlfriend, but you shouldn't be here now." I blushed at her presumption.

"Oh, don't worry," Adam replied nonchalantly. "I have a spare block right now." I couldn't help but notice that he didn't deny that we were boyfriend and girlfriend.

The nurse sort of half rolled her eyes before helping me sit up in the cot. "Well, in that case, can you escort her to the front of the school?" she said before turning to me. "Your mother said she's coming to pick you up. And don't worry about your other classes, I will notify them that you've gone home sick."

"Thanks, Miss Perkins," I muttered as she helped me out of the cot.

"No need to thank me, sweetie," she said, leading Adam and I out of the medical room and into the hallway. "Just make sure you get better."

"I will."

"And you take care of her," she told Adam.

Smiling, his sapphire eyes looked into my jade coloured ones. "I promise I will," he said. The nurse nodded and went back into the medical room, apparently satisfied with his answer.

I held his gaze with determination. "You don't have to escort me," I stated.

"Of course I have to," he replied. "What if you fainted again? Then who would save you?"

"Save me?" I said incredulously.

"Well, I was the one who carried you all the way to the medical room," he said quietly. I felt a jolt go through me. The image of him carrying me in his arms made my cheeks flush red. If I blushed anymore, my head would've exploded.

"Okay, okay," I sighed. "So you did save me... whatever." I turned on my heel swiftly, and everything went spinning again. Crap, what's with the damn spinning? My knees began crumpling beneath me, but Adam caught me around the waist just before I hit the floor.

"See? You do need saving," he said with a smirk. Hm, he was cheeky too.

My heart was pounding so erratically in my chest that I thought it was going to burst. He raised his eyebrows, and I silently prayed that he couldn't feel my pulse. "Um, thanks," I muttered. Putting me back on my feet, he took a step back.

"You okay to walk?"

"Yeah," I said. "Uh... I need to go to my locker to get my chemistry textbook."

"Sure," Adam nodded. We started walking side by side down the hall. "Do you need me to hold your hand?"

I looked up at him with a furrowed brow. "What?" Was he attempting to flirt with me? Whoa, if Adam Miller flirted with me, I would literally have a heart attack.

"In case you pass out again, I'd be able to catch you before you fell on your ass," he explained. I let out a soft snort at his choice of words. So, he wasn't flirting with me, but he was certainly concerned. That was still enough to make a girl swoon.

I rolled my eyes at the thought as we reached my locker. "No, I think I'll be okay," I said, spinning in the locker combination. I jiggled the locker release, unable to open it. "Aw, it's stuck again."

"Here, let me." He reached up and banged on the locker. I heard a click just before it swung open. "Sometimes you just gotta use a little force."

I smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks." After grabbing my chemistry textbook, I paused to look for my backpack. Where had it gone? I had it with me when I fainted earlier...

"Oh sorry, looking for this?" Adam said suddenly. He held out my white and blue backpack to me, making me realize that he had it on his back the entire time.

Shyly, I took my bag from him, my hand gently brushing his for a moment. I felt a shiver travel up my spine at the contact. He was one of the cutest guys in school, who wouldn't feel it? Without saying another word, I quickly shoved my textbook into my bag and slammed my locker shut.

He raised his eyebrows in question at the sudden force. "My locker has problems closing too..." I whispered, as if to compensate for the loud noise I had made. "Just gotta use a little force."

"You learn well, young Padawan," he said as we walked together down the hall. I blinked, immediately recognizing the Star Wars reference. Wow, who knew Adam Miller was such a geek underneath his popular jock exterior.

"You taught me well, Jedi Master," I said cheekily. He smiled, knowing that I understood what he meant. We went through the front doors of the school and into the sunlight.

The two of us walked down to the sidewalk. I plopped down on the curb, throwing my backpack down beside me. "Nice day, huh?" he said, almost as though he was talking to himself.

"Yeah..." I leaned back to look up at him. "Thanks for escorting me. I guess I'll see you around."

"Are you kidding me?" he chuckled. "I'm gonna wait with you until your parents show up. Who knows what could happen... and it's not like I have anything else better to do..."

I blushed again when he sat on the curb beside me and his arm brushed mine. It seems I had done enough blushing to last me the year. "You're a really cool guy, Adam," I said, gazing up at the clear blue sky.

"Er... thanks," he said. I looked over at him to see him smile. "You're pretty cool too." I let out a little snort as he said this. "I wonder why we've never talked like this before. Maybe we should hang out sometime?"

What? Was he asking me out?

He gave me an odd look. "Uh, I'm not asking you out... I just thought we could hang out," he chuckled. "You seem like a cool person to hang out with."

Oh my God, I couldn't believe I said that out loud. I really must have been delirious. "Oh, right," I muttered, looking away in embarrassment. "Sure, I'd like to hang out sometime." I seriously couldn't believe Adam Miller wanted to hang out with me. I thought him sitting with me on the curb was the craziest thing. For some reason, I had been afraid that he would be stuck up and arrogant like the other players on the basketball team. But there was something different about him.

"You're so quiet," he said. "What's on your mind?" Oh, just that you're not only the cutest guy on the basketball team, but also the coolest. Fortunately, I didn't say that part out loud.

"Nothing much," I shrugged. "I was just... um, thinking about how much I'm gonna miss my sister." Wanting to see his reaction, I glanced up at him.

He smiled sadly back at me. "Well, you'll see her over the holidays..." he said. "But of course it wouldn't be the same as having her live under the same roof." He paused for a moment and stared across the street. "I can't imagine my sisters moving away... then again, I'd move out before they do."

"Ah, younger sisters?" I said. "Can't imagine what it would be like to have more than one sister..."

"It's pretty rough," he told me with a smirk. "Especially since I'm a guy, there doesn't seem to be much testosterone in our house. And I'm pretty sure my mom was born a girly girl which decreases the testosterone levels even more."

I giggled when he said 'girly girl', mostly because he used it when referring to his own mom. "Just wait until your sisters grow up," I said. "It'll be constant giggling and boys everywhere."

"Oh no, there won't be any boys in the house," he practically growled. "Not if I can help it. I can just see my dad taking out the shotgun... Well, we don't own a shotgun. Maybe a large axe."

Smiling at the mental image, I spotted a pink convertible driving towards us. "Oh, here's my ride," I told him. I attempted to stand, but found that I couldn't even get off the ground. Adam took hold of my arm and helped me up.

"Hey sweetie!" The pink convertible had pulled up next to us. My mom fluffed out her blonde curls upon seeing Adam standing beside me. "Oh, hello there."

I rolled my eyes before turning to Adam. "It was nice talking to you," I said, gazing into his blue eyes. Now that we were in the sunlight, I noticed how blue his eyes were. They were like bottles of blue gatorade. I shook my head to get rid of my random thoughts. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Get better."

"I'll make sure that I do," I said, climbing into the passenger seat of my mom's pink car. "Bye."

He raised his hand, palm facing me. "Bye."

Mom revved up the engine, giving him a small wave before speeding off down the street. "Melanie Darla Carmichael," she said incredulously. I looked over at her worriedly. Why was she using the you're-in-big-trouble-missy voice? "Who in the world was that cutie?"

I'm pretty sure my mouth fell open at that point. "Cutie?" I asked in a state of shock. "You mean Adam?"

"The guy you were sitting with."

"Yeah... that was Adam Miller," I said, staring at my mother with concern for her mental health. "Star player on the basketball team. Erm... he helped me when I fainted in the hallway."

"Oh, cute and chivalrous? Can't go wrong with that," she giggled. "Aw, you two would make a cute couple." See, my mom was unlike most moms. Most moms would be like 'don't go near that boy, he'll get you pregnant' or something similar to that. My mom actually encouraged it, not the pregnant part, but the boy part.

"Mom, please, he's one of those popular jocks," I scoffed. "He would never go out with me... That's even if I wanted him to." She raised her eyebrows at me suspiciously. "He's just another boy at school, that's all. I hardly even know him."

"Maybe you should get to know him," she told me. "You never know what could happen." I shook my head and stared out the window. If only I knew how right she was.

---

A/N: Hello all! It's been, what? Months since I last posted something. Don't worry, I didn't die or anything. Just really busy. I finally decided to start writing this one. I've had it stuck in my head for the past four years, and it has had four different versions in those years. I am satisfied with the way this version turned out (sorry to say I'll never post the other versions since they were never completed). This story will be quite different than the Guardian Angel. It definitely won't have any fantasy elements, just pure humour/drama. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this story, I've worked very hard on it. Please read and review! Oh, and btw, I don't actually think love triangles suck, but Melanie certainly does :D

xoxo, Little Miss Angel