I swear to God there's something wrong with Skyler Ashford.

Not physically, no. I mean mentally. He's not deranged or anything, but…See, it all began in sixth grade. When I began to notice clothes, music and boys. Especially boys. Like many other girls my age, I developed a crush on a certain boy.

Skyler Ashford – a.k.a. my crush – was my classmate. To this day I still remember where he sat in Math class. His seat was in the smack dab center of the classroom and he was surrounded by all eight of his friends. They all clumped together there, making fun of the teacher, teasing each other and playing pranks on others. A loud but lovable bunch.

Nine out of ten times I'd ignore Mrs. Keeley in Math class and doodle hearts on my notebook instead. Ten out of ten times the hearts had something to do with me and Skyler. I admit I once wrote Alexandrina Ashford down just to see how it would look. My name and his surname. It looked pretty good on paper.

Since it looked good, I concluded that we were destined to be together. The stars had decreed it. In my head, Skyler and I were meant for each other.

If I was the only girl chasing him, there would have been no problem.

But perfect guys, being the hot commodity that they are, often have a horde of girls chasing after them. Skyler was no different. Everyday about five girls would approach him and confess their undying love for him. All of them would walk away from him crying their eyes out.

He'd give them the same excuse all the time. He already liked a girl. Well, he never said anything to the girl he liked and so as time went by more and more girls would go to him and tell him how much they adored him. Each new batch was bolder than the last. Still he continued to shoot them down.

Sometimes the same girl would go to him more than once, wondering if he'd changed his mind about mystery crush. He'd tell them it was no before and it was still no. I watched the same scene play out day after day for weeks.

The list of girls who hadn't confessed became shorter and shorter. Finally, there were less than ten girls on the list of girls who might be Skyler's crush. And I was on it. My odds weren't just good, they were awesome. Amazing. Spectacular. Add to that the fact that I thought we were a match made in heaven...

So of course I saved up all my courage for the day I'd tell him I loved him.

On that day, I made my way through the crowds in the hallway. The place was buzzing with people, as it always was during Friday afternoons.

Just as I was about to breach the ten feet gap between me and Skyler's bunch, a girl walked up to him. I ducked behind a group of girls making plans for the weekend and waited for him to refuse her, like he did every other girl.

"I really like you, Sky." The girl said. She looked at him straight in the eye, something I'd never be able to do.

He blinked at her. "Vanessa, you know I like someone else. I've told you before."

Vanessa grinned and flipped her red hair behind her. "I know, but I was hoping you woke up to the truth. You know I'm prettier than most of the other girls here." She patted the dark brown curls on his head. "You'll realize it soon. And then it's going to be the two of us, just like I imagined. Bye, Sky. Remember, if you change your mind…" She sauntered away, a smile still on her face.

Vanessa Tarver. I should have known. The girl never learned. Her posse joined her as she disappeared down the hallway.

It was now or never. I glanced back at Stella and Haley. They gave me a smile and a thumbs-up. With a deep breath I began to walk towards the group of boys, who had begun talking again.

I paused. Could I possibly be the girl he liked? Odds were one in six. Pretty good if you asked me. I shook away any doubts I had left and cleared my throat.

All of them stopped talking. The other boys' stares drilled holes in my head. When I caught Skyler's eyes I dropped my gaze to the floor. What was I thinking, coming here to confess?

"Hello." Skyler greeted. His voice was friendly.

"What do you want?" One of his friends asked bluntly.

I chewed my lip and continued to stare at the ants on the floor. They marched in a straight line. It was fascinating, actually. "Uh…I…I want…I want to…"

"Spit it out." His friend teased. He knew where this was going. Skyler probably did too.

"I want to tell you I like you." I blurted out.

Silence. Everybody in the hall seemed to stop talking and stare at us. I wanted to scream at them to mind their own business. The ants on the floor carried food, still marching in a straight line.

Was the silence really supposed to last this long? I looked up. No Skyler. No friends. Was I just daydreaming? Where'd they go? I heard footsteps running towards me. Turning around, I saw Stella and Haley hurry towards me. The two of them exchanged glances when they stopped in front of me, biting their lower lip.

Oh.

"Are you okay, Lex?"

My vision blurred and I fought against my tears. Skyler Ashford wasn't worth any of them. He was just a boy. Just one boy.

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay? I mean, it's not like it was a big deal. If it was a big deal I'd be crying fountains by now. Which I'm not doing, by the way. And so you can see that it's not really a big deal. I just wanted to know if he liked me or not. Turns out he doesn't, but whatever." I shrugged.

A tear trickled down my cheek.

Haley hugged me. "You're crying. Don't cry, Lex. Our mom baked cookies today – chocolate chip, your favorite! We can head over to our house later and eat some cookies, all right?"

"Cheer up, Lex." Stella patted my back. "Mom's cookies are better than Skyler. Save your tears for later, so that we'll give you the last cookie."

I burst into tears. "But why? Why me? I mean, he could have just said sorry like the other girls! Why'd he leave me alone? How long was I standing there looking like an idiot?"

"Not very long." Haley reassured. "There's other guys, Lex. Come on."

"Yeah, but she wanted that one." Stella muttered. Haley elbowed her sister, who yelped in pain.

"What did I do? Does he really hate me that much?" I sobbed.

"I don't think so. He looked pretty stunned there when you told him you liked him." Haley let go of me and smiled.

"You thought so too? I thought it was just me." Stella said.

They were just trying to be nice. But it counted. The twins were the best friends anybody could ask for.

"Don't cry. There's nothing to cry about." Stella continued.

"Stella!" Haley hissed.

"I mean, it's a Friday. We can go eat ice cream if we finish the cookies. And then you can sleep over at our house. See? It's not a bad day." Stella shrugged.

I sniffled and smiled. Mrs. Valentine's cookies, ice cream in the mall and a sleep over. The magic trinity. And there was nothing the magic trinity couldn't fix.

Author's Note: It's my first story, so all reviews are welcomed and appreciated, including constructive criticism. Please take the time to review! It makes me happy...and encourages me to write faster.