ONE

It was a random day sometime in the middle of the summer when I realized that I had an extremely crappy love life. Sure, it took a few years to really think about it, but it was true. I mean, I've had boyfriends before, though they never lasted long enough for me to blurt out the dreadful 'L' word. Well, it was dreadful to some people. For me, I wouldn't mind declaring my love to someone; it just had to be the right person.

Anyway, thinking all of this over while reading a romance novel filled with mushy clichés, I decided to come up with a goal for my senior year of high school. A goal to find a high school sweetheart.

After reading dozens of books about all types of girls finding someone to love in high school, I thought it would be great for me to do the same. There had to be someone in my school that would make a great boyfriend for years, right? It's like a high school soul mate; someone that's around you most days of the year, yet you don't realize that they could be 'the one' until you get to know them.

As soon as I came up with this goal, called up my two best friends, Morgan and Andrea. I've known Andrea since she moved here in fourth grade, demanding to be called Andie instead of her full name. Once we both vocalized our love for shows such as Sister, Sister and Lizzie McGuire, we instantly became best friends.

I've known Morgan my whole life because not only is she my best friend, but also my cousin. Her mother is my father's younger sister. Growing up in the same city in New York, we became closer than ever. Logan is her twin, who I'm also close with, and I have no idea what I'd do without them.

"So, what do you think?" I asked Morgan and Andie.

"I think you're crazy," Andie said bluntly. One thing you could always count on was her honesty.

I rolled my eyes. "I already knew that."

"I think that this sounds fun," Morgan said with a mischievous smile. There was an ulterior motive behind that smile.

"And…?" I pushed.

"And it would make a great story for me to write!" she finished. Of course, she would relate this to her writing. Morgan has aspired to be a journalist for years, always writing stories to be published in magazines and newspapers.

"That is, if you don't mind me writing about your whole experience. I'm sure you'll go through several guys to find the perfect high school sweetheart."

"Well, I guess not. As long as you help me find guys to date."

"Absolutely! It's not like it's going to be hard, Lexy. You're gorgeous!" I then rolled my eyes at my other best friend before getting up to leave.

"Sure, whatever you say. I have to head back to my house. My mom wants me home for dinner tonight." On my way out, I bumped into someone.

"Oh, hey Logan," I greeted, not looking up yet.

"You might be a confused person, but I'm not Logan." I sighed, recognizing that voice right away. I didn't bump into my cousin, but instead his best friend, Tristan. I never understood why my loving guy cousin would have such a tool for a best friend. He and Tristan have been friends since they could walk, which meant I often had to deal with him. He was always at our family picnics, went on the vacations we took, and practically lived at Logan's house, mainly because his parents were constantly away on business and his older sister had other places to be. I like his older sister, Kaylin, and I couldn't figure out how she was so polite and quiet, while Tristan was an annoying loud mouth.

"Tristan," I said flatly.

"Leaving already, Lexy?" he grinned.

"Yep, my mother wants me home for dinner. Tell Logan I said hi!" I called, shutting the door behind me before he could shout any annoying comments.

The drive home was short as always. As I entered my house, I was immediately welcomed with the smell of brownies. The smell of a dessert in my house only meant one thing; my mom was stressed over something.

"Hey mom," I said pleasantly, keeping my suspicions to myself.

"Hi darling. Have a seat at the table," she replied, fixing our dinner plates. We ate in silence for several minutes until she spoke.

"You're going to live with Aunt Julie and Uncle Phil for a while," she stated.

"Why?"

She sighed, pushing her barely touched plate away from her. "Your grandmother isn't doing so well. I need to go to Minnesota for a little while."

"Can't I come with you? School hasn't even started yet?"

My mom shook her head. "I don't want you to see her like that. I'll be there for a couple months too, and you're starting school next month."

"But—"

"Alexis, please. As hard as it is to leave you for a couple months, I have to do it. You'll have your cousins here, and I'll be just a phone call away."

Don't get me wrong, I love Aunt Julie's family, but I never went long without seeing my mother. My parents divorced when I was ten, and my father moved across the country to California for business, leaving me in my mother's custody. In the seven years since the divorce, my father has only visited a few times. He calls maybe once a month, but that's about it. Since then, it's always just been my mother and I at home.

Even though Aunt Julie is my father's sister, she's much closer with my mom than my dad. Aunt Julie thought it was wrong for my dad to move across the country and barely call or visit, so she isn't as close with him as she used to be. And Uncle Phil never really liked my father, always calling him names under his breath whenever my father is mentioned.

"When do you leave?" I asked her.

She looked down at the table before returning her gaze on me. "Tomorrow evening."

"What?"

My mom sighed again. "Sweetie, I have to go as soon as possible. You have plenty of time until then to pack your clothes."

Knowing I wasn't going to win any argument I started now, I shook my head at her and went straight to my room to start packing.

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"I love you and I'll miss you, Alexis," my mom said, crushing me in a huge hug. "I'll call you twenty times a week."

"Mom, twenty times? How about every other day," I laughed. She laughed too, though I could hear her voice was becoming hoarse from tearing up.

"Yeah right. Twenty at least," she joked. I shook my head, smiling, as the taxi waiting for her honked.

"I better get to the airport. I know you'll take good care of her, Julie."

"Of course I will, Sabrina." My mom nodded and hugged me again before walking back to the taxi.

After I couldn't see the taxi anymore as it drove down the street, I turned and followed my aunt inside. Aunt Julie hugged me tightly as Uncle Phil carried my suitcases upstairs to the guest room.

"We're going to have so much fun together," Morgan said, trying to cheer me up. "Besides, she'll only be gone for a couple months. Until then, we'll be working on your goal!"

"What goal?" Aunt Julie asked.

"We'll tell you about it later, Mom," Morgan answered, dragging me upstairs. We really were going to tell her too; Morgan and I could always tell Aunt Julie anything and know it was only between us three. I felt I could always talk to my mom too though, so usually there were no secrets needed to be kept anyway.

Once we were in Morgan's room, I sat crossed-legged in the middle of her bed, ready to discuss the plan. Morgan grabbed a pen and notebook off her desk plopping onto her egg chair.

"Alright, in this notebook, we'll write why or why not each person is your high school sweetheart," she said. She started writing something on the first page, so I waited patiently until she tossed it over to me. As I looked over the page of brief guidelines, I was about to tell her they seemed fair enough, until someone tackled me to the ground.

"LEXY!" they screamed in my ear.

"Logan! Get off me!" He laughed in my ear before rolling off of me. I shoved him away, getting up only to see his idiot best friend laughing at us.

"Did you really have to tackle me to the ground?" I asked Logan.

"I missed you," he said, grinning. I couldn't help but smile at his innocent face. I could never stay mad at Logan, even if he was completely the opposite of Morgan. Their names might be similar (which Morgan hates), but their personalities are nothing alike; Morgan is an earthy, organized, quiet person while Logan is a messy, loud, charismatic, partier.

"I missed you too, but we're busy," I replied, sitting on Morgan's bed again.

"Doing what?"

"We're finding a high school sweetheart for her," Morgan told him.

"What? Why?" he wondered, glancing between his sister and me.

"Because, it's my goal to find someone in high school to be with. Haven't you seen movies or read books where the characters meet in high school, and then stay together for years after?" I explained.

"Well one, I don't watch girly romance movies, and two, I don't read."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Okay, well that's what I'm doing."

"So you're going to be a serial dater?" Tristan interjected.

I stared blankly at him for a moment. "A what?"

"Serial dater. You know, someone who goes on dates constantly with guys."

"That's a stupid term," I commented.

"Your goal is stupid," he retorted.

"How many dates are you going to go on with each guy?" Logan asked, ignoring his best friend.

I shrugged as Morgan's face brightened with an idea. "Oh, another guideline! You can only go on one date with each guy."

"One date?"

She nodded. "Yep, one. You won't need to go on another date because you'll know if he's your high school sweetheart or not, right?"

I tilted my head as I thought about it. "I guess so."

"Great! I'll just add that here and we'll get started!"

"Get started? When are you doing this?" Logan asked.

"I know a few guys I could call. I'm thinking tomorrow night," Morgan said, more to herself though.

Logan shook his head and got up from the floor. "You're both crazy. I want to know every guy you're going on a date with, got it?" he ordered, pointing a finger at me.

"Why?" I replied, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Because, I just want to know! There are a lot of douche bags in our grade."

"Yes, including you and Tristan. Now get out!" I shouted, throwing pillows at him and Tristan. My pillow throwing abilities weren't so great, but they both left anyway.

Hours later, Tristan and I were sitting in the living room. Tristan was playing video games on the huge flat screen TV, while he waited for Logan to finish the dishes. I was sitting on the couch waiting for Morgan to finish helping Aunt Julie with dinner.

"I want to watch TV," I whined.

"Go watch TV then," Tristan replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"I can't if you're playing video games, now can I?"

"There's more than one television in this huge house," he stated.

"Yeah, so go play video games in Logan's room!" I said loudly.

"Go watch TV in Morgan's room!" he replied, just as loud as me.

"Ugh, why don't you go home?"

"Why don't you go home?"

"I can't, I'm staying here for two months!"

"Then you'll be seeing me a lot more!" he laughed, killing something in his video game. I could hear the smirk in his voice, which annoyed me even more.

I let out an exaggerated breath and got off the couch, storming out of the room and away from Tristan. Yeah, I probably was going to be seeing a lot more of him, unfortunately.

This was going to be a long two months.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: How'd you like this chapter? I previously had a website up for character pictures, but it's no longer active. Therefore, for each story, I've chosen a "cast" of actors/actresses to play each person. Here's the cast for this story:

Alexis Bledel as Lexy Daniels

Alex Pettyfer as Tristan Parker

Chace Crawford as Logan Hunters

Joanna Levesque (JoJo) as Morgan Hunters

Robbie Amell as Kenny Davis

Sara Paxton as Valerie Flemmings

There it is! So please ignore any mention of going to a website from here on. Thanks!

~Savanna