Chapter 1
She stood with her friends, chatting with them, and casually glancing around the room. She ran a hand through her short, thick blond hair, pulled down self consciously on her black, V neck t-shirt to her shell belt, which held her dark blue jeans up, making her legs seem long, and then at her chunky four-inch heels, which completed her outfit. She knew she looked good but there was only one guy she wanted to look good for. Her blue eyes scanned around the room for him.
"There he is," her best friend Vanessa whispered. Alexandra, or Lexie, Roberts looked up to see him.
There he was: Ryan Cromwell. Blue eyes, spiky blond hair, and a killer smile. He, the captain of the soccer team, seemed to move effortlessly through the party with his fellow teammate and best friend Matt Johnson and more soccer team friends behind him, easily avoiding the spastic-dancing girl, who was flailing her arms like no other. He smiled briefly at Lexie and passed right in front of her and her friends.
"Go make your move, Lex!" Vanessa commanded.
Lexie was about to go and talk to him when her confidant smile fell. "Snagged," she said softly.
Ryan had stopped and was now standing with his muscular, tan arms folded, talking to Julia, the girl Lexie was up against for Ryan's affection. Julia giggled madly and laid a hand on Ryan's arm. Ryan smiled back at Julia, laughing too. Lexie watched Matt and the rest of Ryan's friends share a look behind Ryan. She could clearly tell that they were annoyed.
Julia had been after Ryan for months and either he was completely blind and couldn't see it, he was taking his time, or he wasn't interested. Whatever the reason, it drove Lexie crazy. Julia was, in Lexie's opinion, pretty trashy-trendy looking. She had blond hair but she dyed it white-blond, she wore an "ultrahip" tight tan shirt, and equally tight jeans. She had tall platforms on but she still only came up to about Ryan's nose, since she was probably about 5'4 and Ryan was 6'1.
"5 bucks says by the end of the night Julia splits a seam." Lexie whispered discreetly to her friends, who cracked up. Lexie smirked and glanced around the room, noticing that Ryan looked up and half-smiled at Lexie as her eyes landed on him. For a hopeful second, Lexie thought he would come over and talk to her but instead he focused his attention back on Julia.
Lexie sighed. This was so incredibly frustrating. watching the girl that she hated flirt with the guy she liked.
Suddenly, Matt Johnson appeared in Lexie's line of vision. "Hey!" he smiled. She hadn't even notice him leave Ryan's side.
"Hey." Lexie smiled back, caught only slightly off guard.
"So are you gonna stand here, making snide remarks about Julia and having your friends laugh about them or dance with me?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.
Lexie's eyes widened. "How did you." she gasped.
"Read it all over your face." Matt replied with a smirk.
Lexie smiled weakly. "Don't-"
Matt held up a hand. "I won't tell him, I think he's too busy being practically wrestled down by Julia to notice anyway. So are we gonna dance or what?"
Lexie smiled. "Sure, let's hit up the dance floor," she smiled. "See you guys in a sec," she tossed over her shoulder at her friends as she and Matt made their way over to the dance floor area.
"Whoa!" Matt put out his hand and held Lexie back as Brad the dumb jock stumbled past, drunk. "You gotta watch yourself around him." Lexie smirked. They began dancing together. "Where did you learn how to dance?" Matt yelled over the music a few minutes later.
Lexie shrugged. "My friends, watching other people, I dunno, why?" she asked, sort of confused.
"Because you've got moves that are probably outlawed in 45 states." Matt smiled.
Lexie cracked up, laughing. "Thanks. I think." Actually, she and Matt weren't really friends. They were more like friendly acquaintances that knew each other from their classes. The only reason Lexie really knew Matt was because he was Ryan's best friend. Suddenly, Julia and Ryan appeared next to them. Julia was smirking triumphantly and Lexie had the sudden urge to kick out with her heels and "accidentally" trip Julia. Ryan glanced at Lexie then half-smiled at Matt, slapping him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. They began to dance next to Lexie and Matt, Julia next to Lexie and Ryan next to Matt.
Lexie automatically looked away from Julia. If someone had dance moves that were outlawed in 45 states, that would be Julia and her "I'm dancing really close but not really" moves. She felt an elbow on her arm and glared at Julia, who was in full on smirk mode.
Suddenly, she was tripping. She hit the floor with a wince. "Whoa!" a whirl of hands went down and pulled her up. She met Ryan's concerned light blue eyes were searching her face, his hands gripping her arms slightly. He, of all people, had helped her up. Julia was smirking at Lexie and Matt was rolling his eyes at Julia. "Are you okay?" Ryan asked, concerned.
"Uh huh." Lexie grunted, face burning. Suddenly, she wanted to bail, go home, and curl up in her bed. So she booked to the door to get away from Ryan and smirking Julia.
"Hey, wait!" Ryan called after her but she was too busy feeling sorry for herself to even stop, let alone turn around.
"LEXIE!" Vanessa, followed by Annie, Sarah, and Denise, ran out of the house. Lexie finally turned around, rubbing her elbow, which was throbbing from her graceful maneuver. "Lexie, what happened?" Vanessa demanded, squealing to a stop as fast as she could in her 4-inch heels.
"Yeah, you were totally in!" Annie added.
"He even helped you up after Julia tripped you." Sarah interjected.
"What? Julia tripped me?" it clicked. She had, after all, felt a platform sandal hit her in the ankle. "That little back stabbing, two faced." Lexie began but stopped, feeling defeated. "I'm going home," she turned.
"Aww, Lex, don't let her get to you! You're gonna let her win!" Denise complained, running after her.
"I really don't feel like dancing now." Lexie turned back around and got out the keys of the Jetta. She climbed in and drove away, not looking back.
She walked wearily inside, coming in on her dad and her dad's girlfriend Laura eating dinner. "Hey, honey," her dad looked surprised to see her. "I thought you were at a party."
"I was. I just got tired." Lexie replied, rubbing the back of her neck. "Hey, Laura," she twirled her keys around her finger. She liked Laura; her dad had been seriously dating her for about two years now.
"Hi sweetie. How was the party?" Laura asked.
"Ehh." Lexie waved her hand to gesture so-so. "I'm gonna go to bed, I'm wiped."
"Night, sweetie," her dad replied.
"Night. Night, Laura." Lexie headed to the stairs.
"Did something happen?" she heard Laura quietly ask her dad.
"I'd say so; she's never that quiet, even when she's tired. I prefer not to press it," her dad replied quietly. "If she still wants to talk about it in the morning, she'll tell me then." Lexie pushed her door open and glanced around at her light blue room. Sighing, she set her keys down on her dresser and pulled off her clothes, sliding on her nightgown. She washed her face and makeup off and climbed into bed. She shut off the light and shut her eyes but sleep was obviously elsewhere. She sighed, remembering her smooth and elegant maneuver, and covered her face.