30 Things a Girl Would Die For

Chapter 1: #1 Touch her waist

High school years were so insanely difficult. There was always gossip, and drama, not to mention boys. That was the real difficulty right there; the boys that always seemed to plague to grounds of a school, no matter where you went. Usually they were naïve but made painful attempts at being "badass." No guy ever knows exactly what a girl wants but every girl dreams of finding a perfect guy that will say and do all the right things. That's the fantasy world we girls live in.

My name is Elizabeth Shaunrey and I agree that guys are hopelessly lost; but one thing I never counted on was a 'rather dashing' stranger to come out of no where and completely turn my belief in men upside-down.

It was after Christmas break and school had started up again. One semester until I was a senior, just a year and a half until I was off to college, and I couldn't wait. As I strode down the hall to my locker I fondly took note of the buzz of gossip that always filled the great halls. I just felt such an appreciation for the school that I was afraid it was a little unhealthy.

As I reached my locker I noticed a girl hunched over, sitting on the floor. As I approached she looked up, her eyes lighting up at the sight of me.

"Beth, you're here finally! I have something to tell you." I laughed as she jumped up with so much vigor it caused her to accidentally land on the floor again. I held out my hand to help her up. She got to her feet excitedly. "You know that new math Teacher we're supposed to have this semester? Well he has a son that's going to be coming to this school as well and he's in our grade!" I stood there quietly for a moment smiling at her, then when I realized she was waiting for a response from me I slowly nodded my head.

"That's awesome Sarah."

"You don't sound that thrilled." She said as I pulled my books out of my locker. We started walking down the hall to our first class.

"He's just a guy. I'm usually not too fond of them at all, you know me." She sighed.

"Yeah but he's new. You know how rare it is to get anybody new in this school. Besides, maybe he'll be different. I heard he's from a different country."

"Or maybe he just hasn't been in the states for a few years." A voice said from behind us. Sarah's face tuned red and we slowly turned around.

He was handsome, I'll admit that much. He had striking blue eyes and messy black hair. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and baggy jeans. He had his ear pierced twice, giving him a rather devilish appeal.

"Am I the subject of gossip now?" he asked, looking at Sarah. Her face turned even redder, if possible.

"Well you are new, and we don't get many new people here so yes, you can't expect that people won't talk about you." I responded for her since she seemed to be a bit tongue-tied. He fixed his eyes on me. I saw his gaze lower then rise again to meet my eyes. I felt a faint tinge appear on my cheeks, but I kept calm for the most part.

"Really and what, mademoiselle, is your name?" he asked. I could just detect a hint of a French accent lingering in his voice.

"Elizabeth." I responded a bit coldly. "This is Sarah, and you're name?"

"Darcy, yes I know a classic. I fear my mother was a bit on the obsessive side with the older romance novels. She was quite a fan of Jane Austen." He informed us. I raised an eyebrow.

"And you tell us as if we care to know." I said.

"Ah ma petite léger, you have a blunt tongue." He responded.

"Beth," Sarah whispered, "that wasn't very nice." She smiled over at him. "I apologize for her rudeness; she is not very receptive of the opposite sex."

"No need to apologize. I understand completely." He said, his eyes never leaving mine. Just then the warning bell rang indicating we had 5 minutes to get to our first class.

"Well, Darcy, it's been a pleasure," I said, turning to walk off. I hadn't walked 4 steps before I was stopped short by two hands on my waist. I suppressed a light shudder at the placement of his hands.

"You, mademoiselle, are an intriguing woman. Come have dinner with me this Friday." He said softly. I could feel his warm breath on my neck.

"And why would I have any desire to do that?"

"Because I think you're intrigued as well."

"Is that so?" I merely felt him nod.

"We'll have to see then, won't we." I said, pushing his hands off me and continuing to walk to class. I heard Sarah mutter a goodbye before quickly walking after me. She came up beside me and I could see her grinning.

"What?" I asked. She just widened her smile.

"Oh nothing, we'll talk about it later." She said as we slid into our seats at the back of the classroom.

Fortunately the day went on without any further incidents. I did discover, though, that Darcy is not Mr. Connelly's son but rather his nephew. After school Sarah and I were out in the parking lot waiting for her ride to come pick us up.

"How much homework do you have tonight?" she asked me. I yawned.

"Not too much, the teachers are pretty lenient since it is the first day back."

"That's true, the only class that I really have any thing to do in is pre-cal."

"Me too, but that's to be expected, he's a new teacher so he has to get his course going since he's like a semester behind."

"You always analyze everything don't you?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Not everything," I protested weakly.

"Alright, what about Darcy, have you 'analyzed' him yet?" she asked, poking me in the stomach.

"There's nothing to analyze." I responded. I turned to look at her but she was staring at me with her mouth open.

"You're joking right? He barely spoke to you and he wants to take you on a date already."

"And…"

"And… are you going to go?"

"Probably not"

"I don't believe you," she said incredulously. I rolled my eyes.

"Sarah you know me. I don't go on dates. Guys always manage in some way to be offensive or do something wrong."

"Well duh, they're guys, that's just what they do."

"In any case, I'm just not interested."

"Ma petite léger, you won't even give me a chance?" I flinched and turned around.

"Why do you feel the need to always sneak up?" I asked as he walked to where we were sitting.

"I wasn't sneaking, I was walking, you just need to open your ears." He said, grinning.

"Hello Sarah how was your day?" he asked, turning to my best friend.

"Fine thanks." She said, beaming. I sat quietly for a few moments until I felt him sit down beside me. I kept staring straight ahead.

"May I help you?" I asked as politely as I could. I'm the kind of girl that needs her space and right now I had none. Our knees were almost touching and he was so close I could see the rise and fall of his chest out of the corner of my eye.

"If you would like, you could tell me why you won't even go on one date with me."

"Fair enough, you're not my type." I said quickly.

"Ah, and what is your type?"

"Not you. Can't you just leave it at that?" I asked standing up with Sarah when a blue jetta pulled into the parking lot.

"For now… I'll figure it out sooner or later ma petit léger." He said, sitting back. I stopped and turned around.

"You've called me that a number of times now and I still do not understand why you keep calling me 'your little light.'" I informed him. He grinned.

"You've taken French then?" he asked. I hesitated.

"My mother is French."

"Ah I see."

"So why is it you insist on calling me this?" He just grinned at me.

"You'll find out that, when I find out why it is that you won't give me a chance." I sent him a glare then turned and slid into the back of the car and shut the door. As we drove off I glanced back long enough to see him get up and make his way back into the building.

"Interesting day then Liz?" the driver asked. I smiled at him through the rear-view mirror.

"Quite. And how was your day Shawn?" I asked Sarah's older brother.

"Uneventful. We didn't have and appointments today so I got to sit around and do nothing." Shawn was about two years older than us and worked at a photography studio.

"Well at least you'll have plenty to do tomorrow." Sarah chimed in. He sighed.

"Yeah, Mrs. K said we were booked for tomorrow." They dropped me off at my house and with a goodbye they drove off and I began to walk up the drive. I opened the door and stepped inside.

"I'm home." I said loudly.

"Izzy." I heard someone yell. I turned and a little girl flew into my arms. I picked her up and swung her around.

"Hey little sister, how was your day today?" I asked setting her down and taking her hand as I walked upstairs to my room.

"Good. Mrs. Brooke let us draw pictures today in class. Do you want to see mine Izzy?" she asked excitedly.

"I sure do." I told her. She immediately let go of my hand and ran to her room. I walked into my own and set my backpack down by my desk. I walked over to my closet and took out another change of clothes. Shelly ran back into the room.

"Look look." She waved her picture in front of me. I laughed and took it from her, lifting her up and putting her on the bed with me. It was a picture of a family. There was a two story house in the background, just like ours, and there were three people and a pet in the front yard. In shaky writing there were names beside each of the little stick figures. 'Mommy,' 'me,' and 'Izzy" were all drawn next to the people and above the little puppy was the name 'Sammy.' I smiled at her.

"This is very good Shelly, but where's daddy?" I asked. She shook her head, her little face darkening.

"I don't like daddy right now. He's not aloud to be part of the family." I frowned.

"Shelly, that's not very nice." I scolded her softly.

"I don't care." She said, her chin jutting out stubbornly. "He's not very nice."

"Don't let him hear you say that," I reminded her, standing up. "Now why don't you go do your homework and I'm going to start dinner."

"Ok!" she said, leaping off the bed and bounding into her room.

I sighed and changed clothes before making my way downstairs to start dinner. I glanced at the clock. It was 4:15. I had one hour to finish dinner before my father came home.

My father was a lawyer, one of the highest paid in the country. To his opponents he was ruthless and cruel, to his clients he was compassionate and hardworking, to his children, he was abusive and alcoholic. Ever since my mother left my father has been drinking more and more. He comes home in the evening and drinks until he passes out, usually on the couch. If I'm lucky he'll just eat dinner and drown himself in his drink. If I'm not so lucky then I get a few more bruises.

I didn't blame my mother at all for leaving, but I did blame her for leaving us here with him. There were few things that I would give anything for, but I wanted nothing more than to just be rid of my father.

I hummed as I got out the makings for dinner, putting water on to boil and mixing a salad. The phone rang and I reached over to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Beth, what are you up to?" Sarah's voice came through the phone.

"I'm making dinner, how about you?"

"Homework. My mother made me come upstairs and start it right away." She said. I smiled because I could just imagine her rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I called because I have some news."

"Oh yeah, and what news is that?"

"You know how the house was for sale a couple houses down from me?"

"Yeah,"

"Well guess who I saw walking into it." I groaned.

"Please don't tell me it's—"

"Yup, Darcy"

"Why on earth does he have to live so close?" I pouted. Sarah only lived about 5 houses down from me so that meant that he was within walking distance. I glanced up at the clock. 6 o'clock. "I guess Ray isn't going to be home tonight."

"That's right, he usually gets home by 5:30 right?"

"Yeah. Wait, today is Monday right?"

"Yup."

"Ok, tonight is the night he goes out with his college buddy." I remembered. I relaxed considerably. "Alright well I've got to go. Dinner is ready and I've still got to feed Shelly. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Alright, Shawn doesn't have to go in until later so he can drive us. We'll come pick you up at around 7:45."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye." And the connection was cut.

"Shelly, it's time for dinner." I called up to her. I heard her come bounding down the stairs. We ate and talked for about 45 minutes and then we both went to our rooms, me to work on my homework and Shelly to draw and color in her coloring book.

A few hours later I had just finished putting Shelly to bed when I heard the door open downstairs. I looked down at my hands as I shut the door to Shelly's room and noticed that they were shaking visibly. I cautiously made my way downstairs. The living room light went on and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. I took a deep breath preparing myself for my father. I was about to take a step towards the living room when he stepped out of the room.

His eyes were bloodshot and he could hardly walk straight. I cringed at the smell of alcohol on his breath as he stumbled over to me.

"Bitch where is my food?" he growled, his words slurring together.

"You went out with Rick tonight. I never make you food this late." I said, trying to remain calm.

"I always expect to have food on the table when I come home don't I?" he said, stepping forward and grabbing my arm. I sucked in my breath as his fingernails dug into my arm.

"Yes sir." I responded through clenched teeth. The truth was that usually when he came home he was too drunk to do much except pass out on the couch the moment he walked in. I supposed the reason for his semi-consciousness was that he had not had his usual amount of drink.

"Well then go fix it bitch," he said flinging me towards the kitchen. I held my arm as I walked to the fridge. "And bring me a beer too." He ordered me. Five minutes later I hadn't heard a word from him so I glanced into the living room to find his passed out on the floor. I let out a shaking breath and went upstairs to my own room and crawled under my covers, staring at the ceiling before finally falling asleep.

A/N:

Just to let you know, I got the idea for this in an email someone sent me. It's a complete list of "30 things a girl would die for." That's just additional information incase anyone cared. Just thought I'd let my readers know that I don't take credit for this list.

R & R please. I want good and bad comments but be constructive please, not rude. If you're just going to message to tell me it sucks, then don't read it.