Chapter One: Apryl and Miguel

Apryl Marcus was a deep maple wood complexion, with a short temper. She was around five nine with an apparent Native American and African American ancestry. Her mother was a single mother of two children. Apryl was one of a twin set. In actuality, she was the youngest of the twins by seven minutes. The best part about being a twin in the Marcus house hold was the fact that her twin was a boy. His name was Leon Marcus. Apryl and Leon had always been close. They were the types of twins that liked NOTHING the same,yet somehow remained close. When it came to music, R&B, Hip Hop, POP was Apryl, while her brother liked Jazz, Classical and Rock. These differences steered out into personality characteristics, food tastes, and mainly the high school scene. Can you guess which one was more dramatic? I know, most people would think it was Apryl, considering the fact that she was always ending up in fights with the other girls at James Ville High School, in her home town of Indiana and the type of tastes she'd acquired, thanks to that of her father. In reality, Apryl was not high strung. She was actually the quiet one. She minded her own business and followed instructions well. The girl was comfortable in her own skin. This is what made other girls hate her. She didn't have a particular cliché she belonged to like most people of her natural beauty caliber. She was always told to become a model. She was voted one of the most beautiful girls in school. She was tall with a slender frame, which she liked to show off with whatever outfit she wore. She was a beautiful maple wood complexion with high cheekbones and a flat round forehead. Her lips were full thanks to her mother's geneology. She also had large round eyes and a beautiful nose that curved gently on the end. The thing was, Apryl was the type of girl who loved to dress up and wear makeup and go the whole nine when it came to looking good. Anything that looked good and for was sold for the right price, was a gold mine to her. Today was no exception as she wore her short hair in the nice waves that was worked by her cousin Catrina, who happened to work in a salon shop with her mother across town from where Apryl and her family lived. She'd gotten the style with a five finger discount; and no, that did not include stealing. Apryl didn't have a reason to steal, considering the fact that her mother held down two full time jobs. One as a manager at the local Walmart and another at McDonald's as the District manager. So, no, they were not starving or in a position to steal. Everything they'd ever needed their mom provided for. She'd put herself through school for a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. Anyhow, back to her wardrobe, Apryl wore a pair of Dereon Jeans and a turquoise colored top that draped at the neckline, to give a peak-a-boo look at the cleavage inside her shirt. Although Apryl wasn't a full figured girl, she definitely knew how to work what her mama had given her. Apryl wasn't a slut, as a matter of fact, she'd never even gotten close enough to a guy to even allow him to fill her up. Sure she'd gone out on a date, but nothing to make her do a double take. She had no reason to expect anything, considering the fact that most of the guys in her school were considered trivial to her. Apryl was sitting in her homeroom class, having a conversation with one of the previous mentioned trivial young men in her class. "All I'm sayin' Apryl, is that you need to give a brother a try, because I've been feeling you since what, eighth grade?"

Apryl stared into Mitchell Cobain's face, her eyes devoid of emotion, "That's something I didn't care to know, Mitch. You are not my type."

"Not your type? Girl, I can have any woman in this school but you're the one I want."

"I know Mitch, I gave it a go and we didn't hit it off, Alright."

"You didn't give me a fair chance. How do you know I am not your type?"

Apryl rolled her eyes in annoyance, "It's not rocket science Mitch. You are just not my type."

Mitch cut frustrated eyes at her and leaned in even closer, "You get off on this, don't you? You get off on thinking that you're the best looking girl around and then torturing us guys with the sexy make up and clothes, don't you?"

Apryl clenched her teeth together, "I'm not doing anything to the guys. I can't help it if I attract attention where ever I go. I just like to look nice, and I shouldn't be held accountable for that."

Mitch's tone changed, "I know baby," His voice was softer, "That's why you should be with me, two of the school's hottest and best dressed together."

Apryl sighed, exasperated, "Look, you are not my type, not at all. I don't want you."

Mitch grated his teeth against one another, in a low yet forceful tone he whispered, "You're a real bitch Apryl. No guy in this school is good enough for you is he? Maybe you like girls." He hissed the last sentence out.

Apryl snorted, "No, as if I could ever go out with a girl; that's damn nasty but right now, you just got scratched on to the never list. Calling me a bitch definitely is a no no."

Mitch whispered in anger, "You're not just a bitch, but an uppity bitch at that."

Apryl grabbed her stuff, offended by him and moved to a different area of the class. Just as she did this, the teacher said, "Hey, Students, I am going to introduce you to a young man by the name of Miguel Cordero, he's here from the new ROTC program and he'll be passing out information and talking about it."

Apryl raised her brows, what was an ROTC program?

Just as she thought of this question a young guy stepped into the class room. He was decked out in a uniform. Apryl stared at him to speechless to say anything or even move. She felt her heart skip a beat as she took in the shoes and the pants that fit so perfectly on his frame. He stood there with a bag in his hand. Her eyes went even further up to the broad chest and muscular arms . Her heart skipped another beat and then as her eyes found his face, she could no longer breath. Her eyes locked on his face and she thought she would die if she didn't get a hold of her heart and the way it was pounding inside of her chest. This guy was so fine she was practically drooling. He placed the bag on the desk next to him and extracted some flyers. Although she should've been looking at the papers, her eyes were solely on him. He glanced up finally and looked around the room. When his eyes connected with hers, she felt her insides explode. He smiled at her and Apryl felt her own heart melt as she smiled back.

Miguel felt goose bumps all over his skin when he saw the girl. She was the epitome of beautiful. Her skin tone was a flawless maple wood color and she had large round eyes that held a hint of honey in them. Her high cheekbones were very prominent, while extremely kissable lips adorned the most beautiful mouth he'd ever seen. However, it was her smile that caused the deep swirls within his own stomach as he stared back at her. Her smile was dazzling. He could tell by her delicate long bone structure that she was a tall girl. Blinking one time as he came to his senses, he thought to himself, this is a junior class and he was a officer in the ROTC program. He was twenty one years old, too old to be lusting after what, a seventeen year old at the most? He knew he was stepping out of bounds. Deciding then and there he wouldn't even attempt to talk to her, he went back to his flyers and then introduced himself. "My name is Miguel Cordero and I'm going to be an officer instructing the new program that will begin here in two weeks. The program is called the Junior ROTC which stands for Junior Reserve officer training Corps. The program has several principals that it believes in, all of these will be learned during the duration of the program. The JROTC is open to male and female students."

He started at the front of the room, distributing fliers. "Anyone who is interested is welcome to participate in the program. It starts early, well before school begin. It begins at about five a.m. and ends at eight a.m." When he got to her desk, when Apryl grabbed the paper, she deliberately brushed her fingertips over his hand. She was quite disappointed that there was no reaction from him as he continued to hand out the fliers.