A Book Nerd's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter 1: Drugs were Overrated

The contentment in the act lulled me back for another hit. Like everyone else needing their daily fix, I was an addict.

The brain was wired to work that way. It remembered anything important and pleasurable, and it increased the desire to do it again.

Drinking coffee. Eating sugar. Shopping.

And mine?

Sniffing.

I was addicted to the smell of books--sweet vanilla, cotton, and glue. I couldn't fully describe it, but it was so familiar I could tell it was printed ink on paper with only one whiff. Like a drug causing chemical reactions in my brain and producing dopamine, it encouraged me to close my eyes, tune out the world and escape into a short moment of paradise. I inhaled, pressing my nose to the fore edge of the book in my hands.

"Have you relapsed?" the girl beside me said, jolting me from a subconscious trip down euphoria lane.

"What?" I turned from my locker and stared at Charlotte King, brunette hair cascading over her slender shoulders and framing her round face--easily one of the prettiest girls in our year.

"You're sniffing books in the hallway again. I thought summer had already rehabbed that out of you." Charlotte placed her hands on her hips like a mother and grinned, squinting her hazel eyes at me.

She was wrong--if anything, summer had rekindled my passion for reading books and, of course, had made me even more addicted to their scent. I had spent most of my break reading novels, taking advantage of the time before school started again.

"Haha, very funny, Lotty." I tucked the book into my bag and looked again at her, wondering why we were still friends. We had been inseparable since the middle grade. But at some point, I thought Lotty would find new friends when we got to high school because that was how it happened in the movies. A friend growing prettier and more popular than the other would destroy friendships. But, I guess not for Lotty and me.

We survived the first two years and were now starting our junior year. A little over a month had passed since classes began, and everything settled into the average High School of Littleton, New Hampshire.

"Hey, Lotty!"

We turned our heads at the same time to the other end of the hallway, where two boys, Finn Johnson and David Martin, walked toward us. I was sure Finn was the one who called.

"You're coming to my party on Saturday, right?" Finn, wearing a dark blue sweater under a brown harrington jacket, stopped in front of us and stared at Lotty.

"Yep," Lotty answered. "I just need to buy you a gift."

I caught Lotty tucking her hair behind her ear, an obvious expression of flirting. She usually did it when she wanted something, likely Finn this time. I looked away as if I witnessed something private--a scene I should not have seen.

"Make sure it's a good one," Finn said. A smile reached his dark green eyes.

"Dude, do I have to buy you a gift?" David, standing beside Finn, asked and raked his fingers through his shaggy blond hair.

"Of course you do, Dave. It's a worldwide tradition to give presents to the birthday boy." Finn gestured at himself and grinned, revealing a deep dimple on his right cheek.

I felt annoyed at how entitled Finn had said it, though I knew they were close enough to kid around like that. And it was true--giving gifts to someone on their birthday, especially if you were invited to their party, was a universal rule. For that, I was glad he hadn't invited me. I was a third wheel in this conversation, feeling uneasy. "Uhm, I'm going to go, Lotty," I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder.