Where We Began

chapter one

"Hey loser! Feeling old yet?" I didn't need to close my locker to know exactly who was standing behind it. Only one person used that phrase, hey loser.

"I'm not that old Cole," I laughed blushing into the row of color coded binders in my locker.

"You're old now BG. A whole ass adult!" He said leaning against the locker by mine waiting for me to remember what I was looking for and close the door, the only barrier between us.

There was no way I was ready for him to see the bright pink I knew was spread across my face. I had never realized how much he had made me laugh and smile until Gunner pointed out how much I couldn't quit looking at him at lunch a few weeks ago. Damn you Gunner.

Y'all would be so cute together, Gunner had said, you obviously have a thing for him.

Yeah, Spring had chimed in, You're always looking at him and you sit at their table when she's not there so just go make yourself a part of it now.

Spring and Gunner were right. Whether I wanted to admit it or not I did have a thing for Cole. But he had a girlfriend. Some underclassmen Anniston, Ashton, Amber some stupid "A" name like that.

We were seniors now, a far cry from the little wild eyed freshmen we started our friendship as. As we grew so did our friendship. Spending lunch period together with Zane, Juan and Eli and his girlfriend Rebecca was the secret highlight to my boring school days. We sadly didn't have any classes together with my whole schedule always being advanced college prep classes and his just being basic high school classes. Lunch had become our thing. Until whatever her name was came into the picture. Zane was catching on that I had a thing for Cole and he was all for it, he didn't like Ashton/Amber/Anniston much. He said she was a bitch and Cole had only started to date her because he thought I was interested in someone else. I wasn't. I only had eyes for Cole. Fuck.

"You're not far behind me mister," I fired back, finally closing my locker door and the wall between us.

A smile flashed across his face, green eyes staring at me. Those damn eyes. A dark shade of emerald green outlined by too long dark eyelashes any girl would kill to have. He stood up, grabbing my bag off the floor and throwing it over his shoulder.

"What do you even keep in this thing? Bricks?" He asked; completely ignoring my statement about his approaching birthday.

"Maybe," I laughed, "Or maybe it's love notes from all my admires!"

"Oh yes because there are so many guys who actually write notes now," he said with thick sarcasm.

"Maybe there's just one," I teased.

This is one thing I loved about us- we could always tease each other without the other getting upset. It was easy to be around Cole. Talking with him was like breathing- effortless.

Too soon we had made it to the door of my next class, the longest class because it was right before lunch. Today I was sitting with him. Even if she was there I would be sitting at my table with my friends. She wasn't supposed to sit there anyways; the booths were for seniors only. I may have mentioned that to the lunch monitor a couple times who made her move back into the sea of loud underclassmen. The first time I did Zane caught my eye and we shared a silent laugh as she gathered her things and walked away leaving Cole there with our friends. I could feel her glaring at me as I took my rightful spot at the table on the inside between Cole and Juan.

"I'll see you at lunch," Cole said, handing me my bag. His hand lingering longer than usual against the strap after he has put it on my shoulder.

"If I decide to sit with you," I laughed looking up at him. Unconsciously, I bit my lip as thoughts of pressing my lips to his rushed into my head.

"You'll sit with me," he said quietly with a smirk like he could read my thoughts.

The tardy bell rang saving me from saying or doing something I may regret later. I turned to find a seat as he sauntered off down the hall still wearing those stupid DC shoes and what I now knew to be Outlast shirt.