Chapter 1. Operation avoid

I peeped into the hallway, searching around for a sign of him. I had been doing that for a week since school began, successfully avoiding him the previous week. I was determined to avoid him for the rest of the semester until I graduated. I was certain he didn't see my face, but I couldn't be too careful. Everyone already knew me as a weirdo so seeing me going "ninja" wasn't surprising. If anything, they would stare at me amusedly and shake their heads.

Aside from sneaking about, I became very jumpy and easily scared, like he would pop out of nowhere. It started the following day when I saw his older twin brother looking at me strangely. I knew it was because of how I was walking sideways, but still. Okay, his older quint brother since the remaining three don't school here. I heard the two eldest were in college, they were that smart. Zayne had always been intelligent as well, almost like the eldest male, but he always preferred to stay back with his brother and not fast forward his teenage days. How do I know this? I'm a secret member of his fan club, a social media stalker and I may or may not be part of the girls who pay for information about him.

What? I'm in love with the boy.

Okay, love is too strong, crush.

The past week has been the most torturous one for me. His lips haunted my dreams, reverberated in my head, appeared in my vision, and flavored my tongue. I had eaten so many raspberries and apricots just to get a taste of him once again. But fruits can never represent that tender flesh. I have had a crush on him since I was twelve. Yes, that long. I met him first at a park.

That day, I tripped and fell, hurting my knees. He probably didn't remember but he helped me up, took me to his mother's car, and helped clean my wounds. My twelve-year-old heart was captured that day. He was kind and beautiful, and his voice… Oh my my. I had no idea who he was, not until I saw his Dad's face on the cover of my Dad's magazine and decided to look for him online. Through his father, I found him and followed him on I*******m, crushing madly on him from a distance until I ended up starting freshman year in the same school with him. I could never walk up to him again, Heck, he didn't even remember me when we happened to cross paths, but it didn't stop me from feeling pulled and attracted to him in a way I couldn't explain. He was my forever after.

The feelings were all mine though, I wasn't as stupid as his rest fangirls to publicly swoon over him. My crush was a secret between me, my three best friends, and my younger brother. No one else had to know. I had no chance with him. I didn't even dream that a time would come when I'd be able to stand three feet close, yet I kissed him. I only made my obsession worse and the pining almost too hard to resist.

My life story.

"Larissa," I flinched with a scream, instinctively and foolishly diving into the next hallway, falling flat on my face. Okay, not graceful at all. Pulling myself to sit, I glared at the person responsible for my humiliation. But again, I humiliate myself on a daily basis so no biggie. Standing there were my three best friends and my siblings from another family.

The first was Spontaneous Richard. When I say Spontaneous Richard, I literally mean his name is Spontaneous, and his last name is Richard. His father was high on drugs at his naming ceremony, and still high because he gave my friend hard knocks whenever he tried to change his name. So everyone knew him as Neo, all thanks to the wonderful moi.

Neo was part of the football team. He was almost never with his team except during practice and games because he was always with us.

Neo was tall and had a fragile appearance that often made people call his hobbies bluffs. The main reason we became friends was our same-colored eyes and skin.

My second friend was Odette Wright, Neo's maternal cousin. She was who the school considered the most scariest person and the weirdest dummy in history. She scared the living daylight out of living beings. She was as dumb as a sack of nails but also pretty sweet when she wasn't being weird.

The last was Starliss Bexley, the most beautiful in the group. She had everything possible to be tagged a queen bee. Beautiful and silky honey blonde hair, healthy powder sugar skin, bright aqua blue eyes. If I hadn't grown up with her, I would have thought she was proud and conceited and went after the football team, but she did none of those things. She was just a quiet sweetheart, and probably the only one among us who acted like an adult.

"You really won't stop the whole sneaking around thing, would you?" She asked, looking down at me as she towered over my body like the others, her blonde eyebrows drawn together in amusement. She didn't see it as a big deal because the guy she kissed was already following her around. She didn't have a crush on him and he most certainly wasn't her spec.

"Leave her, I'm enjoying this," Odette said with a chortle, "really." Odette kissed a nerdy boy who ended up passing out from fear. I don't blame him, he probably thought she had marked him for suffering this final semester. She wasn't the slightest bit bothered just like the others. No guy was insane enough to approach and question her.

As usual, she was dressed like madwoman. Her lips were sharpened with neon green rhinestone lipstick and her eyelashes were thick with purple mascara, and stick-on nose rings. Her symbol was a black and red bat she had printed on every single one of her clothes. We lost hope in trying to figure out what her dressing style was, so we tagged it as gothic.

"Easy for you to say, your boyfriend runs away from you every time he sees you," Neo said, smirking when Odette frowned. Did I forget to add that he is annoying? Okay, he is annoying.

"He is not my boyfriend," she said coldly.

"But you enjoyed the kiss. In fact, I caught you moaning his name as you fucked yourself—"

"I don't even know his name!" She shouted distraughtly. Interesting turn of events.

"Oh, that's true, his name isn't—"

"Shut up," she snapped. Starliss giggled.

"So, you actually touched yourself with someone's image in mind? Who's the unfortunate lad?" She teased, "Micheal?" She singsonged, wagging her eyebrows. Odette scoffed and looked away, though her pink blush gave us the answer. I gasped dramatically, cupping my lips for effect. "Seriously, Micheal?" Star laughed.

"You should have seen her, screaming and trembling at the thought of his short mistake ramming into her—"

"I did not! I never… er… I owe you all no explanation, I'm going to class!" She raised her shoulders and stomped off, making sure her heavy metal boots thundered on the floor. I swear, her outfits are hella weird.

We giggled as we watched her stomp off. Odette was like that. One minute she was crushing on this random madman, the next she was hating men. She was just weird in every way.

"So, back to you sneaking around like a mentally deranged imbecile," Neo said loudly, placing his hands on his hips. "Because I love you, I would inform you that he is heading this way right now so run left—" I didn't wait for him to finish, I jumped to my feet and bolted left, but I should have remembered he was Neo and not Starliss, so I ended up running into a human being.

I floundered a few steps back before catching myself with one leg back, hands far apart, and body bent backward. I let out a breath of relief. I pushed myself back to my position, my eyes flying wide when I saw who I had run into. My heart died again. It was Zayne.

Zayne was rubbing his nose with his eyes closed. He hadn't seen me yet. I still had enough time to escape. I threw laughing Neo a 'fuck you' sign, I ran past my dream boyfriend for my dear life. Lord, help me.