Chapter 1: Ashton Priztgold

"Megan! Wait," I heard someone was calling my name, and I walked even faster because it was getting late and I need to walk going to the cafe where I worked part-time as a barista and sometimes as a cashier.

And I almost screamed when I felt a strong hand captured my wrist and spun me around, and I was meet with the most compelling eyes of Ashton Pritzgold, the campus football prodigy, the handsome and hot quarterback of our school football team.

I can feel my heart is racing, and I have been dreaming this day since I was in seventh grade. He has been my only crush, but it was only a secret because I am way out of his league, and only my best friend knew about it, and I felt so happy right now that, at last, he noticed me.

"How do you know my name?" I asked him, and I hate myself that I couldn't take away my eyes from his face, and his proximity is killing me. He smells so good, and I have to be honest that I have never been this close to a guy before, and this is so much for me because every girl in our school has been dreaming of being with him. I felt my entire body trembled, and I don't want him to know that I am so affected by his presence.

"Ha! Are you kidding me? You are the number one student of our batch ever since I can remember, and we are always in the same section, so I guess I know your name Megan Corteza." He said, and his voice is like a lullaby into my ear, and I love the way he pronounced my name. And I felt like I am dreaming right now as I realize that he is this handsome up close, and I felt so lucky to be on his radar at the moment.

But I was a little confused about why he was chasing me at this hour when I know he has football practice on our school grounds. I know because I watch him from a distance, but I stopped when I saw cheerleaders always calling his name, and they circled him most of the time, and I know I will never be close with him because he is rich. And if I have it my way, I could watch him practiced from start to finish.

But I told myself that Ashton is not the boy for me because I know he will never look at me, and it never happened even if I am on the stage as I participated in quiz balls and became the champion. I never heard him congratulated me. Well, it was always Alice and the faculty members who will greet me because the rich always ignores me.

And even if we are in the same room, we never talked, maybe because during breaks he was always surrounded by the hot cheerleaders, and I always felt jealous of them, and I know my best friend, Alice, will become so thrilled once she learns that Ashton chased after me today.

I hate that my hazel brown eyes are looking at him intently, as his deep blue eyes were staring at my face with great intensity, and I noticed he is still holding my wrist, and I can feel the butterflies on my stomach, and I don't want to wake up if ever this was a dream.

"What do you want from me?" I asked him, and I try to turn my head away from him because I don't wish Ashton to know that I felt something for him. And felt so proud of me that after a long while, I found my tongue to speak again, and I think we are going to win if we will join a staring contest.

"Hmm, I want to ask you out." He casually said while I felt my heart leaped from my chest, and my eyes got so big, and I realized I was dreaming.

"Come again?" I asked, and he laughed, and then he smiled at me that almost gave me a heart attack.

"I said, I want to ask you out." He said again, and I felt him released my hand, and I felt a little frustrated that he stop holding my hand. But the racing of my heart continues because he was watching my face the entire time, and I couldn't stop myself from blushing.

"But why me?" I asked, and I saw his face saddened.

"Do I need to put it on a letter? Why do I need to take you out? I mean, do I need to write down the reasons why do I want to know you, Megan?" He asked, and I became speechless again; how can I believe him? And maybe he was planning something sinister that is why he wants to ask me out, perhaps some bet. I have seen it in movies, and I have read it in romance books, so I am very hesitant to say yes to him because this is the first time that he has approached me, and I wonder what he wants from me since I find it so hard to believe in him that he wants to date me.

"I couldn't believe that you want to ask me out, Ashton, but to be honest, I am flattered; I know I am way out of your league, so please stop bothering me," I said, and I can look at the disappointment on his face.

Still, I know someone like him will never find me attractive, and I turn my heels and walked away from him as fast as I can. And I felt so triumphant, but deep inside my heart, I hate myself because I know no one had turned him down.

"What? Why did you say no to Ashton Pritzgold? Are you crazy, Megan?" Alice asked me in a loud voice that I need to cover my ear, we are currently on our part-time job in a cafe not so far from our school, and I am just glad we don't have any customers in front of us at the moment.

And because we belong together, we always work together anywhere. We clean big houses in the wealthy homes in big subdivisions in our city, and sometimes we part-time as tutors, and we are willing to take any job as long as we earned a decent amount of money.

"Why, what do you think I should do? Do you believe that Ashton is really into me? Come on, Alice, we both know he will only date hot and beautiful cheerleaders, and you have to accept that your best friend is not one of those girls." I said.

"Megan, you are beautiful, and you should acknowledge that by now, and not only that you are intelligent, and you are always first in our class, and I don't think you have to feel embarrassed about yourself, and you must be so proud that he asked you out." My best friend said, and I only shook my head.

"I need to live in reality, Alice, so that I will not get hurt in the and of course, I need to safeguard my heart from popular guys like Ashton," I said.

"Megan, he is not only famous, but he is the most popular guy in our school. You should be proud of it because every girl in our school wanted to date Ashton, and you are such a fool for turning him down. They said he would never ask a girl out twice in a row, so I think you should feel lucky, but I don't believe that is true, and I guess only the cheerleaders are talking about it because he doesn't give them his full attention. I can tell Ashton is different from all the football players that I know." Alice declared, and I smiled at her.

"Do you know some football players? As in, like in person?" I asked her, and she smiled.

"Well, I admit I don't, but we see them around campus so, I guess we know them. But I am just glad you turned Ashton down, Megan." She said.

"And why do you suddenly changed your point of view, my dear best friend?" I asked as I laughed, and I will be lying if I say I don't have any regrets that I turned down Ashton. But deep inside my heart, I want to date him because I am so curious about how to be his girlfriend. But I know I need to face the reality that I can never be Ashton's girlfriend. He is like a star from a distant sky that I couldn't ever reach.

"Oh! no, I couldn't believe this!" Alice declared, and I wonder what made her eyes widened, and when I looked at where she was looking, I can see Ashton, who looked so fresh from shower getting inside the cafe and to be honest, I have been working here for a long while now, but I haven't seen him around except his best friend, Zach King. I felt my limbs trembled, and I can feel my heart beats faster, and when he came closer to the counter, I can't contain myself from staring at his handsome face again, and I wonder if he was here for me.

"Hello, Megan, fancy meeting you here." He said, and he looked so boyish as he smiled at me, and I couldn't hold back the sweet smile from my mouth, and I felt my face blush when Ashton leaned closer to me before he speaks.

"Do you think I will take no for an answer, Megan?" He asked me that I can feel my entire face turned bright red as I heard my best friend giggled, and I realized Ashton Pritzgold is hard-headed. Still, deep inside my heart, I felt so glad he didn't surrender, and I smiled again as I take their orders while I can't stop myself from feeling so nervous as I meet his intense gaze.