Thank y'all so much for the support you've given me on this book!! It means a lot and I hope I don't disappoint you with it! Enjoy!

WritingMelody<3

~

I went to school the next day and it was a half day. I was going to attempt to ask out Cody. I mean, George was right—I needed to take risks. So, I made sure I looked pretty. I wore an orange shirt my mom had given me, some awesome blue jeans, and my silver glittery flats. I made sure my hair looked pretty too—straight. I did some makeup (blush, mascara, eyeliner, and lip gloss and eyebrow pencil) and thought I looked acceptable.

In school, I was nervous. For all sorts of reasons. There was Jeffery, Cody... Would today be my day? Maybe... Hopefully. So I waited for fifth period. Even though we had fourth period—chemistry, yes, I know chemistry class, and chemistry the spark or whatever—together, he sat at a different table and talked to his friends. Fifth period, I sat right next to him. And my chemistry teacher knew that I liked Cody—she got it out of me.

So when fifth period rolled around, we sat down and I set my calculator the correct way. I looked at Cody who was doing the same thing. We started this a couple months ago. But I just started liking him about a month ago. I remembered one day, I embarrassed myself in front of Cody:

I was talking to one of my friends named Christy—she sat behind Cody—and then Dallas came up to us and said, “Y'all should come sit with me and my cousin.”

So when we stood, I figured Cody was coming, too. Dallas had been talking to Cody, too. But when I looked up after sitting down, Cody was sitting by himself. I told Dallas, his cousin Steve, and my friend Christy, I'd be back. I walked up to Cody, who was doing his work.

“Hey, uh,” I cleared my throat. “you should come sit with us back there.”

“There's not enough room, I don't think,” he said looking to where we had moved to.

“Sure, you can grab a rolly-chair,” I threw out there.

He began to laugh at me.

“What?” I asked.

“If you're worried about me, I'm fine, Bella.”

I opened my mouth to respond and put my hand on the desk. “You know what...?” I looked at him through my lashes and he still had the same look on his face. I looked back down at the desk and said, “I, uh... I'm gonna sit down.”

I hurriedly walked back to the desk behind Dallas's and covered my face, laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” Dallas laughed at me.

“Oh, other than the fact I completely embarrassed myself?” I shook my head, laughing a little more before attempting my Algebra 2 work.

“Hey, do you...?” I looked at him, but I wasn't sure if he was listening. I sighed. Christy walked in and looked from Cody to me.

“Did you ask?” she mouthed, as she sat behind him.

“I can't,” I whispered.

“Want me to do it for you?” she whispered.

“No,” I laughed, shaking my head. “Don't.”

Christy and I had erupted into laughter and Cody just looked at us like we were crazy. “What are you two laughing at?”

“Nothing,” I jumped before Christy could try and ruin it.

I'd told Christy about my plan of attempting to ask him out earlier on, but I was also half asleep, so I didn't remember that well.

“Do you...?” I tried again, but my voice faded into a whisper. Once again, I'm pretty sure he wasn't listening, so I shook my head—mostly to myself—and attempted my Algebra 2 work.

~

Since it was a half day, we spent an hour in sixth period. And the first five classes had been thirty minutes and seventh period would be thirty minutes, too. I slept for most of sixth period. And lunches were different, too. I was in N Hall upstairs—so for me, lunch didn't change. I've been cursed with second lunch since the sixth grade. And Cody was also N Hall upstairs...

The bell rang for lunch and I went to the cafeteria. After grabbing a lunch—the food here sucked—I roamed the cafeteria for a place to sit. I walked all around the cafeteria until finding Cody's table. I hesitated before finally sitting down. I mean, I didn't have anywhere else to sit and there weren't any empty tables. I wasn't sitting next to Cody though. I was sitting next to Kris, a guy I've known since seventh grade. And next to Kris was Corey—one of Cody's guy friends—and across from Corey was Cody, and across from Kris was someone I hadn't met yet.

“Who are you?” I asked the unfamiliar guy.

“I'm Alex,” he said.

I nodded. “You know Cody?”

“Yeah, we're friends,” he said in a “duh” tone.

I pressed my lips into a line and ate my awful cafeteria food. Hey, what can I say? I was hungry. I looked at Kris next to me and looked over at Cody who was laughing so much, his face was red. I'd never seen him like this before. It was a side of him that he didn't show much. He wasn't a loner, or anything. Just quiet.

“Stare, much?” Kris whispered next to me.

“I was not,” I blinked into reality.

“Kidding,” he laughed at me.

I threw my food away and waited for lunch to end. Actually, waited for this half day to end.

~

At the end of seventh period, I was one of the first few on my bus. But George was already on.

“Hey,” I told him.

“Did you ask him out like I told you to?” he asked me.

“I tried.”

“How do you 'try' to ask someone out?”

“You start the question and don't finish,” I laughed.

“Then just write him a note and leave it on his desk tomorrow,” he shrugged.

“That's elementary,” I told him.

“It works,” he shrugged.

One of my other friends—Jace—got on the bus and sat next to me. The rest of the bus ride was of everyone talking, and George telling Jace to tell me to ask Cody out.

“What are you nervous about anyway, Bells?” Jace asked, referring to my Cody situation.

“I think he'll say no,” I shrugged.

“Then he's mental,” Jace said.

I shook my head. “He'd be dodging a bullet.”

“Bella, listen. You look great every day, you're sweet, listen to people, you're empathetic, you don't judge, and let's be real. You're actually decent—unlike ninety percent of the girls at this school.”

“Thanks, Jace,” I said, zipping my jacket. I was naturally cold, and the bus had the a/c on.

“Are you seriously cold?” Jace laughed at me.

“You know me. I'm always cold,” I shrugged.

“Well, dammit,” he said draping his arm in front of me. “Don't worry, you'll warm up in no time. I'll be your Jacob for the remainder of the bus ride.”

I laughed at him and shook my head. “You're a crazy person, Jace.”

“But you love me,” he said.

“Okay,” I patted his arm that was in front of me.

Before you ask, yes, he has a girlfriend. And so does George. I don't know if Dallas does... I don't think so... Wait! Why am I thinking about Dallas's relationship status? Weird. I knew for a fact that Cody was single, because at Valentine's Day, I asked who his Valentine was and he said no one. I just couldn't bring myself to ask.

When I got home, I immediately went to sleep. Like, no joke. I was tired and it was one in the afternoon. I woke up to my mom telling me to help unload a truck-full of groceries. We live off WalMart. After I helped her unload, my brother drove me to Driver's Ed. And thus, the highlight of my day...

For once, I had gotten there before Dallas did. Brent got out of the truck and walked with me to the bench—because we weren't allowed inside Street Smart yet. Not even five minutes later, Dallas showed up. He's probably the only friend I have that actually thinks that Brent is cool. All my others can't stand him.

“Hey, Dallas,” I waved.

“Hey,” he nodded at me.

Brent high-fived him and pulled him into one of those guy-hugs or whatever. We all stood there and Brent began to embarrass me. You know how older brothers are. Brent kept telling me how stupid I was in front of everyone—laughing as he said it, of course—and I was getting mad.

“I'm not stupid,” I glared.

“You kinda are. You're weird too. You point out everyone and say, 'I know that person! That's so and so!'”

I just rolled my eyes and Dallas just casually stood there, a smile on his face. He didn't know how this effected me. He didn't know that this kind of thing pisses me off. It's everywhere I go, Brent and Garrett—my little brother—have to steal my thunder. It's irritating. Garrett texted saying Mom wanted them home and Dallas took my phone.

“Very funny, Dallas,” I laughed. “Give it back.”

“No,” he shook his head, backing away.

“Dallas!” I called as I chased him around the parking lot.

He stopped at the curb and I ran, hoping to get to him, but he just took off, going around the cars that were parked. He turned left—keep in mind, Street Smart is on a strip mall—and began to run back to Street Smart, but I cut him short, and yet he outran me. He set my phone on top of my Driver's Ed binder and I grabbed it, to see if he had did anything.

Garret: Tell Brent to come on

On said

Mom

“Me”: No

Garrett: Brent mom is pissed come on

Me: Okay

I went up to Dallas and slapped his head with my binder.

“Hey,” he laughed at me, covering his head.

“You suck, dude,” I rolled my eyes at him.

The rest of the night was full of Driver's Education.

~

So, a lot of this actually happened to me today. What can I say? Haha. So thoughts? Should Bella write the note to Cody? Was Brent out of line? Does anyone like Dallas? How about Cody? Jace? What do you think will happen next? Comment your answers and opinions of the book! Lots of love!

WritingMelody<3