Chapter One: Maybe, Just Maybe

“Oh, Amber, I am so in love!,” Liza said dramatically. Liza is the aspiring actress in our little quartet.

“Oh, Liza, I am so sick of hearing about your so-called ‘love’,” I said, not even looking up from my newest short story. I am the cynic writer of quartet.

Nina started laughing quietly to herself. “It’s a good thing that you two have me to balance you two out. The cynic and the queen of puppy love.”

“Nina, you’ve been both extremes, so what are you now?,” Melanie, the artist of our group, said pointing her charcoal -covered finger at Nina.

“I’m an extremely focused singer. And I don’t casually date like you Melanie. I certainly am not a cynic full of teen angst like Amber. And I don’t see the point behind puppy love. Therefore, I’m the Sun. My gravity is keeping all of you in orbit.,” Nina replied confidently.

“Someone thinks highly of themselves!,” I said. Liza started to giggle. Nina stuck her tongue out at us.

“So, Melanie, who’s the lucky guy tonight?,” Liza asked. “Dean Jensen.,” Melanie said proudly.

“Oooh, lucky, lucky girl.,” I said closing up my notebook and sticking my pen in my hair.

We were sitting at our lunch table in the corner of the cafeteria. Everyone knows that this is our table. Liza, Nina, Melanie and I are the only ones in our school’s performing arts club. Therefore, we are known as ‘Los Artistes’ among the students and teachers at Sea Valley High. We have been friends since we were little. We all have our own thing. But, somehow, I have a feeling that we wouldn’t be the same without ‘Los Artistes.’

“Amber, may I speak with you in my office?,” Mrs. Bartnett, our school’s counselor, asked me, interrupting my thoughts.

“Sure, Mrs. Bartnett. Bye guys. Text me tonight.,” I said removing myself from my table and heading out into the hallway. “What’s up, Mrs. Bartnett?,” I asked as soon as we were outside of the cafeteria’s noise.

“On Monday, there will be a new student. I was wondering if you would mind showing him around and be kind of a guide and friend to him.,” Mrs. Bartnett said as she was opening up the door to her office.

“Sure. But, why me?,” I said, feeling intrigued.

“Well, I feel as if he could be a fellow ‘Los Artistes.’ He’s a writer. He has won awards of prestige. And he asked for someone like him. You were the first one that came to mind. His name is Langdon Summers. He Is a junior just like you.,” Mrs. Bartnett said, looking at me over her square glasses.

“Okay. Sounds good. Where do you want me to meet him on Monday?,” I said eagerly.

“The main office. If you could, I would like you to get here at seven o’clock. That way you can show him his locker and get him organized. He has the locker right next to you and your schedules match up perfectly.”

“Okay. Sounds great, Mrs. Bartnett. But, it sounds like you’re trying to do Cupid’s job. And you should know as well as anyone that I’m a cynic. No one even attempts to get me a guy. Even my writing has way too many star-crossed lovers for me to ever fall in love.”

Mrs. Bartnett was staring me down, “Why do you believe that your writing shows anything about your life? You realize that you aren’t those girls in your stories, right?”

I rolled my eyes and said, “Yes, I realize that. But, in order to understand my view of the world you would have to be a writer. Hopefully, Langdon Summers will understand me.”

“That’s my hopes behind placing you two together. Who knows, maybe even you will fall in love with him.,” Mrs. Bartnett said with a suspicious smile on her face.

“Maybe, just maybe. Have a good weekend, Mrs. Bartnett.,” I said as I left her office with a big smile on my face.

As soon as I got home, I pulled up my blog on my laptop. I had been following Langdon Summers’ blog since March of 2009. I instantly fell in love with his writing. And then, I slowly got a crush on Langdon himself. Now, I will finally have the chance to meet him, and maybe even fall in love with him. I spent that entire weekend rereading all of his works. Before going to bed on Sunday night, I picked out my cutest outfit and as I closed my laptop, I repeated what I said to Mrs. Bartnett, “Maybe, just maybe.”

I pulled into the school’s parking lot at 6:50 AM on Monday morning. I saw a guy getting out of a car. I knew it must be Langdon. First of all, I recognized him from his blog’s picture. Second of all, no other students get to school until eight o’clock. I smoothed my hair in the rearview mirror of my car
and tucked my pen into my back pocket, grabbed my notebook, and got out of my car to face my secret crush. “Hey, you’re Langdon Summers, right?,” I asked walking next to him.

“Yeah, I am. You must be Amber Blaine. You’ve been following my blog for a year. I thought I recognized that face.,” Langdon smiled, a shy smile. He had short light brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses. He was the nerdy-looking type. None of the girls at school would be attracted to him, except for me. He wore plaid shirts and skinny jeans.

“I really love your writing. It’s like I’m reading into your soul and I feel like I know you.,” I said star struck.

Langdon started to blush. “I feel the same way about your writing. I’ve been reading it for about nine months now. We should hang out sometime. I already like you. Do we have any classes together?”

I looked at Langdon and couldn’t help but smile, “Yeah, actually we have everything together. Our lockers are next to each other and everything.”
“Cool. It sounds as if someone is trying to set us up.,” Langdon laughed. His laugh was deep and tender.

All day we flirted and made jokes. I was falling for Langdon. Me. Miss Cynic. At lunch is when things got really interesting. “So, Langdon, how are you liking Sea Valley so far?,” Liza asked him.

“Well, I thought it sucked until I met Amber.,” Langdon said this and smiled. Then, he grabbed my hand underneath the table and we intertwined our fingers. We stayed like this for the rest of the day. Everyone stared, because I, Amber Blaine, the school cynic, was holding hands with the new kid, Langdon Summers.

“Amber, do you want to hang out after school?,” Langdon asked me at our lockers.

“Sure, your place or mine?”

“Your place is fine, Amber.,” Langdon stared me in the eyes as he said this.

“Okay, you can follow me. But first, I have to stop by Mrs. Bartnett’s office.,” I said, grabbing my notebook and pen. That was the first day in four years where I didn’t write a single word. But, that night, my fingers would end up writing for hours. I stopped in to thank Mrs. Bartnett. Then, Langdon followed me home.

At my house, we walked through the door and my mom looked up in shock at the sight of a male in my presence. “Mom, this is Langdon Summers. He is a fellow ‘Los Artistes.’ He’s new here today. I’m his guide.,” I said smiling a huge smile.

“Hello, Langdon. I’m Ms. Blaine. Hopefully, you can talk some common sense into my cynic daughter.,” my mom said smiling.

“I’m hoping to do much more than that Ms. Blaine. I intend on dating your daughter.” I blushed and went to my room.

“Was that true, Langdon?,” I asked when we entered my room.

“Yes. I’m a writer and I express what I’m feeling. Right now, I’m feeling that I want to date you.,” Langdon said putting his hand in my wavy brown hair.

“Well, I’m a writer too. And I have wanted to express what I’ve been feeling towards you all day. And my feelings are that I don’t want to be the school cynic anymore. I want to be the romantic writer that has an amazing writer boyfriend named Langdon Summers.,” I said smiling and attempting to keep from blushing.

“Well, from one writer to the next, I think this is a story worth writing.,” Langdon said smiling. I kept being inspired by his amazing eyes. Seas of hazel. That’s exactly what they were. They were the kind of eyes that you wanted to look into and never look away. I was staring straight into them without even noticing. Langdon bent down his neck a little because he was about five inches taller than me. Suddenly, we kissed. The kiss only lasted for about fifteen seconds. But, the butterflies lasted much longer than that. “Was that okay, Amber? I should’ve asked. I shouldn’t have just assumed that you would be okay with it. I’m sorry.,” Langdon said worried.

“Langdon, it was great. You never have to ask to do that. I’m perfectly fine with kissing you. Actually, I would like to kiss you a lot more in the future. Oh, another thing, don’t ever be sorry for kissing me.,” I said smiling and to confirm what I was telling him, I kissed him. This time, it was more intense and it lasted longer than fifteen seconds. We only broke apart because we heard a knock at my front door. I looked out the window to the driveway. Behind my mom’s black Jeep, my blue Honda, and Langdon’s red Ford was Melanie’s car. Melanie, Nina and Liza filed out of Melanie’s grey Toyota.

“Amber, ‘Los Artistes’ are here.,” my mother yelled from the kitchen. Langdon and I walked out to the kitchen.

“Hey Langdon.,” Nina said surprised at the sight of Langdon in my house.

“Hey ladies. How is your afternoon?,” Langdon said politely.

“Great. We just stopped by to see if Amber was up for a ‘Los Artistes’ night out on the town.,” Liza said.

“What about your date with Dean?,” I asked Liza.

Liza looked at me and rolled her eyes, “I told you today in lunch. I cancelled. Dean was caught doing pot in the bathroom. And you know that I’m completely against that.”

“Oh, sorry. I forgot. I was a little preoccupied today. I was in my own little world.,” I said sympathetically.

“Aren’t you always?,” Melanie asked laughing.

“So, are we going to have a ‘Los Artistes’ night or what?,” Nina asked sipping at a glass of milk from my refrigerator.

“Sure. But, Remember, Langdon gets to come. He’s part of ‘Los Artistes’ now. Do you three want to help me pick out clothes for our night out?,” I asked smiling.

“Sure.,” all three of my best friends replied. Liza, Nina and Melanie followed me to my room. We left Langdon in the kitchen talking to my mother.

“So, what’s the deal with you two?,” Nina asked as soon as we closed my bedroom door.

“We kissed!,” I said happily.

“And?,” Melanie said sitting on the edge of my bed, digging for details.
“We might be dating. It’s not technically official. But, it will be. I just know it.,” I said going through my closet looking for a cute outfit.

“Amber, wear this.,” Liza handed me a white V-neck t-shirt and a mini denim skirt.

“Fine, but I’m wearing my hair in my bun with the pen stuck through it. And I’m taking out my contacts. They’re drying my eyes out.,” I said taking the clothes from my best friend.

She flipped her blond ringlets dramatically towards me and looked over her shoulder to Nina and Melanie, “Can you believe this chick?” They just shook there heads yes and picked out what shoes I was wearing that night. They decided on my high top Reeboks.

For Langdon’s first night as a ‘Los Artistes’, we went to the pizza place and then we rented movies and took them back to my place. Langdon fit right into our strange group. I can just picture what we must have looked like; a five foot two inch blond actress, the beautiful girl with black hair that was covered in charcoal and oil paints, the singer with a short red pixie cut, the geeky-looking girl with a pen in her hair and the nerdy guy with an ink-covered shirt from a pen that had exploded earlier in the day all throwing popcorn and laughing hysterically. To us, this was normal and fun. To others, this looked like a sci-fi convention gone awry. This is the life I love and lead. Maybe, just maybe this is what perfection is.