I stare out my new bedroom window. Wondering how this summer will be. I tried to tell my mom that moving wasn’t a good idea, but she insisted. “New places are good.” She said. It didn’t matter that this is my sophomore year in high school. I needed a “fresh start” as she put it. Now I’m here, in Louisiana. Supposedly one of the most cultured places in America. I don’t see how moving from California to here is healthy for me.
“Amanda! Come downstairs and get the paint for your bed room!” yelled my mom from the kitchen. The only good thing so far about moving here is that my mom promised to let me decorate my room however I wanted. Running to the stairway, I slid down the rails and fell to the floor, and burst out laughing when I saw my mother’s face. “Now look what you did.” Said my mom, “I thought I told you that you’re not gonna be doing that in this house.”
“I’m fine mom, really. It was fun!” I said getting up. “No bumps or bruises.”
“Well there’s a crack on the railing now.” I turned to look at the railing, and there it was, a long crack from the back of my jeans pocket buttons probably.
“Sorry.” I said outing my head down. “I’ll fix it……somehow.”
“No need to. I’ll get a repairman to. I don’t want you messing it up more then what it already is. Now go get the paint for your room and then go outside to get some more boxes.”
Nodding my head I went down the hall and into the kitchen. I smiled when I saw my teal and mint green paint tins on the kitchen island. My two favorite colors. I picked them up with no problem, and headed towards the stairway. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I saw that the front door was open and that my mom was talking to some lady with short black hair. I think it might be a new neighbor. Heading up stares I looked at the blank tan walls. The house was already painted except for the bedrooms. I placed my paint at my bedroom door and then ran downstairs and out the door. Not paying attention I ran into a solid block of what seemed to be muscle and fell on top of it. I started hearing my mom and the lady she was talking to laugh, and it took me a second to process what had just happened. Suddenly a chuckle erupted from the thing, or should I say person, I was laying on.
“Are you okay?” asked a male voice.
I looked up and saw the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen. He had dark black hair and blue eyes the color of a crystal clear ocean it seemed. I shook my head a little realizing that he asked me a question. “Um, uh, yeah I’m fine.” I answered.
He moved his hands from my back to my waist, my whole body tingled. He tilted his head up and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me, but then he whispered in my ear, “Maybe we should get up then.” and smiled revealing small dimples on his cheeks.
I nodded and moved so that is was sitting in the grass. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” I said as he stood up.
“It’s fine.” He reached out his hand towards me and I took it so he can pull me up. Butterflies went through my stomachic as I looked into his eyes. He smiled again revealing those cute dimples.
My mom cleared her throat and said, “Amanda, this is Mrs. Dillons.”
Smiling I said, “Hello.”
“And that,” my mom said looking at the guy I was just laying awkwardly on, “Is her son, Aaron.”
I looked at Aaron and he smiled again. His gaze seemed to melt into me. “Hi” is all I managed to say. I’m pretty sure my face is as red as a tomato right now.
“Hey.” He said winking at me.
Yep, my face was a tomato. I can’t believe this. First day in this new place and I already made a bad impression.
“Aaron’s going to fix the stare railing.” My mom said smiling. “First day in the house and she already broke something.” My mom said to him.
I can’t believe this. It’s so embarrassing. “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.” I said trying to regain my dignity. My mom just shook her head and laughed a little.
“Why don’t you go help Amanda bring boxes inside Aaron?” his mom said looking up at him. Now that I have a better view of her, his mom was short, like mine, with dark brown hair, not black; and greenish brown eyes. I wonder where Michael got his blue eyes from. Probably his dad.
“I’d love to.” he said and started walking towards the moving truck.
I looked at my mom and she gestured towards Aaron with her eyes. I slowly started to follow him. Obviously noticing me, he slowed his pace till I caught up. “So, you just moved here huh?” he asked.
Well duhh isn’t it obvious? I decided to reply with a smart comment. “No, I heard the circus was in town and decided to go see the show. I’m just moving boxes because I like to do that with my free time.” I said with a smirk on my face.
He obviously caught on and laughed a little. “Well there’s no circus, but there is a fare. I was hoping I could take you to it tonight, but if you like moving boxes then I’m sure we can do that instead.” He said lifting up the back moving van cover.
“Fare? We? So you like taking girls you don’t know out? I guess you have to find something to do with your free time.”
“No, I’d just really like to go with you to the fare tonight. And it looks like the only thing you will be doing tonight is unpacking a bunch of boxes.”
“Exactly, so I can’t.”
“Well if you change your mind. Meet me by the ferris-wheel at eight.”
“Will do.”
He turned away from me and lifted a box out the truck. I watched him walk away. Fare huh?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My mom dropped me off at six thirty. I have $200 bucks to spend. Looking around I was deciding on what ride to ride next. I have about twenty minutes till I have to meet Aaron at the Farris-wheel. ‘The Ring of Fire’ looked fun. Heading in the direction of the ride, I listened to all the sounds and inhaled the air around me: screams, laughter, crying, the smell of hotdogs and popcorn. I loved the fare as a child, but now it just gives me a headache sometimes. I looked down to get my cell phone out my pocket and ran right into someone. My phone fell to the ground and immediately I bent down to get it. Unfortunately the person I bumped into did the same to get their phone and we bumped heads. I stood up strait not caring about my phone at the moment and clutched my head in pain. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” I said using the same line I did earlier. I really need to start paying attention to where I’m going.
“No biggie. It was my fault.” He said bending down to get our phones. When he stood up I was awe stricken. His hair was a dirty blonde and kind of had a messy skater boy style; his eyes were bright green, and he had a smile that would make you melt with just one glance. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Um, yeah, I’m fine.” I answered. What’s up with the cute guys in this place? “Are you okay?” I asked trying to be polite.”
“Yeah, I’m okay.” He said smiling again. “My name’s Kyle.”
“Amanda.” I said blushing.
“I haven’t seen you around before. Are you new?”
“I just moved here today actually. I’m from California.”
“Oh that’s cool. So I guess you didn’t meet anyone new yet huh? Like you haven’t made any new friends?”
“Not really, I kind of haven’t had a chance to look around.”
“Well maybe I can show you around?”
“I’d like that.” I said smiling.
“Okay cool. Here’s your phone.” He handed it to me. “What’s your number?”
I gave him my number, we said our goodbyes, and went in opposite directions. Checking my phone I sighed. I had to meet Aaron in five minutes. I might as well start heading to the farris-wheel. When I got there, I sat on a bench. Aaroon should be here any minute. I waited patiently till I couldn’t stand the wait any longer. Getting up I took my phone out my pocket and started punching in the numbers to call my mom so she can pick me up.
“Amanda!” I heard someone yell. I stopped typing in the numbers and turned to see who was calling my name. It was Aaron walking towards me with a group of people. And Kyle was one of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I never had guys fight over me before. I’ve never even fought over a guy. I’m not the type of girl who cares about what guys do. Sure I’ve had boyfriends but nothing serious. But this was something serious. The two guys that took my breath away just looking at them and talking to them for just a few minutes are friends. Best friends at that. Now the question is, what do I do?
“Hey Amanda.” Aaron said giving me a hug. It seemed awkward for me because I don’t really know the kid.
“Hi Aaron.” I said being somewhat squished.
He smiled at me with white teeth. “This is the girl I was telling you about Kyle. Amanda, this is Kyle, Anna, Sara, Taylor, Amy, Harry, Daniel, and Tom.” He said pointing to everyone.
“We’ve already met.” Kyle said giving me a smile.
“Really? When?” Aaron asked with something that sounded like harshness in his voice.
“We bumped into each other earlier.” I said.
“Oh, well, that’s good. Now you know two more people.” Aaron said.
“Yep, so are we going on the Farris-wheel or what?” I ask nervously standing in between Aaron and Kyle.
“Actually, I’m kind of hungry.” Taylor said.
“Me, too.” Said Daniel.
“I kind of am too.” Amy said. “Let’s go get some food.”
“I’ll go with y’all.” Harry said.
“Well I guess Amanda, Aaron, Anan, and I are going on the ride.” Kyle said smiling at me showing dimples that I didn’t realize he had.
“You can ride with me Aaron.” Anna said grabbing his arm and giving me the evil eye. I took the warning that she has dibs.
“I wanted to ride with Amanda.” He said looking at me disappointedly.
“It’s okay, I’ll ride with her.” Kyle said taking my hand. He smiled and looked down at me. I know my face is as red as a tomato right now. All I could do was smile. Kyle led me to the Farris-wheel with Aaron and Anna right at our feet. We got to the ticket booth and showed our wrist bands. Kyle held the railing open for me while I climbed into the seat. It had a lion on either side of it and in the back their tails made a heart. Great we got the love carrier. I thought.
The ride started to move and we sat in silence. When we stopped at the top, Kyle finally broke the quietness. “So do you like the fair?” he asks.
“Well I haven’t ridden that many rides, but so far I like it. I’m kind of hungry though. I haven’t eaten all day.” I said laughing.
“I’ll buy you something when we get off.” He offered.
“No its okay, you don’t have to, I have money, I can buy it.”
“Its fine, I know I don’t have too, I want to.”
“Oh, well in that case, be my guest.” I said smiling
He smiled and looked ahead. When the ride started moving, he yawned and stretched, putting his arm on the back of the seat. So cheesy. I thought. “What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked
“Ummm nothing just unpacking. Why?” I asked.
“Do you wanna maybe, hang out?” he asked sounding shy.
“I’ll have to ask my mom but I don’t see why not.”
He smiled. “Okay great.”
We made it around to the top again and a big cold gust of wind blew on us. I shivered and got goose bumps all over me. “Wow that’s cold. I thought it’s supposed to be warm in summer.” I said.
“The nights are cold. It’s weird, I know, but that’s how it is when a cold front comes in.” Kyle said. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him, making the only possible thing for me to do is to put my head on his shoulder. He’s warm. And smells good too. I close my eyes, saving the moment, breathing in his sent and absorbing his warmth. He kissed my head. I thought smiling. I froze. What am I doing? I don’t know this guy. Why am I snuggled up by him with my arm around him?! My arms around him!!!??? Jumping back to reality I sat up.
“What’s wrong?” Kyle asked, clearly not seeing what the problem was.
“I don’t know you.” I said. “I’m sitting here snuggled up with a guy I don’t even know.”
“You know me.” He said grabbing my hand.
I pulled away. “Don’t, don’t touch me.” I said.
He lifted up his hands surrendering, “Okay.” He said.
I scooted to the other side of the seat, leaving a gap between us. I glance at the gap and feel empty, like something’s missing. What am I thinking? What is he thinking? He doesn’t even know me. I don’t know him! The ride comes to a stop and we sit there waiting for the bars to unlock.