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1. The Good Girl.

[Emily]

Alarm clock beeping, isn't it every high schooler’s nightmare?

Strangely, it wasn't mine, the beep of the alarm clock was like a booster to me, it was like a surge of energy into my body and I never failed to feel the same way every time.

Call me a nerd if you will, ebh I bet I don't look like it.

"It's in the glasses." Jenny, my only friend, had said once. There was no tearing us apart in dressing, hairdo and accessories, which only consisted of thick glasses until she had a makeover and now wore contacts and short skirts.

Great for her anyway, her parents were glad that their daughter was coming out of her dork years, but my religious parents forbade me from ever associating with her.

Sad story really, but which teenagers ever listen to their parents, am I right?

"Up are we, Em?" My mother, my favorite out of the two religious fanatics that rule my life asked.

Yeah, I can be overly descriptive but who cares since it earns me an A+ at school anyway, so it's fine.

"Yes, mother."

Well, we're English people, so we speak English the English way.

"Say your prayers and lay your bed properly, my dearest." Her voice sounded a bit hollow because she was standing in the hallway.

She didn't even enter my bedroom, she must be in a hurry as always.

She was, or should I say they both were medical practitioners, only my father had recently taken up teaching, so he was kind of a professor in a distant college so he was barely home on weekdays now.

"Hurry up, dearest, I don't hear you in the bathroom." She yelled again, only this time from the kitchen.

I rushed through my prayers and sped into the bathroom, since I didn't have much to do to get ready, I was ready in no time.

Walking down the stairs, I stopped in front of the large vintage mirror that graced the wall with its beauty, and I couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with the way I looked.

I had long jet black hair, but I always had it in a tight bun behind my head because my parents thought it made me look more formal. I had light brown skin because my father was British and my mother was Mexican.

I wished I took my mother's Mexican features then I wouldn't be teased at school for being flat chested and having a small behind. I had brownish-hazel eyes like my father's and I was about five foot eight tall, which was very tall for a girl apparently, especially one in an American highschool.

I had on a blue flowing skirt that reached just below my knees, a white button up shirt and an armless sweater to complete the look.

I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my pointed nose and I decided to block the noise in my head, it would do me no good anyway and I didn't want to be late for school.

Oh, and by the way, my name is Emily Chesterfield.


"Emily, I'm sorry I'll not be able to pick you up from school today, I have to cover up for my friend at the office, so you're going to have to walk home." My mother announced as she turned off the ignition.

"Don't worry mama, I completely understand, I'll be fine," I said and hugged my mother goodbye.

"Thank you, chica." She tapped me at the back and pulled the door open for me.

I held my backpack tightly as I waved my mother goodbye. Most junior students came to school in their own cars or in their friend's car, but I didn't mind my mother dropping me off every day.

Sure I was teased a lot for it, but it didn't matter, I was teased for a lot of things and somehow it didn't even matter anymore, I was already used to hey.

"Hey heads up dork." Someone yelled and laughter filled the air, before I could dodge the incoming object, someone caught it a hair's breadth away from my face.

"Leave her alone." The voice who caught the object which happened to be a red juicy apple spoke.

"Ah come on Ace, we're just having some fun."

Did someone say, Ace, Ace as in the Ace, Chandler's high resident bad boy and senior?

"I said leave." He said again and they all huffed before leaving.

"You tight-lipped or something?" He asked as soon as the bullies cleared away from the school yard.

"Ah, no, I mean, it's that, you did, I can—" Naturally, I couldn't form a coherent sentence.

"You know, it's okay, now that I know you can speak, nice rims by the way." He said.

Before he left, he rubbed the apple around the bottom of my shirt and took a huge bite of it, then he dropped the remaining into my hand.

"See you around, Em." He said, and my heart did a triple flip.

He knew my name, freaking Ace knew my name. It was enough for me to smile through the remainder of the bullying I knew I would get.

"Missus, spill, details now." Jenny snapped her fingers and I rolled my eyes. She could be so dramatic at times.

"Spill what?" I decided to play dumb. I looked around cautiously as we made our way to our special table inside the cafeteria.

"I heard Ace talked to you today in the school yard. Do you know how huge that is? All the girls are so envious of you."

"Yeah, no it wasn't a big deal Jen," I replied, placing my food tray gently on the table before sitting down.

"It wasn't a big deal? are you F-ing kidding me right now?"

"Jen, language." I looked at her in shock.

"I didn't even say it fully. Anyway back to Ace, tell me what did you say to him?" She smiled and leaned closer to me.

"Jen, I barely got two words out." I sighed and dropped my fork down.

It was at that moment that I wished I was as confident as Vicky Owen, our school's resident beauty and cheerleader captain, all the boys wanted to be with her.

"Oh, my dear friend, we have a lot of work to do." She said and pushed my glasses up my nose.

"First, you have to thank him for his help this morning."

"Are you crazy?"

"I can't talk to him and I doubt he'd want me to talk to him again. He probably just helped me because he was bored. He's Ace, and he's a bad boy. Have you forgotten everything we've heard about him?" I couldn't believe Jenny.

"Calm down Em, don't believe everything you hear, people like to talk nonsense besides it's junior year, if you don't start taking risks now, when are you ever?"

Actually, that did make sense, I had lived in the shadows all my life, maybe it was time for me to come out of the shadows and take risks.

What could it hurt right?

Okay, let me give you the rundown on Ace, he is six foot two, he is the football captain and he is a senior.

Typical bad boy wears black on black, drives a black Harley motorbike, rich parents, black hair, hazel coloured eyes, rich tan, nice abs, oh I could talk about his body forever.

I noticed him since the first day I started highschool, but there was no way he would notice a girl like me and so I always kept my distance from him and my crush to myself and to Jenny.

For the first time since I started school, I was glad that the bell was rung. Surprisingly, none of the bullies bothered me today and I started to take what Jenny said seriously. Maybe I should find him and thank him.

I took a deep breath as I walked across the school yard to his bike. It was the only one in school, so everyone knew it and everyone knew where he always parked it.

I didn't trust myself to actually talk to him, so I wrote him a thank you card and decided to leave it on his bike. Hopefully, the wind would not blow it away.

"What are you doing here, Em?" Ace's deep voice asked from behind me and my heart skipped two beats and started to beat erratically.

Mistake, bad idea, I should get out of here fast.

"I'm going," I replied and turned to dash away from him but he caught me by my upper arm and stopped me.

"Wait." He said and I turned stiff in front of him. He picked up the note and read through it.

I thought I saw him smile but I wasn't sure.

"You shouldn't let them pick on you so much, you're way smarter, beautiful, and sexier than them all." He said and I blushed deeply.

I'm not sure he used the word sexier. My mind does tend to replace words at times.

"T-thank y-you." I struggled to get it out and I looked down at my shoes.

"Be brave." He said and lifted my chin up so that I could look him in the eye.

He had such beautiful eyes and such an intense look that I couldn't help but stare at him back with as much intensity.

It felt like the world disappeared and it was just the two of us in this space.

His hand moved up and grazed my blushing cheeks lightly. Moist began to gather behind my glasses at his very kind gesture, and I did not realize when tears began to pour down my cheeks.

"It's okay, don't cry now, I'll make sure nobody hurts you ever." He said and moved closer to me. He took my face in his hands and took off my glasses. I could not really see clearly without them and now I could barely see anything with my tears blurring my vision, but I did see him lean down slightly before I closed my eyes.

A girl could faint from such anticipation and anxiety and that's exactly what my dumbass did.

In truth, I hadn't eaten anything since morning. I was a nervous wreck. Here I was bawling out the little liquid I had in my body, It's no wonder I fainted, but I couldn't help it, he was being so nice to me.

"What is wrong with you?" I heard him ask and I saw an outline of a frown forming on his brows before my eyes closed and my knees buckled.

"Wake up, Em." I heard him say after a while and I felt his hands on my face, I groaned as I came back to consciousness.

"Have you eaten anything all day?" He asked with a frown on his face.

"Yes." I lied in my hurry to get away from him, we were still at the school's yard and I knew by tomorrow the gossip would have spread, I did not want to imagine what would be said about me.

"I need to get home." I tried to get up from the ground but his two hands on my shoulder stopped me.

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