High School Crush

I didn't have one of those. Ok, I'll rephrase. I had some of those, back in high school, but:
a) I never acted on it.
b) It was very rare that my feelings actually got reciprocated.

Unlike some of the other female friends I used to know in high school, I didn't have many 'boyfriends' during my high school years. And I certainly was too afraid to do half of the things they were doing, like flaunting my affection in front of the whole school population, because my strict, overbearing parents would, no joke, kill me and the guy I've agreed to go out with.

Which is probably why I am having so.... much... fun with the current Evelyn story. She and her high school boyfriend have developed into such a cute couple it seemed like a pity to end their budding relationship, necessary as it might be.

So this is the first look of my brand new novel, also the first excerpt of 2010.

She wandered aimlessly through the busy narrow corridors, her pace slowing as approaching her locker, she found Eric Perkins leaning against it, his thumb busily flipping through pages of…
He straightened himself up and snapped the book shut, handing it back to her; the notebook she’d spent almost half-a-day figuring out the best way to retrieve it.
Almost out of its own accord, her hand moved, taking the offered end of the foolscap whilst Eric didn’t loosen his firm grip on the other end.
“About earlier…” Evelyn began, and stopped; her teeth chomping nervously on the inside of her lower lip.
“Yes?” Eric replied, head pushed forward as far as it could, a look of utter intrigue painted on his face.
“Eric, surely you know that… a hockey team member and a nobody was…”
“Unusual?” Eric suggested.
“Unheard of.”
Eric released his clutch on her notebook, arms criss-crossing around his middle, eyes flicking from her head to her toe, taking in her timid appearance, sizing her; a glint of mischief lighting his eyes.
“We could create history,” Eric remarked casually.
Evelyn released her breath noisily, one brow shooting up exasperatedly.
“Look, Evelyn,” Eric said before she could open her mouth to utter a single word of protest, “it’s simple. I like you. How do you feel about me?”
Evelyn opened and closed her mouth without making a single sound, eyes popping wide they were in danger of rolling out of its sockets, her throat moving up and down as she gulped visibly.
‘How was the kiss?’ Cecille’s question rang back in her ears.
She had tried so very hard to push the incident to the far corner of her mind, believing that it was a one-off kiss, never to be repeated, the tips of her fingers now running lightly along the curve of her lower lip, tingling in memory of that… wonderfully amazing kiss, his lips soft against her own, parting hers, the curves fitting snugly like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
“Am I… really… that horrible?” Eric asked, his face falling a little, taking her silence as a sign of rejection.
“No,” Evelyn answered adamantly. She lifted her gaze to him, for the first time truly paying full attention at him, not only as a hockey player most girls, including, if she wanted to be honest, her, idolised, but also as someone she could potentially get to know closely; become intimate with; the mere thought of calling Eric Perkins her ‘boyfriend’ was enough to send her mind spinning.
“I don’t know,” Evelyn said at last, shaking her head vigorously upon seeing Eric’s face paling. “I mean… I don’t really know how I feel about you,” she elaborated, answering his original question. “I’ve never given that much thought about the possibility that someone like you would want to go out with… someone like me.”
Using the locker he had been leaning against as a springboard, Eric drew himself up to his full five-foot-eleven height, and with both arms encircled around her waist, drew her close until her upper body was hard-pressed to his stomach.
"Start giving it a thought,” Eric whispered, a twinkle of mischief lighting his blue eyes. Dipping his head to the left, he kissed her again, his lips aggressive and ardent against hers, thus sealing their status as the newest item of Falls Creek High.