The First Love Anthology: A collection of novellas

by Amy Sparling

  “That’s clever, but I’m sorry, Asha. He has to dance or it doesn’t count. The only way he’d be able to do something alternative is if he has a doctor’s note excusing him from dance.”

  It briefly crosses my mind to shove Liam off a staircase and hope he breaks a leg on the way down, but I quickly shove the thought away. Obviously I’m not a psychopath. “Are you sure there’s nothing else he can do?”

  “This is dance class,” she says firmly. “All he has to do is dance.”

  I’m trying not to cry as I make my way back to homeroom. My dance for the pep rally is really cute and easy to learn since it’s the first dance of the year. I even have a separate part I made for Liam that would have him doing a more manly part instead of dancing with the rest of the girls. He’d be like their escort, taking them one by one onto the dance floor. It would look pretty awesome if he actually did it, but I know he won’t. Still, I choreographed him a part in the dance so that it would look good on my part, and hopefully improve my grade.

  Now I know that won’t happen.

  Liam has to dance at the pep rally or I’m screwed.

  I bite the inside of my lip as an idea comes to me. It’s crazy, and it probably won’t work. But if it does… it would be perfect.

  Now all I have to do is win him over.

  Chapter 8

  Liam

  I’m heading to fifth period when I feel someone tap me on the shoulder. Inwardly, I groan. It’s probably one of the several girls who have been not-so-subtly flirting with me this week. I’m never rude to people, especially girls, but it’s hard to politely act like I’m not interested. I just want them to go away because I’m in no position to date anyone right now. Not when my heart is set on another girl.

  I put on a fake smile and turn around. Asha’s beautiful eyes are not only looking into mine, but they’re crinkled at the corners. She’s smiling at me. I want to pinch myself, because I have to be dreaming.

  Asha doesn’t smile at me. At best, she ignores me, but at worst, she glares at me across the dance room because I’m not dancing.

  “What’s up?” I say, trying not to sound surprised that she’s here, initiating contact with me, and that she’s smiling, which is crazy out of character for her.

  She hooks her thumbs under her backpack straps and glances at the floor before looking back at me. “I’ll go on that date now.”

  Everything suddenly fades into nothingness as I watch her. The sounds of lockers slamming, people talking—it’s all gone. The only thing that exists right now is this gorgeous, ambitious girl, and me.

  “Really?” I say.

  She nods quickly. “Yeah. I mean…if you were serious about it…”

  I can tell she’s suddenly self-conscious so I jump in before she worries any longer. “Yes! I was totally serious.”

  She smiles up at me, her dark hair falling in soft waves around her face. “Cool. I’m… looking forward to it.”

  Her grin melts me. I’m totally out of control when she looks at me like that. She could ask me to walk right off the edge of the Grand Canyon and I’d do it, so long as she was giving me that smile.

  I swallow. “So where are we going?”

  She lifts an eyebrow, and I give her a teasing grin. “Well, you technically just asked me out, you see. So the date is up to you now.”

  Her mouth falls open and she slaps me on the arm. “So not fair!”

  I chuckle. “I’m playing with you. I’ll plan the date.”

  “Good,” she says. “Because I have no idea how to do that.”

  I take out my phone and unlock it with my thumbprint, then hand it over. “Can I get your number?”

  She punches it in, then gives my phone back just as the two-minute warning bell rings. “See you in eighth period,” I say, tucking my phone back in my pocket.

  She just grins as she walks away. There’s a pep in her step that she didn’t have before, and it leaves me wondering if she’s got some kind of evil plan up her sleeve.

  I certainly hope not.

  ***

  During dance, Asha leads the girls in the warmup and then the day’s lesson without ever looking at me. I guess I didn’t expect her to, since she always ignores me in class, but I kind of hoped she would at least talk to me. We are officially going on a date, so that makes us something other than enemies now.

  I don’t know why she changed her mind, especially since she seemed so annoyed that I asked her out in the first place, but I’ll take it. This girl has been stuck in my brain all day, every day, since I first met her at that sign-up table on the first day of class. I love that she’s confident and passionate, and that she works so hard for the things she cares about. She’s hands down the best student in English class, and in dance, she’s more of a teacher than our real teacher. I’ve only ever dated wishy-washy girls who don’t care about anything but the latest Kardashian scandal. I don’t want to date girls like that anymore.

  I want to date Asha.

  After dinner, I can’t stand the wait any longer. I need to talk to her. I need to confirm that what happened earlier wasn’t just my mind playing jokes on me, and that she really does want to go on a date with me.

  I find her number, which she saved in my phone as DANCE IS THE BEST, and chuckle. This girl is something else. I press call.

  After four terrifyingly long rings where I worry she won’t answer, she finally does. “Hello?” she says tentatively.

  “Hello, I’m calling for Miss Dance is the Best. Have I reached the right number?”

  She laughs. “Yes, that’s me.”

  I lay back on my bed, reveling in how sweet her voice sounds on the phone. I want to ask about our date, but I don’t want to sound too eager about it, either. “What’s up?”

  She takes a second to reply. “You called me.”

  “Uh… yes?”

  She chuckles. “It’s just weird. Like, guys don’t usually call. I thought you’d text.”

  “Would you rather me text?” I ask.

  “No,” she says quickly. “Calls are nice. They’re like…retro.”

  “I don’t use social media,” I explain. “And I’d way rather hear your voice than read a text.”

  Again, she’s quiet. I wonder if she’s blushing. “So when’s our date?” she asks after a beat.

  “Friday?” I suggest, hating that the weekend is still five days away.

  “What about tomorrow?” she says. “I’ll probably be grounded by Friday.”

  “What? But you’re so sweet,” I say, only half joking. “Why on earth would you get grounded?”

  She sighs. “I’m probably going to fail a major test on Friday… my parents will be pissed.”

  “Well that’s no good,” I say.

  “Don’t worry, I have a plan.” Her voice is a little conspiratorial, and I can’t lie—it turns me on. I clear my throat and try to change the subject.

  “So a Tuesday night date, huh? I can work with that. How late can you stay out?”

  “Probably until eleven-ish. My parents aren’t too strict.”

  “Awesome,” I say, even though I’m a little nervous. Less than twenty-four hours to plan the greatest date she’s ever had will be kind of tricky. But I have to pull it off because I need this girl to want me as much as I want her. “Next question: How early can you go out with me?”

  “Um, like after school I guess?” she says. “Maybe around four, because I’d have to change clothes. No… I’ll need more time than that. So like five o’clock.”

  “You’ll look hot in anything,” I tell her, using my most flirty voice. “Hell, you can wear your dance clothes and you’ll still be the hottest girl I’ve ever dated.”

  She’s quiet again, and this time I know she’s blushing. I love every second of it.

  “I’ll text you my address,” she says, a little breathily. “Pick me up at five.”

  Chapter 9

  Asha

  My plan has officially begun. Liam had said he�
��d dance if I went on a date with him, and now we have a date scheduled for tonight. Technically, when I had gathered up the courage to tell him I wanted to do go on that date yesterday, I was supposed to tell him why. That if we went on the date, he’d have to dance in the pep rally this Friday. But then I got all flustered and wasn’t able to tell him. It doesn’t matter though—a promise is a promise.

  I’m nervous as hell about it because he’s so freaking cute and fun to be around, so long as we’re not in dance class. I’m actually really excited about the date, even though it’s just supposed to be a bribe. Still… he’s cute, and if he agrees to start dancing in class… I could totally see myself falling for him.

  I bite my lip as I finish touching up my makeup in front of my bathroom mirror. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I’ve totally got a crush on Liam. Stubbornness and all. He’s hot, and funny, and just sarcastic enough to make me want to grab him and kiss him.

  I promise myself that I will tell him the conditions of our date—that he has to dance this Friday—but as soon as he arrives at my house, it all whooshes out of my head. Liam is wearing dark jeans and a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. He has impossibly sexy forearms, a body feature I hadn’t realized could be so sexy until now.

  “Hello,” he says, grinning at me from my front porch. “You look amazing.” I am so glad my parents are at work because if they could see how hard I’m crushing on this guy, they would give me so much crap for it. Liam holds out his hand. “Ready?”

  I take his hand and let him walk me down the three steps to the sidewalk. I think he’ll let go, but he doesn’t, and we hold hands all the way to his car, which is a newer model Jeep Wrangler. It’s totally nice on the outside, and when he opens my door for me, I can tell that it’s nice on the inside, too.

  “So where are we going?” I ask after he drives away from my house.

  “That is a secret,” he says. “You’ll find out when we get there.

  I glance in the back seat and lift an eyebrow. There are piles of folded blankets, comforters, and pillows covering the whole back seat. “Um… what exactly do you have planned for tonight?”

  “No worries,” Liam says, throwing me a wink while we’re at a red light. “I won’t take my clothes off unless you ask me to.”

  I roll my eyes. “Totally not happening. This is a first date.”

  His voice gets lower. “So you’re saying it might happen on another date?”

  “Only if you deserve it,” I say, surprising myself with how flirty and bold I can be. He bites his lip for a second, and I wonder what’s going on in his mind.

  The surprise date ends up being totally awesome. Liam takes us to a newly renovated drive in movie theater, which I’ve heard about but have never been to. We park in a row of cars that line up front of a huge screen, and turn our radio station to one that will be playing the sound of the movie. Liam backs up his car like a lot of the other cars do, and then we open the back door and arrange all the pillows and blankets into a soft place to lay on for the movie.

  “Want to try it out?” he asks me as we’re standing outside of his Jeep, admiring our work with the blankets.

  I crawl up in and lay on the right side. “It’s perfect,” I say, looking up at the movie screen which hasn’t turned on yet. “This place is cool.”

  He crawls up next to me, filling the small cargo space with the scent of his cologne. It’s funny how a guy’s intoxicating smell can be like a drug; it makes me feel light and floaty and I’m still technically sober. We stay like this for two hours, lying next to each other while the movie plays. I barely pay attention to any of it, because I’m too aware of the guy lying next to me. All I’d have to do is reach over and touch him, or slide to the left a bit and cuddle next to him.

  I can picture it in my mind. My head on his chest, his arm around my shoulders. We’d be warm and perfect on this pile of blankets. I’m hoping he’ll make a move, just like every other guy I know would. But he never does. He’s a total gentleman throughout the entire movie.

  When the credits roll, I let out the breath I’d been holding. I guess this is it. He won’t try to kiss me, like I want him to. And I’m definitely not brave enough to do it myself.

  Liam fluffs the pillow behind his head. “Thanks for going out with me,” he says, his voice more serious than I’ve ever heard it. “You probably don’t think so, but I’ve got a massive crush on you.”

  My pulse quickens. I can’t believe he just said that. Here I am, crushing on him like crazy and trying not to admit it to myself, and now he’s telling me he feels the same way? I lick my dry lips and try to form a coherent sentence.

  “It’s okay,” Liam says softly. He turns on his side and now we’re just a few inches away from each other, lying so very close on these soft blankets and pillows. “You don’t have to say anything right now. I just wanted you to know. This date isn’t a joke to me. I really like you.”

  I take a ragged breath and pull my throw blanket up close to my chin. It smells just like him and I wonder if it came from his bedroom at home. I wish I could take it home with me and smell it every night when I go to bed. I look up at him. “I like you, too.”

  Then it hits me—alarm bells going off in my head like they’ve been there all along and I just forgot about it until now. The real reason I went on this date. I sit up on my elbow. “So… now that we’ve gone on a date… you’ll go through with your promise. Right?”

  His brows furrow. “What promise?”

  “You have to dance on Friday.”

  Liam sits up. “Um, hell no.”

  “Liam!” I say, sitting up, too and shoving the blanket off me. “You promised!”

  “No I didn’t!”

  I fold my arms over my chest. “You said if I went on a date with you, then you’d dance.”

  He takes a deep breath and his shoulders sag. “Yeah, okay. But that was like two weeks ago, and I said I’d do the warm up dance for you… not dance in the pep rally.”

  “Liam, you have to dance or I’m going to fail,” I say, pleading with him. “I made you a really easy part in the choreography and it’s not even that much dancing required.”

  He looks away, then rubs his thumb and index finger over his eyebrows. “I’m sorry, Asha. I can’t do that.”

  Hot tears sting my eyes. “You just told me you liked me.”

  “I do!” he says quickly. “I’m crazy about you.”

  “But you can’t do this one thing for me?” I ask as I fight to hold back tears. I refuse to cry in front of him.

  He heaves a heavy sigh. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing it would be to be a guy who has to dance in front of the entire school for a stupid pep rally?”

  My heart has been beating like crazy since he said he liked me. Now it feels like it shatters into a million pieces. “Yeah, I get it,” I say bitterly. “It’s about as embarrassing as I’ll feel when I can’t get into college because my family is too broke and I never got a scholarship because my grades were too bad.”

  Chapter 10

  Liam

  I lie awake in bed on Friday morning. School has been in session for five hours and the pep rally will start soon. I didn’t bother going to school today. I can’t face Asha, knowing I’m letting her down. After having the most amazing date I could have ever wished for, I went and ruined it. I can’t believe Asha only went on a date with me because of my stupid promise to dance in class. Here I was thinking she liked me. I feel like such an idiot, and I’m also feeling pretty awful.

  I spent all week sitting through dance class where she taught her pep rally choreography to the students while I sat to the side. She normally doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m in the room, but this week she laid it on thick. She’d said things like, “And this would be the part where our male dancer would escort the girls onto the dance floor one by one.”

  Everyone had turned to me, and I’d given a sarcastic nod like it didn’t bother me. But
it did. I know she’s counting on me, but dancing at a pep rally? Seriously? Ugh, I just can’t do it.

  But it’s Asha, not some other girl. It’s her dream to do well in this class and it’s her future at stake here. I care about her, so much more than she realizes. We might already be an official couple if not for this stupid dance class getting in the way.

  I sit up in bed and run my hands down my face. Would it really be so hard to do the stupid dance?

  Yes, I think.

  But I know the moves. I know what my part would be, because Asha played that part during the week of rehearsals. It’s not hard, and I could do it if I wanted to. If I really wanted to win over the girl of my dreams.

  Dammit.

  I think I’m going to do it.

  With a deep breath and every bit of courage I have, I dig in the back of my closet for the only suit I own. I pull it on and put on some dress shoes after I get all the dust off them. The girls in class are dressing up in black skirts, so a suit would be my best bet to fit in.

  I drive quickly to school and park in the back near the entrance to the gym. I can hear the band playing the school’s fight song as I slip inside the building. All of the students in my grade are currently in the gym. This is going to be so unbelievably embarrassing. Mortifying beyond belief.

  But then I try to look at it a different way. So what if I’m laughed at by these people I don’t even know? Doing this dance will make Asha happy. Isn’t she worth a massive amount of embarrassment?

  Yes, I decide.

  Still, my heart is pounding as I slip into the side door of the gym, the one that opens behind the rows of bleachers. I see groups of girls in matching outfits huddled together and realize they are Mrs. Johnson’s other dance classes who are getting ready to perform. I remember this dance isn’t just for fun, it’s a competition out of all the Officers for dance.

  Swallowing my pride, I look for Asha and the rest of our class, but I don’t see them standing back here behind the bleachers. Then, a familiar song comes on the overhead speakers. They’re doing their dance now.