by Xana Jordan
Tiffany Black at T.E. Black Designs - Thank you for being patient with me and making my covers exactly what I dreamed of. You’re my very own personal #covercrackdealer. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for all of my voices!
Cheryl & Keene Eye Editing - Thank you for taking my words and putting a little extra glitter on them to make them shine!
Ann - Everything. There really is no other word that I can use to describe just what you are to me. Your words are an inspiration to me and a happy place just when I need it, even if you like to torment me! :) Thank you so much for loving my characters, keeping me on track and helping me get my facts straight. Your friendship and guidance means everything to me, and I’ll never be able to repay you. I love you so much and one day, we will sit down and talk about everything!
Enjoy this excerpt of Loving Noel!
We had our first high school band practice of the summer today. Cade and I had only thought the junior high band was big. Having both junior highs combined into one high school band was amazing. The sound was louder and bolder, and the marching more intense. I loved it.
The other amazing thing was seeing her. Xana Bradford. She’s a sophomore who plays the French horn, and is the most breathtakingly beautiful girl I have ever seen. She has the most captivating blue eyes, and long strawberry-blonde hair that frames her face in wild, sexy waves. Since I stand at nearly six feet tall, she is a lot shorter than me, the top of her head not reaching my chin. The way she smiled at me when I was introduced in our sectionals, made my breath hitch, and I almost forgot to say hello. I was never more grateful to play a brass instrument in my life, since it let us be in the same section.
She was very shy and didn’t talk a great deal, but she laughed a lot at Cade’s jokes. I can still hear her laugh in my head. It’s hard not to smile when she laughs, because her whole face lights up, showing her happiness.
She’s a year ahead of me, but since I barely missed the cut-off for pre-K enrollment, we’re not that far apart, age-wise. I found out she’s really only a few months older than me, so that was a nice surprise.
Today, we mainly practiced marching skills, and then broke into sections to work on the show music for our performance. The members in our section, brass instruments, are really funny. They were always making fun of each other and telling lame jokes. I’m not sure how we got any practicing done.
After we were through for the day, several people lingered around the band hall and parking lot, catching up with friends about what they did over the summer. Xana and her friend, Stacy, were talking to a few of the upper classmen woodwind players, so Cade and I decided to go over and join them. Cade saw how fascinated I was with Xana in sectionals, and was more than happy to help me out, but I really think her short, sassy, little blonde friend was what really caught his attention. She really is a spitfire and seems to love giving Cade a hard time. I’ve never seen him quite so frustrated and enthralled all at the same time.
I always love it when summer band starts. We usually begin about two weeks before school, learning new music and marching drills for the upcoming season’s performances. It’s a great time to get caught up with friends we haven’t seen all summer before the demands of classes and teachers take over.
Today was our first day of band practice, and it did not disappoint. We have some amazing music to learn, and the drills will look really amazing if we can get them down. Everyone in band wants to be here, and we all have a lot of fun together. I think that’s what I love about it most. We all truly appreciate music, and have some very talented and accomplished musicians in band. They always amaze me with everything they do.
Meeting the new freshmen is something we all look forward to. The seniors love to lord their seniority over them, and the rest of us are just thankful it’s not us any longer. Fortunately, our section leaders were never really cruel, and the freshmen we had playing brass today fit in pretty well with all of us, even him, Noel Daniels.
Noel Daniels is a freshman who plays baritone and has the looks of a Viking God. I swear he has to be six feet of toned, rugged handsomeness. He’s so gorgeous he makes me forget to breathe. He has this really thick blonde hair that my fingers are begging to run through, bright green eyes that make you feel like you could get lost in them for hours, and a smile that makes me forget to speak, when I am lucky enough to receive one.
As much as I seem to be attracted to him, I know there will never been anything more between us than friends. I’ve seen the way every girl in band tries to get his attention, and that was fine with me. After everything that happened in junior high a couple of years ago, I’m not interested in a relationship with a guy at all. It’s just too much drama.
Fortunately, almost everyone from my junior high seems to have forgotten about what happened to me, but having the cutest guy in school pretend to date you while he only wanted to embarrass you in front of his friends, kinda makes a girl a little jaded about dating anyone else. That was the worst three months of my life, and I swore I would never let that happen to me again. Even for Noel.
More by Xana Jordan
Wildcat Graduate Series
Loving Noel (1)
www.amzn.com/B01LRN7IBW
Claiming Xana (2)
www.amzn.com/B06XWVPV1W
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Xana-Jordan/e/B01LZ9946G/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1487636127&sr=1-2-ent