Chapter One

Kissing Mr. Player

ALEX

"Are you sure I should be wearing this?" I ask Tia with a confused expression on my face. 

"Of course, you look fabulous! Guy's will probably start drooling once they see you!" she replies, flashing me her smile. So granted, my initial plan was to grab all the attention at Stacey’s party so that she feels left-out. I wanted her to see that she wasn’t all that she thought she was, which is completely ridiculous because she really is all she thinks she is—beautiful, popular, rich, and perfect. I’d been pretty happy with what I had planned, but not anymore; I am nervous, I don’t want to do this. Mainly because I know it won’t work. Someone like me can never compete with someone like her.

"Why can't I dress you up, give you an awesome make-over and let you do the 'attention-catching' thing?" I suggest to Tia with a grin on my face, silently hoping she would go for it.

She doesn’t.

"No way! And even if I do agree, you know you are the only one who can do this. I'm not very good with people. You're so much better. You're good at socializing. How do you expect me to catch everyone's attention when you know how awkward I can get around people?"

"But are you sure? I mean I don't really feel so good about it anymore." I mumble, silently pleading her to just drop this plan even though it had been my idea.

"Aw c'mon! Don't back out at the last moment" Tia pleads.

"Okay then" I sigh and nod, no point in arguing I guess. I twirl around one last time in front of the mirror to get a look at myself. Wow, I am actually looking good, no kidding. Not that I look ugly most of the time. But I'm used to being the plain, ordinary looking girl, the girl no one notices at all. But sometimes I do realize that I can look good—for example now.  I am wearing this gorgeous black mini-dress which hugs my curves in all the right places and makes me look far sexier than I usually look, which is a good thing. I need to look good tonight. A pair of black leather boots accompanies this dress of mine.

 I sit down in front of the mirror and start combing my hair. It’s one of those days when my hair is acting right, those good-hair-days, when my hair is being soft and manageable, so I decide to leave it open, allowing it to cascade down my shoulder in soft waves. A little kohl, a light layer of strawberry flavored lip-gloss, a little blush and some eye-liner and I’m done. I don’t go for bold and bright make-up, that’s not my style. I smile at my reflection in the mirror and feel satisfied; It feels like one of those nights where nothing can go wrong. Everything is happening exactly as it should, and I feel excited.

Tia is wearing a dark purple, off-shoulder dress with matching pumps. She has put on purple glittery eye make-up and some pink lipstick to go with it. We look great. We touch up our make-up (just in case) and get ready to leave. Mom is going off to have a romantic evening with this guy she has lately started seeing. God, I feel like rolling my eyes whenever I talk about my mom going on a date. This has to be her fifth date this month, and every time a new guy.

"Bye mom and have a nice evening!" I say as I start leaving. She says that I should enjoy my party too. I give her a soft peck on her cheek and then I and Tia leave. I and Tia get in my car and I start driving. I know Stacey's place very well, it is one of the most popular high school party destinations. So I obviously know where it is. (Who doesn’t?) It’s one of those big pretty white house’s you see in the movies, the ones which look really perfect. We reach her house in about fifteen minutes. The place is just as cool as any cool high school party destination should be—loud music blaring, teens on the dance floor, couples making out in the dark and drinks being served. The party seems fabulous. I park my car and we both make our way to the party.

"Time for an entry!" Tia says with a wink. I feel my stomach twisting. It happens a lot with me when I get nervous. We enter the house and make our way through the neatly trimmed lawn. Teenagers are scattered around everywhere, socializing, dancing, and having the time of their lives. As I pass by, a couple of heads turn. I feel their eyes on us, and I like it. I like the attention. As I grab a cup of beer, a few people approach me, talk a bit. Some people simply greet me and leave and a few stare from afar.

"I guess getting attention would be no problem" I finally say to Tia when we are away from the crowded lawn. We get busy talking when suddenly a guy approaches us.

"Hey!" he greets. "I'm Dave" Though me and Tia both are there, he is looking and talking to me in particular.

"Hey, I'm Alex", I reply with confidence I didn’t know I had.

"Hmm...You look pretty good tonight” he says, his eyes flitting over my body appreciatively. “Wanna dance?” I feel really shocked at his straight-forwardness. I really don't know what to do. I'm definitely not the girl who goes around dancing with random guys who find her hot, so I politely refuse him and walk off. After refusing numerous of guys, unlike Tia who is flirting with all of them, I decide to go and look for Stacey. She should know we’re here.

We find her exactly how we thought we would, in the corner, kissing a guy. It makes me almost gag. Well, forget it; she will kill us if we interrupt her kissing session. We are about to leave when the guy separates from her. Stacey seems angry, "Baby, why did you stop? Let's continue, don't let these losers (she shoots us a dirty look) interrupt us. Do you want some more privacy?" She coos.

"Oh no, nothing. I guess it's enough for tonight." he says then he looks at me. Oh well, I know what is coming next. He probably wants to 'socialize' with me. I don't really want to though, so I just leave. It’s a little surprising that some guy would decide to ditch Stacey for me. Later on I see that Tia is talking to him. Cool, at least someone's enjoying. Me? Can you die from boredom? I make my way inside the house. It is crowded with teens in there too, mostly dancing, drinking, kissing and making out. I feel bored. I want to dance but not alone. I go and sit down in the couch, right next to an interesting game of Truth and Dare. I sit there for fifteen minutes or so, doing nothing, just watching the game.

"Okay, so go along with him and spend like five minutes in the washroom right there", a red haired girl says to a blond. The blonde passes the guy a naughty grin as if she is satisfied. She and that guy walk up to the washroom. They don't even reach inside before they start kissing.  So for the five minutes the people sit there and talk and soon enough they invite me to join them. I readily agree. After the blond and the guy return, there are a few dares about 'slapping someone you hate' , 'kissing the mysterious hot bimbo sitting near the stairs', 'pretending to puke on one of the jocks'. It is hilarious and I can't help laughing my ass off. I realize that I’m actually enjoying myself. The bottle goes round...and round...and round. On me! So I decide to take dare, curious to think what I will get.

"Hmm...Kiss the guy on your right!" the same red haired girl says to me. I immediately turn to my right to face a good-looking guy with piercing greenish-blue eyes and messy brown hair. A sexy smirk is plastered on his face. My heart beat speeds up. I ignore how it suddenly gets hard to breathe. I suddenly realize I know him. He is Dylan Kennedy, commonly known as Mr. Player in our school. He has a reputation of breaking girls' hearts, messing around with them, playing with their feelings. And immediately, I know I should avoid doing anything with him. I definitely don’t want to be the part of his list of girls he’s been physical with. Plus, what would this inflict upon my clean, rumor-free reputation?

"No! I won't." I retort. I know it’s totally not cool to act like this. But I can't kiss him. He's a player after all. He is not the kind of guy I should be kissing. Besides, I've never kissed a guy before—ever. This would be my very first kiss if I decided to do the dare, and I want my first kiss to be meaningful and special.

"You have to kiss me babes. It's a dare", he says, smirking.

"In your dreams" I get up to leave when his hands clasps around mine and pulls me back.

"Kiss me baby, you know you want to” His piercing blue-ish green eyes stare straight into mine. He waits for me to make a move, but I don’t. His smirk falters, and he frowns a bit. Then the frown is replaced by a smirk again. “I guess we’re dealing with a kiss-virgin here” The other kids stare at me in disbelief, probably wondering if what Dylan had said had been true.

“I’m not a kiss-virgin” I say.

“So maybe you don’t know how to kiss”

"Of course I know how to kiss!" I snap back at him, annoyed.

"Prove it."

Those two words are enough to fuel my anger. I don’t think anything anymore. All I know is that I need to prove him wrong. He’s so infuriating and the way he just looked at me…like I was a pathetic excuse of a human-being; and just because I’ve never kissed a person before. I’ll show him that he’s wrong; I’ll kiss him like no one has ever before. I grab his face almost aggressively and tilt it towards mine, slightly brush my lips against his, and then we start kissing. My body trembles with delight as he kisses me back. So this is how it feels to kiss someone, no wonder people are always doing it. Does it seriously feel this good? As our kiss deepens, I realize I love it. His soft lips feel so amazing against my own and I feel like never stopping. Our lips move in synch for what seems like forever before I realize just what I am doing.

I quickly part my lips from him, shocked. Why did I kiss him? Why did I feel that urge to prove him wrong? And most of all, why did I sacrificed my first kiss for him?

"Wow! It was hot. Let's do it again babe." he says, sounding enthusiastic.

"Not interested!" I snap back at him and make my way out of the house towards the drinks bar feeling really confused. Alright he said “prove it” but is that really an excuse for me to go on kissing him like that for so long and so deeply?

Probably not.

I wish I'd known that what I was getting myself into. After that kiss, my life would never be the same.