I’m late for school again. I’m lucky my mom works early in the mornings because if she knew how many times I missed my first class she would literally kill me. Of course if she knew the reason I’m late in the mornings is because I’m meeting my boyfriend, she would probably do much worse. As I walk through the halls to my second period class I feel a tap on my shoulder and when I turn around I see Mr. Karr my first period math teacher grilling me. Great, just what I need.

“Running late again Peyton? What happened this time?” Mr. Karr asks.

“I’m sorry, I would love to talk but I have to get to class. I’ll see you tomorrow!” I say quickly. I slow down once I see my sister Tedi waiting for me at my locker. She’s your typical “You don’t need a guy to be happy” kind of girl, so you can already guess that she’s not exactly thrilled with my relationship. I know she’s just looking out for me but sometimes I wish she would fall in love so she could stop grilling me every time I bring up James. “Hey Tedi, you excited about the Christmas break? I can’t believe today is our last day of school.” I smile at her while I open my locker.

“Where were you this morning? I passed by your first period class and you weren’t there.” She gives me a hard look. I could lie to my sister but it’s not even worth the shot; I’m a terrible liar.

“I was running a little late, you know I meet with James in the mornings” I say breezily as I gather my books for the next few classes.

“Oh how could I forget about your wonderful boyfriend James.” Tedi says sarcastically rolling her eyes for the extra effect. She doesn’t have a specific reason for not liking James she just thinks all the boys in our school are douches and for her, James is no exception. I’ve been going out with James for a little over a year and even though James has made it clear he’s not leaving me anytime soon Tedi swears that he’s a liar and will end up breaking my heart into a million pieces. As you can tell, my sister isn’t big for romance.

“Today’s the last day of classes; it hardly matters if I make it to class much less school.” I close my locker and turn to my sister who still looks a little upset but she gives me a small smile.

“I guess your right but at least try to get to your other class, you know how mad mom gets when they bother her” Tedi says and I nod in agreement. My mom isn’t what you would call “Best Mom Ever”. We live with her but she’s hardly home; she’s too busy buying her boyfriend whatever he wants so he’ll stay with her instead of giving a dam about her kids for more than 2 seconds. Tedi gives my shoulder a light squeeze as she walks away and I sigh as I make my way to the gym.

Gym is an easy A for me, or it would be an easy A except she always lowers my grade for being tardy. As I turn the corner of the hall I feel someone grab me from my waist and push me into an empty classroom. I smile when I see James and we instantly start kissing as he pushes me against the door. There are a lot of empty rooms in my school that aren’t being used anymore since the school year is ending and this room is one of them. James hand trails up my leg as my hands unbuttoning his white school shirt. His hands are roaming all over my body and as he kisses my neck I suppress the urge to moan. He takes my shirt off and lifts me up so my legs wrap around his waist and my back is against the corner of the door. I feel the door hinges in my back but I don’t pay much attention to it; instead I concentrate on kissing James. I love being spontaneous and I know that if we got caught we would get in so much trouble but that just makes me want to do it even more. Soon all are clothes are off and well I won’t get into specific since it’s not something you can really put into words. It’s AMAZING. It always is with James, every minute of every day. After we just lean against each other listening to our heavy breathing and heartbeats. Later, after we finished getting dressed we close the door and walk hand in hand down the hall. As he walks me to the gym I think about how mad my gym teacher will be that I’m late again. When we reach the gym I kiss James gently and turn to go in but he tugs me back to him. He’s looking at me and for once I can’t read his expression.

“Peyton” he almost whispers. “You’re so beautiful, inside and out. You make me laugh, and whenever I’m with you I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world. And I know for certain that I would die if I didn’t have you.” My heart swells and I feel so happy, though I am a little confused about his sudden outburst but I let him finish. “What I’m trying to say is-“he pulls me towards him, gently caressing my face and looks me in the eye and says “Peyton, I love you.” I feel my eyes stinging lightly because I’ve wanted to say the same thing to him for a while now and to know he loves me, it’s the greatest feeling in the world.

“I love you too James” I say and I almost laugh at the relief and happiness that passes through James face. Were about to kiss again when I hear the gym door open and I look up to see my gym teacher glaring at me. “Busted” I mumble as she grabs my forearm and drag me and James to the dean.
***

After the principle give us a warning ( he’s in a giving mood apparently), we head off to our classes. My teacher personally walks me to my next class to make sure I don’t wander off with James again. I don’t say much and when we stop in front of my class I give her a wave and a big smile and go into class. None of the teachers are teaching a lesson so we get to spend most of the day talking with our friends and exchanging gifts and whatnot. When my last class ends I walk out with the biggest smile on my face. Finally, Christmas break. I can’t wait to spend every day with James, from the morning till the last possible minute of each day. As I put my books in my book bag I feel a buzzing in my pants pocket. I reach into it and pull out my phone and read James text. He wants me to meet him outside the school so we can spend some time together till I have to go home. I grab the rest of my books, shove them into my bag and hurry off to the front of the school. James drives up a moment later and steps out of his car. It’s an old station wagon that his parent bought him for his birthday. I know it’s not exactly the kind of car you want to be seen in but James likes it, he even named her. His parents are rich, so it’s not that they couldn’t buy him a more up to date car, they just chose not to. They don’t like to spoil their kids; apparently it’s the key to success. When I get to his car, James takes my bag, opens the door for me and kisses me. Whenever I’m with James I feel like a princess; he’s such a gentlemen! When I get in the car he closes the door and then walks around the car to the driver’s seat.

“So what are we going to do?” I say as I buckle my seatbelt.

“I thought maybe we could go to the movies, I know it’s early but I figured that way we won’t be bothered by anyone.”

“It sounds great, but this time I’m picking the movie.” I say smiling and my heart jumps when James takes my hand in his and kisses it.

“I will gladly go through the torture of another Romantic comedy for you.” He says with such seriousness that I can’t help but laugh.

“The movie isn’t going to kill you, I promise.” James smiles and turns on the radio. It kind of has a mind of its own so most of the time we get stuck listening to whatever station isn’t full of static. After a couple of minutes of trying to drive while finding a station I swat his hand away and work on the radio. I keep turning the knob until I hear a song; it’s a song from the 80s that my mom used to play a lot when I was younger. It reminds me of the way things used to be, and so I keep it on. Before my mom had a boyfriend things were perfect. She used to be home a lot, she cared about how we did in school and we could always talk to her about anything. My mom worked minimum wage and because she never went to college she had some crappy jobs. But she always tried to give us the best, and we never complained because we were happy with what we had. And then she met Robert. At first we were happy for her because we could tell she was happy. But slowly things started to change. She started dressing different, and came home late. And when she started using all her money for her boyfriend, we knew she had definitely changed. She used ALL her money on him, going as far as buying him a new car. She put herself in debt and when we tried to explain to her what she was doing, she refused to listen. She put his needs in front of ours. We even went a few days without food because she used all her money buying new clothes for herself. I started to resent her then because it was obvious who she cared more for. Sometimes we would go weeks without talking to our mother even though we all live under the same roof. Her main concern was keeping Robert happy. And that’s when Tedi got a job. Tedi buys most of the food in our house, and sometimes uses her money so we could go clothes shopping. She gets mad sometimes because she shouldn’t have to take responsibility for buying everything, and I don’t blame her. If I had a job I would want to use the money to by myself clothes, and use it to hang out with friends. I tried getting a job but everywhere I go they won’t take my application unless I’m 18.

I snap out of my haze when I see the familiar buildings. After a few minutes James finds parking and I step out of the car. James takes some quarters out of his pocket and slips them into the parking meter and holds my hands as we walk toward the theater.