Once in a Full Moon Page 0,5

star running back on the football team.

I stopped in my tracks, and he came over to me with a surprised expression.

"Where are you running off to?" he asked.

"Uh... to look at my calendar," I said flippantly.

A smile crept across his face. He knew he'd met a challenge as big as competing against a 10-and-0 team.

"I may already have commitments," I said.

"What could be more important than a date with me?" he said seductively.

It was hard to resist him. He was very charming and charismatic. I did my best not to fold or quickly kiss up to him.

"I can think of a few things, but not many," I teased.

"Volunteering at a nursing home?" he wondered. "I've heard you are quite the humanitarian."

I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or sincere.

"In fact, yes," I said defiantly, and continued on.

"Hey, wait a minute," he said, stopping in front of me. "Then what about Saturday?"

I liked his tenacity, but I'd have been a fool to keep pushing him away.

"I'll cancel my plans," I said, knowing I wasn't busy.

"Good," he finally said. "Then mark my name in bold letters for Saturday night."

My stomach filled with butterflies. I caught up to my friends, who cheered and jumped higher than two caffeinated cheerleaders. Not only were we a threesome, we could be a sixsome.

I was as stunned as I was excited.

My sister was the one who always had the doorbell ringing for her. Now it was finally my turn.

Nash and I spent our first date at one of his football practices. My friends and I watched from the bleachers as the jocks did push-ups and sprints and caught passes. It wasn't as intimate and "get to know you" as I thought a first date would be. Since then, most of our dates had been spent with me on the sidelines, except for the occasional times he drove me home.

While I spent the games jotting down ideas for stories I hoped to write, Ivy primped for Jake, and Abby jumped on the bleachers cheering for Dylan.

For some reason - or many - Nash and I didn't click together as easily as our counterparts. But I enjoyed the time we did share together. At day's end, though, when I shut down my computer, I often gazed out my bedroom window and up at the moon and wondered if, like my friends, I'd ever find true love.

Chapter Three The New Guy in Town

When a new student first arrived at Legend's Run High, their entrance didn't go unnoticed. Though everyone at Legend's Run High didn't hang out together, we all knew one another. It was odd to see a strange face.

It was late October, just after the campfire and werewolf-scare outing, and I was taking notes in government class when something caught my attention. Outside our classroom window, I saw an olive green beat-up Jeep pulling into an empty space in the student parking lot. I had to squint but noticed a WWF sticker on the front bumper. The driver-side door opened and a guy got out, wearing a vintage brown leather motorcycle jacket, torn jeans, and black hiking boots. He walked into the school building. A few moments later, the bell rang to change classes.

When I arrived at English class, I found my desk occupied. The guy in the vintage leather jacket was riffling through his backpack and placing a notebook on my desktop. In Mrs. Clark's class the students weren't seated in alphabetical order, or any other order for that matter, but rather we elected to take a desk where we wanted. Since school began, I sat in row six, first chair from the window. Abby sat next to me and Ivy next to her. Their boyfriends and Nash sat along the row nearest to the door.

When I noticed the stranger sitting in my seat, I didn't know what to do. I preferred to sit by my friends, but he was a new student and I wasn't about to tell him to move - I just didn't think it was polite. Instead, I chose an empty chair in the back.

Ivy spotted the stranger sitting in my seat and took it upon herself to confront the situation.

"That's okay - " I tried to say, but my words weren't heard.

"Excuse me, that desk is already taken," she said abrasively. Ivy got very territorial when it came to breaking up our clique. But it was okay with me. I could survive a day sitting