Love Begins with Fate (5 page)

“Kelsey! Over here!” Hannah shouted. The entire cafeteria’s banter died and the room became suddenly silenced as everyone turned to stare at her. Kelsey ducked her head and made her way across the room. Sliding numbly into a chair Kelsey examined the people.

“Han, did you really need to yell?” Kelsey whispered to her friend.

Giggling, Hannah looked around the small group “Kelsey, this is your new group of friends; Frankie and his girlfriend, Anna,” Hannah gestured to a cute brunette guy and a blond girl sitting on his lap. “The one with the whitish blond hair is Whitney and the brunette is Samantha. Of course you already know Olivia.”

Smiling slightly Kelsey spoke “Hey everyone and long time no see Olivia.” Olivia chuckled. “Please excuse us a moment.” Kelsey said quickly grabbing hold of Hannah’s hand.

“What are you doing?” Hannah protested as Kelsey dragged her friend out of the lunchroom and into the nearest bathroom.

Kelsey didn’t say anything just stopped beside the bathroom door with light tears in her eyes; Kelsey spoke with a shaky voice. “Why does everyone hate me?”

“What are you talking about?” Hannah frowned.

“I am talking about all the girls have been glaring and all the guys have been staring a
t me.” Kelsey whimpered.

“Sweetie…” Hannah smiled softly. “The girls are jealous of your hotness and the
guys well they all are wishing they could get to you…”

Kelsey rolled her eyes “Yeah right.”

“Trust me babe.” Hannah giggled. “Come on let’s go get food.”

As the girls made their way out of the bathroom Hannah stopped. “Oh crap.” She muttered. “I heard about that but I didn’t actually think much of it until…” Hannah began. Kelsey’s mouth dropped agape.

“What are you talking about?” Kelsey asked.

“Well
Kels, we’ll have to talk later…” Hannah said ignoring the question. “Let’s go eat.” Kelsey groaned she was hoping the sign wasn’t as familiar as it seemed in her mind.

The two girls returned to lunch and ignored the confused looks from their new friends with only a few words “it was just a bit of worries about back home, no biggie.” Hannah shrugged. “This is my friend that I told you guys about… that she moved here from down south.”

Lunch went along well, after everyone got over their quick disappearance. “Any of you have History with Mrs. Andrews?” Kelsey asked. She had become more open as lunch had gone on and was beginning to like the new friends.

“I do.” Replied Samantha, Hannah, and Olivia all answered.

“Great!” Kelsey beamed. “Though, I don’t like History much, it will be all worth it to be in a class with you three!”

The four girls said their goodbyes to the rest of the group and made their way down the hall. “So do of you have a boyfriend…?” Samantha cooed in a very nerve racking way.

“No… why?” Kelsey replied cautiously.

“Oh just forget her,
we all try too, Sam just likes to try and set people up.” Hannah told Kelsey, who now were glancing over at Samantha as if she was contagious.

Hannah smiled politely “Well I wouldn’t mind the help
Sam, you know I haven’t had any fun since Tyler and I’m ready to find a new boy toy.”

“Hannah!” Kelsey squeaked in disbelief. Her friend was strange to say the least. She wasn’t much like the small town good girl Kelsey.

“Kels, it’s okay. I know you’re not interested.” Hannah said before turning to the other two girls who wore curious expressions. “She doesn’t really date. Sometimes, I wonder what she’s afraid of.”

Though her friend had never been with her in school, Kelsey had told her everything including the time she had once kissed a
guy.

Remembering back it was her and Ryder’s birthday party before their parents had separated. The two of them
had  planned a birthday party together and since they had invited girls and boys… they had decided spin the bottle was a fun game to play.

When the bottle had stopped on Kelsey, she thought she would die.
Yet the boy who had spun it smiled sweetly at her and took her hand bringing her up to his level. She looked up nervously at the brown haired blue eyed boy in wonder. He was cute and one of her brother’s closest friends. Though the boy towered over Kelsey at the time he leaned down to her and gently held her chin as he pulled her lips into a sweet and amazing first kiss.

Samantha’s eyes glinted devilishly as she looked over at Kelsey. “I can work with that. I have some very fun guys who can get help her get over the v-card thing.” Samantha said nonchalantly.

Kelsey’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. “What is with you city girls?” She replied with distaste. “You girls are crazy!”

Kelsey stomped away from the other three girls, slightly embarrassed. She was trying to get out of the conversation, yet instead she became more of a target. “She’s barely ever kissed a g
uy before.” Hannah said flatly “Just her brother’s friend at their birthday party once.”

“Oh
my gosh,” Olivia gasped. “I guess Sam’s going to have to work on that.”

“You girls can try, but I have been trying for years every time she visited. I don’t know
, she just seems to like to turn guys away. It’s not like she hasn’t had offers.” Hannah admitted as they walked into their History class. “Oh, hey Kels!”

The girls sat down two at a table as close as they could get to each other. As the students
began to filter into the classroom Sam and Olivia began to tell Kelsey their options.

“That’s Tony. He’s taken.” Sam said.

“That girl is Gena. She’s single but she’s also one of those hit and quit type girls.” Olivia laughed receiving a glare from Gena.

“Henry!” Sam called “Hey Henry.”

Henry, a tall red headed boy grinned and nodded his head in the girl’s direction, “Henry’s single!” Sam squealed. “He’s on the basketball team.” It was kind of obvious that Sam liked him.

“What kind of guy are you interested in, Kelsey?” Olivia asked.

“I can’t believe you girls. I haven’t even been here for one day. Give me a week or two to adjust before we start planning dates.” Kelsey groaned.

“She likes athletes.” Hannah giggled. She knew she shouldn’t be pushing it, but just maybe they could catch a glimpse of someone who Kelsey liked.

“Well then,” Sam smirked. “There’s Jason, Ivan, and Tyler, who are single on the hockey team. Reese, Otto, and Henry, are on the basketball team. Brandon, Will, and PJ, are on the football team. Half of them are in this class actually.”

Kelsey was shocked she hadn’t heard her brother’s name called in that list. She didn’t know he had a girlfriend and she hadn’t mentioned, neither had Hannah
, that he was her sister. Well it wasn’t as if they got along all the time, let alone talked about dating, she shrugged.

“Yeah,” Olivia swooned. “There’s one of them now…” She pointed toward the door as a guy walked in. He was quite a bit taller looking than Kelsey, with brown
shaggy hair and cute brown eyes. He had a strong jaw line, tight muscular body, and a nose which was slightly crooked to the side, like it had been broken at one time. “That’s Will.” Olivia said with a sigh. He was definitely a football player.

“Anyway,” Olivia changed subjects. “There’s Ivan. He’s a great guy. He just broke up with his girlfriend. She was caught cheating on him with the basketball captain. It was very
interesting to say the least. Ivan’s big muscles against the tall and lanky basketball guy… well to say the least Ivan got promoted on the team for his violence and the basketball guy well he found his way to the ER.”

Sam was about to tell the girls more about some of the hot bachelors until the teacher came in and interrupted them. The class was long but not as bad as Kelsey had thought it would be, since they watched a movie. They needed to write a paper on
what the movie was about. “Okay class. I want the one page paper on my desk by Wednesday. It is one that you all can rent from the library, borrow my copy, or get from the local movie store, if you need to see it again. It’s your homework.” The teacher told the class. “See you all later.”

The girls once again parted ways. It was finally the last class of the day and Kelsey couldn’t be happier to get school done with. She made her way to the locker rooms and changed her clothes quickly.

Exiting into the gymnasium Kelsey found small groups lingering around. There were guys playing basketball, girls chatting on the bleachers, and another set of students against the wall talking.

“Okay class, today we are going to be playing soccer.” The teacher yelled. Kelsey groaned. She hated group games, especially soccer. She had always been picked last. “Our team captains today will be …” The teacher searched the class his eyes finally settling on the two guys. “Will and Ivan, please come up here.”

Kelsey like always had been picked last. She couldn’t help but groan. Kelsey stayed back on the far side of the field just standing and watching as the people in her class raced around like idiots. She refused to play soccer. Class took forever to end and when it finally did Kelsey made her way to the locker room.

Chapter 9

Kelsey made her way down the hallway until she came to her locker, turning the lock before yanking open her locker. She grabbed her purse and keys then shoved her homework into her bag. She zipped her bag and slammed the door closed.

When she made it to her truck people were gathered around it, attempting to look through the tinted black windows. They had to be tall enough to look inside the truck let alone see through the dark tinting. She couldn’t help what happened next. Turning the keys over in her hand Kelsey pressed the panic button.

The truck’s headlights flashed and the horn began to blow. Everyone surrounding the truck stumbled back. Some even fell to the ground. She pressed the button again to cancel the alarm then strode right up to the driver’s side door.

Yanking her door open, Kelsey ignored the angered stares. They shouldn’t have been nosy in the first place and they wouldn’t have had that problem. She stuck her key into the ignition, rolled down the windows, and turned on her mp3 player blasting country music from her speakers.

She yanked the pickup into gear and enjoyed the rumble of her truck as she drove away. Before she had left she had convinced her friend to redo her muffler system to a duel exhaust and add the new radio for her. She had also paid for a new set of tires and spray in bed liner. Her truck was decked out from her point of view. It was jacked up with a four inch body lift and five inch suspension lift as well.

Kelsey wasn’t sure of what to think of her school. So far she wasn’t enjoying it. Most of the people were stuck up and nothing like those from her old school. She drove to the beat of her favorite country music until she came to her father’s home.
Pulling into the drive, Kelsey parked.

She parked the truck and then made her way into the house. She would be alone with the exception of a housekeeper
who came every Monday and Thursday. Ryder was at football practice and her father was at work. Kelsey walked over to the kitchen table plopped her bag down and then continued to grab a few snacks from the fridge.

When Ryder finally came home he had at least the decency to ask her how her day was. It wasn’t like he had been kind enough to show her around or even introduce her to anyone. “How did your first day go in the big city?” He chuckled. The city wasn’t really that big but it wasn’t a country town by any means. Nobody farmed
or own ranches. Nobody was in 4H and nobody enjoyed country music, like Kelsey.

“Horrible.” She grumbled.

“Really?” Ryder asked astonished. He would have thought being his sister that people would naturally flock to Kelsey. “I can’t imagine it was that bad.” Ryder said slowly.

“Well it was.” She grumbled.

“I’m sorry about that.” Ryder admitted. He never would have imagined that everyone would treat her badly. He actually thought she would build her own reputation as a hot girl in the new school.

“I don’t know how you survive in such a snobby group of people. They are rude, crude,
and snobby people who don’t care if they hurt anyone’s feelings.” Kelsey complained.

“I bet it’ll be better tomorrow.” Ryder smiled.

“I sure hope so.” Kelsey sighed as she slammed her math book closed; it wasn’t like she could figure it out anyway. “What do we do about dinner?”

“Well dad’s never home until late, so if you are hungry Berta can make something
I’m sure or you can go out with me to the diner.” Ryder offered.

“
Are your friends going to be there?” Kelsey asked.

“Yeah, w
e meet there every Monday and Friday.” Ryder told her honestly. He felt bad that his sister had such a bad day.

“I don’t know…” Kelsey delayed.

“Come on Kels…” Ryder offered once again.

“Okay…” Kelsey finally agreed. Ryder smiled. “You will like them.”

Together Kelsey and Ryder slipped into the Ryder’s car and drove down toward the diner.