�Are you ok?�
Alicia looked up to see Nick Lachey, her dream guy, looking down at her. �Oh great, now he probably thinks I�m a total loser,� she thought. �I think so.�
Nick gathered some of her stuff and handed it to her. �Thank you� she said, smiling.
�Your welcome. I�m Nick� He held out his hand.
�I�m Alicia.� She shook his hand and got up, her knee aching a little bit.
�Where are you heading?� He asked her.
�My locker� she said, surprised that he wanted to know. �Why?�
�I�ll help you carry some of that if you want me to� He offered.
Her heart jumped 100 feet in the air. Nick actually wanted to walk with her? �If you don�t mind��
�No� He said.
�Ok� She handed him a couple of her books and they began to walk to her locker.
�So, what do you think of our play?� She asked him.
�It�s great. I think Ms. Collins did a great job writing it� He told her. �How about you?�
�I like it a lot, too. It�ll be a lot of fun to do. Have you found a role you want to audition for yet?�
He shrugged. �Not really, I�m just looking at all of them for now.�
�Well, you better decide, auditions are next week� She said, smiling.
�Don�t worry, I will� They got to her locker and Alicia began doing the combination. �Do we have any homework in French?�
She thought for a moment. She didn�t pay a whole lot of attention in any of her classes because of her bad mood. �I think that if we didn�t finish those worksheets in class it was homework�
�Oh ok. I finished them� She opened her locker and Nick handed her books. �Thank you for helping me.� She told him.
He smiled, one that would make her melt. �It�s no problem, Alicia.� He looked at his watch. �It�s getting pretty close to time for class. Do you want to walk to Choir together?�
�Uh, sure� She gathered her stuff for the afternoon and shut the door. Then the duo headed to Choir.
Even though they didn�t speak again that afternoon, her encounter with Nick was enough to lift her spirits. She couldn�t believe that he had given her that much time of day. But then again he was probably just being nice. But still, she couldn�t believe it. And how calm and cool she had stayed around him. Usually she got all nervous and sweaty around guys she liked. But it was probably because of her bad mood earlier in the day.
Katie was waiting for her when she got out of school. �Hi hun, how was your day?� she asked.
�Well, it was crappy until lunchtime.� Alicia said.
�What happened then?�
�Remember how I told you about this guy I had a crush on?�
Katie nodded �Go on�
�He talked to me�
�That�s awesome. What happened?�
Alicia had a grin on her face, thinking back. �Well, I was leaving lunch to go to my locker and as I was walking down the steps, I tripped and fell down the rest of the steps. Then Nick comes up and asks me if I�m ok. I was thinking, �Great, he probably thinks I�m a total loser� But he helped me pick up my stuff and walked to my locker with me.�
�Wow, that was nice of him. What did you talk about?�
�Just asked me if we had French homework and the play auditions next week� Alicia sighed. �Nothing personal. But I still can�t believe he talked to me.�
�That�s great. See, you�re already changing. But now you need to get the guts to talk to him yourself under good circumstances�
�I have no idea how I can do that� Alicia said. �I never talked to guys I like in Ackensburg because I knew they would reject me�
�Talking to a guy is no different that talking to your friends, they just happen to be the opposite sex. � Katie said, �Just go up to him and say hi and come up with an icebreaker�
�I�ll remember it�
That night, she wrote about it in her journal.
You will never believe what happened today. My crush talked to me! Unfortunately, the circumstances were a little embarrassing, but that�s beside the point. I was walking to my locker at the end of lunch, and I tripped down the stairs. It was a nasty fall; my knee still hurts from it. But then I hear this guy asking me if I�m ok. Turns out its Nick. I couldn�t believe it. He probably thought I was such a loser. But then he helped me pick up my books and walked to my locker with me. We didn�t talk about anything personal, but I felt like I was on the top of the world and forgot about my bad mood. But also I didn�t get all nervous and sweaty like I usually do around guys, especially ones I like. But that probably won�t happen the next time I run into him.
And speaking of, Ms. Collins gave us our play today. It looks so good. And I would really like to play the lead part. But I have never acted before and I�m probably not good enough to get the lead part. But If I did and then Nick would be my love interest� that would be the greatest thing in the world. Destiny� starring Alicia Cater and Nick Lachey.
Snap out of it, Leesh. It�s not gonna happen, not in a million years. So quit being in lala land and get your head back into reality. Sarah is going to get the lead, like the glory hog she is.
The truth was, Alicia had no idea if Sara was a good actress or not. She had never been around her during Theatre and didn�t really have the desire to. There was always the possibility that she sucked and Ms. Collins didn�t want a sucky actress to be such a prominent part in the play she had worked so hard on the past few years. But Sara also looked like the type to persuade to get what she wanted.
Nonetheless, Alicia turned off her light with a smile on her face.
She joined her friends the next day and apologized being so mean the day previous. �It�s ok. We all have bad days� Les reassured her.
�But Nick talked to me�
Dani raised her eyebrows.
�I was leaving lunch yesterday and then I tripped down this flight of stairs. And man, it was a bad fall. And then I hear this guy ask me if I�m ok. Turns its Nick. I was so embarrassed. But then he picked up my books and walked to my locker with me�
�ooo�. Hook up� Desiree teased.
�We didn�t talk about anything personal. Ands I�m sure he was just bring nice. Probably thinks I�m a total loser� She sighed.
�I�m sure not. Everyone has their klutzy moments. Yours just happened to be on a flight of stairs in front of your crush� Desiree said.
�Des, that�s not nice!� said Les.
�Well it�s the truth!�
�Yes it is. But I still can�t believe it happened. But he�ll never talk to me again.� Alicia sighed.
�Well, why don�t you talk to him? What a revolutionary concept!� Desiree said.
�You really don�t know how shy I am around guys. I have never had a boyfriend, been kissed, or even had very many close guy friends�
�It�s ok. But that will change this year, hun. By the time this year is over, you want even believe you were like what you are now� Dani told her.
�I hope you are right, Dan�