Page 1 of How to Love a Rockstar

Chapter 1

Virginia – the shy girl who doesn’t appreciate being manipulated by her friend

11 years ago

Virginia

Inotice Dylan walking my way down the hallway and duck my chin until my hair covers my face. It’s possible I also lean forward until my head is nearly inside of my locker.

Indigo bumps my shoulder. “You should ask him out.”

I gasp. “Me? Ask him out? Have you lost your mind?”

Dylan is one of the cool kids in our senior class. He plays guitar and is in a band with Indigo’s boyfriend, Cash. Whereas, I’m the shy girl who spends most of her time in the library studying. Cool kid and shy girl do not go together.

“It’s the Sadie Hawkins dance this weekend. Girls ask the boys out. It’s tradition.”

I know it’s tradition. I also know, “I’m not asking him out.”

“I happen to know he doesn’t have a date,” she sings. “And the band doesn’t have a gig.”

“He’s probably waiting for Britney to ask him.”

Britney is the head cheerleader. She’s blonde and bubbly and the most popular girl in school. She also believes her mission in life is to torture me.

One more year. One more year. And then I can escape this high school and this town for good.

“Hey, Indigo,” Dylan greets as he passes us.

I sigh. He’s just so darn cute. His blond hair is shaggy and in need of a cut causing him to spend half the day flicking his head to get the hair out of his eyes. Thank goodness. Because I could gaze into those ocean blue eyes all day long. Assuming I could ever actually meet his gaze.

He reminds me of a typical surfer boy. Which makes sense since we live in San Diego. Except he’s not wearing board shorts and flipflops. He’s wearing worn jeans with holes in the knees and a t-shirt from the band theFoo Fighters. His vibe doesn’t say beach, it screams bad boy.

“Don’t you have a study period now?” Indigo asks and brings me out of my daydream of being serenaded to by Dylan. Never mind Dylan isn’t the singer of the band.

“I do. I’m off to the library. Do you need me to research something for you?”

“No, silly. I need you to ask Dylan to the Sadie Hawkins dance.”

“What part of ‘never going to happen’ are you having difficulty understanding?”

She chuckles. “All of it.”

“Indigo,” I grumble.

Indigo has been my best friend since Britney and her friends decided it would be fun to trip me the first week of our freshman year. I ended up sprawled on my face on the floor with my books scattered throughout the hallway.

Indigo helped me pick up my things and gave Britney a piece of her mind. It was glorious. I love her like a sister but I don’t enjoy being ordered around.

“I haven’t hung out with him much since Cash and I haven’t been dating long, but Dylan seems like a nice guy. He’s not the same as these other assholes in this school.”

Nice guy and guy willing to date the mouse no one notices unless they need someone to cheat off of in calculus class are not the same things.

I don’t tell Indigo what I’m thinking, though. She’ll get mad at me for putting myself down. It’s not putting myself down if it’s the truth but it’s a waste of breath trying to explain that to her. She doesn’t listen anyway.

The girl may be my best friend, but she’s also stubborn. Just ask our English teacher Mr. Jarrod what happened when he gave Indigo a B on an essay in our junior year. Spoiler alert – she got an A in English class last year.

“I’m not asking him out,” I insist. I’m not asking any boy out. I’ll skip the humiliation for the day, thank you very much.

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