Page 1 of The Pucking Kiss

Chapter 1

Romai

“The eighties called. They say they want its style back,” Bryan snickered as I passed him in the hallway.

I self-consciously draped my arms around myself, suddenly aware of the flared jeans I had decided to wear this morning to school.

“They’re in fashion now,” I fought back, albeit meekly.

“Oh really?” Bryan raised an eyebrow, and an amused smirk played at the corner of his lips as he approached me beside my locker. “How would you know that? It’s not like you’re some fashion model, Raggedy Romai.”

Alongside him, his group of friends exploded into laughter as he threw his jabs towards me.

“Don’t call me that,” I admonished, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Did you do something different with your hair?”

I immediately began to smooth out the kinks in my otherwise curly and unruly hair. “No, why?”

“I don’t know.” Bryan stepped forward and examined my hair as if he was actually serious for a moment. “It just looks as though you’ve been electrocuted.”

Once again, his friends laughed loudly. He egged him on, getting entertained by the fact that he was being mean to me.

“Leave me alone, Bryan,” I fought back, annoyance dripping from my tone. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to come here and bully me every morning?”

Bryan looked down at his watch. “There’s still ten minutes to go before English class, and I just cannot resist the opportunity to dunk the dork of the century, Romai Edwards.”

“Maybe if you focused on classes more than on me, it’d actually do you some good.”

“Focus on you?” Bryan smirked. “Don’t flatter yourself too much, Romai. I’m not focusing on you. You’re just in my way.”

With that, Bryan zoomed past me, and his group of jock friends followed suit.

“Raggedly Romai,” I whispered, turning to my locker.

Bryan was the captain of the school hockey team. He was Mr. Popular, and everyone adored him. Just last season, he scored two goals in the final against the school's rival team. He had a lot of friends, and girls fawned over him for his good looks.

Things between us weren’t always like this. In fact, they were the total opposite. Bryan had been the first person I had ever spoken to when I started school in kindergarten. He’d sat next to me and offered to share his lunch. We’d play together every single day, and I loved spending time with him.

But as the years went on, it became clear that the two of us just had very different interests. While I spent most of my time keeping my nose buried between the pages of books, Bryan played hockey. The summer before high school started, Bryan hit puberty and suddenly looked better than most guys in the school. His status was instantly elevated to “cool kid” while I was just a loser.

I became the butt of his jokes. And so, plain old Romai turned into Raggedy Romai, and Bryan didn’t waste a single day teasing me for one thing or the other.

“Hey, daydreamer,” Kathy pulled me out of my thoughts, “What’s with the frown?”

“Oh, nothing,” I sighed, closing my locker. “It’s just Bryan again.”

“Bryan came to talk to you?” Kathy’s interest perked up immediately. “I haven’t seen him all day.”

“It’s not like he was saying anything nice,” I mumbled under my breath, but Kathy wasn’t even listening anymore. She had gotten all wide-eyed at the mere mention of Bryan’s name.

“I just don’t understand why he won’t ask me out,” Kathy pulled out the compact mirror from her bag and began delicately reapplying her lipstick, her eyes shifting around every few moments to see if he had made another appearance. “I mean, last night, I went and liked all his photos. How much more of a hint he needs?”

Maybe you’re coming across too desperate. I held back my tongue, knowing that being completely honest would only upset Kathy. Instead, I pulled a smile on my face.

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you,” I replied. “I’m probably the wrong person to ask.”

She closed her compact and then gave me a once-over. “Hmm. He bullies you relentlessly, and I think that’s still more attention than he gives me in a week.”

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