No Such Thing
Author
Tiff
Reads
15.5K
Chapters
66
“Get in the truck, Skylar.” And yes, he’s smirking like he already won.
James Ryan has the kind of confidence that makes you want to throw a drink at him. Which is… inconvenient, because he keeps showing up with a ride, a nickname, and hands that linger one second too long.
Before James crashes her life, Skylar is just trying to survive senior-year chaos with her girls and a mom who works too much. Then James decides they’re “real friends,” parks like he owns the school, and drapes an arm around her in hallways like it’s a public service announcement. She should hate him—she does hate him—until he buys her cookie dough ice cream and looks at her like she’s the only thing in the room. And when a jealous ex starts filming humiliations, James doesn’t exactly behave… but he does step in, loudly, in front of everyone. You know that feeling when your crush becomes your problem? Yeah.
So when Skylar finally agrees to play girlfriend “for appearances,” James kisses her head and calls her “babe” on purpose. The classroom door swings open.
Chapter 1
SKYLAR
Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a seventeen-year-old girl with long brown hair and dull gray eyes. She had two best friends and only a mother to look after her.
On a stormy night when she was little, the man who was supposed to be her father took off, never to return again. Not only did he take all of his belongings, he also took the little girl’s love and trust along with him, causing the little girl to feel angry and worthless.
She decided from then on that love wasn’t real. In fact, she vowed to hate anything to do with love for the rest of her life.
Her one true love might be right underneath her nose, but she wouldn’t even know it, nor does she really seem to care. She must learn to trust and teach herself to love again; only then will she truly be happy.
Can she do it? Why, of course she can, as long as she has help. Who’s going to help her, you may ask?
Well, you’ll have to read to find out. After all, this is a tale as old as time.
I have never believed in fairytales. Who would? The concept is completely farcical.
Who believes in a fire-breathing dragon guarding your hopeless body inside of a tower while you wait for your one true love to come and rescue you? It’s impractical, really.
How can you love a complete stranger that you’ve never even met before? Or maybe he is there all along, hidden right beneath your eyes.
Either way, I don’t care. Love is foreign to me, and I intend to keep it that way.
That isn’t important to me right now, though. What is important is senior year at Rutherford High.
The one year that truly matters. The one year that can determine your entire future.
It’s the last day of summer, and normally my two best friends and I go to Splash Mountain and continuously slide down the water slides until our butts are sore. Sometimes, we even buy countless water balloons and have an epic water balloon fight in my backyard.
Today, though, is the last day of summer before senior year, and my friends and I want to do something a little less juvenile and a little more grown-up. So here we are, at the community pool, sunbathing on lounge chairs and completely bored out of our minds.
“Can we at least just drive by Splash Mountain?” Elena pleads while holding her towel over her face to shield herself from the sweltering sun rays.
“Will you stop whining? We’re having fun, aren’t we?” I sheepishly smile, earning two glares in return.
“Who cares what we do? Nobody else cares.” Elena sighs.
“You both are giving me a headache,” Abigail says.
“That’s not us, that’s this stupid sun eating up all of our energy,” Elena replies, giving me another pointed look.
“You know what, fine. Let’s go.” I suddenly lean forward in my chair and grab my beach bag, tossing my belongings inside before standing up.
“Really?” They both smile wide while sitting up.
“Yes, let’s go before I change my mind.” I smirk, heading for the entrance.
Elena and Abigail waste no time in gathering up their things before sprinting to my car.
“Shotgun!” Abigail calls.
“No way, asshole, you had shotgun on the way here!” Elena pouts.
“Gotta be quick if you wanna win, toots.” Abigail smirks, opening the passenger side door and plopping down into the front seat.
“I’ll get you back, don’t worry,” Elena mumbles, causing me to laugh.
I spend the next ten minutes listening to Elena and Abigail argue over radio stations before we finally pull into the parking lot of Splash Mountain, the town’s water park.
“We are only here for an hour, okay? So make the most of it,” I instruct.
“An hour? You’re no fun.” Abigail sighs, getting out of the car.
I roll my eyes but smile to myself, because I know we will end up being here for the rest of the day.
I pull my long, wavy hair up into a bun and apply more sunscreen to my face and shoulders. Abigail leaves her red locks flowing down her back while Elena ties her bleached blonde hair up into a high ponytail.
Elena Kennedy and Abigail Stone have been my best friends since first grade. A little devil spawn by the name of James Ryan decided he would put glue into my hair during nap time with his best friend Ian Adams. Elena helped me wash it out while Abigail taught James and Ian a very important lesson on being nice to others.
Let’s just say the boys didn’t mess with us for the rest of the year. The three of us have been inseparable ever since.
“Holy crap. Look over there!” Elena squeaks, pointing toward two very familiar boys walking in our direction.
“Why are they here?” Abby instantly grabs her towel to cover up her petite frame.
I don’t respond. I simply ignore the two boys as they stop right in front of us.
“Well, what do we have here?” Ian smirks, plopping down on the empty chair beside me.
“Goodbye, Ian,” I say while not making eye contact.
“Man, you’re in a pissy mood,” Ian grumbles while getting up to move over near Elena.
“What do you two want?” I say, not in any mood to deal with their Neanderthal shenanigans.
“Aw, don’t pretend like you aren’t happy to see me,” James says, confidence reeking from his broad and masculine frame. He takes the seat beside me that Ian abandoned and sets his gaze on me.
“Trust me, no pretending here,” I say, turning to give him an incredulous look.
“Ian, won’t you please tell Sky that she needs to get over this first-grade grudge and just confess her undying love to me?” James smirks.
“Dude, there’s no way she’ll give it up. You’re better off getting back with Avery,” Ian laughs, causing James to discreetly shoot him a glare.
I scrunch my nose at the mention of James’s ex-girlfriend, Avery. Avery Stiles. The girl who has made my life a living hell ever since sixth grade when she set her sights on James.
James was supposed to be my lab partner in science class, but she made it her own personal mission to take James for herself. She managed to lock me in the bathroom before class started and told the teacher that I skipped school. The teacher gave James to Avery, and when I returned the next day, I was met by my lab partner, Thomas Wormwood.
Let’s just say, Thomas had a certain odor to him that even the teacher couldn’t handle at times. The kid never showered, or so it seemed.
Ever since then, Avery hasn’t let James out of her sight, until recently at least, when he broke up with her for unknown reasons.
“Well, if you two are done being a nuisance, the girls and I are off to the water slides,” I say, getting up while Abby and Lena follow suit.
“Aw, we can’t come?” Ian pouts.
“Why on earth would we allow that?” Abby replies, giving Ian a pointed look.
“I mean, the more the merrier, right?” Elena softly smiles, causing Ian to shoot her a wink.
Elena has had a thing for Ian ever since he came to her rescue in seventh grade when Avery pulled her chair out from under her, causing Elena to spill her lunch tray all over herself. Ian yelled at Avery and took Elena to the nurse’s office to clean her up and get her a change of clothes. He’s always been the nicer of the two, the other being James.
I send a glare toward Elena, who only smiles as Ian follows her toward the water slides. I begin walking beside Abby, but soon after, James appears to my left.
“So you’re just going to ignore me?” He pouts, his deep and husky voice causing my insides to squirm.
“That’s the plan,” I sigh, trying to take a few steps ahead of him.
“Come on, Skylar,” he pleads. “I didn’t mean to put glue in your hair. I was honestly curious to see if it worked the same way that hair gel did.” He sheepishly smiles, flawlessly keeping up with me.
I want to swoon at his use of my full name, but I can’t let him see me falter.
“I don’t care about that anymore,” I say, wishing that he would go and walk with Elena and Ian.
“Then why the hatred?”
“I don’t hate you. I simply dislike you.” I smile coyly.
“Oh, well, dislike is a step up from hate. I’ll take it.” He smiles.
I try not to stare at his perfectly white teeth as we all approach the first water slide. It’s a group water slide, so obviously I’m under the impression that it’s only going to be me, Elena, and Abigail.
Boy, am I wrong.
