Stupid Love

Chapter 1

"Hey, Mom," I called, sauntering into the house after a long day at school. My parents had just divorced, and my mom had moved to Wolverhampton that summer. I was 14. I was staying with my mom during the week and my dad on weekends. We had lived there for about two months, and my neighbor Liam had welcomed us that first day. To be honest, he's kinda cute! And he's so sweet! I still don't know why he was bullied so much! I don't think I'll ever know...

Anyway, he and his mom came over to welcome us with a plate of brownies. Cliché, I know, but hey, he was cute! And after we had invited them into our house and we talked for what felt like an hour, they invited us over for dinner, "You know what?" Mrs. Payne asked, "Why don't you come over for dinner? Spaghetti Sunday!" she said with a laugh. Liam's face turned bright red so I just gave him a little smile.

And I got to know more about his family. His parents were divorced too, and he has two older sisters named Ruth and Nicola.

It turned out his mom made amazing spaghetti sauce! Like, I thought my mom's was delicious! But somehow, hers was even better!

But she was still a mom, so she just had to embarrass her son. Don't even ask how it came up because the conversation was just going from one topic to the next so I wouldn't even know, but somewhere along the line she blurted out "You know, Liam's an amazing singer! I'm trying to get him to audition for XFactor!" so then we started talking about that.

After what felt like five minutes, but was actually, like, an hour, Liam and I excused ourselves to go for a walk. I don't know; I just needed some fresh air, and I guess he did, too. Of course, since we had just moved there, I had no idea where I was going, so I just followed him.

We ended up at the top of a hill on a little playground. I made my way towards the swings and sat down with Liam still next to me. We sat there for probably a couple hours just talking and watching the sunset. Well at least I can check something off my bucketlist! Just kidding... well I can check 'watching the sunset' off my bucketlist, but I really did have a good time with Liam that night.

Finally, when it was dark, we started heading home. We were so close to home when there was a sudden flash of lightning in the sky. So close! And then the burst of thunder that followed. Immediately. Damn, that storm was close.

I was never really like this, but my best friend taught me to flirt, so I grabbed his arm and whispered, "Will you protect me?" with puppy dog eyes and a whimper on my lips.

He seemed to freeze for a moment but then he took my hand in his with a shy smile playing on his lips.

We walked the rest of the way home hand-in-hand and then exchanged numbers before heading into our respective houses.

Over the next two months (the last month of summer and the first month of school), we texted almost every day and we ended up having a few classes together.

We got really close and I grew to like him. Him him, not just "cute" him. I made a few other friends and they all told me he liked me too, but he wasn't doing anything about it! I doubted it, but of course I hoped it was true. Eventually, after a few more months, he asked me out, we started dating, and then he asked me to be his girlfriend.

I convinced him to audition for XFactor. I cheered him on through all four producers rounds. I cheered him on through the Judges round. I cheered him on through bootcamp. I cheered him on through the Judges Homes' round. And I consoled him when he didn't make it through to the live shows.

I was the only one at his sixteenth birthday party. And I still didn't understand why people bullied him.

I convinced him to audition for XFactor again. I cheered him on through all four producers rounds again. I cheered him on through the Judges round again. I cheered him on through bootcamp again. And I watched as he was put in a group with four other boys. Four other boys I knew all too well.