A Story Book Love

An inspired first chapter.

She woke up to the sound of her phone ringing right next to her head. Groaning she grabbed the phone and brought it to her ear.
"Hello" She croaked out groggily.
"Hey girlie, are we still on for today?" a voice said a little too cheerfully.
"That depends, who is this?" She mumbles, still not fully awake.
"Rita! Get your lazy ass out of bed." Michael chuckles into the phone.
"What.... Oh yeah, shopping, lunch, meeting at work. Got it, I'll be ready in 20" Rita answers, once it clicks who she is talking to.
"Okay, I'll be there in twenty. And I'll bring coffee, it sounds like you could use it"
"You're the best" Rita smiles, and then she hangs up the phone.
She slides out of her bed and walks into her bathroom. Ten minutes later she is showered and dressed, she doesn't really feel like doing anything with her hair, so she just throws it into a ponytail.
She checks the time on her phone, and then walks over to her desk.
She had managed to finish the first chapter of her new story before Katie had arrived yesterday, but she wanted to read through it and make sure it was alright before she posted it.
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I was really nervous, why did Principal Penelope want to see me, this is only my second day. What could I have possibly done?
I look up as a girl walks in and takes the seat next to mine, she looks as nervous as I feel. She glances over at me and gives me a soft smile.
"Karma" she says holding out her hand to me.
It takes me a second to realize that Karma must be her name, I smile back and grab her out stretched hand.
As our ands touch a weird sensation shoots my arm, like electricity. I gasp quietly, before I recover and tell her my name.
"Amy. You wouldn't by any chance know why I'm here would you?" I ask her hopefully.
"Nope, sorry. I was about to ask you the same thing."
"Well then I guess we will have to wait and see."
I return my gaze to my lap where my hands are fidgeting. We sit in silence for a few more minutes until the door opens and Principal Penelope walks out.
"Hey girls, sorry to keep you waiting. Come on in."
Karma and I both stand up and walk into her office with matching worried expressions.
Ten minutes later we both walk out of the office relieved. Principal Penelope just wanted to welcome me to the school, and then she asked Karma to show me around because we have a similar class schedule.
So I spend the rest of my morning walking around the school with Karma. She explains why everything is so weird around here, and she introduces me to her friend Shane.
I'm having a lot of fun with Karma, she is really sweet, and funny, and we seem to be getting along very well.
Karma is in the middle of a story about the weird food they serve in the cafeteria, and I am laughing pretty hard when someone walks up behind Karma.
"Hey babe, what's up?" The guy asks throwing his arm around Karma's shoulders.
"Oh hey, Liam this is Amy she's new here." She says while gesturing towards me.
"And Amy, this is my boyfriend Liam" the smile fell from my face as Karma introduced Liam.
Liam nodded his head politely in greeting, and I forced a smile back onto my face. I don't know what it is exactly, but something about Liam is making me feel uneasy.
Liam turns back to Karma and they start having a conversation. I suddenly feel like an unwelcome third wheel.
I make up some excuse about needing to use the bathroom and I turn quickly and start heading down the hall. I don't make it very far before I hear Karma's voice calling me, so I stop and turn around.
"Hey Amy, it was nice meeting you. You should sit with us at lunch today, I'll help you figure out what's actually edible."
I smile, "Okay sounds good. And thanks for showing me around and stuff."
"No problem" she smiles back at me, and I turn and head back down the hallway.
Karma seems great, I'm really glad Principal Penelope introduced us. I find myself smiling, and looking forward to lunch as I walk into my classroom.
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Rita reads it over a few more times, adding little things here and there. Once she is finally satisfied she uploads the chapter and closes her laptop.
She walks out of her bedroom and into the kitchen when she hears her doorbell ring. She quickly grabs her phone and wallet, and then walks out the door, greeting Michael.
Rita spent the next few hours being dragged from store to store by Michael. She loved to shop as much as the next girl, but keeping up with Michael was exhausting. Michael always looked like he
was in the middle of a photo shoot, but she had never considered how much work the boy put in to keeping up that appearance.
They had just finished shopping and were discussing where to go for lunch when Michael's phone started ringing.
"Hey Katie. What's up?" he said answering the phone.
Rita looked up when she heard Michael say Katie's name. Wondering why Katie was calling, she listened to what Michael was saying.
"Yeah that's not a problem. I have to give Rita a ride home too, we're actually going out for lunch right now. Do you guys want to join us?"
"Alright cool, see you in a few minutes."
Michael hangs up the phone and turns to Rita, "Katie and her boyfriend are meeting us for lunch."
"Okay, cool."
They get to the restaurant and see Katie and Paul already waiting for them out front. Rita got out of the car and walked over to them.
"Hey Katie, Paul" she said once she reached them.
"Hi Rita" Katie replied pulling her into a hug, and Paul nodded his head politely in greeting.
Rita had met Paul a few times, but she had never really talked with him. He seemed nice enough though.
Michael joined them greeting Katie and Paul, and they all walked into the restaurant together.
Lunch was pleasant enough, everyone was chatting and having a nice time, but something kept bothering Rita.
She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but watching Katie and Paul together gave her this weird feeling. Something about Paul just made her feel a little uneasy. She brushed it aside however, deciding that Paul was probably just a little uncomfortable and maybe feeling left out because they were all talking about the show.
After Lunch Rita and Michael were heading over to the studio, Katie was riding with Paul and Michael was going to give her a ride home later.
"So Rita, what do you think of Paul?" Michael asked.
"Uhh, he seems like a nice guy. Why'd you ask?"
"I don't know, I'd never met him before and he seems cool to me, a little quiet, but you were looking at him weird the whole time we were there."
"No I wasn't." Rita replies a little defensively.
Michael raises his eyebrows at her, "It just looked like you were staring at him a lot."
"I just felt a little bad for him, we were all rambling on about the show and he looked like he felt a little out of place or something." Rita replied nonchalantly.
"Oh, maybe that's why he was so quiet, Katie told me he's normally as energetic as she is. Now I feel kind of bad for the guy."
"I'm sure he's just fine" Rita grumbles, as they pull up to the studio. They get out of the car and head inside.
Katie is already inside, she seems to be saying goodbye to Paul. Katie leans up and gives him a kiss goodbye and Rita finds herself turning away from the sight, although she's not sure why.
"Bye Paul it was nice meeting you" Michael calls out a few seconds later, and Rita turns her head back to see Paul smile and wave back at Michael.
Katie walks over to them and they all head over to the wardrobe department, they are trying on a bunch of new clothes for the new season today.
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A little while later Katie finds herself sitting at Rita's kitchen table. Michael was going to take her home after they finished playing dress up at the studio, but Rita had invited her over to hang out.
Rita had gone to her room to change and Katie was waiting on her to get back when her phone buzzed. It was a text from Paul saying he was heading to the airport. His band had a few shows to play so Katie wouldn't be seeing him for over a week.
She sighed as she read the text, and decided not to respond. She loved Paul a lot, but they were constantly apart these days and it was getting hard to deal with. She knew that she should talk to him about it, but she didn't want to get into a fight, so she hadn't said anything yet.
Rita walked into the room with her laptop in her hands.
"Oh my god Katie, you have to see this video a fan made about Karma and Amy it's so cute."
They watched the video and Katie couldn't help but smile, their fans really were amazing.
"Where did you find this?" She asked Rita.
"Tumblr" Rita answered as she continued to watch the video.
"I didn't know you had a Tumblr." Katie asked a little shocked, when it came to social media Rita was not exactly an expert.
"Oh..........I uh........I don't. A fan sent me the link on twitter" Rita's face turned a little red and Katie couldn't help but notice how nervous she suddenly seemed.
It reminded her of yesterday when Rita had freaked out when she saw that word document on her laptop. She still wanted to know what that was all about, but she decided to wait until another day to ask Rita. Right now she just wanted to hang with her friend, and forget about the troubles she was having with her boyfriend.