The Challenge

  THE CHALLENGE

  by

  Aubrey Bailey

  OTHER BOOKS

  If I Never Knew You Volume 1

  To Know You is To Love You Volume 2

  To Love Once Again is to Love Again Volume 3

  Grab the Entire Trilogy Bundle - Save $4.00

  The Challenge. 1st Edition Copyright © Aubrey Bailey Publishing 2013. All Rights Reserved.

  Cover Art and Design by Humble Nations

  Book Formating Services Provided by Brad Wilson KBG Authors Ecosystem

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, either by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is for a reviewer who may quote brief passages in the review. This publication is presented to you for informational purposes only and is not a substitution for any professional advice.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Other Books by Aubrey Bailey

  CHAPTER ONE

  GOOOOOOOD MORNING, LOS Angeles!! It's time for your morning info with Shawn Mac on 91.9 FM Beat Radio! It's going to be another hot day out there, so shorts are recommended. There should be some relief this afternoon because of an anticipated breeze. Traffic is flowing well for all you students going off to school this morning. According to our Eye-in-the-Sky reporter, highways and major roads are moving as usual, so expect to leave at your normal times. Coming up next, Deanna's "Help Me," after these messages...

  I smacked the alarm clock and rolled over, burying my face in my pillow. Five more minutes, then I'll get up . My dreams were too nice and my bed too cozy.

  Some Top 40 song blasted through my alarm clock ten minutes later. My eyes snapped open and I sat up quickly, ignoring the heavy-headed feeling as I smacked the alarm again.

  "Kris, are you still asleep?" The door flew open and my little sister skipped into the room.

  "Do you ever knock?" I asked.

  "Why should I?" she responded.

  "Uncle Ethan!" I yelled.

  Yeah...I live with my uncle. Nearly seven years ago my mom died in a car wreck, so we moved in with our mom's brother, Ethan, in the suburbs of L.A.

  "Megan, leave your little sister alone!" Uncle Ethan called. This was almost a daily ritual. Megan stuck her tongue out at me and slammed the door. My little sister wasn't so little either; I was seventeen and she was only three years younger than me. She looked older however and a lot of guys thought she was hot. For a fourteen-year-old brat, she did have some good qualities, like the big boobs every female on our mom's side seemed to have. At fourteen, she was already a B cup. But I thought it was her strawberry blonde, mid-back length hair and green eyes that made my sister beautiful.

  As for me, I was sort of like an older, slightly taller, slimmer and bigger-breasted version of her, except my blonde hair lacked the strawberry tint and was a bit shorter and I had blue eyes instead of green.

  "Kristina! You're going to miss your ride!" Uncle Ethan called from downstairs.

  I sighed and looked at the clock. I still had at least twenty minutes before Lukas arrived, so I showered quickly and changed into a black tank top with a silver rose printed in the middle and jeans that I had converted to shorts with a pair of scissors-L.A. was too hot for all that denim. I put my hair into a ponytail and had just finished with the lip gloss when I heard a car honking. I ran down the stairs, slid my feet into a pair of flip flops, bolted out the door and jumped into the backseat of Lukas's car.

  "Well hey there, Speedy Gonzales," Lukas greeted me. He was the kind of guy a lot of girls at school liked. With his brown hair and eyes, muscular build and gravelly voice, he could sweet talk a girl out of or into anything.

  "Just go," I rolled my eyes.

  He pulled out of the driveway and the girl in the passenger seat turned to look at me.

  "Hey, sweets," I smiled at her with a wink.

  "Hey, baby doll," Lukas's twin and my best friend, Lena, shot back at me in a playfully sexy tone. She was a lot like me: blonde hair, blue eyes. Only she was a bit shorter and her hair was bleached. Everyone in L.A. was tan.

  "Do we have to go to school today?" I whined.

  "Well, I think we should," Lena said. "We've got new classmates, remember?"

  "Oh, joy!" I exclaimed, sarcastically. Typically, I didn't like new students. They were either too timid or too full of themselves.

  "My sources tell me it's a guy and a girl, and they're from overseas," Lukas said.

  "Oh, your sources, eh? Did you hack into the school computer again?" I asked.

  Lukas just smiled and nodded.

  I laughed, then leaned forward and threw my arms over Lena's shoulders. "I'm so bored of the same things every day."

  "Christmas break is only two months away," Lena reminded me.

  I sighed and rested my fore head against the cold glass in the backseat of Lukas's white Honda Accord until we got to school.

  "Last stop-hell!" Lukas exclaimed, pulling onto the sun-cracked asphalt of the student parking lot. I laughed-half at Lukas's comment; half with frustration with having to be at school-as I grabbed my books and got out of the car.

  "Think about it this way," Lena said, slamming the door and putting her arm through mine. "This is our second to last year...and the last year we have without your sister."

  "Ah...don't remind me," I said, making a face. Megan would be a freshman and I would be a senior the next year and the thought made me cringe a little. I loved my sister-really, I did-I just didn't want her to be a constant, clingy pain in my side.

  Upon entering Swan Valley High School, we immediately ran into our usual group hanging out in our usual spot by the vending machines. There wasn't a day since freshman year that we didn't meet up there before homeroom to discuss the usual bullshit drama. There was Sam, a pretty brunette who made up for her laughable shortness-she was five feet even-with a fiery personality. Then there was her boyfriend of six months and the newest edition to our group, Curtis. His skin was a milk-chocolate brown and I could swear his brown eyes sparkled even brighter when Sam was around. He and Mark were the only black guys in our group, but Mark was practically white at heart. Mark was dating Darla, the other blonde in our group who had lived in L.A. her whole life. Then there was Lena's boyfriend, James. He was a tall, sandy blonde guy who played on the basketball team with Curtis. There was Erin-a green-eyed redhead whom I thought was the most gorgeous of our group-and her boyfriend, Nick. Nick was probably the most unintentionally funny person in our group. Part of it was that he was this goofy, mop-headed kid that, in retrospect, I think was stoned ninety-nine percent of the time. Finally, there was Lukas-Lena's twin brother-and Amanda, a half-Asian girl who was also an L.A. native. I know it sounds overwhelming at first-who's dating who and whatnot-but the most important thing to take away from all this was that I was the only single one. I was like some pitiful eleventh whee
l doomed to being a spectator for the rest of my tenure at Swan Valley High.

  "Yo, Kris? What's wrong?" Curtis's voice sounded very distant. "Kris!"

  My head snapped towards Curtis who was standing just two feet away. "Oh, hey Curtis. Nothing's wrong." I looked around and realized all ten of my friends were staring at me.

  "You've been here for like, five minutes and haven't said a word," chimed Sam.

  "Yeah you need to cop you a boyfriend for real," Curtis said, wrapping his arms around Sam.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "Because you look so lonely," Curtis replied. Then, as if to not sound so serious, he added, "Because we all know that's all you be thinkin' about underneath all that pretty blonde hair, girl!" He laughed and everyone followed. He and James exchanged high-fives like they were back on the basketball court together.

  Lena punched James and threw her arms around me, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "She'll never be lonely with me around," she assured everyone, playing with a lock of my blonde hair. Everyone laughed at this, including me.

  "Principal alert," Curtis warned us with bated breath. Everyone broke apart from their significant others except Mark and Darla, who, at some point, had retreated to the other side of the vending machines to play tonsil hockey. I turned and jumped when I saw the principal, Mr. Coughlan, breathing down my neck.

  "Miss Williams," he said, as he snapped his fingers. I was right in front of him...he didn't need to do anything to get my attention. "Come with me." He craned his neck like he was trying to look over a crowded room. "And Mr. Opal," he called, referring to Mark. "If I catch your mouth within just a yard of Miss Hopkins's face again, it will be detention for both of you."

  "I just got here. How am I in trouble already?" I muttered. Everyone shrugged and gave me sympathetic looks as I turned to follow old Mr. Coughlan down the fluorescent hall towards the front office.

  When we entered Principal Coughlan's office, two students I didn't know were sitting in the old green chairs in front of the Principal's pristine desk. To the left of them was - to my horror - my ex-boyfriend, David. His muddy eyes pierced my soul from underneath a swoop of brown hair. David seemed to practically live at the gym. He was packed with muscles and looked like a linebacker. Probably because he was one for the football team until he got a concussion.

  "Please take a seat," Mr. Coughlan said, pointing at a decrepit olive drab chair in the corner of his office.

  See, Mr. Coughlan sat at a gorgeously-detailed oak desk he claimed to have made himself. He sat in a large, rolling leather chair and had an expensive-looking lamp and pen holder that always adorned his desk. The crimson walls were draped with various framed degrees and awards. A painting of an eagle hung directly behind Mr. Coughlan's chair. In contrast to the rest of his office, he put these worn-down, beat up, baby-puke green chairs in front of his desk for students to sit in because it emphasized the fact that we were beneath him and that was supposed to make us feel intimidated. At least that's what Mr. Mackey, my English teacher, would tell me. And usually it worked.

  Anyways, I pulled up a chair and sat down on the other side of the unknown students, away from my ex, and realized the two kids between us must be the new ones Lena and Lukas were talking about. I leaned over just enough to take a peek at David, who must have been doing the same because his head shot towards the window. We had broken up only last week because I was getting sick of all his lies and cheating amongst other things, but I found it hard to not swing my gaze in his direction if we were in the same room. I looked at the new people -a guy and a girl. Lukas said they were from overseas, but they were white and didn't look too different from the average American. Although their jeans and hoodies definitely told me they weren't from L.A. Also, their body language suggested something was going on between them-the guy kept glancing at the girl like Curtis would to Sam. They didn't look or act related to each other, but they were arriving at the same time from the same place...add David to the mix and the whole situation was sort of surreal.

  "So...what's going on?" David asked, bringing my attention back to him.

  "You two are going to be guides for our new students this first week," Mr. Coughlan said with a smile.

  I groaned. Mr. Coughlan hated me and loved David, so I wouldn't doubt that he paired us together on this task intentionally.

  "Is there a problem with that, Miss Williams?"

  "No, sir," I said, flatly.

  "Good," Mr. Coughlan said. He looked at the girl. She had black hair and dark eyes to match. She was very pale-definitely not from L.A., like, at all-but other than that, she was pretty, I guess. "Lauren Taylor."

  "Yes?" Lauren said.

  "David Jones will be your guide," Mr. Coughlan said.

  That caught me by surprise. The new guy, who was sitting next to me, looked at me. I looked at him. He had hazel eyes and hair that was obviously bleached; the brown roots were starting to show.

  "Guess that means we're together," he said. I was surprised by the accent. It was either British or Australian, I couldn't tell, but it was a handsome accent. Lauren didn't have one, though...but they did come from the same place, didn't they?

  "Henry Wilson," Mr. Coughlan said, "Kristina Williams will be your guide."

  "I have chosen this way because Mr. Wilson and Miss Williams have the same homeroom," Mr. Coughlan explained, "as do Miss Taylor and Mr. Jones."

  "That explains things," I said under my breath with a hint of sarcasm.

  "Here are your schedules," said Mr. Coughlan. He handed Lauren and Henry their schedules, then his eyes switched between David and me, although he spoke to the other two. "Your guides will show you to all your classes. If you don't have the same classes, then they Henry meet you."

  Great , I thought to myself, just what I need...to be running around this place trying to get some new kid from one class to the next, then trying to get to my own .

  "Any questions?" Mr. Coughlan added.

  "Yes-when's lunch?" Henry asked.

  "It's right there on your schedule," Mr. Coughlan said with a sigh. "Any other... smart ...questions?"

  I rolled my eyes and when none of us said anything, he nodded. "Good. Now, I wish you all the best here at Swan Valley High School. You're free to go to homeroom." Simultaneously, the four of us stood and left the office.

  "Our homerooms are down the same hall," I said aloud, unintentionally.

  "You sound upset about that," David said, smirking. "You never used to mind."

  "Key words: 'used to'," I reminded him. He wrapped his arms around me, once we were out of sight of the office.

  "Come on, baby. I told you I was sorry," David pleaded. "What do I have to do to convince you?" He pushed my hair behind my ear, but I pushed him away.

  "You could stay away from me," I suggested. Then I looked at Henry and Lauren, who seemed to be in a similar position, except she wasn't fighting him off. "This whole school is going to be overrun by horn-dogs."

  "Hey! I resent that!" Henry cried out to me and then laughed.

  "Whatever," I replied, turning another corner. "This is where you get off." I looked at David.

  "You wish, baby," David smirked.

  I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms and tapped my toe as I waited for Henry and Lauren to break apart. I was in no rush to get to homeroom, but I was in a rush to get away from David. "Come on Lauren, class awaits," I said and pointed at the wooden door behind her.

  "Alright then," Lauren sighed. She and David went into their class and I spun around to continue down the hall to my own.

  "Wait up!" Henry ran up next to me. "What's wrong with you?"

  "Nothing," I said. "I just don't want to play babysitter while you and your girlfriend suck face." I pushed the door to our homeroom open and angrily motioned for Henry to go ahead of me.

  "Jeez," said Henry. "Who spit in your bloody tea this morning?"

  Henry was definitely British.

  I rolled my eyes and made my way to my seat next to Jam
es. On the other side of me there was an empty desk, so I already knew where Mr. New Guy was going to be sitting.

  "Class...this is our new student, Henry Wilson," Mr. Blackmore, our teacher, said. He looked at Henry. "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"

  "My family just moved here last week from Liverpool, along with my girlfriend and her family," Henry said. "I'm eighteen and I'm a huge Liverpool fan."

  "Thank you, Henry," Mr. Blackmore said. "You may take the seat next to Miss Williams."

  Henry smiled and sat next to me. I didn't even have to look, I knew he was staring at me with amusement-he was going to be one of those guys who was way too full of themselves.

  CHAPTER TWO

  "SAVE ME!" I said, throwing my arms around Lena, and hiding behind her.

  "From what?" Lena asked, trying to turn to look at me.

  "The new kids and David," I answered quickly, pointing over her shoulder. Henry walked towards us with Lauren on his arm and David next to them.

  "You should have seen Kris in homeroom!" James said. I smacked him on the shoulder.

  "I bet that was good," Lena laughed.

  "Oh no...they're coming over," I warned, standing up straight.

  "You should try to run," James suggested.

  "Oh yeah...that's gonna look good!" I said, rolling my eyes.