Taking This Too Far., Alexandra Wolf [best young adult book series txt] 📗

Prologue

“Morning, love.” Juliana woke to the smell of bacon and eggs.

“Mornin’ and thanks mom.” She said, sitting up right and taking the tray and setting it on her lap. She took a bite of her eggs. “Mom, you really shouldn’t have done this.”

Her mother smiled at her. “Yes, I did. My little girl is leaving for college in eight months. I deserve to spoil you until then.” Juliana laughed. Every time Juliana brought up going to college across the country, her mother would quickly change the subject and say that college was years away.

“Well mom, hate to break it to you but I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m a woman and I know you hate that I’m leaving for Columbia in the fall but you’re going to have to let me go.” Juliana placed the tray on the other of her bed and hugged her mother. “Besides, you still have Nathan.”

“Nathan?” Her mother’s face paled. Nathan was her thirteen year old brother. He was going through his rebellious phase. When he wasn’t following the rules, he was definitely breaking them. “That reminds me, I have to talk to his geometry teacher, he failed to do his homework again. I don’t get this kid.”

Her mother glanced at her and smiled. “You look so much like your father.” With that, she kissed Juliana’s forehead and closed the door quietly behind her. Juliana smiled and jumped out of bed. Winter break was over and it was back to school again. She didn’t mind though, Juliana was great at school. She’s had straight A’s all through high school and nothing was about to change that. This was her last year of school, she wanted to make the best of it.

She jumped straight into the shower. She made sure to wash her hair at least twice. Rinse and repeat, she told herself. After her twenty-five minutes in there, she wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out. She heard a sound in her bedroom. Cell phone, she thought.

It was a text from her friend Sophie. “OMG, back to school. I miss you. Meet me by my car. Lots to tell.” read Juliana. Juliana simply shook her head knowing her friend, she must’ve met the man she was going to marry. She put her phone down and got back to getting ready.

After blow-drying her hair and putting on some make-up, she was ready. She settled with her favorite blue jeans and a v-neck. Ed Hardy sneakers and put her designer leather jacket on as well since it was still a bit chilly in sunny California. She grabbed her purse and notebooks and headed out.

Juliana kissed her mother good-bye and wished her luck with her brother’s school and got into her car. She buckled up and turned her radio on. Hopefully all goes well, she prayed. With that, she made her way to school, not knowing that everything was never going to be the same.


Chapter 1

Juliana drove to school singing to The Beatles. She pulled up to the school’s parking lot and headed towards the seniors’ spots. She found an empty one under a tree next to a classic cherry-red mustang. Nice, she thought. She’d hands- down trade it for her Audi TT RS Coupe she got for her birthday. Turning off the ignition , she grabbed her purse, stepped out and locked her car. She called Sophie.

Sophie picked up after the first ring. “Hey you. Where are you?” Sophie asked.

“At school. I was going to my locker first to leave my notebooks-.” She was cut off.

“Your notebooks can wait. I miss my best friend. Please?!” Juliana could already see her sad puppy-dog face.

“Sure. So where are you?”

Sophie was leaning towards her white Range Rover texting non-stop on her cell phone. She was a petite girl around five foot two. Her hair was brown and wavy. Her eyes were a honey-brown which made all the boys drool. She was dressed in black skinny jeans, a Abercrombie and Fitch hoodie sweater, with black flats. She looked up from whoever she was texting and smiled. She almost jumped into Juliana when she approached her car. She hugged her tightly.

“How was break, Jules?” she asked when she released Juliana.

“Pretty good, I-.” She was cut off again.

“Oh my God, I have news.” Juliana decided she didn’t need to ask what it was for Sophie would tell her whether she wanted to hear it or not. “Well I been talking to some boy I met a couple weeks ago while I was in Paris. He is so cute and French. He has the most beautiful eyes I ever seen…” Sophie went on about this boy for a good fifteen minutes. Juliana ooohh’d and awww’d every few times to be a good friend.

“So what about Jake?” Juliana asked.

“Jake? What do you mean?” Jake was a boy who was in love with Sophie. Every time he saw Sophie, his eyes sparkled as if she was a goddess. He was a sweet guy, he was pretty good at school. He was also captain of the soccer team. Every girl wanted him except the girl he wanted.

“The guy is head over heels for you, Soph.” Everyone at school knew this but Sophie was in complete denial. She made a promise to herself that she was never going to date a jock for they were shallow and complete airheads.

“Jules, I don’t like him. Period. I told him I just wanted to be friends. So if he finds out that I‘m talking to Jean-Paul then so be it.” Juliana simply nodded. She definitely felt bad for Jake. Juliana knew that he was the complete opposite of what people think jocks are.

“Okay.” said Juliana. “Lets get going to class.”

Sophie agreed. On the way to class they saw a couple friends, Sophie told them she would text them about Jean-Paul. Juliana simply shook her head and smiled. Her friend was crazy. They had first period together, English IV AP.

In the classroom, there were kids scattered everywhere. Everyone talking about the gifts they got, where they went, or like Sophie who they met over Christmas break.

“Okay children settle down. Take a seat.” It was their teacher, Mr. Andrews. He was a good looking man. He was probably in his late thirties. He was a very simple guy. He was dressed in khakis and wearing a I Love NY shirt. “Alright guys I know you’re all dying to tell everyone what you did but please wait until lunch or hell, when you receive the text.”

Everyone laughed. Mr. Andrews continued. “Since you guys are seniors-” He was cut off by the cheers of the class. “Okay, I get it. Since you guys are seniors I know you don’t really want to do so much work and neither do I so here’s the deal. I’m going to partner you up.” Juliana and Sophie smiled at each other they were always partners and they always pulled off their projects. “Oh by the way, I choose partners.” The class boo’ed but quickly went silent when Mrs. Martin, the school secretary and a guy walked in.

“Class, this is Vincent Moretti. He and his family just moved here from Chicago, Illinois. So please be nice and try to help him around school. Okay?” When no one answered, she simply frowned and left.

“Okay, welcome Vince. Take a seat anywhere.” said Mr. Andrews. The class was already talking among themselves.

“Damn, new guy is hot.” whispered Sophie.

“Yeah? I didn’t seem to notice.” Juliana lied. Of course she saw he was hot but so did the others girls. The new guy made his way to left side and sat in the empty seat near the window.

“So, back to my plan. I am going to make it easy for you guys. A four page, MLA format, doubled spaced. An information board and oral presentation on an influential writer/poet of the 18th or 19th century." Mr. Andrews said all in one breath. “Oh and be creative, kiddies.”

Everyone decided to keep their mouth shut. If anyone made a peep, Mr. Andrews would have made it a ten-page essay with no double spacing.

“So, here are your partners. Jonathan Peterson and Kimberly Charles. Kyle Roberts and Jeremy Daniels, Sophia Santos and Jacob Cruz-” Sophie cut Mr. Andrews off.

“Mr. Andrews, can I-” He interrupted right back.

“No, Sophia. You can’t switch or change partners. Sorry. What’s done is done.” he said.

He continued with the partners. Juliana waited anxiously to hear who her partner would be. Please, don’t let it be Henry Lawrence, she wished silently. Juliana looked over at Sophie, she was pouting like a four-year old.

“Get a grip.” Juliana told her. “You could have got Henry as a partner.” Sophie blanched and looked over her shoulder. Henry was a curly-haired boy who was simply weird. He loved Star Wars, enough said.

“Ms. Belrose…”Juliana turned to Mr. Andrews. Not Henry, she prayed again. “I was going to partner you up with Henry but I think you may clash…” Juliana thanked God. “Hmm, so I am going to put you and Vincent together.”

Juliana blanched. What? This could not be right, she thought. She looked casually looked over to the new guy. He sat quietly at his desk with his phone in hand.

Vincent sat there oblivious to whatever the teacher was talking about. He discreetly texted while the teacher continued. Mr. Andrews had already set him with a partner. All he knew what that her last name was Belrose. As if he felt someone was looking at him, he turned a slight. It was a girl, her face turned a shade of pink as she got caught. She turned away. Cute, he thought.

“Plan, prepare and please me in the end.” said Mr. Andrews, in a business- like manner. “So I suggest you get to it. We only have a couple minutes left of class since it’s a short day, talk to your partners to at least get an idea of what you’re going to do, cool?” With that, Mr. Andrews sat at his desk, sipped his coffee and read his newspaper.

Juliana remained at her seat. She felt like a statue just sitting there. A grinning Jake sat next to a frowning Sophie, but hey at least they knew each other. Juliana was going to have to talk to the new guy eventually. Sophie gave her a weak smile for support. Finally, Juliana got the courage to get up and talk to the new guy. She took a breath and walked over.

He was just sitting there waiting for class to be over when he felt someone walk over to him, he casually looked up. It was the same girl who he caught staring at him. She looked real nice up front. Her hair was a pretty red-brown, her eyes were emerald