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

green and that body…

“Hi.” she said. “I’m Juliana Belrose. Welcome to California.”

She smiled. His breath caught in his throat. Her smile was almost angelic. “Uh thanks. I’m Vince.”

“So I guess we’re partners.” she said.

“Yeah, I guess we are.” he smiled then.


Chapter 2


Dear God, his smile is perfect, she thought. His dark-brown eyes looked straight at her, she looked away.

She coughed suddenly, “So, um. Sorry your first day here you have a project.” she said, sincerely.

“No problem.” he said. “Do you have a author or a poet in mind?”

“Edgar Allan Poe.” she said not missing a beat.

“Cool. I’ll write the essay and you could decorate the board.” he said, continuing to text on his phone. She thought he was joking but when he didn’t laugh or smile, she knew he was being serious.

“Excuse me?”

“I-will-write-the-essay.” he said the sentence as if he was trying to explain it to a little kid. Juliana didn’t appreciate that. He was new here and didn’t have any friends, well none that she knew about. The least he could do was talk to her like an adult. She was not going to be rude about it so she smiled.

“Well Vincent, I think I’m capable to help with an essay. This is English AP. I don’t think writing a research paper on Edgar Allen Poe is going to be hard.” Vincent raised an eyebrow.

“I never said you were ‘incapable’ to do anything. I just simply said I would write the essay.” Juliana was trying hard not to scream her head off. This was ridiculous. If he trying to get rise out of her? It was working. Juliana couldn’t understand why he would take it upon himself to write it.

“No.” she said. “I want to help with it. I don’t want Mr. Andrews to think that I have you doing most of the work. It would upset him that I’m taking advantage of the new kid.” Juliana smiled.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want her help, it was just that he already did this research paper in his old high school and received a good grade on it.. He was afraid that if he told her that she would misinterpret things and tell Mr. Andrews that he got the essay from someone else. Not that she looked like a tattle-tell but better safe than sorry.

“Fine.” he said finally. “I’ll type up some stuff then you send me yours and I’ll work my magic on it.” Vincent gave her a crooked smile.

Juliana stopped herself from rolling her eyes. This guy’s charm wasn’t going to work. She was immune guys who tried to “work their magic.”

“Great.” she said. “What about the board?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“Um, well. I guess we can work on it in the local library since the school’s library closes at 5.” Juliana looked over to Sophie, she was texting away on her cell while Jake sat quietly next to her texting on his phone. She wished Sophie was her partner, she would have let her to things her way and she would have agreed without a discussion.

The bell rang. Mr. Andrews spoke from his desk. “Your projects are due in dos semanas.” Due in two weeks.

“Yeah, that sounds fine. I’ll text you.” With that he got up from his desk and walked out of the classroom.

Juliana returned to her desk to get her purse. Jake had already left, leaving Sophie to breathe again. She was smiling. Juliana wondered if Sophie had received a text message from Jean-Paul.

“So how’d it go with a new guy?” Sophie asked as she put her phone in her pocket. There were other kids arriving to class, Juliana and Sophie left the classroom and made their way to their locker.

“Tell me!” Sophie demanded.

“What?”

“Tell me about the new guy.”

He’s arrogant and cocky. “He’s new and he’s my partner.” she said simply. “How was Jake?”

“Shut up.” Sophie frowned making Juliana laugh. “So when are you two getting together?”

“Excuse me?”

“Calm down. I mean get together for the project.” They each got the things they needed for their next class.

“I don’t know, he said he would text me.” Sophie stopped dead in her tracks.

“You gave him your number already, dang. Girl, you don't waste time, do you?” Sophie smiled.

It didn’t hit Juliana until Sophie mentioned it. “I didn’t give it to him.” Juliana told Sophie.

“Then how was he going to text you?” Sophie asked, almost wondering herself.

“That I do not know, but I’m not worried about it now. I have to get to class, I have a test in Calculus.” Juliana waved good bye to Sophie and made her way to class. Her mind wandered to Vincent, how is it that he was going to get her number? She set that aside again and concentrated and focused on nothing but her test.


Chapter 3

Vincent counted the seconds till school was over. He hated this class, this school, this city-everything. He couldn’t stand this town. He wished he was back in Chicago with his friends and with Hayley…

The bell rang. Vincent didn’t waste a minute. He raced for the door. He wanted out already. Five months to go, he told himself. Once he graduated he would leave. The only reason he came to Burbank, California was because his dad was an architect, a very rich one at that and was designing new houses for the rich and famous.

His mother was more than happy to move to California. She loved absolutely everything about the move. It got her one step closer to Johnny Depp. His mother was a tad crazy, but she was great. His father was a great man too. He would never do anything that would upset his family but this move was important. His father’s company was growing and the client list grew bigger.

His older brother Enzo wasn’t thrilled and he wasn’t happy about the move either . Enzo was two years older than Vincent. They were inseparable when they were younger but they simply grew apart when Enzo became part of the family business something Vincent wanted nothing of. Isabella, Vincent’s younger sister was the heart of the family. She was only thirteen but she made sure she was heard when she needed to be. Like their mother, Bella was ecstatic to arrive in The Golden State.

Vincent made his way to the locker he was assigned to and dropped off his books. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He grabbed it and checked it. It was a text message from his friend, Josh.

“Sup, my man.” it said. “So me and the guys think you been there for awhile, why don’t ya come back?”

Vincent smiled. I wish I could, he thought. He set his phone back in his pocket and made his way to his car. He stepped out of the school and a cool breeze hit him. He was thankful for this weather, it sort of reminded him of home, but once the heat arrived he knew he would die.

“Vincent!” Someone called out his name.

He turned to see who it was. It was Juliana, his English partner. “Can I help you?” he asked as she approached him.

“No, but it didn’t hit me until later that you don’t have my number and you said you were going to text me…” she said, her cheeks flushed again. Vincent couldn’t help but notice. She was a very pretty girl. Nice eyes, nice full lips…

He coughed casually. “So you walked all the way over here just to make sure I had your number? Aw, well that’s nice of you.” He meant to sound sarcastic. Juliana noticed.

“Do you want it or not?” she demanded.

“Fine.” he pulled out his phone. She gave him her number. He called her once and hung up so she could have his.

“You can save it under Romeo.” he said smiling.

She smiled back. “And why would I do that?”

“No reason at all.” he said with a grin on his face.

Juliana just stared at him. He was a good looking guy. Dark-brown eyes, light brown hair that looked as if he kept running his fingers through it. Bed hair, she thought. He was tall and lean yet he seemed muscular. Not in a vein popping way but as if he kept his body toned. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a navy hoodie and Nikes.

“I’m putting you under Vincent, so get over it.” she smiled back.

“Okay Juliet.”

“Juliana.”

“Huh?”

“My name is Juliana. Not Juliet.”

“Oh that’s right.” Once he saved her number, he returned his phone to his front pocket. “Got it. Thanks. I’ll text you.” With that he made his way to his car, jumped in and drove off without a look back.

Juliana just stood there. He drove off in the cherry-red mustang she parked next to. She smiled. In someway, she already knew that car was his. She looked at her phone and saved his number…under Romeo.


Chapter 4

Juliana parked in her driveway. She waved hello to her neighbor Mary, who was an elderly woman. Juliana loved her neighborhood. Everyone here was calm and quiet. Juliana’s house was designed to look like a Spanish Mediterranean house. It was definitely big for just her mother, brother and herself. It consisted of seven bedrooms, a kitchen, family room, two living rooms.

Juliana walked inside her home. Everything inside was designed by her mother. She was a interior decorator known all around Europe. That was how her mother and father met. Her father, Nathan Belrose was a very successful real estate developer who needed someone to design his new office in Italy , there a beautiful woman with hazel eyes named Lena Bennett walked in. The two fell deeply in love.

Her father had died of cancer when Juliana was only six years old. This brought her family sadness and devastation especially to her mother who had just given birth to their son Nathan Belrose Jr. Her mother had to go on, she moved her family and company to California where she worked with high list celebrities.

Juliana walked into her kitchen. Her mother was sitting on a stool near the kitchen’s island reading a tabloid.

“Hi mom.” Juliana placed her purse and keys on the island.

“Hey sweetie. How was school?” asked her mother as she flipped through the pages of her magazine.

“Okay. I guess. How was your day?” she said as she took a bite of an apple.

“Great. Let me tell you. I get a phone call from Marge and she told me that a client wants me to help her décor her house. I heard the woman was willing to go all out.” said her mother.

“That’s awesome mom. I am so dang proud of you. So how’d it go with Nate’s teacher?”

“Not good. His teacher says he’s smart but he doesn’t put enough effort. I don’t know what I’m going to do. If your father was here…” Juliana’s mother eyes started to water. Juliana took her hand.

“Mom, you’re doing a great job. Dad would be so proud of you. Nate is just going through some things. Don’t even worry. I’ll talk to him.” She assured her mother.

“Your