BEEP!BEEP!BEEP! I reach over to turn off my alarm clock and get up to look for something to wear. 'First day of school, it's the middle of March and the beginning of another semester and I don't know what to wear." I said to myself. Looking through my closet I finally found an old Luke Bryan tshirt, and I turn to grab my favorite pair of blue jeans and my boots not even worrying about my makeup. Hayley are you almost ready?" my brother Austin asks through the door. "Yeah, just give me a minute!" I yell back so he doesn't ask me again. I quickly brush my long brown hair and hurry out the door with my backpack and my jacket in my hands. My brother turns to look at me and laughs, "what?" I ask him looking surprised like maybe I look bad or something, " no makeup today sis?" he smiled and gave me a hug then turned to walk to the front door. "I'll be out in the truck, hurry up so we can get going okay. Don't want to be late for the first day." then he walked out the door and I was in the livingroom by myself. I grabbed a cup of sweet tea and hurried out the door.Austin rolled down the window and laughed "It's about damn time." I just rolled my eyes and got in the truck and we drove off to school. He only gave me a ride to school because I left my truck at the car place and needed to pick it up before I left school.

 When I say we have a lot of AGG and FFA kids here, I mean it's pretty much the whole district, well except for me of course. Like 99% of the students here are either AGG or FFA,Ugh! I'm like the only one thats not even considered in AGG this year. Last Year I was, but I decided to just do barrel racing every summer and keep it that way. Austin parked the truck near the front of the school, the bell rang and i knew I was late. I hurried out of the truck and to my first period, World Geography,great... I slowly opened the door and tried to sneak into class."Good Morning Mrs.Ricks, I see you're late. Do you have a pass?" my face felt red, I walked to his desk and handed the tardy slip to him and walked back to my seat. The girl next to me started to laugh then gave me a sly look."could you be any less annoying?" I looked up to see her light red hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, and dressed in the "new best thing" of designer clothes, I knew she was one of them. Ew.I rolled my eyes and minded my own business. We were learning about the colonization of the english people who came down to the new world, I've already learned this, so I took notes and tried to pay attention. The bell finally rang and I rushed to my next class. The rest of the day rushed in a blur. All I remember is that I wanted to go home and read. 3rd period was interesting. We played this weird game to learn everyone's name. I slowly walked to lunch, almost getting ran over by 3 of my friends, Jacob, Angel,and Rachel. "So how was your summer?" Rachel asked me, "It was good,I read a lot of books and bought my new barrel horse chief." I smiled thinking about him, I turned around to see who else was coming to our table and all I saw were 2 gorgeous greenish/blue eyes, and darkish brown/blonde hair, and a heart melting smirk on his face. Rachel looked over to see what caught my eye and then she giggled," He's cute though." then she looked at me waiting for my response. "Is he new? I've never seen him around here before." Jacob looked at me and smiled, "His names Riley Matthews, he's 17 and a star quarterback. And the reason you've never seen him before is because he just moved here from Nashville,Tennessee. And his status is as single as the last gummy bear in the package that no ones eaten yet." Jacob looked down and laughed at his last comment. I looked back over at the new boy and was surprised to see he was looking at me."OMG, Hayley! He's looking at you!!" as if she'd called his name he started to walk over to our table. He pulled up a chair and sat next to me "Hey, I'm new here and I don't really know my way around this school yet. Do you mind showing me where the AGG room is? It doesn't have a room number in the school and I don't have any idea where to go." he smiled my way. I looked at him and blushed,"Yeah, no problem, and the AGG room isn't at the school. I can drive you there if you'd like me to. I have to go there anyways and check on my horse." I smiled back, he nodded "Sounds great. So do you mind if I sit here till you leave?" he looked around to everyone else at the table, who was annoyingly watching our every move, even though we just met. Everyone else just smiled, "Not at all, actually we should probably start heading out now." I said pulling my hair back into a ponytail and grabbing ,my keys and my backpack. He didn't say anything back, just got up and followed me to my truck and we started to drive out to the AGG Barn.

The ride to the AGG Barn was interesting, he turned on the radio to 93Q and sang along to every song that they played,"Wow, I didn't know you listened to country music." He smiled "Yeah, my dad's the one that got me to like country music. He's always listenin to it when we were workin on the cars that came into the shop." he laughed and shook his head. We drove through the parking lot trying to find a place to park. Once we parked he turned to look at me and asked "So what kind of music do you listen to?" he smiled and waited for my response. I sat there and thought about it for a while "I guess it would be country music too. And some pop music." he nodded then got out of the truck and started walking towards the barn. "Where are you going?" he stopped then turned towards me, "I-I'm going to class..." he smiled. I laughed and pointed in the opposite direction "It's that way." I laughed a little, he blushed and gave me a shy smile. "Thanks, I should get to know which one it is,huh?" he smiled shyly again and looked down at his boots. I thought to myself,-I've never seen a guy act so shy around someone he just met.- I looked at him, "Would you like for me to show you around?" I gave him a small smile, and he smiled back "Sure, I think that would help me remember." we started walking towards the barn and I showed him where the cows and the goats are kept for the FFA kids who only do smaller show animals. He seemed to get the hang of it. Then I showed him where we kept the horses. I smiled when we came to the second to last stall. I smiled and kissed for the gelding to walk to the gate "Hey Chief. Hows my baby doin today?" I opened the stall and slowly walked it to close the gate behind me. I turned around to see Rusty adoring my horse,"That's a beautiful horse. What's his name?" he smiled and i waved for him to come inside the stall. "This is Chief, he's my barrel racing horse. I've had him for 4 years." I smiled and rubbed the front part of his face, down the thin white stripe alongside his nose. "You can pet him if you want to." I turned to look at him, and smiled. He slowly petted Chiefs neck and along his back. I checked Chiefs water and food and made sure he had enough hay. "C'mon, let's head to your class so you're not late." We walked to his class, he asked me lots of questions,like where I got Chief and if I'd had more horses before, and what do I feed him to keep him so healthy. It felt like my brain was going to explode with all of these questions.

I've never known someone with so many questions.

I giggled a bit and looked down at the ground " um.., I guess you could say that I feed him well. But what he really loves is when I feed him sugar cubes. He always seems happier when I give him some." He just noded and looked at me as to say he's still listening. "Oh! And he loves the words want to go for a run." Chief noded his head and smiled showing his teeth. We heard the bell go off " I guess I got to go now." He said to me and sort of looked around. I groaned" I'm so sorry, I just got so carried away with talking about Chief I lost track of time." I smiled slightly. He started to walk away, then he stopped and turned around to look at me " I didn't catch your name." I looked at him and blushed " oh yeah that.. um... It's Hayley, but you can call me Hayles." I said looking at my boots then looked up to see him watching to see my reaction " And yours is?" I asked kind of flirtingly. "Riley. But yours is more beautiful than my name will ever be." He said and smiled the same smirk I saw in the cafeteria earlier. It made my heart do a weird flip in my chest. Like it tried to leap out of my chest kind of thing. "Maybe I'll see you later?" He asked still looking at me with that smirk on his face. Then he slowly turned around and starts to walk out the barn. Then he turns his head a bit with a funny look on face " um, which way is it again?' I laugh a bit and pointed in the left direction" it's that way. Next time maybe you should write it down." He shook his head and laughed" yeah, I'll remember to take that advice next time." And then walks out the door.

After the bell rang, I realized I have to drive all the way back to the high school. "Damn it, I'm gonna be late. " I said and ran out to my truck. As I opened the driverside door I noticed a piece of paper in the seat. I opened the paper and the note said here's my number if you want to talk later. ~ R. 832-680-5532 . I closed it and set it in the cup holder beside me and drove to the high school. Once I got there I texted him and said hey it's Hayley. I got out the truck and walked to my 7th period. *Bzz Bzz*. I felt my phone go off in my pocket. Rusty responded hey I see you got the note. Are you busy later? I smiled a bit then texted back no I'm free until 9:00 but I gotta be back home around 10:00. I put my phone back in my pocket and walked into class. As I walked to my seat that stupid redhead laughed to herself "I see you trying to rope in somebody else." She smiled and gave me an annoyed look. I smiled" yeah, and it seems he tried to rope me in instead of the other way around. Oops! Sorry didn't mean to hurt your feelings by not being affected by your stupidity." She rolled her eyes and turned around to face the person in front of her. *Bzz Bzz* cool, I'll pick you up after school. I'll give you an address ok. 😊. My heart skipped a beat. Ugh I thought to myself should I answer? I shrugged why not, it shouldn't hurt. After class I met him at his truck and handed him a piece of paper with my address on it. "what time will you be there to pick me up?" I asked him as he put the address in his phone he looked up at me and smiled " how does 4:15 sound?" I couldn't breathe, his green eyes were filled with the same kind of feeling I saw earlier; light and interested. I just nodded and smiled back. He got into his truck and drove away leaving me speechless. Crap! I thought to myself I have a date at 4:15! I got to go and get ready. I quickly walked to my truck and drove home. 

I got home and headed straight to the shower. It felt good to take a shower before going out. I got out and wrapped the towel around my waist and walked to my room "What should I wear? Something nice or comfy but cute?" I said to myself. I found a cute shirt I'd warn at one of the Jackpots here in Alvin and I threw on some of my nice blue jeans with a hole in the knee and my boots. I heard a knock at the door. I quickly walked to the door and opened it. Just as I thought, Riley was at the door dressed in a nice plain t-shirt and some wranglers and boots. A nice smile crossed his face. 

"Wow, you sure look good in that shirt." He smiled. I blushed, I was just in a plain outfit but I felt so shy right now, which isn't like me at all. "Thanks, you look good yourself." I smiled back. I haven't felt this way before, you know, the nervousness inside your stomach. We walked to his truck and he helped me in. "So where you wanna go?" He asked in a shy low voice. "Hmmmmmmm, wanna go to Joe's BBQ? I hear the foods really good." I know the foods good I've been there many times with my brother. "Sound's like a good plan to me." He smiled after a while. We drove off towards Joes BBQ, I loved them music that he put on. "You had me from hello, I felt love start to grow. The moment that I looked into your eyes." His voice was soothing but a kind of deep voice. It honestly made my heart skip. He looked at me singing the last verse " you had me from hello." Then smiled after. I couldn't help but blush at his smile. It met his blue eyes perfectly. Then I realized, I was slowly falling in love with the new guy.

We arrived at Joe's BBQ, and I tell you, I couldn't get the silly smirk off my face when I saw Riley's reaction. "Dude!! This place looks awesome!" He said in amazement, like he'd never been to a place like this. "Have you ever eaten somewhere like this?" I asked, he turned to look at me with a look that said it all. "I was always too busy helping at the shop that I never went out." We ordered our food, and them went to a table 8n the corner of the room. I was enjoying my baby back ribs. After we ate and played he drove me home. "That was really fun. Thanks for coming along and giving the idea." He smiled and helped me out of the truck. I couldn't help but look up at him "Anytime, just say the word and we can hangout like this." I smiled then bit my life just a bit, but too shy to look back up. " I hope so, I enjoyed your company, Hayles."

  He told me he'd text me when he got home. And he left with that, and I couldn't stop thinking about what happened tonight.

   The next morning was interesting.

*Bzz* *bzz* who could that be? I said to myself.  Look outside. ~R. I got up and looked out the window. Riley was parked outside waiting. I hurried up and ran downstairs. As I opened the door he said " I thought I couldn't give you a ride to school today." I was caught off guard by the same smile I saw last night. "S-Sure. Thanks." I smiled as I looked down for a bit, then back at him blushing. We hurried off to school, and as soon as we walked in, everyone was staring. "Why's everyone staring?" He asked confused on why were the center of everyone's attention. "I don't know. Maybe because of how attractive you are." I told him, smiling as I did. He stopped for a second, I turned confused " What'd I say?" I asked. He looked at me and placed his hand on the side of my face. " I don't know what that see in my but, the only attractive one here is you Hayles." at that moment I couldn't speak. His words bewildered me and made me speechless. He took my hand in his "C'mon, I'll walk you to class." He said smiling. I just nodded with the same smoke back. We walked to my class and the whole way there, I felt like I was dreaming. Was he into me too? Does he know I like him? Omg. What if he asks me out. Everyone was looking this morning. I couldn't shake it.