Step by Step

I sat on the couch and turned on my MP3 and turned on “Happy” by Never Shout Never. I was trying to sing along when there was a knock on the door. I groaned and went to the door, when I opened it I almost passed out; standing in front of me was an amazing looking boy. He had fair skin, black hair and the brightest green eyes I had ever seen. He had a silver lip ring on his bottom lip and he was wearing a Never Shout Never t-shirt and black skinny jeans.

         “Hey, anyone home?” His voice brought me back to reality

         “Um sorry…what did you say?” he smiled

         “I said welcome to the neighborhood.”

         “Oh well thanks, I’m Krisma King.” I stretched my hand out

He shook, “I’m Aiden Jameson nice to meet you…I guess I’ll see you around.”

I smiled, “Bye Aiden.”

He smiled back, “Bye Krisma.”

He left and I felt like I just woke up from the best dream of my life. That boy was what I had been looking for my entire teenage life. Wait… I’m jumping ahead of myself, what if he has a girlfriend or boyfriend or something?

I wish I had asked him some questions; I was in love with his look. I knew I was crushing on him but there was nothing I could do about it now. “Krisma, where are you!” I looked behind me to see my younger sister.

“What do you want Victoria?” I asked. She smiled

“Mommy says to go and get ready to go to the store; she needs you to go with her to get some things.”

I sighed and went to my room and put on my shoes and jewelry. I went to the car and my Mom came and we went to Walmart. She gave me a list and I went around looking for the things. I was looking for cereal when another cart hit my back, “Hey!” I turned around and saw Aiden smirking

“Well look who it is.” he smiled

“Oh…hey Aiden, what's up?” I smiled

“Not much, what’re you doing here?” he asked looking at the contents of my cart.

“The only thing you can do at a Walmart, shopping.” he smirked

“Right, so you here by yourself or...?”

“I’m here with my mom, what about you, parent or some friends?”

“Actually…”

“Aidy there you are!” I looked around him to see a blond, blue eyed girl in an incredibly bright pink dress and heels running to him.

“Who are you?” she sounded like an airhead but I couldn’t judge her just yet

“My name’s Krisma, it’s nice to meet you.” I stuck out my hand

“Of course it’s nice to meet me,” she turned to Aiden, “Sweetie I’m getting tired can you stop talking to random people so we can get out of here?” he smiled softly at me and turned back to her

“I’m almost done.” She rolled her eyes and walked off, he turned back to me and smiled apologetically

         “Sorry about that, my girlfriend’s a little impatient.” He said

Impatient isn’t the word I would’ve used.

“No problem, I need to find my mom anyway.” He nodded and waved

“See you at home.” I laughed and waved back

“See you later.” I went to my mom and we went to the register. When we got home I ran into the house with the groceries and put them in the kitchen, then I ran upstairs and got out my cell. I texted my closest friends from back home in Florida and they were all excited about the "hot guy next door" and they wanted pictures and they were saying he was probably going to be my first boyfriend.





I closed my cell and went down stairs to hear my parents talking to some people

“Victoria!” Vicky, my younger sister, came to the stairs and looked at me

“What do you want?”

“Who’s here?”

“Just our new neighbors.” I ran back up to my room and looked into the mirror; I fixed my hair, brushed my teeth and put on more lip-gloss. I stepped to the bottom of the stairs and straightened my clothes. I went to the kitchen and got a bottle of water and slowly walked to the living room where I saw my Mom and Dad sitting with a man a woman and…Aiden.

“Hello everyone.” I smiled and looked at everyone and when I looked at Aiden he was looking down at his phone not even interested in what was going on.

“Hey Aiden.” He looked up at me and smiled.

“Hey Krisma, how goes it?” I laughed

“It goes well.” He smiled at me

“You two know each other?” I looked at a black haired woman with brown eyes

Aiden looked at her, “I came over here earlier and introduced myself.”

“And then we saw each other again in Walmart.” He nodded and the woman smiled at me

“Well it’s nice that you two got to know each other, I’m Clarice, Aiden’s mother.” I shook her hand and then the man introduced himself.

“I’m Jackson, Aiden’s uncle.” I shook hands with him and Aiden stuck his hand out too

“What?” I asked, he laughed

“I don’t get a handshake?” I smiled

“You got one earlier, how many handshakes could one person need?”

“I’ll take as many as the day brings, it’s either that or a hug and a hug would be awkward.”

“You are such a boy.” He laughed and shook my hand.

“Krisma why don’t you bring everyone a water bottle?” my mom told me

I nodded, “Ok mommy.” I turned to leave when a voice stopped me

“Do you want some help?” I turned around to see Aiden standing behind me. I smiled at him

“Sure that’d be great.” He nodded and followed me to kitchen and took some water bottles from the fridge.

“So… you call your mom, mommy?” I looked up at him from the fridge

“Yeah, so?” he shrugged and smirked

“I would’ve thought someone of your age would’ve grown out of that by now.”

“Oh really and how old do you think I am?” he scrunched up his face and pretended to think.

“Fourteen…no... Hmm, are you a really short thirty year old still living with your mommy and daddy?” I hit him in his gut with a water bottle and laughed

“I’m sixteen you dummy and secondly I’m taller than you so you have no right to go calling someone short” he rolled his eyes

“I can call you whatever I want.” I stood in front of him

“Oh is that right?” he stepped closer to me

“Yep.” I paused and stared into his green eyes and smirked

“Let’s get these out there.” I pushed past him and took the water bottles into the living room.

“Awesome thanks.” I gave the bottle to Aiden’s uncle and he chugged it down

“Jack don't do that, it's rude.” His sister hit him on his leg and he rolled his eyes. I smiled and started drinking my water

“So how old are you, what’s your name?” I looked at Aiden’s mother smiling up at me from the couch.

“My name’s Krisma; I’m sixteen.” She smiled

“That’s great, you’re the same age as Aiden, when’s your birthday?”

“April 18th.” She smiled

“Aiden was born April 19th.” I smiled

“So I’m a day older than you?” he rolled his eyes

“Yes grandma you’re a day older.”

“Aiden!” his mother looked at him angrily

“Call me whatever you want, you’re only doing it because you’re jealous.” He looked at me with an eyebrow raised

“Jealous… of you?” I nodded

“Little kids are always jealous of big kids.”

“You’re only one day older than me!” I rolled my eyes and went to get another water bottle

“Hey wait, I’m not jealous!” I heard Aiden running after me and I started laughing

“If you’re not jealous why do you keep complaining about it?”

“I’m not complaining; you just won’t stop talking about it!”

“So you followed me to make sure I stopped talking about it, smooth Aiden, real smooth.” His cheeks burned red

“N-no I just… umm…” I smiled at him and reached out my hand

“Come on little boy let’s take you back to your mommy.” He glared at me and stomped away

“What a drama queen.”

“I can still hear you!”

“Good!” I went back into the living room and Aiden was glaring at me

“Um… so Aiden where do you go to school?” my Mom asked him

“I go to Mount Crest high.”

“Oh Krisma and Armoni, my son, are going to be going there after break but Armoni’s going to be a sophomore and Krisma will be a senior.”

Aiden’s mother’s smile got really big, “Aiden’s going to be a senior too.” He looked at me

“But we probably won’t have any of the same classes, most of mine are advanced and AP.” I smirked

“Oh really, like what?” he raised an eyebrow at me

“Right now I have AP English and psychology.” My smirk grew

“You’re right we probably won’t have many of the same classes.” He smirked “And that’s because I already took AP English as a junior, passed it and got the college credit.” His eyes widened as I took a sip of my water. “But as for psychology I'll be taking it third block.” His eyes grew wider

“That’s when I have it, who’s your teacher?” I tried to remember what the little sheet had said

“Mr. Monroe.”

“What!”

“Aiden what’s wrong?” his mother asked

I smiled, “We have a class together, imagine that.”

“W-what’s the rest of your schedule?” As I told him the rest of my schedule he put his head in his hands

“Aiden what’s wrong now?” his uncle asked him

“I’ve got all but one class with you!” I smiled, this time a genuine smile, and laughed a bit.

“What are you so worried about?" he looked at me as if I was stupid

“Did you seriously just ask me that?”

“Are you going deaf now, yes I just asked you that.”

“Krisma watch it.” I looked at my parents and backed off a bit

“You’ll barely fit in with any of the cliques, you’re not normal and they’re going to eat you alive and when they find out you’re my neighbor, oh man Tiff’s going to kill me!” I glared at him

“Are you serious?” he looked up at me “You come here and I think ‘Well here’s a nice kid.’ but he turns out to be the biggest donkey of the century with a prissy little princess hanging on his arm!” anger rose on his face and he stood in front of me

“Don’t you ever talk about my girlfriend like that!” I rose and glared at him

“I’ll say whatever the heck I want because according to you I’m not going to fit in with anyone so who’s going to care what I say in the first place!” I grabbed my water and my MP3 and stormed out of the house. I played all the sad songs I could find and walked to the side of my new house that faced away from Aiden’s. I cried my eyes out while at the same time trying to be extremely quiet, I was listening to “Glitter” by Pink when I felt something kick gently at my shoe. I looked up and saw Aiden looking at me with a slight frown on his face. “What do you want?” I asked softly. He sighed,

“I want to apologize.”

“You want to or your mother’s making you?” he sighed

“I had no right to label you the way I did.”

“Are you done?” I was hoping he would leave and go away but he sat down next to me

“Look Krisma, we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other, especially when school starts back up, so I was thinking maybe you’d want to just walk and get to know each other better so we don’t kill each other.” I looked at my shoe and he pressed his hand on my shoe bending it till the side touched the dirt

“Quit it!” I whined he smiled

“I knew that would irritate you, now tell me what else bothers you.”

“I can’t tell you because I’m not bothered.” I looked at him and smiled at the confused expression I expected would appear on his face

“What are you saying?”

“When I’m not in a current mood I can’t remember what puts me in that mood, I just….”

“You just zone out and think about how you’re feeling right then?” I looked at him

“I guess.” He smiled and pulled me up

“Come on.” I looked at him

“What are you doing?” he smiled and dragged me back inside

“What do you do for fun?” he started pushing me up the stairs

“Why're you pushing me?” by now his mother, uncle and my parents came to watch the little show.

“Because you’re going to change into clothes that aren’t stained and come with me to the mall to get a first day of school outfit!” I stopped and stared at him

“You, the boy wearing a Power Rangers jacket with a Never Shout Never shirt is going to tell me what to wear?” he glared at me

“At least my clothes aren’t stained and smelly.” I glared and stomped up the stairs to my room.

“You two keep the door open!” my Mom yelled

“Really mommy!” I tuned quickly to Aiden “One crack about that and I’ll kick you where no boy ever wants to be kicked.” He rolled his eyes and started going through my closet

“Not bad, some of this stuff is actually pretty decent… ooh what’s this?” he held up one of my bras, a red one with frills.

“Give me that you perv’.” He held it away from me and started laughing

“But it’s huge!”

“Aiden!” he looked at me and for a minute his expression changed

“Fine, here wear this and come on.” He threw me a purple shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans

“I’ll change if you get out.” He rolled his eyes and got out of the room

I changed as quickly as I could and put in my MP3, I wasn’t letting him back in until I was ready I turned on “If I Had You” by Adam Lambert and started singing along. I heard Aiden knocking on the door but I ignored him.

“Krisma if you don’t come out here on the count of three I’m going home and I’ll never take you anywhere again.” That caught my attention, I pressed pause and opened the door

“Where exactly would you take me?” he smirked

“Well I do have a couple friends who like girls about this size.” He pulled out another of my bras and waved it in my face

“Aiden give it back!” he ran and stuffed it in his back pocket

“Finish getting ready and you get it back!” I ran and finished putting on my boots and ran after him

“I’m done now give it back!” he smiled and gave me back my bra; I smiled and then hit him in the head with it.

“Owe, you’re a big jerk!”

“Really because I don’t take your bras and wave them around for the whole world to see.” He rolled his eyes and threw my bra on the couch and pulled me out the door.

“How are we even getting to the mall?” I asked him

“The mall’s not that far we can walk.” I glared at him

“You could’ve told me we were walking before I put on this sweater.” He rolled his eyes and before I knew it we were at the mall.

“Wow you weren’t kidding.” He dragged me in and the first store he took me to was Forever 21.

“I don’t like this store Aiden, I’m going to look around.” I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm

“No you’re not, this is where my girlfriend and her friends get their clothes so this is where you’re going to shop.” I crossed my arms over my chest as he started going through the rack to find something for me. It’s not that I don’t appreciate his attempts at helping me, though I shouldn’t, but I don’t really have the style that this store offers. I like wearing different clothes not only label stuff. He was leaning over looking into some racks.

“Aiden this is ridiculous, you don’t even know what would look good on me.”

“Shut up and look for something.” I glared and raised my foot so it pushed him into the rack, he almost knocked it over. I started laughing but when he turned around glaring at me I rolled my eyes and my laughter ceased to exist

“I’m serious Aiden, even back in Florida I didn’t shop here.”

“Look I’m trying to get along with you…”

“By telling me to shut up, nice job monkey boy.”

“If you keep acting like a brat then I’m going home.” I rolled my eyes and waited until he was looking deeply into a rack to leave the store.

I couldn’t stop laughing when I realized… I had no idea where I was going. I tried to find a mall directory but it was pointless. So I just went around looking at the different shops until I found a Barnes and Nobles.

“Yes they have one, they have one.” I smiled as I walked in and saw people of all ages reading and chatting and eating. It made me miss my Barnes and Nobles back home and how familiar I was with it. I walked around and looked at the books searching for the teen fiction. I searched and searched but could only find books in Spanish.

“This is so ridiculous!” I shouted to myself

“It is a bit hard but after a while you get the hang of it.” I turned around to see a guy with an eyebrow piercing and brown hair and brown eyes smiling at me.

“Um hello.” He smiled

“You can’t make better conversation than that, what’s your name?”

“Krisma and you?” he extended his hand and smiled

“I’m Chase, so why haven’t I seen your pretty face around here before?” I blushed

“I… um…”

“Are you new?” I nodded

“Where you from girl, where do they keep your kind?” I smiled at how strange he seemed

“Florida, south Florida.” He looked me over and smiled

“Nice tan.” I rolled my eyes

“I’m African- American moron.” He smirked

“No need to tan, even better.” I laughed and so did he

“So do you now where the fiction stuff is or what?” he nodded and took me to the section

“So what are you looking for?” I shrugged looking though the titles

“Nothing in particular I just love seeing what’s available.” He smirked

“Well if you love things that are available…”

“There you are, come on!” I looked behind me and saw Aiden coming towards me

“Aiden I already told you I hate Forever 21!”  He grabbed my arm and started dragging me out the door. He stopped and sighed

“Fine if you don’t want to go there where do you want to go?” I smiled

“Can we just get something t eat?” he gave me a strange look and then nodded

“We’ll go to the food court and then we’ll find your outfit.” I nodded and turned back to Chase

“Bye Chase see you around.” He smiled and waved to me