Paranormal Romance (witch) 18+
Chapter One
They were waiting for her...
…inside that packed gymnasium, where Vivienne Miles would have every eye on her as she walked up to the podium to give her “inspirational speech” to this year’s graduating class.
Her palms were already clammy; they’d likely be seafood bisque by the time she made it to the microphone. Viv sighed, trying to fight past her fears. Even after everything she had gone through with the release of her very first novel—from the book signings, to interviews, etc she was still as nervous as if it were the very first time she’d stood before an audience. The people inside that large gym were people she grew up with. They were people whom she considered anything from friend to foe. That fact, added to the knowledge that everyone at the school, and in the town, considered her some sort of celebrity that she wasn’t, pretty much made this the most nerve wrecking experience she had ever had.
Viv looked around her, noticing the photographs on the wall of the previous graduating classes. She stood from her position on the bench and scanned the images for the one of the 2006 class, where she knew she would see an awkward, short, plump girl who had wished she could just hide behind some of her tall classmates, away from the camera’s lens.
When her eyes landed on that girl, Viv shook her head, not wanting to remember that particular time in her life. High School had been some of the worst years of her life; between bullies centering their attention on her day in and day out, her grades being less than mediocre and barely making it each day, and the fact that she would have much rather been in a corner somewhere listening to music and escaping the hallways than participating in P.E or music class. Not much had changed since then, except for the fact that she had moved out of the small town of Logi, New York, made a name for herself, and gained some confidence. She was still that short, plump, socially awkward person that was staring back at her from the photograph. The only difference, now, was that she was a woman, instead of a young girl who felt she had no place in the world.
Viv never wanted to enter these halls again, or see most of the people she had once called classmates. Yet, here she was, waiting for her name to be announced so she could be highlighted as one of the town’s “most successful people” and give a speech about how you should never quit believing in your dreams. Viv didn’t mind the speech, per se, because it was true that no one should give up on their dreams, but if you ever looked up the definition of the words “socially awkward” you’d understand why Viv was apprehensive about the whole concept of standing before this particular audience. The dictionary clearly defines socially awkward as people who are “individuals excessively afraid of social interaction due to some form of peer rejection or personal choice.”
Yup, that basically defined Vivienne Miles, Romance Novelist.
The worst part about having returned to her hometown was going to involve having to mingle and autograph books after giving her speech. She’d much rather just run out the door, into her vehicle, and take off down Route 12 to get away from the town and the people. She loved Logi, N.Y, but it was too hard to be there. If she were visiting an old friend, teacher, or even her former hairdresser it was fine, because she had no chance of running into someone she didn’t want to see—unless someone walked into the hairdresser’s home to visit, but that was a rare occasion.
When she faced the crowd that was sitting in that room, she would be eliminating any chance. In fact, there would be no way around it. She’d be seeing people from her past as soon as she stepped inside. Worse than that, she would likely see the very guy her novel was written about. It was titled The One that Got Away, after all.
David Wilkinson was the head jock of their class, and had been the one to hold Vivienne’s heart for the last four years of their High School career, as well as the one who still held it and probably always would. She looked at the class portrait again; only this time her eyes zeroed onto David. He stood in the back, smiling beneath his graduation cap with his arm around two of his teammates from the baseball team. His six foot frame towered over the rest of the class, but he didn’t look like a giant. He carried his height with pride. At the time, he had been about 180 pounds of muscle, with slightly darkened skin from their senior trip to Hawaii. His bright blue eyes and dark hair created a contrast that made her go weak in the knees back then. Evidently, considering Viv found it hard for her legs to hold her up as she stared at his image, grabbing onto the wall nearest to her, they still did.
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