Evan sat in his usual spot in the canteen, with Wes faithfully next to him. It was just before registration, and he and his friends would normally check out the talent; everyone in the school would pass through this room in the morning, and that meant a whole lot of girls. He tried to wink at a short and pretty blonde, but the slicing pain above his right eye stopped him, and he winced. Wes spotted it, and called to one of the other boys, Tom, to give Evan a pain killer, which he accepted gratefully.

“Dude, maybe you shouldn’t have come in today.” Wes said, looking a little concerned. Evan shook his head.

Nah, man. I’m fine.” In truth he had in fact wanted to stay home today, but Caitlyn had said ‘see you tomorrow’, and he couldn’t let Michael know how much that punch had hurt. There was a cut above his eye as well as one in the back of his head where he had collided into the wooden bench. Also, is ribs had received a good kicking too. And he was feeling all of it today. But, Isabelle was going to be here, and maybe she could be convinced of his thoughts about her. He thought she was stunning, and those blonde curls were to die for.

He smiled as he picked her face out in the crowd, and grabbed her hand as she walked past; she hadn’t seen him. She looked a little shocked as he pulled her into his arms, and her body stiffened.

“Relax.” He muttered into her ear, a little annoyed at her lack of enthusiasm. “You have to keep up appearances with our kind of thing. I’m not going to hurt you.” She pulled her face back to look at his properly, and he kept a look of utter seriousness on his features as she surveyed the damage her brother had done. He sighed, but it turned into a wince as his ribs stretched, sending another wave of pain across his torso. Isabelle stared at him with guilt and concern, which caused him in return to feel good. He resolved that even if Michael hated him, Isabelle would at least think he wasn’t that bad.

“I’m so sorry about yesterday. I should have done something, I-” Evan placed a finger over her mouth to stop her talking. At this rate, she was going to get emotional, and he couldn’t be bothered with that. Still, to other people, it almost looked as though he was being romantic. She smiled as she pulled his hands away. “Seriously.” She said. “I could have done a little more.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned cockily at her in an attempt to look manly. “Just a scratch. Hey, you look beautiful today, you know.” He watched as the blush spread upwards to flush her face. It amazed him how even something as little as that got his pulse racing. Taking a deep breath, he decided it was now or never to kiss her. The worst she could do was push him away lightly; they were in a room full of other people, and she didn’t want to look bad in front of them. What would they say if they saw her pushing her own boyfriend away? The word ‘frigid’ would be tossed about like a baseball.

What was even better was that she didn’t even seem aware of what he was going to do. She looked around them, as though she was waiting for someone, and he seized the opportunity while she was still slightly distracted. He pulled her chin toward him and planted his lips on hers. It felt great. At first, she was quick to respond to him, and their mouths moved together in what he imagined to be a sophisticated manner. It didn’t look good when he saw a couple practically eating one another’s face off.

However, within seconds, that had ended, and Isabelle became unresponsive. He sighed, and let her go, and watched as she quickly glanced around her for someone again; he assumed she was checking that Michael was around. Waiting, Evan decided that the kiss wasn’t that bad. It was good in the sense that Isabelle clearly knew what she was doing, but then again, she had broken it off far too soon for his liking.

Isabelle.” She looked back at him, ashamed. “What did you think?” He noticed that she seemed a little preoccupied; Michael had appeared. A feeling of heat began to work it’s way up his neck, and he began to feel uncomfortable. He found himself hoping in some ways that he had seem them kissing, but then again, he didn’t think he could stand another beating. He continued to stare at Michael, who looked no more angry than usual and then turned back to Isabelle. “Well?” he prompted.

“It was... different.” She mumbled “But I don’t want you to do it again.” He nodded.

“Fine.” He wasn’t about to give up on that particular activity though, and knew that with a little persuasion, she might actually begin to like the situation. Once he got the taste for something, then there wasn’t a lot he wouldn’t do to get it.

Author guidance for This story

This was my NaNoWriMo novel of 2009. I have finally decided to let it see the light of day. However there is next to no editing. Ha. I must get around the that.

Some of the later scenes people may recognise from Our Scrapbook, where I posted a few sample chapters before I knew what I was really doing.

I really hope you like it, although I am going to have to say that if you would like to post a comment, I would like one good thing and one bad thing please! How else am I going to improve?

=] Thank you guys!

The Sins are as follows; Sloth, Envy, Wrath, Greed, Gluttony, Pride and Lust.

updated Sep 13 '11 by chazpez