Nick sat on his bed and stared into space. He was humiliated. Sad. Lonely.

Before Summer had started at school, Nick had never been too into girls. Sure, he'd had a few crushes. But all the girls had rejected him, saying he 'wasn't cool enough'. Sitting by Summer in her first lesson at his school, he was sure from the first moment he saw her that she was special. But again, she had rejected him. It had taken a lot of courage to ask her out but he had gotten the answer he didn't want to hear. And from her nasty no-good friends! He really disliked Sapphire. She had bullied him right from elementary school when he was trying to make it as a star. She was plain nasty and Nick never knew quite why she picked on him in the first place.

Sniffing and wiping his eyes on the sleeve of his sweater, Nick flicked on the radio. He loved music and it always helped cheer him up when he was down. A sad love ballad was playing, Nick listened to the lyrics. It was all about being rejected by someone special. Just like him being rejected by Summer...

Nick turned the dial of the radio. He wanted to be cheered up, not made worse! He stopped when he got to a familiar song. It was by a new group that had recently became popular in the US. A group he was one nearly part of... but he had decided to take a different option instead- the biggest mistake he had made. If he had chosen the band he would be rich and famous, instead of the high school nerd...

Nick stood up and walked over to his wardrobe to get out another sweater. As he opened it he sighed. His tuxedo was hanging at the front, he had gotten it especially for the dance... except that he had no-one to go with.

"I was stupid to even bother asking her!" he muttered to himself, slamming the wardrobe door. He looked at his reflection in the mirror on the wardrobe door. He saw himself standing looking sad. His face was frowning and his eyes downcast. "What a mess," he said under his breath, brushing down his creased trousers and smoothing down his messy reddish brown hair.

"Nick? You up there?".

"Yeah mom!" Nick called. He went to the door and opened it. "What?" he asked her.

"Phonecall," his mom informed him.

Nick's eyes brightened. Maybe it was Summer!

He rushed down and took the receiver from his mom. "Hello?".

"Nick hi! It's Brent..."

Nick's heart sunk. It was his bestfriend Brent- one of the only real friends he had.

Nick talked with Brent for a while then he had to go.

"But Nick," Brent said just before going. "You sound really sad this evening. Is everything OK?".

"Not really," Nick admitted. "But don't worry about me!".

"Girl trouble?" Brent guessed.

"Yeah, you guessed it. It's Summer...."

"Oh did you ask her?"

"Uh-huh, but she turned me down! Actually it was her friend Sapphire that turned me down for. Honestly, that Sapphire is nastier than I thought!".

"She is nasty," Brent agreed. "She's been mean to you for as long as I can remember! Why is Summer friends with her?!".

"Don't ask me!" Nick exclaimed. "I guess being in Sapphire's gang makes her more popular... if only I was popular... maybe then I would have her... or if I'd chosen the band all that time ago...".

"Nick, don't! You can't feel bad about turning the band down- you were only twelve!".

"I guess," Nick said quietly. "Well I better let you go, see ya at school...".

"Yeah OK Nick, see ya. And cheer up!".

They hung up and Nick went upstairs. When he got to his room, his younger brother Aaron was sitting on the bed playing Nick's Nintendo.

"Hey Aaron, let's have a two player!" Nick said, forcing a smile for his bro.

"Sure! Just let me finish this go!".

Nick spent the rest of the evening playing video games with his kid brother, just like he normally did. Although the games kept his mind off Summer a little, he still couldn't help feeling sad about it all.

Later that night, Nick got into bed and flicked off the light. His mind replayed the events of the day. He smiled, thinking of Summer's pretty face, but he shuddered as he remembered the humiliation.

"That's it," Nick whispered to himself as he drifted off to sleep. "I'm giving up on Summer. I don't want to go through all that again. I don't want to get hurt again,".

>>>>>

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