The Art of Taking Chances

  The Art of Taking Chances

  A Contemporary Young Adult Romance Anthology

  Foreword by

  Cookie O’Gorman

  Edited by

  Kelsie Stelting

  Short Stories By

  Deborah Balogun

  Kat Colmer

  Sally Henson

  Melanie Hooyenga

  Michele Mathews

  Kelsie Stelting

  Seven Steps

  Kayla Tirrell

  Yesenia Vargas

  Table of Contents

  Foreword by Cookie O’Gorman

  Deborah Balogun

  Fangirl

  Seven Steps

  Forever and Always

  Melanie Hooyenga

  The Friend Rules

  Yesenia Vargas

  More Than a List

  Kayla Tirrell

  (Not So) Perfect Chemistry

  Sally Henson

  Spark

  Kelsie Stelting

  Tell Me Something Real

  Kat Colmer

  Tickets on Himself

  Michele Mathews

  Unstoppable Love

  Editor’s Note

  About the Authors

  Copyright Information

  The Art of Taking Chances Copyright © 2018 by Kelsie Stelting

  All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction, created from the authors’ imaginations. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, distributed, stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without express written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  For information, address Kelsie Stelting by email at kelsie@kelsiestelting.com.

  All short stories in the compilation are copyright of their respective creators as indicated herein and are reproduced here with permission. See individual copyright information below.

  Fangirl Copyright © 2018 by Deborah Balogun

  Tickets On Himself Copyright © 2018 by Kat Colmer

  (Not So) Perfect Chemistry Copyright © 2018 by Kayla Tirrell

  Tell Me Something Real Copyright © 2018 by Kelsie Stelting

  The Friend Rules Copyright © 2018 by Melanie Hooyenga

  Unstoppable Love Copyright © 2018 by Michele Mathews

  Spark Copyright © 2018 by Sally Henson

  Forever and Always: A St. Mary’s Academy Short Story Copyright © 2018 by Seven Steps

  More than a List Copyright © 2018 by Yesenia Vargas

  Created with Vellum

  Foreword by Cookie O’Gorman

  Confession time: I've never written a foreword.

  Just so you know, I can say that I've read (and enjoyed) several forewords. Each one is different, of course, but something they all have in common is that they give the reader a taste of what's to come. An introductory appetizer, if you will. A literary bloomin' onion before the main course.

  When Kelsie approached me about writing the foreword for this young adult romance anthology, I was surprised and more-than-a-little flattered. This incredible lineup of ladies, writing a bunch of sweet, heartfelt YA romance stories? Oh yes please, sign me up! There was no way I could pass up the awesome opportunity. Plus, I love YA romance, talking about it, writing it, reading it. It's all good. Sounds like a perfect fit, right?

  But the fear was there. The fear that suddenly appears whenever you decide to do something you've never done before, it was present and accounted for. In a rare show of bravery for my introverted/awkward/all-around-socially-inept self, I said "yes," took the plunge, and pressed send before I could talk myself out of it.

  And that, my friends, is what this book is all about.

  Taking chances, going for it, pulling on your big girl panties and doing the thing that frightens you most. That is something I truly admire about the YA genre and readership. Young adults are some of the bravest, most open-minded people around, and that is reflected in the characters in YA romance stories. I mean, where would we be if Eleanor never sat next to Park on the bus? And what if sweet Gilbert never told Anne how much he loved her—and accepted her even after he was rejected the first time? It's not that they're fearless. If you've read any YA, you know that a lot of the protagonists (girls and guys) are riddled with doubts and fears. They are vulnerable like everyone else. But what they do so well is something we adults often struggle with.

  They overcome their fears.

  Whether it's confessing to your secret crush or deciding to let go and trust a former enemy, whether it's falling in love for the first time, giving someone a second chance, or telling your best friend that you've loved him/her all along…YA shows us all how to be brave.

  It also shows us how to love, how to laugh, and how to swoon along the way.

  The stories in this anthology feature some fantastic YA romance tropes: enemies-to-lovers, second chance, secret admirer, best-friends-to-lovers, and many more. I must admit; that last one is my personal favorite, sigh. Who doesn't love seeing two best friends who've harbored feelings for each other finally get it together and find their happily-ever-after? I know I do.

  And one of the best things about this anthology? You get to see romance from the perspective of each of these amazing YA romance authors. I won't lie. Growing up, I didn't read much. It took me forever to get into reading, and once I did, it took me even longer to find my favorite authors.

  It's a risk, you see. Taking a chance on an author, reading a story from someone completely new to you, it's something I believe I can appreciate because I got a late start (the reading bug didn't really bite until I was out of high school). If I'd only read the awful required school reading, I'd never have gotten into YA romance and what a tragedy that would be!

  I might've never found Rainbow Rowell, who is amazing and wrote the most real and heartfelt YA romance I have ever read. I might've never read Meg Cabot, Katie McGarry, Abbi Glines, Kelly Oram, Jenny Han, Huntley Fitzpatrick, Kasie West. The list could go on and on. These are now some of my favorite authors, and I seem to add to this list every year! In fact, I go out of my way to add to it because I know there are incredible authors out there just waiting to be found.

  In 2016, when I released my debut novel Adorkable, I knew one of the hardest parts was going to be finding readers. Were they even out there? Did anyone love sweet YA romance as much as I did? Would they even give my book a chance?

  Luckily, they were out there, and they did give it a chance. I am thankful every day for every single reader, and I am so proud to be a part of the YA romance community! Young adult—and young adult romance in particular—has the power to lift people up. It can brighten your day, make you laugh out loud, allow you to experience first love again. Basically, it makes you feel all the feels. And it lets you know that it's okay to feel it all. This is why I think readers, young and not-so-young, relate to YA. It's all about feeling, and what bigger risk is there than putting your heart out there for all the world to see?

  Like I said at the start, this is my first time writing a foreword. It was a completely new experience. Though I've written a few YA romance novels, it was a risk—and I'm so glad I took it. If you've stayed with me this long, I just want to say: Thank you so much, and I hope it wasn't too boring lol! If you skipped straight to the stories, I don't blame you one bit. The following pages are sure to be infinitely more entertaining, and if you're like me, you probably couldn't wait to dig into the aw
esome young adult romances that await you.

  So without further ado, I hope you take a chance. Read the stories in this anthology and find a few new favorite authors while you're at it. Most of all, I hope this foreword and these stories remind you of all the reasons there are to love YA romance! There are so very many!

  Happy reading,

  Cookie O'Gorman

  Fangirl

  Deborah Balogun

  One

  Heather sighed. “I hate summer.”

  “No one can hate summer,” I argued. “It’s the best time of the year. You just hate working in the summer.”

  She tilted her head at me. “Yes Sadie, I hate working in the summer, and you wanna know why? Because I’d rather be someplace else, like I don’t know, maybe, Ibiza, snapchatting with a very hot foreign guy!” Heather yelled out, all in one breath.

  She ran off to the break room and shut the door behind her with a hard slam.

  I jolted in my skin. Geez, someone was feeling the heat wave. I shook my head and sat down on the stool she’d gotten up from.

  Although, I did understand her frustration. Well, sort of.

  Even my wild imagination didn’t travel as far as the Mediterranean coast, but I could picture myself on the beach right now. Outside the café window, the blue ocean waves beat at the shore. I couldn’t wait to get off work so I could take a dip in the cool water.

  Sweat dripped down both sides of my face, and I mopped my brow with the back of my hand, but I still felt icky as my clothes stuck to my skin.

  I glanced up at the ancient air-conditioner at the corner of the ceiling. With all the loud buzzing it made, you’d think it was world-class, but it did absolutely nothing to cool down the café. If anything, it added to the exasperating heat by spreading all that hot air around.

  Today had to be the hottest day of the summer. It already felt like a thousand degrees, and if the weather forecast was right, it was going to get hotter––something I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

  Resignedly, I rested my chin against my hands and gazed out at the beachfront. My vantage point did nothing to conceal the great view and all the fun people were having. It was so unfair. Everyone out there was so jolly while I was here, baking like a Thanksgiving turkey.

  What I’d give to run out to the beach right now.

  I even had a bikini under my clothes––always prepared, like every L.A. girl should be.

  Save for Heather and me, the café was deserted, and there was no way any customers would come by today. Who’d be crazy enough to get a coffee in this blistering heat?

  The bell jingled above the front door, catching my attention. I frowned slightly at the guy walking in, but immediately straightened myself.

  He went over to a table in the corner and sat down, and the only reasonable explanation I could think of was that he was either a lost tourist or just some dude looking for free Wi-Fi. If it was the latter, he’d be sorely disappointed.

  Grabbing my notepad and pen, I went around the counter and made my way over to him.

  “Good afternoon, welcome to Gray’s Café,” I said, putting on a half-hearted smile. “Would you like to order anything?”

  He glanced down at the menu. “Yeah, um, I’ll have the…full-cream macchiato,” he finally said.

  “Alrighty.” I wrote down his order. “One full-cream macchiato coming right up. Is there anything el––”

  The remaining part of that sentence hung in the back of my throat as I looked up from my notepad and stared at the guy’s face, really seeing him for the first time.

  His forehead creased a little. “Are you okay?”

  I blinked a few times. “I—I, um,” was all I could manage.

  “Do you want to say something?”

  I nodded like an idiot, my mouth failing to produce any logical words. But then, how could I when I was majorly freaking out inside?

  By some miracle, I managed to pull myself together for a whole of five seconds, quickly blurting out, “Would you like anything else?”

  He shook his head in response, and I ran like a bolt of lightning, only coming to a stop in the break room.

  Oh my god! Oh my god! I can’t believe I just saw him!

  I literally had to pinch myself to believe it was all real. He’s actually here!

  I spotted Heather leaning against the wall across the room, eyes glued to her phone. I sped over to her, needing to share this news with someone or I would actually burst with excitement.

  Unable to contain myself, I squealed, and she glanced up, eyeing me curiously.

  “You’ll never guess who I just saw!”

  Heather looked less than interested. “Who?”

  “Jesse Maldonado!” I said each word deliberately, and even as I did, I still couldn’t believe it.

  Her eyes went as wide as saucers. “No way!”

  “Yes way!”

  She frowned. “You mean the Jesse Maldonado, right?”

  “Obviously!” I rolled my eyes at her. “Is there any other?”

  We both screamed at the same time, bouncing up and down like the fangirls we were.

  “Wait, but where did you see him?” Heather asked.

  “That’s the best part. He’s here! In the café!”

  Heather’s eyes widened further—if that was even possible. “He’s here?”

  Before I could even blink, she rushed past me and out of the break room. I caught up with her, thankfully, and stopped her before she could go over to him.

  “He can’t know that anyone else knows he’s here!”

  “But I want to take a selfie with him,” she whined.

  “Are you insane?” I whispered loudly. “If you ask him for a selfie, he’ll get uncomfortable, and if he gets uncomfortable, he’ll leave, and if he leaves, he’ll never come back. Is that what you want?” I asked in one exhaustive breath.

  She eyed me like I was crazy, which was absolutely ridiculous. Heat-affected, sure. Crazy, no.

  I looked over at Jesse Maldonado and let out a wistful sigh. Even with his back turned to us, I could tell his body was a work of art handcrafted by the gods.

  Not only was he the most talented singer who ever walked the face of the earth, he was perfect in every other way. Great smooth, black hair, sea-green eyes that made you feel like you were staring right into an ocean, and his smile…oh my god, his smile was just… There was no word to describe the effect he had on lowly humans who had the rare privilege of gazing upon him in person.

  I only started to notice that I was slowly melting in a puddle of my own drool when Heather distracted me with that loud tapping noise her fingers made whenever they hit her phone’s screen.

  Not that her obsession with posting about everything in sight was anything new, but the mischievous smile plastered on her face told me that once again she was up to no good.

  “What are you doing?” I asked slowly, watching her reaction as her head remained buried in her phone.

  “Tweeting.”

  “About?”

  Heather looked up at me, her eyes becoming slits. “News flash: I can do whatever I want, Sadie. You’re not the boss of me.”

  Technically, I was the boss of her since I was the weekend manager, but I doubted making her aware of that fact would help the situation.

  I blew out a breath. “Heather, if you send out a tweet about Jesse being here, in less than five minutes the café will be flooded with people, not to mention the press would be all over this place.”

  “So? What’s wrong with that?” Heather shrugged. “It’d be great for business.”

  My brow arched. “Since when did you care about what was ‘great for business’? I thought you said you hated working here?”

  “I’m allowed to change my mind.”

  “Oh, how fickle of you,” I muttered, and she stuck her tongue out at me as she walked away.

  “Excuse me?”

  I gasped at the sound of Jesse Maldonado’s voice. With his head now turned
in my direction, I straightened my stance and raced over to him, struggling to keep my composure.

  “Yes?” My voice came out more high-pitched than I’d intended.

  “When will my coffee be ready?”

  Crap! I’d forgotten about his order!

  “Uh…in just a few minutes.”

  I hurried to make the coffee, and once it was ready, I rushed back over and settled it right in front of him. “Sorry for the delay. Enjoy.”

  He offered me that heart-stopping smile of his. “Thanks.”

  I sighed longingly. I could have died happy right then.

  Suddenly, Jesse gazed up at me with an expectant look on his face.

  I smiled back at him and couldn’t stop. My face had a habit of freezing when I was nervous. Like that wasn’t weird enough, I started to fidget uncontrollably with the ends of my apron as the awkward staring contest continued, until I couldn’t take it anymore and landed into the seat opposite him.

  Releasing a long breath, I summoned up all the courage within me and looked Jesse Maldonado directly in his cute eyeballs.

  “You’re Jesse Maldonado!” I blurted out. “I-I can’t believe you’re here right now—and in front of me. I’m such a huge fan! I love all your songs, I know all the lyrics by heart. I’m just so excited to finally meet you!”

  Man, it felt really good to let that all out!

  He stared back at me blankly, and I realized I must have made him uncomfortable.

  Great going, Sadie!

  “I’m so sorry,” I apologized, biting my bottom lip. “I really didn’t want to bother you, but I just couldn’t help it.”