I spent most of the day playing Mario Kart with Lee. Noah went out so we didn't see him.

"I'm actually pretty surprised he took care of me," I admitted to Lee.

He laughed. "You're not the only one. I would've, if I'd been there. But I got kind of waylaid..."

"Yeah, you told me about Veronica. Was there another girl you kissed, or just the one? You want to watch it, or you'll be turning out like your brother."

Lee rolled his eyes at me. "Says the stripper. We make a fine pair."

"I was intoxicated."

"So was I, a little."

"Not Noah, apparently."

"I think he must have been, if he was looking after you like that. He's not usually so... so nice."

I laughed. "To put it nicely."

"Indeed. Hey, maybe he's crushing back at you."

I gave Lee a flat look. "Don't be so ridiculous. And I got over that crush anyway years ago, as you well know."

Lee wrinkled his nose. "That'd be weird anyway."

"Whatever." I shoved his shoulder, making his kart veer off course, and making Yoshi plummet off the side of the waterfall while I took first place with Luigi.

I got home around five, since I had some homework to finish off. I'd made Lee drive me home, since I'd borrowed a pair of his jeans and I didn't want to wear those in public. I made a running dash for the door, my best friend laughing at me the entire time.

"Hey!"

"What?" I yelled, poking my head out of the door.

He threw my dress from last night over to me, and I caught it just before it fell on the ground. "See you in the morning!"

"Bye, Lee!"

I shut the front door and heard, "Rochelle, is that you?"

"Yeah! Hi Dad!"

"Come in the kitchen a sec."

I sighed, wondering if I was in for a lecture now or not. My guess was not, but you never know. And when my dad does get angry with me for something, it's something I dread.

He was working on his laptop at the kitchen table, and I heard Brad on the Wii in the lounge.

"Hey," I said, putting on the coffee maker.

"You can make me a cup too while you're there," he said.

"Yeah."

"Good party?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was great."

"You didn't get too drunk? Or do anything too stupid?" He shot me a stern look over the rim of his glasses, pointedly conveying that he was talking about boys.

Not that I'm even sure why he bothered. It was hardly confidential knowledge that I'd never had a boyfriend, or kissed a guy.

"I, um... I wasn't too bad... only a bit drunk."

Dad sighed, and took off his glasses, rubbing his cheek. "Rochelle... You know what I've said about you drinking."

"I was fine, honestly. Lee and Noah took care of me anyway."

"Noah did?"

Even my dad was surprised that Noah went out of his way to look after me. It was enough of a surprise that he forgot about the drinking for a moment.

"Yeah. I thought it was weird too."

"Mm... Anyway, don't change the subject, young lady. You know what I've said about you drinking."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Mm. Next time that happens, you'll be grounded for a month, you hear? And don't think I won't find out."

"Message received, loud and clear."

He didn't look entirely convinced, but let it slide. It wasn't like I went out every other night drinking; it was a once-in-a-while thing.

"So have you and Lee come up with an idea for your booth yet? You really need to get a move on with that. The carnival's only two weeks away.

"Yeah. We're doing a kissing booth."

"That's... unusual," Dad laughed. "Are you sure you'll be allowed to do that?"

I shrugged, pouring two mugs of coffee out. "I don't see why not."

"Well it's better than throwing balls at coconuts," he said. "Anyway, listen, I'm going to need you to watch Brad tomorrow, okay? I'm working late."

"Yeah, sure." I gulped down my coffee, after adding a ton of milk to it. "I'm going to take a shower and do my homework."

"Okay. Dinner at seven. We've got meatloaf."

"Cool."

I hated Mondays. They sucked. There was not one redeeming feature about Monday mornings. I always set my alarm twenty minutes earlier than I needed to get up, since I was always so reluctant to get out of bed early, particularly on a Monday.

When I finally dragged myself out of bed and started to get dressed, I grabbed my black pants out of the closet. Our school was built in, like, the early 1900s or something like that, and for some stupid reason they kept the tradition of uniform. It wasn't the worst uniform in the world, but I wished we didn't have uniform at all.

As if Monday mornings weren't already bad enough, mine was about to get a hell of a lot worse.

Riiiiiiiip!

I froze, one leg half in the leg of my pants. Hurriedly, I wriggled out of them and held them in front of me, inspecting them. Last week, there had been a teeny tiny hole in the seam on the inside of the right leg, which I'd forgotten to fix on the weekend. Now, there was a giant tear down the leg.

"Oh, crap," I muttered, throwing them down. I wasn't much of a seamstress at the best of times, and there was no way Dad would be able to fix them. I'd have to order some new ones from online... they should get here by Thursday, I calculated. But until then... It'd have to be my old skirt.

I hated the regulation school skirt. It was pleated, for one thing, and made of this blue and black striped tartan. You had to wear stockings with it. Not tights. No bare legs. Knee-high stockings. It looked good on some people, and I'd given in and worn it for a while last year before deciding to never touch the thing again.

But I had no choice.

And worse? It had gotten a little too short for me after a year or so.

I sighed again. It'd have to do for now. It's not like I had any other option. I rummaged through a drawer until I found some of the stockings I'd bought to go with the skirt last year. I grimaced at myself in the mirror before heading down to breakfast.

Brad choked on his cereal when I walked into the kitchen. He laughed so hard he sprayed Cheerios everywhere. "What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Brad, language," Dad scolded him. Then he turned to look where I stood scowling in the doorway, and raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that a bit... inappropriate for school, Elle?"

I huffed, my frown deepening. "My trousers are ripped."

"How did you manage that?"

"I forgot to fix the hole in them and... I don't know, they just broke."

Dad sighed. "You'll have to order some others. I haven't got time to run you to the mall to get any."

"Yeah, I know."

I'd barely finished my cereal when I heard Lee beeping the horn impatiently outside. I put my bowl in the sink and said goodbye. I bolted to the car, jumping in before anybody might see me in my skirt.

"You're in a skirt," Lee commented.

"No shit, Sherlock," I muttered. "Let's just go."

"What's got your panties in a twist?" he teased.

"My trousers ripped."

"I thought you fixed them?"

"I forgot."

"It looks fine, Shelly, don't worry. You really should wear skirts more often."

"Yeah but..."

"But what?"

I shrugged. "Never mind. "

Lee shook his head at me and turned up the radio. It wasn't long before we were at school and I told myself to suck it up and after taking a deep breath I climbed out of the car. We were a little later than usual, and most people were here by now.

I slammed the car door shut and walked around to sit on the hood with Lee as a bunch of guys wandered over to greet us.

"Hey, looking good," Dixon said, nodding at me with a wink.

I scowled, folding my arms. "Shut up."

"What?" he protested innocently. I knew he was only teasing, but I was in no mood for it.

I huffed and decided to go talk to some girls instead, spotting Lisa and May from my chemistry class a few cars down. Someone smacked my butt as I walked past them, and I whipped around angrily.

"Dude..." I heard Cameron say warningly. "Bad move."

Lee was on his feet, and it was one of the soccer players, Thomas, smirking at me.

"Did you just smack my butt?" I asked, clenching my jaw.

"Maybe."

"Hey, I missed the party on Saturday," said Adam. I didn't know him too well, but from what I'd seen, he was just an arrogant jerk. As if to prove that, he added, "Do I get a repeat performance?"

A few of the boys laughed and cheered, and Adam started swinging his hips like a girl and pulling his shirt out of his pants like he was going to strip out of his shirt. It would've been funny if I wasn't so angry at him and his smug little face.

I ground my teeth. "Oh grow up already."

Adam grabbed my wrist and pulled me back over. He probably took it all as a joke, but I didn't. I tore my arm away and glared at him.

"Hey, back off," Lee snapped, stepping closer. Most of the boys had backed off now except a couple of the more idiotic ones like Thomas and Rory.

"Make me," he shot back, throwing his arms out and daring Lee.

So I punched him.

Well, I tried to – someone caught my fist before it collided with his jaw.

I wrestled my hand out, but not before a different fist went into Adam's face. Then they slammed him into the old four-by-four next to us, letting go of me.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The three of them were suddenly trying to pick a fight with the idiot who'd interfered with my punch, and Lee and Cameron and Dixon were there joining in on the fight too. A few other guys got in too, and there was suddenly a huge swarm in the middle of the parking lot, everyone either shouting, "Fight! Fight!" or giving the appropriate "Ooh" or "Ouch, that's gotta hurt" when required. And I was stuck in the eye of the storm, right up close to the fight.

I was frozen in place, unable to move. It took a loud groan followed by cheers and jeers from the mass of students around me and the fight, to knock me back to my senses.

I ran forward, hanging off Noah's shoulder and doing my very best to drag him away from Adam, whose lip was split and bleeding. He couldn't have looked more livid if he tried.

"Noah!" I yelled repeatedly, but he wasn't listening. I could hear the boys all yelling at each other and arguing, and there was the voice of a teacher trying to control and assess the situation – but my brain didn't register any of that.

"Lee!" I tried helplessly, tugging on his arm instead. "Do something!"

"What do you think I'm doing?" he replied sharply. "Nobody treats my best friend like that and gets away with it."

"Lee..." I sighed, defeated, when he went back to yelling at the other guys with Cameron, Dixon, Noah and a few other guys.

"Dude, if you like her that's fine," Thomas scoffed like the jerk he is to Noah. "But I'm sure there's plenty to go around."

He neatly dodged another punch and went on standing there daring Noah to carry on.

But I stood there glaring. "What did you say?"

"You heard me," he said with a wink. I grimaced.

"That's it," Noah growled.

"Flynn!" yelled the teacher, barging through the quickly dispersing crowd.

The other boys' fighting all faltered to a stop too, and Noah only stopped because I stood right in front of him, pushing his chest.

"What is all this about?" demanded the teacher – I recognized the vice principal's voice.

"It's just a big misunderstanding," I told him. "Really."

He looked dubious, but I'm a good student so he took my word for it.

"All of you," he said, "one week's detention. Flynn, Rogers, my office now. You too Rochelle."

I gaped. "What did I do?" I exclaimed.

"Nothing, but I'd like a word with you."

I sighed dejectedly, and suddenly there was an arm around me. I looked up from the floor and gave Lee a half-smile.

"Thanks," I mumbled. "But you shouldn't have."

"Hell yes, I should have. Nobody treats you like that, Shelly."

"You do it twenty four seven."

"But I'm allowed. We're best friends so it's different. But those jerks... No way can they talk to you like that and get away with it."

"Well thanks," I said, wrapping an arm around his waist to give him an awkward side-hug. He squeezed me back.

"You know," he mumbled in my ear quietly, "I'm starting to think my big bro has a crush on you, Shelly."

I scoffed. "That, or he wanted a fight."

"Oh, probably the latter then."

"Definitely," I corrected, making him laugh. The bell rang as we reached the vice principal's office, and Lee sighed.

"I have to get to homeroom."

"Yeah. See you... Well, I'll just see you later I guess."

"Yeah. Good luck," he added with a grave expression. I laughed, waving as he wandered off, and I threw myself down in a chair. Someone took the one next to me – Noah. The vice principal and Thomas went straight into the office. The door shut behind them with an ominous click.

After a few seconds of silence, I said a very quiet, "Thanks."

I saw Noah sit up from his slouch out of the corner of my eye. "Nobody can treat a girl like that and get away with it. Especially if that girl is you."

I peeked at Noah, not turning my head the whole way toward him. "Well thank you. You didn't have to interfere though. I mean, you could've let me land one punch."

He smirked. "It would've been a good punch, I'll give you that."

"Why did you stop me?" I couldn't help but ask.

He shrugged. "To be honest... I'm not sure."

"In fact, while I'm at it, why did you need to get involved? Lee and Dixon and Cam would've been fine."

"Maybe," he said.

"You're avoiding my question."

Noah smirked slightly. "Yeah, I am. I guess... I didn't want to see you get in a fight, and I didn't like hearing them talk to you like that..." He trailed off, and ran a hand through his hair for a long moment, my heart racing faster and faster.

Then he said the words that dashed the last tiny shred of hope that had been living on inside me, speaking so fast the words spilled out in a tumble: "I guess you're just like my little sister or something."

"Oh, yeah," I said, nodding. "Of course."

He nodded too, and then shook his head quickly, like he was trying to clear his mind or something. I was trying to keep my expression neutral.

"Do you reckon you'll be in much trouble?" I asked casually, pretending to inspect my nails and crossing my legs.

"Nah. I never am. Especially not when they find out I was defending your honor," he added with a smirk.

"Ha-ha," I snapped back sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "I was being serious."

Noah shook his head. "I never start fights, I just finish them. You know. In my defense."

"I don't see why I have to be here though."

"Oh, they'll want a witness for it, just to verify it all or something. They usually like that."

I laughed a little, looking at Noah and shaking my head.

We sat pretty much in silence until Thomas trudged out of the office and Noah was called in. But it was a nice, fairly comfortable silence, which actually surprised me. I realized that was actually the longest period of time I'd ever spent with Noah in the past year or so, unless you counted the time I didn't remember because I was drunk Saturday night, and Sunday morning.

I mouthed, "Good luck," and he just smirked and saluted me before closing the vice principal's door. I had nothing to do then but try and get some internet signal on my cell phone, which wasn't easy in this school. Silence had been much more preferable when I'd had someone to share it with, strangely enough.

When Noah came out he shot me a smile that was really more of a smirk, letting me know that everything was cool.

The vice principal said, "Rochelle?" and beckoned me in.

I sighed and got to my feet, wandering into his office. I'd never really been there before, only walked past it – but I couldn't say it was a particularly welcoming place. It just reeked of rules and punishment.

He asked me what the fight had been about. I told him the truth: that some idiots had been teasing me about something stupid I'd done at a party on Saturday night, and I'd been really offended, so the boys stepped in and a fight ensued.

"I see... Well, thank you, Rochelle."

"I didn't get anybody in trouble, did I? I mean, nobody got badly hurt or anything..." I spoke warily as I stood up and slung my bag over my shoulder.

The vice principal handed me my late pass. "No, you just confirmed their stories, that's all. Don't worry about it, alright?"

I nodded uneasily. "Okay..."

"Just get off to class now."

That was a cue to get my butt out of there, so I didn't hesitate any longer. I knew I hadn't been there for any of the wrong reasons, particularly, but I sure as hell was glad to be out.

Hope you guys have enjoyed this sample of The Kissing Booth!

I'd like to say a huge thank you to all of those who've supported this for so long. This book won Most Popular Teen Fiction in the 2012 Watty Awards and it's now being published, and I couldn't have done it without any of you, so thank you!!!

he last few chapters have been an extract from the original draft.

The Kissing Booth been published in several countries, and in several languages. You should either be able to find it on your local Amazon, or be able to order it to wherever you are.