Devotion // Harry Styles

Chapter 1

"Courage isn't having the strength to go on- It is going on when you don't have the strength." ~Napoleon Bonaparte.

***

My alarm clock goes off. Groggy, I rub my eyes and sit up in my bed. First. Day. Of. School. Need I say anymore? I turn to my phone, and turn off the alarm before noticing a text from my mother.

Mom: Have a great first day sweetie. Sorry I won't be able to see your outfit. XOXO

What a world we live in, when a mom has to text her daughter to wish her a good day. Senior year is great so far. I ignore the message and sigh before getting up to take a shower. When I'm done I blow dry my hair and sit infront of my mirror. There's a knock at my door.

"Come in." I call. My step-father stands in the door way.

"Your mother really wanted to see you this morning, Jenni. She's just caught up with the office." Jim tells me. I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, she's always caught up with the office." I mumble.

"Hey, don't talk about your mom that way. Everything she does, she does it for you." He says sternly. I shrug.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just wish she'd take a little time off to spend with me." I look at him gently.

"Have a nice day at school, Jennisee." He says kindly and exits my room.

I look at a picture I have on my mirror of my mom. She was about my age when this photo was taken and it's now that I realize how much I look like her. Her long brown hair falls almost to her bellybutton, bright eyes, gold near the pupil, green after that, and blue on the outside, and pink lips. The only thing I don't get from her is my nose, and even that isn't noticeable.

I shake my head and get up to get dressed. I miss my mom. Isn't that crazy? I live with her, and I miss her. She's never around anymore. My stepfather spends more time with me than she does. I wonder if she'll even go to graduation. I put on some skinny jeans with a spiderman T-shirt and a black beanie. Its just the first day of school. I didn't get new clothes this year, just like last year and the year before that, and so on. Its funny that my mom works non stop and lives in a house that's paid off, but still doesn't have enough money to buy her own daughter clothes. But "everything she does, she does for you, jennisee." Jim says. Ha. Funny.

I walk down stairs to see a big sign that says "HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" I almost gag and tear it down before crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash. I leave the flowers on the table and head out the door. My car is decent, I must say. A 2008 Dodge Nitro. Better than most of the cars at my school, but I'd rather have a mom than a car. I think I just need to get over it. If she doesn't wanna be here for my greatest achievements, that's not my problem. Its her loss. I shake my head to rid of these thoughts and continue driving to school.

Everyone is piled up in front, getting schedules and what not. I printed mine out last night so I won't have to deal with the line. I walk past everyone, people coming out of the crowd every so often to give me a hug and tell me they missed me. I turn the corner finally and sit with my friends at a table in the cafeteria.

"Printed out yours too?" I ask. They laugh and nod. We get to talking about the business of the school already because we spent almost every free second together over summer.

There's Molly, Kayla, Stephan, and Erica. Molly has bleach blond hair with blue eyes and huge pink lips. Kayla has long dark brown hair and brown eyes. Stephan has darn brown greyish ashy hair with brown eyes. And Erica has bleach blond hair with brown eyes.

"Yeah and there's like five new teachers and a new coach." Stephan spills.

"Oh, wow, what a shock." I say sarcastically.