Unseen

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

I lock the bolt on the door of my family's apartment. Gathering up my sweatshirt hood, and tugging it over my head. I have to tuck stray curls of hair behind my ear as the soft wind pulls them out again. It's raining hard on the cement sidewalk and the clouds are multiple shades of grey with overcast. I skip down the stairs, rushing to get out of the rain. Brown puddles of muddy water along the sidewalk splash underneath my black, knee high rain boots as I step onto the street. Rain droplets soak my blue jeans and droplets stick to my old, black rain coat. I trudge down the sidewalk; hands in my pockets and my head down.

"Pretty cold out here, isn't it Hattie?" Aaron McCoy asks me while swinging his arm around my shoulders. He flashes a big goofy grin and flicks a toothpick onto the street. A car comes right in time to run over it.

"Yeah, it's cold," I reply, my teeth chattering. I wrap my coat tight around my slim waist. Aaron applies more pressure to my shoulders and I quietly curse his height of a giant. He towers over my by more than a foot above my small five foot and three inches.

"How are you feeling, after last night?" Aaron's smile turns into a devilish smirk. My headache returns to a loud thup drumming in my skull like the high school marching band is locked inside my brain. I rummage through my purse for Tylenol and swallow two without water, coughing a bit as it hastily slides down my throat.

"Still hazy," I cough again. "I haven't quite cleared up the details. Can you tell me again what happened? I know we talked over the phone but..." I turn to look up at him as he stares ahead; the smile is still slapped on his face, showing off his deep dimples. His dusty blonde hair blows in the slight breeze of the rushing cars and his chocolate brown eyes squint in the obscure sunlight of the early morning.

"We went to Cody's house. You remember Cody right? He's the drummer in the band if you forgot," he gives an impish wink. "People took out the drinks and someone must have slipped you an early birthday present. Next thing you know, I find you snoring on the dining table. Some kid was pouring salt into your belly button," he gives a short laugh and looks down at me, noting the slight ripple across my forehead. He pokes it to aggravate me, "We should go to more parties if it means having that much fun each night. How much trouble did you get in?"

"Never again am I going to another one of your 'fun parties'," I air quote the last two words with my fingers, "That was a onetime thing only," I give a short puff to display my irratation and stray hairs float into my face.

"Got a stick up your ass, Carter?"

"Only, if you're the one who put it there, McCoy. Anyways, Tatiana was passed out on the couch. She had a rough day at work, again. They're cutting more people. She is working twice as hard and twice as long. But, she's resolute and I'm proud of her," I refer to my mom with her first name. We are more friends than mother and daughter. I'm not supposed to be born. The product of me was a slight slip up at a Bon Jovi concert when my mom was sixteen.

"Guess who hooked up with Lily?" Aaron crows and wags his eyebrows. I roll my eyes. Lily Mason is a stuck up rich girl in our small school of 500. She roams the halls like a prison guards with her two lost puppies, Priscilla and Alexandria, never far from her heels. She's the main attraction and has been with every guy in Freeport, Pennsylvania.

"Let me guess. This guy!" We say simultaneously while jabbing our thumbs towards our chests. We smile and laugh as we take turns shoving each other on the sidewalk. Already, I've risen out of my crappy mood. Soon our steps are in unison again as we stroll through the boardwalk shops lining the town streets that crawl with tourists.