Torn // Emilio Martinez

Chapter 1

1 year ago

I sat in my living room with a cup of tea as I scrolled aimlessly through netflix trying to find something to watch. I let out a loud sigh that no one would hear as I brought my legs up onto the couch and crossed them. I slowly sipped the tea as I continue to scroll through the huge amount of movies and TV shows.
"I'll just watch Grey's," I whispered to myself as I turned it on and set the remote on the arm of the couch beside me. After only about a minute into the episode, the doorbell rang. I sighed once more and set my tea aside, paused the show, and dragged my feet along the hardwood floor to get to the front door. When I opened the door I saw my two best friends standing there, huge grins spread across their faces.
"Good morning?" I said as more of a question. They were never here this early, but of course I let them in anyway as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
"How long ago did you wake up?" Marcus asked enthusiastically. These boys were always in such good moods, it was one of the many things I loved about them.
"Probably like...20 minutes ago," I said, trying to hold back a yawn. I didn't sleep much the night before. Lucas giggled as he pulled me in for a tight hug which, of course, I reciprocated.
"Well you may be tired but there's a reason we came here unannounced and it will lift your spirits!" Lucas exclaimed, another big grin flashing across his face. Feeling slightly confused, I raised my right eyebrow but encouraged them to elaborate on this "news" they needed to tell me so desperately.
"So, obviously, you know that recently the 3 of us have been getting a little bit of recognition on Vine and YouTube and stuff," Marcus started. I wouldn't really call it that much recognition, but I nodded and urged them to continue.

I had joined Vine after being in a few of Marcus and Lucas'. I thought it was fun and we always got a good laugh out of making them, so most of mine were with them since they're my best friends.

Marcus, Lucas and I have been friends since I could remember. I moved into the house right next to them when I was only 2 years old, my parents had finally moved out of their apartment and gotten a house, and there happened to be a family with 4 kids next door. So of course, we all became friends. Since Marcus and Lucas were my age, we were basically inseparable from the first day we saw each other on our front lawns. We spent basically every free second together, being at each other's houses every single day. They were the most important people to me that weren't my family.

Snapping back into reality, a slight smile on my face as I remember all the fun times I had with the Dobre's, I waited for them to explain what was happening.

"So we got a call from Jake Paul today, and he wants all 3 of us to join Team 10, I dunno if you've heard of it but basically it's his business and he recruits upcoming social media people and tries to help them gain recognition and stuff," Marcus explained. I nodded, waiting to see if he would add anything else.
"So he said if the 3 of us wanna join we can and we would move to Hollywood in the house with him and some other people," Lucas added. There was a short moment of silence.

"Do you wanna go?" Marcus asked, not sure how to read the expression on my face.
"I mean, just drop everything and leave?" I asked.
"I mean, we'll be graduated by then since we're graduating early and it'll give us a chance to get bigger," Marcus said.
"I don't even like Jake Paul that much..." I mumbled.
"But you don't even know him. And even if you don't like him in real life either, the 3 of us will be living together like we always wanted, and it could be really good for our careers," Marcus said. I felt like this wasn't really a good idea, but Marcus was sort of convincing me.
"Come on B, even if nothing happens, the 3 of us will have some fun adventures together in fricken Hollywood, where we've always wanted to go. If it turns out to be horrible, we can always come back here, go to college or something, figure out another plan. What do we have to lose Bella?" Marcus asked.

I guess he was right. Maybe it could be fun. We're young, and have so much time.

"Fine."