She's So Gone

Chapter 1

Present Time:

The cool wind whipped my face as I danced along the sidewalk on my first day back at school after being away for nearly three years. The anxiety thrummed it's way through my body, reverberating through me until I was a bundle of nerves.

I loved my hometown, but when an opportunity presented itself to allow me to study at Breckenridge School of Performing Arts year round, my family jumped at the chance to let me live out my dream.

Not only did I boost my piano and singing skills, but I was gifted the chance to get away from the small town of Benenttsvile, North Carolina, something I had been both wishing for and dreading since the moment I joined the public Junior High School.

And then we got the call.

Mom's fender bender wasn't too bad, only a few scratches and bruises, but it was the damage from something unrelated to the car accident that made us pack up and move back home thousands of miles away. 

A lump in her breast.

"Don't worry about me, Care Bear. We'll get through this just like we get through everything," she had told me when we found out.  The stinging tears and burning in my nostrils still plagued my dreams at night, but I tried to remain strong for her, until I was alone.

I had never even thought about breast cancer before that day, but afterwards it was all I could think about, as I started pouring myself into clinical study research and countless internet scours at all hours of the night. 

So, we moved back home from New York and I put all of my plans to continue my music on hold indefinitely, and I was happy to remove my focus from that aspect of my life permanently even.  It just wasn't the same after...

I brushed off the thoughts about my mother's illness and surged forward on my trek to the school that I hadn't been to in three years, but as my feet hit the clay colored pavement below me, I couldn't help but feel a certain sense of dread bubble up inside me from seeing all of those people again who used to make fun of me, especially my old appearance.

I brushed my long strawberry blonde hair out of my eyes and focused on the sound of my heeled boots clicking against the sidewalk, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart at the thought of seeing him again.

I hadn't told Jake, my old best friend and forever crush, that I was coming home.  We had sort of lost touch when I moved away so it was going to be a big surprise to him to see me again, or at least I'd hoped it would be.

And then my mood soured the second I thought of Kieran. My mind wouldn't stop racing about the last time that we'd spoken to each other before I left for New York.

I wouldn't actually call it a conversation, more like a rather intense yelling match, but that was a story for another day as I spotted the building of Bennettsville High School appearing into view.

The rugged red bricked structure was exactly as I had left it.  I straightened my blood red flowing top and ran my fingers through my waist length hair to make sure it was still presentable and threw on a brave face.

I may or may not have dressed up a little bit for my big entrance back to school, but I doubted anyone would notice that it was me.

Before I left, I was shy and introverted Caroline Rogers, afraid of her own hazel eyed reflection and too scared to tell the guy she adored how she felt because she didn't want to lose her only friend in the process.  Well, that, and the embarrassment would have been far too much to handle had I been rejected by the only boy I ever loved.