Mr. Anonymous

Chapter 1

BUZZ...BUZZ...BUZZ

Audrey jumped at the sound of her phone buzzing loudly. She rubbed her eyes and quickly tapped the screen until the buzzing stopped. Slowly, she sat up in bed and stretched her arms above her head, groaning at the thought of another day of high school.

It's not the schoolwork that she dreaded so much as the crowds. Audrey and her parents had moved to Parkersburg a little over a year ago and it was significantly larger than her hometown of Webster Springs. Audrey had always been shy, but at least at her old school, she knew everyone. There weren't really crowds in a high school with less than 400 people total. Audrey's new town was much larger and required two consolidated high schools which were close in distance but had a bitter rivalry. Audrey's parents enrolled her at Parkersburg South, the bigger of the two high schools clocking in with a population of just over 2,000. Audrey was completely overwhelmed for the first semester of school last year, struggling to regulate her breathing as she navigated the crowded halls of the school. Even now she still got anxious thinking about the crowds, but she didn't have panic attacks anymore like she used to last year.

Audrey finally found the motivation to start getting ready for school. After going through her normal morning routine and showering, she walked out of her en suite bathroom and over to her closet. She pulled out her Sgt. Pepper Beatles t-shirt and some light denim ripped skinny jeans. She slipped on her black vans and studied her appearance in the mirror.

Audrey was almost 5'3" and was very thin. She looked at her "scrawny chicken legs" as her older brother Austin so lovingly referred to them and wished she had some curves. She didn't hate her appearance, though. Audrey loved her deep blue eyes and dark brown wavy hair. She knew she was blessed to have such thick hair that naturally waved down her back. Audrey never did anything to her hair- she always felt it looked most beautiful when she left it alone. She briefly considered putting some mascara on, but quickly nixed the idea. Audrey almost never wore makeup because she didn't feel like it was worth the hassle. As far as she was concerned, no one noticed her enough to care if she wore makeup or not.

BEEP BEEP!

Audrey quickly ran over to her window and yanked it up as she saw her best friend, Jade pull up in front of her house in her old Jeep Wrangler.

"Be right there!" She yelled down.

"Yeah right! I'll believe when I see it chica!" Jade yelled back.

Audrey was hit by a small wave of jealousy as she pulled down the window and picked up her messenger bag. Jade was the kind of girl who could pull off calling people "chica" or "girlfriend." Jade was very outgoing and energetic- she was basically friends with everyone. Sometimes Audrey wished that she could be more like that. It would be nice to have more than one friend.

Her thoughts turned self-deprecating as she climbed into the Jeep. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even hear Jade talking to her.

"Hello?? Earth to Auds!" She said as she waved a hand in front of her face.

"Oh, sorry...what?" Audrey said, a blush rising to her cheeks.

"I said, Christian officially asked me to be his girlfriend last night!!" She said, following it up with a high-pitched squeal.

Audrey covered her ears and cringed at the noise.

"That's great, Jade!" Audrey said, trying to sound enthusiastic. It's not that Audrey wasn't excited for her- Christian actually seemed like a nice guy. The thing was that Jade was ridiculously beautiful, and thus was constantly being pursued by different guys. With long golden hair, tan skin, and blue eyes, she always had guys all over her. It was a little hard for Audrey to keep up with the onslaught of men that Jade seemingly shuffled through on a monthly basis. Audrey just wondered if Christian would last until the end of the semester or not.