I want to let go. I want to forget. I want to love him.
*
For sixteen-year-old Shelby Hastings, life has always been pretty good. She has always been a good girl, organized, a straight A student in school and never gets in trouble. Sounds a bit bori...
I like to lie down and not think for a change. Just hearing the silence, no worries about what's going to happen. No fears for what's next. If only I knew what was coming to me this year.
"Shelby!"
And there it goes...
"SHELBY! It's time to get up, sweetheart. It's 6:30. Don't make me come up there." My mother yells from downstairs.
"Yes! I'm already up!" I yell back, half awake, half asleep. I'm usually not the type of girl who has her parents to wake her up every morning. I usually set my alarm to 6 am to make sure that I get everything ready before school. I guess I forgot to set my alarm this time. I was up until 3 am preparing for today... First day back to school. Sophomore year. What to wear. My schoolbag. My pencil case.
I get up from my bed and look in the mirror. What I see might as well have been a zombie from The Walking Dead who's standing there. I slowly shake my head. Yeah, I really need a shower and some makeup on.
*
The summer has been great. We went on our traditional family vacation for three weeks. Each year we travel to a country in Europe. We've been going there since I was three. The first time was in Spain. We got to see Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia. This year we chose Denmark. There's something about that country. The Scandinavian people are so different from the US. We spent most of the time in Copenhagen; saw The Little Mermaid, Amalienborg (where the Royal family lives), and even Christiania, where the Danish hippies live. The lead singer in the Lukas Graham band was born and raised there. His songs about his childhood are fantastic. The weather was nice too. Not too warm, not too cold. But coming home again was nice. I can't wait to see my friends again.
After a quick shower, getting dressed, brushing my hair, and putting on some mascara, I go downstairs, finding my parents holding each other, and kissing. Don't get me wrong. I love my parents. They mean the world to me. I had the perfect childhood with lots of love. But sometimes I wish that they would just stop making my stomach bounce a million times in the morning. And I haven't even had breakfast yet.
I clear my throat. They stop immediately, turning towards me and smiling. "Well, good morning to you too," I say sarcastically.
"Good morning," they say at the same time.
"So, honey, you ready for another school year full of excitement and learning?" My dad asks. He knows that I always get nervous starting at something new. You should have seen me last year starting freshman year. I threw up four times before going to school.
"Um... I guess so. At least I haven't thrown up yet, so that's a relief." I stare down at my hands.
"Well, there's still 30 minutes till school starts," my dad laughs and winks.
"Matthew! Don't make her more nervous than she already is. Okay?" My mom says harshly to my dad. Thank you, mom. Shut up, dad.
My mom sets a plate of toast and jam in front of me and squeezes my shoulder as an indirect "It's going to be alright". She always knows how to make me feel good. "Thanks, mom."
*
I remember dreaming of the day driving to school in my brand-new car. Sadly, that hasn't happened yet. With no job and only enough allowance each month to go out and eat with my friends at the local diner twice a week, doesn't fit the right amount of money for a car. Which means my dad still drives me to school.
My dad drops me off in the parking lot. "Bye, honey. Have a good day."
I wave and head straight up to the main entrance where I see my two best friends, talking, Chelsea and Garret. They both turn around when they see me walking toward them.
"Hey, guys," I say as I hug them both. I think I've spent most days with movie nights with them. It's either a Science Fiction or Horror movie. What can I say? I might be a girl, but too girly movies with too much drama are so not me.
They both smile at me. "So, Shelby, did you get some sleep tonight?" Garret asks. He and Chelsea both know like my parents that I get really nervous when starting a new school year.
I'm just about to answer, when we see a car drive at full speed, passing by us just three feet away from us, making us jump to the side. I don't really know cars that well, but it's definitely a big, black jeep. That's all I can say.
We all stare at the car, other students stop walking to stare as well. When the car parks, four people get out. I don't socialize that much to know every single person at this school, but I have definitely never seen them before.
"Wow, who are they?" Chelsea asks curiously. Both Garret and I shake our heads. It's three boys and one girl, walking together, laughing. One of the boys rests his arm around the girl's shoulder, giving her a flirtatious smile. Try imagining having a guy, who looks as good as him, giving you a smile like that. Oh boy!
The one guy has a leather jacket on with worn-out jeans and combo boots. Like the perfect biker. The girl has dark hair, black shorts, and a white tank top on, black all-star shoes, tanned legs, looking absolutely stunning. Of course, two beautiful people like that only have eyes for each other. Another boy joins them by putting his arm around her other shoulder. He's wearing a dark green t-shirt with dark jeans and boots as well.
Behind them I see the fourth boy walking with his hands in his pockets, looking down. Not as happy as the others. They walk past us without even noticing us from their almost hit-and-run incident.
"Yo, Landon. Where you up, man?" One of the guys yells back. The guy who appears to be Landon answers "I'm on my way." He's wearing a gray sweatshirt with a plain white t-shirt underneath black jeans and green sneakers. He has the hood on his head like he's hiding. Huh, he must not be the biker type.
He's just about to walk past me when Chelsea does the most embarrassing thing ever. "Jesus, Shelby. Remember to breathe and stop staring at him like you're eating him." Landon turns his head at Chelsea and me while walking, smiling at us, and laughs a small smile. Then he continues walking up to his friends. God his smile was gorgeous.
"I can't believe you just did that, Chels. He totally heard you," I say while I slam my hand on her shoulder.
"Well, that was pretty much my intention. Come on, could you have been more obvious?" She asks.
I notice that Garret is just looking curiously at them walking down the hall like they own the whole floor.
So Shelby. Welcome to a new school year of hell.
_____
Oh oh! Looks like our little Shelby's in trouble. What do you think?
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Just a note from me:
Remember, I've never gone to school in the US, so I have no idea if any of the upcoming things make sense or are correct. That's why I haven't written where in the country this story takes place. I'll leave it to you readers' own imagination. But if you do find any other mistakes about the school or anything else, please comment on it, so I can check up on it.
