The Fine Line

chapter one

"Bye Mom!" I called out to the kitchen as I rushed to put on my red converse.

The first day of school is when you're meant to have a fresh start and start of the school year on a high. I wouldn't call waking up 15 minutes before you're meant to leave because your still used to going to sleep at 1am and waking up around midday a 'high'. Thank god I only have to go through the torture of high school for 2 more years.

Okay fine. It's not that bad. I have my 3 close friends- Alyssa, Maddy and Clem. I've known Alyssa my whole life because we live next door. The other two I met freshman year because we're all in the same homeroom. I also have my boyfriend Hayden. We've been together for nearly 4 years now and I feel like we can last. My grades are also good so honestly I don't know why I complain so much.

It's just fun sometimes, you know.

"Brooke get in the car now otherwise I'm leaving you and you can walk to school by yourself!"

Sighing, I jumped up from tying my shoe and grabbed my bag from beside the door before running to the passenger's side of my brother's car.

"Calm down, Alex! School doesn't start for a good twenty minutes. Anyone would think you're a nerd for wanting to be so early to class." I huffed out, still annoyed by the rush I had to be in this early in the morning. Alex just glared at me and rolled his eyes at the last part then started to pull out of the drive so we can start our journey to school.

Alex is my older brother. He's now a senior and although I'm only a year younger, he still treats me like I'm twelve or something. Even though he can be very protective, I think he trusts me and knows I can stand up for myself; I mean he doesn't seem to mind Hayden or our relationship. He been playing on our school's football team since sophomore year and so I guess you could say he's part of the popular crowd at school. He's not a total douchebag but I know he's had his fair share of girlfriends and I hear some things some of the other girls say about him. I ignore it because honestly, gross.

Do you know who is an actual douchebag though?

Ethan Cruz.

He's the school's 'bad boy' and seems to find enjoyment in playing girls and partying every week. He is of course the star of the football team and if I have to, I'll admit that he's attractive. He'll never know that though.

I used to be friends with him. Our parents know each other so obviously when they both had baby boys at the same time, they were destined to be friends. He does have a sister, Hailey, but she's five years older so we never really bonded.

I would hang around the boys all day when I was younger, so much so that eventually they were my best friends, except for Alyssa obviously. Sometimes I look back on those times and smile until I remember what Ethan's become.

He ditched me in 7th Grade. Well more like he teased me to the point where I couldn't take it and decided just to hate him back if he so clearly despised me. Luckily, that was right around the time Hayden and I started dating. He was an amazing support system and I think that's one of the reasons that we still remain so strong together today.

I don't know why Ethan decided he'd prefer to be my enemy than my friend but I think it's because he wanted to be more popular. Maybe he thought I wouldn't help with that. It hurt at the time, seeing how easily he threw away our friendship but now I think I'm better without him.

I don't need to be associated with that dick.

Speaking of him, there he is.

As Alex pulled into the parking lot outside of school, I instantly spotted Ethan by the swarm of life-sized barbies that had managed to surround him already. I even spotted a few freshmen deciding instead of trying to get to their first ever class of high school, they would try to get close enough to make a good impression with Ethan rather than their teachers.

I pity them.

Ethan Cruz has been and will always be a stone cold player. I've never seen him keep a girl around longer than a fortnight.

But at least I'm not one of those girls. That could possibly be one of my worst nightmares: falling for Ethan Cruz's stupid smirk and play boy ways.

Shuddering at those thoughts, I climbed my way up the front steps that led me to the crowded hallways of Manor Lake High. I made my way to my locker and started putting away things I wouldn't need for my morning lessons.

"Broooooke!" I was spun round and before I knew what was happening, I was being engulfed by Alyssa.

"Alyssa!" I squealed back and hugged her again as we jumped around on the spot. I had missed my best friend.

Yes, I admit, we were facetiming all last night and we had consistently been meeting up throughout the holiday but I don't care. I missed her.

"Where's Maddy and Clem?" I asked, pulling away from her. I looked around but couldn't see them anywhere in sight.

"Oh, I texted them earlier. They said they were only a few minutes away." She replied whilst taking out her phone, which I assume was to check on them again.

Sure enough, a few seconds later I saw them both walking towards us from the entrance way. I felt a smile on my face as I ran towards them to trap them in a group hug. We all instantly got to talking about our summer vacations and what the latest gossip going around was.

As Clem was excitedly explaining how Tom and Emily had finally broken up and that she thinks she'll finally shoot her shot with Emily, I glanced behind her to see Hayden very close behind.

I yet again went to embrace him, but then I thought about something. Clem doesn't have her license yet and Maddy's car is in the shop. Did he give them a ride? If he did, I didn't know why Clem, Maddy or Hayden wouldn't mention it to me. I guess they had also known each other since freshman year so I decided to let it go. I don't want to be a possessive girlfriend.

Shrugging it off, I just decided to go over and hug Hayden.

That was until I heard someone say "Hey," and tap me on the shoulder.

I knew who it was before I turned around.

—- words [1153]
It's currently 2am so I think that's a great start to this book😅
If you liked it, don't forget to comment and vote!
Olivia :)