Crown of Lies

Chapter One: The Usual

The first thing I want to get out of the way is that I don't really like telling stories, so this is kind of new for me. I honestly want to just summarize this all up into a tiny one paragraph essay(the kind of paragraph where you cheat and write four sentences instead of the standard five to eight), but this story is so frickin' weird and ridiculously twisted that it would honestly just be disrespectful to myself to not tell it so here we go.

So rewind back to October of 2019. I'm from Steplan, Colorado, and the best word I or anyone from here could use to describe Steplan is damp. The weather is always the same dreary and gloomy cloudy mess that it is ninety-nine percent of the year. My name is Zachary Higgins and I just might be the most average person on earth. I get just about average grades, mostly B's and C's, and I'm grateful for the rare times in my life that I somehow manage to get an A in a class.

Anyways, I go just about unnoticed at school mostly because according to my best friend's girlfriend, Carrie, I'm a solid six and a half on the looks scale. Dark hair, dark eyes, and my awkwardly average height. Standing at five-eight made me taller than some but didn't exactly give me a staggering advantage to the six-foot-four jocks at my high school. The smug look of everyone else in this town would make tourists wonder if we had anything substantial to brag about(we don't), that is if we ever had tourists. Most tourists either went to Boulder, or Denver, the places in Colorado that actually had things to offer. My school Steplan Academy is just like any other high school in the US- the worst freaking place in the world.

On a random morning, when the leaves had turned from gold to brown and were beginning to litter the streets, I parked my honda civic in my assigned parking spot near the football fields. I slipped out of the drivers seat, slinging my backpack over my shoulder as I slammed the door and locked the car. I let out a breath that manifested as a puff of vapor evaporating seconds later. Without looking I headed forward towards the back entrance of the school before the startling sound of a car horn sends me reeling back.

I let out a loud yelp before leaping backward and landing on the pavement, winding myself in the process. I hear the loud tell-tale laugh that belongs to none other than my best friend Carter Briggs, as I peel myself from my parking spot. He parks in the spot next to me as his laugh rings out louder than the silence of the parking lot. He slams his car door and jogs over to me covering his mouth with his hand so I can't see him laugh.

"You literally suck." I spout as I try to catch my breath.

"Ok, you've got to admit that was funny as hell!"

"No, and it wasn't funny the ninety-nine other times you didn't either."

"Whatever, come on were about to be late." Carter grabs my sleeve, dragging me towards the school.

If I was the most average person on earth, Carter was the exact opposite. He was one of the more well-known guys at school, mainly for his looks and for athletics. If greek gods played tennis, they would probably look a little something like Carter.

"You ready for practice today?" He asked as he adjusted his racket in his backpack, shoving it deeper in and probably crushing a couple of homework assignments.

"Eh, I don't think I'm ever really ready for practice," I snickered hopping over a small puddle and onto the curb, "I just show up and hope for the best."

Carter chuckles, "Don't we all?"

"Exactly, and thank God we had a break last weekend, I was beginning to wonder if Coach was going to work us to death with those sprints," I say holding open the door to him.

"Ugh, dude I went to my chiropractor and she told me my back looked like I'd let an elephant sit on it."

"Carter!" The high-pitched voice of Carter's weirdly enthusiastic girlfriend Chrissie pierced through the hallway and might've deafened me in my left ear, as she scurried down the hall, her heels clickity-clacking in sync.