Beep. Beep. Beep.
I smacked my snooze button and rolled back over. With how many times I've hit that alarm, I am surprised that it's not broken. I glare at the tiny box from one squinted eye, the numbers all a blur. Closing my eye again, I snuggled my head back into the pillow and slid my limbs across my warm sheets. Shivering when I hit a cold spot, I readjusted my position before succumbing to the temptation of sweet slumber once again.
When five minutes passed, I heard the protest of my alarm ring out. I rolled over rubbed my tired eyes to be able to read the blurry numbers on the clock. 6:15. So much for snoozing it again.
Standing up, a chill shot through my feet when they left the warmth of my comforter and ran up my legs. I quickly ripped the entire blanket off my lap like a bandage and made my way over to my dresser. I popped in my contacts carefully and blinked a couple times until they adjusted.
Moving over to my walk-in closet, I grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans and a bright blue t-shirt. Walking past my beaten alarm, I quickly switched it on to the radio and made my way over to the attached bathroom. It was crammed and narrow but it beat having to share a bathroom.
My eyes closed in pure bliss as I slipped into the shower, and the hot water hit my back before rotating and making sure to cover my entire body in the blissful heat. I quickly ran my hands through my hair, lathering it with shampoo, knowing I would be out of hot water soon since I was always the last to use it each morning.
"Julie!" My sister barked at me out from behind the bathroom door causing me to jolt out of my half-conscious state.
"What Lana?" I growled through gritted teeth, applying some conditioner into my hair.
"Get your ass out here right now!” I rinsed as fast as I could and got out. It took me less than a minute to dry my body and have clothes on, most of the way, and burst out of the bathroom looking for my sister.
"What is it?" I knew there was a panicked edge to my voice, but I highly doubt she heard it.
"I can't find your really cute black tank top with the purple bow on the boob! I'm going to wear it today!" I heard something in my closet move, and I took my time fixing my clothes and grabbing my towel to dry my hair with it. I walked into my closet doorway and saw her looking at all of my clothes, groaning when she saw clothes she didn't like - which was most of them. "You have so much crap! I don't know why you wear shit like that." She pointed to the outfit I had on and gave it a dirty look.
Most people say that the youngest is the one to get babied. That wasn’t the case in my house. As Lana was the oldest, I had to do what she said. If I argued, I was always the one that got in trouble for starting the fight and she got away unpunished.
"I like my outfit." I looked down at it and smiled. I picked up my brand new pair of converse and began walking out of my closet. It had taken me a while to save up for them, and I was excited to finally wear them.
"Wait! Where do you think you're going with those? You smudged mine when you stepped on me yesterday. I’m going to be wear those today. Wear your old ones or something." I sighed and handed her my new converse, grabbing my old faded and ripped ones.
It was a amazing that she felt the need to wear any of my clothes when her closet was full of high end labels, but I knew she did it just to spite me. Most of the time she would take something to wear it, end up wearing something else, and I would never get my stuff back.
I walked back out of my closet as she continued to sort through my clothes, searching for one of the only cute tops I owned. A glance in the mirror on my dresser reflected a stranger looking back at me. She had black hair that fell just below my shoulder blades and bright green eyes. A glaringly obvious fake smile was painted on her face, and the empty look in her eyes made her look dead inside. I grimaced at the sight of the unimpressive girl before me, and she mimicked the movement.
I was never the type of person to wear a ton of make-up or who dressed in revealing clothes. I had my own style. It was basic and plain, according to Lana. I pulled the brush through my lightly damp hair. The gentle waves looked okay, but the slight frizz made me wrinkle my nose in annoyance. I didn’t other to try and tame the beast, it was just going to be set free after gym anyway.
A glance at the clock let me know that I needed to hurry, so I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled on my old converse.
"Lana, we should go, or we might be late," I said, trying to bite back the irritation that she caused first thing that morning.
Lana was already in a bad mood, and I didn't want to fight with her so early. I bent down to pick up my book bag and rolled my eyes at her when my hair fell forward to block Lana from being able to see it.
"Quit bossing me around, damn! You’re so lucky that I am in a good mood today and will let your little attitude problem slide, just this once." She glared at me as I walked out of my room and down the stairs to wait for her so we could go.
How the hell was she able to justify today as a good mood?
Just like I thought, we arrived at school late. I didn't have time to go to my locker, so I ran down the hall, up the stairs, and into my English class. I quietly opened the door and slid in. My seat was right by the door, but just my luck... so was the teacher.
"Ms. Sanders! Why are you late?" The teacher stared me down coldly. I didn't answer. I had never been good at talking in front of people and felt myself clam up. "Are you going to say something, or just stand there like a mute?" God, this teacher was always so mean. "Just sit down!"
I did as she ordered and heard a girl next to me mutter, "What a fucking loser!" I sank down in my seat. From the corner of my eye, I saw her friend lean over and whisper something in the girl's ear. Suddenly, they both broke out laughing. I sank down farther.
The clock ticked slowly, almost laughing at how slowly the class was crawling by.
Like the diligent student that I was, I pushed aside my humiliation and vigorously wrote down everything the teacher was saying. The better my grades were the easier and cheaper it would be to get away from this shit hole.
Each passing second had my humiliation turning into a burning rage within me. My pencil pressed down against my paper, causing the led to snap. As I pushed the top of the eraser to get more out, I gritted my teeth.
Nothing seemed to be going in my favor today. I was so sick of everything.
When the bell rang, I jumped from my seat and ran out of the class, heading for my locker.
I threw my bag in it, feeling a small pinch of satisfaction when it slammed against the back metal and fell to the bottom with a thud. I pulled out some paper, a calculator, a pencil, and my math book.
"Jules!" I would recognize that nickname anywhere. My best friend gave it to me. My only friend.
"Chrissie!" We both ignored the stares from people as we made our way to each other. She was almost to me when a door swung open fast and hard, hitting her right in the face. Her papers and books fell down to the ground where they were ignored by everyone walking by and were trampled. I ran to her, and a dark figure walked out of the doorway.
"Hey! Watch where you're going, Geek!" He yelled at Chrissie. His deep black hair was only a few inches long, framing his sharply defined face.It was the straw. Camel, meet straw.My patience had run out, and the way he was talking to Chrissie made me snap. I walked up to him, getting right in his face. He was the one who hit her! He should apologize! My face turned red in anger."Why don't you make us?!" I shot him a cold glare which he happily returned."Or you can just move out of my way, dumbass." His voice was flat, cold, and hard. It was emotionless as if he could care less that he just hit someone with a door or that he was getting yelled at. It was infuriating."Or you can drop act, drop to your knees, pick up her stuff, and apologize like a decent human being!" I returned his cold flat voice and stare. I just glared at him, and he stared back at me. I broke our eye contact to look down at Chris. She was trying to crawl through th
"Oh my God! I don't care if he hit me with the door. That man is still so cute!" Chrissie whispered in awe as she peeked around the girl in front of her to look at Jessie. Go figure, he just had to be in another one of my classes."Jules! Do you know what this means! I mean, I haven't seen him talk to any other girl all day, just you. That has to mean something!" She repeated for what I believe to be the tenth time. Well, I mean she worded it differently each time, but she was dead set on the fact that after our stare down, he had to be interested in me. But I mean, we didn't actually talk. We just passed a note."Chrissie, sweetie, you need to breathe. I mean... yeah, he is kind of cute, but I don't think he is worth it with his attitude. I'll stick to my little bubble, of which, he is not a part of." He was sitting only two seats in front of me, so we had to be quiet to prevent him from overhearing us."Jules, I love you and everything but sometime soon, that
"Welcome to The Shack! What can I get for you?" I looked away from the menu and right into the face of Jessie. Good for him for having an afterschool job, but did it have to be here? Plus, whatever he was doing in the back with the other server was definitely a violation of the health code.He stopped walking a couple feet away from the counter, a look of irritation when he realized it was me."What do you want?" His voice was flat and cold. Nothing unusual, but it was starting to irk me that he was so rude all of the time."Ice cream. What do you think? This is an ice cream shack." I looked up at their menu and then back down at him. "I want a scoop of The Reese's Runaway." Giving him a small smile, I quickly added, "Please.""Why would I get you anything after what happened today?" He just stared at me dumbfounded as if he actually thought I was the one in the wrong. He was the one who hit Chrissie with the door and then refused to apologize. He was als
What did he say to her? Why the heck is she so sad?"So, do you guys want to go to the park or something?" She forced out. I watched as she swallowed hard to bite back the tears that lined her eyes.Should I ask her why she is upset? Most of the time, she liked to take a minute to calm herself before we talked about anything emotional. If she didn’t she wouldn’t be able to contain herself and she hated crying in front of people."I think that would be fun." I scooted back in my chair and stood up. Cole walked around to Chris's seat and pulled it out for her. Awe. He likes her so much. It's so cute.We walked down the street slowly, enjoying our ice cream. Cole was on one side of Chris, and I was on the other."So, what were you and Jessie talking about?" Cole asked. I wasn't sure if she was ready to answer, but it seemed like she was no longer on the verge of crying. She turned towards Cole."Do you mind if I talk to Julie alone
"What?" Her voice was strained as if she were trying not to show the hurt. She practically just threw herself at him, and he straight out rejected her.For the hundredth time in the past twenty four hours, I had to ask myself, ‘what is his problem?!’"Look, I just met you! It's kind of pathetic how you threw yourself at me so quickly. I thought we were just messing around back at work." Her eyes filled up with tears, and she didn't move. It was like she was frozen.I quickly left my hiding place and went to confront him. He immediately saw me stomping over and groaned. This kid has an attitude problem, and I'm so sick of it."What do you want?! What, are you stocking me now?" He glared cold and hard."Um, excuse me, but I was here long before you were," I said with as much venom as possible, but not sounding as confident as I thought I would have. "What the heck is your problem?! Why are you being such a jerk to everyone?" He let out a
"You do know who started these rumors, don't you?" Chris's music was blaring in the background, making her have to shout into the phone."If I had to guess, it would be the same assholes as always, but I don't really care. I don't even know what the rumor is this time. I'm so sick of it all." I looked down at my homework as I packed it up into my backpack so it would be ready for tomorrow. I'm finally done!"Why wouldn't you want to know? The rumors are spreading fast." I could tell that she was frowning. Her voice wasn't the normal high and happy Chris, and she turned down her music."I really don't care anymore. These people who keep starting rumors about me just to make me miserable, don't realize that they aren't hurting me. I just want to do my time and be done with it." I sighed.For a brief moment the thought actually popped into my head, 'Why does Jessie hate me so much? How can a man be proud of himself by bullying a woman he didn't even know
Why can't he understand that I am not interested?Today was my own personal Hell on Earth. No matter where I turned, I saw that horrible flyer mocking me. That, and those five flipping words were haunting me, rolling around in my head."You won't be for long."What the heck was that supposed to mean? I don't like him, I don't want him, and I never will. But, his words were like a threat... or a promise. That infuriating man. Apparently, he doesn't know what "not interested" means.Then again, with the way I hadn't been able to get him out of my head, I didn't either. It wasn't that I wanted to be attracted to him. I just was.I walked upstairs and crawled into bed. Flipping on the television, I went channel surfing. My phone vibrated on my nightstand, and I grabbed it, hoping it would be Chris."Hello?" No answer."Hello?" Why is this person not talking? Wait, what if this is the person who put out those fliers?"Hello, Julie."
I opened my locker and sighed. People were still putting those stupid flipping fliers in my locker. Really?I truly hoped that people would be over this. Apparently, the people at my stuck-up school are just that immature. I took them out along with the English book. Closing my locker, I walked down the hall in search of a trash can. The fliers fluttered down into the first one I found.I made sure all of the fliers were in the bin before I turned and began to walk back to class. A smile stretched across my face, and my bad mood lifted away when I was stopped by Chrissie."Oh my God! Jules, what happened? Did you get the mysterious phone call? Who was it? What did they say? Are you okay?" She must have had a little too much sugar this morning."Yeah, I got the phone call. It was Jessie. He is the one who did the fliers. He said it was a dare and then hung up on me. Jack left my mom last night. I think I'm okay. Wait, did I answer all of your