Prologue/Chapter 1

Not everything is as it seems.

Nothing was ever normal to Kayla. But then again, what part of life ever was normal? Looking back, I never would’ve known I mean, who could’ve? She was my best friend for almost ten years and I knew her better than anyone. When I got scraped up, she had a band aid, and when she almost drowned, I was right there to save her. Growing up, we spent almost every day together; we were like brother and sister. My parents were hers and her brothers were mine, we were like one big family. We lived in a very suburban, peaceful town where there was little to no crime. Thinking back, we probably caused the most mischief out of anyone. I use that term loosely because to us mischief and crime was stealing parts of construction sites and sneaking out at night.

 We were the rebels of kindergarten who snuck out of nap time and rarely ever had recess. I remember one of the few times that we actually did have a full recess we were so excited and shocked that it took us almost half of it to figure out what to do. We ran around playing kickball, soccer, wrestling, but like always, we got into trouble and lost time for the next day. This was just the way things went for us, but we always made the best of every situation so it never mattered. Sitting in time-out always ended up being like another recess for us to our teacher’s grief. Each day had a similar pattern throughout our elementary school years. Wake up, go to class, come home, hang out, go to bed, repeat. There was never a day I didn’t see her, and summer was just the same. Summer days we rarely slept in. Each day was new and exciting, and neither of us wanted to miss it, not even a little bit. We would wake up at the crack of dawn, usually before our parents, eat a quick breakfast, and head out to explore. Having woods behind my house opened up a universe of possibilities. We built tree forts, caught frogs, went biking, and so much more. Every day was filled with endless amazing things to do. The only thing we dreaded was the fall of the sun and our mothers’ voice telling us to come in for the night. But we knew deep down that only a short night away we would be together for another long day of wandering. Looking back, those were by far the best years of my life, the years when nothing else mattered. No fights, no divorces, no relationships, no problems. There was never a concern more than being the fastest to the tree, the first one to swim across the pond, or who could build the best tree fort. Things were simpler back then, so peaceful and easy. Every day I wish I could go back to those days, but we all have to grow up eventually, right?

Before I knew what had happened, the sirens grew louder and louder.

“Quick we need to get out of here” Kayla exclaimed.

I heard her words pass through me like a boring lecture in biology. I was far to fixated on this amazing structure in front of me.  Her echoes quietly bounced off the waterfall twenty feet away. It wasn’t just any ordinary waterfall. It was blue, but almost too blue, so blue that I almost started to think something was wrong.

“Vinny, what are you doing!?” she yelled.

“Shhh, please come look at this, Kayla.”

“Look at what?”

“That.” I pointed

Her gaze wandered to the same dark blue waterfall I had been gazing at, only now the waterfall had started to turn a bright orange color.

“This is unbelievable,” I thought as I kept wandering closer and closer to this mysterious water. “Want to go swimming, Kayla?”

There was a moment of silence. I started to sweat fearing the worst. My heart raced as I desperately looked around for her.“Kayla?” I shouted.

Silence.

“Kayla!” I yelled even louder. Almost immediately I heard a thundering siren. It was Kayla. She had been taken by the same people she tried warning me about. The sirens grew louder. She shouted out the window but I could barely make it out over the growing noise. The sirens grew even louder; they were coming for me now. Even louder, almost unbearable now.

“God damn,” I groaned as I slapped the snooze button. “My alarm clock is way too loud.”

 It was Monday, the first day of school. I probably should’ve been happier I mean, I was finally in 10^th grade. A high schooler at last. But every night I seemed to have a weirder and weirder dream. They always seemed to involve Kayla being taken away from me, but she was my best friend and neighbor, so I was never really too concerned about that. But still, they were just. The kind of thing I couldn’t help but look too far into.

“Vinny, you better hurry up,” my mom shouted from the kitchen.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine, mother.” It was only 7:20, and I wasn’t in exactly the biggest rush to get to school.  It was a new building, new teachers, but still the same old people and classes. At least I had Kayla to keep me sane among this chaos.

“Hey, Vinny, Kayla is here,” my mom yelled up

“All right, thanks, just tell her to come upstairs.” I replied.“Oh and can you pack me a lunch please?”

“Sure”

 I was pretty much ready, just trying to kill time, and of course I wanted to talk to Kayla. Somehow I doubted she was as apathetic about the day as I was. She always seemed to be excited to start a new year. I had asked her once why and all she said is that it was a new start. I never knew exactly what she meant by that I mean, it was still the same people. New teachers, I guess?

“Wow, hurry up I’m gonna be late,” she joked,

“Oh, shut it I’m the one with the car remember?”

“Yeah, yeah I suppose so.”

We tended to bicker over the stupid things, it seemed. But I knew we were both always just joking, so I never really cared a whole lot. There would be whole days when we’d fight or argue. Then as soon as the next morning came, she was here waiting for a ride, just like clockwork. I liked it this way though. She was  always a steady friend, someone I could trust and count on no matter what stupid s**t I got myself into.

This year was unfortunately very different. I had the bad luck of not getting a single class with Kayla. It was the first time that it had happened since,  kindergarten. Maybe this was why I wasn’t as excited as her. I knew the first semester would be long because of it, but I knew I’d still get through it. I mean, it wasn’t like I didn’t have any other friends; I had plenty trust me, but still, being without Kayla in at least a couple classes would be strange.

“Why on earth are you parking so far away?” Kayla sarcastically mumbled

“Come on you know what happened last year,” I mumbled back, rolling my eyes.

Being a smart a*s she retorted back with “Oh no, what happened?!”

“I hate you.”

“You know you don’t. Now let’s go start this day”        

I smirked. “Fine, fine.”

I should probably mention that last year I got into a car accident in the parking lot. Well, not really an accident more or less some a*****e backed his car into my new Elantra. It took about two months for the insurance to go through and for my babe to finally get fixed. It was terrible; I had to drive my mom’s van to school for awhile. As you can imagine, not the ideal choice for a freshman. But that’s why I now park all the way in the back of the parking lot, where it’s pretty much me and a few random kids who showed up late to school.

“I swear vinny if you’re already zoning out, you’re in for a very long day.” Kayla laughed.

“Huh?”

“I’ve been trying to talk to you this entire walk in.”

“You have?”

“You’re ridiculous, Vin.”

“I know,” I said, smiling

“Well ok, I’ll see you later,” still laughing

“Alright then”

This was the first of almost 200 days of school this year. I was already nervous enough without Kayla making fun of me. But whatever I’ll get through it like I always do.

Well, here’s homeroom, room 318. Let’s make the best of it.

Wow, three steps in, and Mr. Noel is already giving me dirty looks.

“Vinny, take your seat now. You’re late!” he barked.     

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said barely glancing in his direction.

Mr. Noel was the kind of teacher no one really wanted. He was old, bitter, and of course taught math. Math was the one subject everyone dreaded in the morning. Even though it was only forty minutes long, it had a way of dragging on for hours and hours. There were plenty of others teachers that I heard made math actually interesting. Mrs. Holmes for example tended to joke around way too much. Sometimes she went off topic, but who the hell cared. Even Mr. Jackson, the soon to be retiree was interesting. Just walking by him in the hall he would wave hello and utter some offhand comment. He always had some random piece of information that you would never think to ask but were always interested by it. But, I was stuck with Mr. Noel for a year, so I had better get used to it.

Before I could even sit down, Joe glanced over from across the room and whispered, “Are you ready for our first game?” Joe was our team’s starting linebacker and all-state from the previous year.

“Yeah man I’m pumped, Liverpool won’t know what hit them” I whispered back

I had been playing football for the last five years. Being a sophomore, this was my first year on the varsity team. I had suffered through two-a-day practices in the hot August sun for a month to earn myself a starting cornerback position. Last year our team only had a mediocre 5-5 record. This year would be different though almost every starter from the previous year had returned except for a certain right corner. This year we would go farther than ever before and win states.

“Vinny! I don’t want to have to tell you again to pay attention,” Mr. Noel said while snapping his fingers at me.

Rolling my eyes, “Sorry.”

I never really cared a whole lot about school it seemed. Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, or maybe it was just hard to work hard at something that I just didn’t enjoy. Don’t get me wrong though, I still had fairly good grades. I might have disliked it, but school seemed to come easy to me. I never studied, did homework, or extra credit, but somehow I managed A’s and most of my teachers actually liked me minus the fact they hated how lazy they knew I was.

That was always a huge difference between Kayla and me as we grew older. Kayla became very interested and involved in her studies as I became more interested in other things. When I was at practice or at home with friends, she was studying or staying after school doing one of a million extracurricular activities. I must admit, it was nice having a best friend who could always help you with your homework and test reviews. Sometimes being so different was a pain, I almost never saw her for any extended period of time during the school week. But there was always the weekend, and I’d rather be an interesting opposite than a boring similarity anyways.

Finally it was 2:45 and the day was over. It was still only the first day, but the first day always had a way of dragging itself out. We never really did too much work, mainly went over course outlines and did stupid awkward introduction “games”. At least now that the day was over I’d be able to see Kayla. It was a pain not seeing her almost the entire day. I’d pass by her in the halls a few times a day, but that barely counts. Not to sound sappy or anything but I suppose you could say I kinda missed her.

“Hey, what’s taking you so long,” Kayla practically yelled down the hallway

“Oh yea, hi to you too,” I said with my arms and backpack completely filled with about a hundred pounds of gear. “I was getting all my stuff together for practice; you know that takes a while. Don’t you have somewhere to be anyways?”

“Yes, I have a meeting for Amnesty International then chorus practice. But I don’t have to be there until three.”

“Do you really enjoy being that busy all the time, Kayla?”

“It’s not just being busy I love helping out, and I love being a part of things. Isn’t it kind of the same way with you and football?”

I laughed. “Alright touché”

“Are we still going to see that movie Friday night?”

It’s almost like she knew that I thought she had forgotten. “Of course how could I forget?”

“Just checking.”

“You worry way too much Vinny”

“Oh yes I’m aware.”

Smiling, she walked away. “Just remember, it’s the big things that matter you shouldn’t worry about the small stuff as much”

Barely cracking a smile, “I know, I know,” I whispered to her back. “But it’s the small things you’ll never know about.”

 

 

Author's Note

Let me know what you think.

Reviews

[EMF]

Readers on WC often complain that chapters are too long. Stories are too long. Poems etc. A chapter is as long as you feel it should be. And if it is well written as this one is, so much the better. There is more to enjoy and more ideas you can explore. I liked what I read and it had a quality that made me want to go on. It can go in any direction at all. Interesting to see what develops. Please RR the next chapter

[Sarah]

nice write. I loved the start but I think it got a little bit boring as it got closer to the end but nice work.

[Shep]

Not bad for a first chapter. Question is this a bio if not I have no idea who" I " is need a name or tell us at the top with a little introduction. I felt i was in high school again. Not bad can't wait to see where you take this. I will email you on the things that need your attention. Hope it helps.

House Keeping:
Note: Periods and comas are missing though out. Never mix (! ?) these together bad grammar and the reader can't decide what you mean.

[Von Alis]

I really like this, I went through a lot of this in high school so I can really relate. Maybe you should describe the narrator a little more in the beginning though I was a little confused for a second. Keep up the good work I can't wait to see what happens next!

[Marie Harrison]

Fabulous beginning to your book! I look forward to reading more of your story. It's going to be a good one, I can tell.

[Robert Guttersohn]

You've got to watch unnecessary words in your sentences, mainly linking verbs that pop up while using passive voice or unnecessary helping verbs. Most writers, including myself, fall into the passive voice trap, also. If you can use less words and still present to the reader the same amount of information, do it.
I liked your ability to present quickly the characteristics of Kayla to the reader while slowly letting us get to know the main protagonist, the narrator.

[Crystal Marie Rome]

Amazing first chapter it really makes me want to read more, I hope that you keep writing about this it's really, really good.

[amdc101]

This was a bit uneventful to be so long. It was well written and the beginning was good, but after a while I got a bit bored. Keep working though. :)