Chapter 1

and so our story begins...

My story begins in Denver, Colorado. But before I can tell you my story, I‘ve got to tell you about me. My name is Anna, Anna Desiree Pleat to be correct. I live with my mom, Dianne, my aunt, Darla, and my cat in an average house on the outskirts of the city. My dad died when I wasn‘t even a year old and my mom never remarried. I‘m in my junior year of high school and seventeen years old; eighteen next January. I guess you could say that I‘m a pretty average girl, you know the type: brown hair, blue-gray eyes, average height. Nothing out of the ordinary. I’m simply a “little guppy in a big ocean” as my mom often says. Now, back to my story…

~

I had been looking forward to the “big school trip” for what seemed like forever. And now, that dream was becoming a reality. I had starting packing two days in advance and had made sure to get to sleep at a decent time so I would be able to stay awake the whole way up to the ski resort in Salt Lake City. This, by far, was going to be the highlight of my junior year.

Finally, the day had come; February 26^th. When I woke up, I looked outside to see a fresh blanket of snow and ice from last night. But I didn’t let it phase me, snow was common around here, especially this time of the year. After getting ready, I checked my bags for what seemed like the fifteenth time in the last twenty-four hours and went downstairs to find my aunt and mom. After breakfast, it was time to go. Aunt Darla called a taxi and we rode to the high school.

By the time we had arrived and unloaded the back of the taxi, my best friends, Brad and Troy were already standing nearby, coaxing me to come over and stand by them. I walked over and greeted them the same way we have since when we first met in the sixth grade, our “secret“ handshake. Automatically, we began talking about what we had planned to do once we had arrived at the ski resort. I explained how I would be content with myself if I could even manage learning how to ski, and Troy , being his usual athletic self, was planning on trying to master snowboarding. Just as we asked Brad about his plans, our conversation was interrupted.

“Well, well… I didn’t know whether or not Brad would even be able to afford this trip…”

I turned around to face Derrick Trenton. He had his arm around a dark-haired, dark-eyed girl, his girlfriend, Stacy Martin, who was twirling a lock of his high-lighted brown hair with her fingers. Derrick was known as the number one jerk in the whole school. Since it wasn’t like Derrick actually ever had to do anything for himself, he would entertain himself by dedicating an entire week just to making fun of and ridiculing either me, Troy, or, as it was this week, Brad. He always picked on us more than any other people, nobody ever really knew why, he just did.

Brad was the kind of kid that made sure to treat everyone equally, no matter how they treated him, the all-around “turn the other cheek guy“. His family was poor; really poor they lived off coupons and hand me down clothes in a slum of an apartment. And Derrick loved to remind people of that and point it out to those that he thought didn‘t already know.

“Haven’t you got a puppy to go kick or something?” Troy growled. Troy was almost always in shape for whatever sport season it was and always ready for a fight if anyone dared insult one of his friends. Especially if that “anyone” was Derrick Trenton. Derrick rolled his eyes and quickly walked away, followed closely by Stacy. He knew he didn‘t stand a chance if Troy decided to “rearrange his pretty little teeth“ like he had always threatened to do.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Brad muttered, looking down at his feet, “ it’s not like it bothers me…”

Troy opened his mouth to protest but was interrupted by Mr. Franks, the teacher in charge of the whole trip.

“Everyone listen up! I’ll call you out in pairs of who you’re sitting with. And when I call your name, come to the front and once I check you off, you can get onto the bus. Be sure to start loading from the front and then towards the back.”

We all groaned at the realization of the dreaded assigned seats, which meant that the fate of everyone’s sanity for the next few hours was in the hands of Mr. Franks.

We listened as partners were called out. My heart sank a little when Mr. Franks called out my best friends and not me. Our trio had been split.

“Brad and Troy! It looks like you two will be sitting beside each other.”

Brad and Troy high-fived and ran to the bus after grabbing their backpacks, leaving me alone, hoping and praying that maybe I would end up at least a few rows away from them so she could still talk to them. But it didn’t happen. As group after group was called, my stomach turned as I realized that besides me, there was only one other person left. Derrick Trenton.

Mr. Franks looked down at his clipboard. “Well, come on you two. We haven’t got all day…”

We both took their our time picking up our backpacks and walking towards Mr. Franks but Derrick was the first to open his mouth in objection.

“Mr. Franks, there has GOT to be a mistake. I can’t sit beside her. I can’t even stand to be in the same school as her much less a bus row!” Mr. Franks looked from Derrick to me. I didn’t say anything, I just looked up at him with the saddest, most pitiful puppy-dog pout that I could muster, begging him to change his mind. It didn’t work.

As we walked together toward the back of the bus, I threw Brad and Troy a pleading glance that they both returned with looks of pity. If I had known that those few seconds would’ve been the last time I would see them for a long time, I would’ve done something different.

Author's Note

Alrighttt ... This is a repost after a bit of fixong and tweaking :)
Please read and review!!