Chapter One: September

 

“Cole!”

                That voice, it was so loud, so irritating. It was awakening me from the heavy sleep I had so graciously fallen into the night before. But before the voice could call to me again, I had processed voice to name all too quickly.

                “CO-“

                “Yes!” I grumbled sleepily, my throat scratchy and sore from the strained yell.

                “It’s time to get up.”

                “I know.” I shut my eyes, welcoming the flood of darkness that washed over me.

                “It’s quarter of seven.”

                “Okay, Dad,” I groaned. My throat pulsed with pain every time I opened my mouth.

                “Time to get up.”

                “Yes!”

                “We’re leaving at seven-thirty, so start getting ready.”

                Of course he had to throw that in there, he just had to keep badgering, unlike any normal parent who would knock on the door a couple times and mutter to their sleeping child, afraid to have their head bitten clean off. But my parents, no, they enjoyed having their heads off, they might have even got thrills from it, I don’t know. Whatever the case, enough was never enough.

                I opened my eyes. My vision was foggy, my head throbbing from the burst of light coming from my hall. I lifted the covers off my aching body. My throat was raw, muscles sore, but that’s what you get for being up until two in the morning, fooling around with your friends and singing at the top of your lungs because it’s your last day of summer vacation. And when you fall backwards off your bike and land in the middle of the road, you’re apt to be in pain the next morning. I just wish I had chosen to have fun a little more carefully.

                I sat up, dropping my chin to my neck to stretch and relieve my stiff muscles. I examined each of my limbs, and other than a couple bruises and some aches, I wasn’t in horrible condition. I was in good enough shape to make an impression at school.

                By seven o’clock, I had dragged myself out of bed. I, luckily, had the master bedroom. Walking into my bathroom, I made my rounds, and then walked into the dining room, which was next to the kitchen. Steven, my dad, was sitting at the table, looking at something, I didn’t know what.

                “What are you looking at?” I mumbled through a yawn, peeking over his shoulder.

                He jumped, and cleared his throat. “Oh, just some junk mail, see?” He picked some mail up off the table-top, and waved it in the air.

                I pulled myself to a chair, and plunked down into it and dropped my seemingly heavy head on the table. “I’m so tired.”

                He  chuckled slightly. “You’ll get use to it again. Give it a week.”

                I took a long, deep breath and then exhaled. “Yeah, I know.” I lifted my head, and stood up. “I gotta eat.” I made my way over to the counter, taking two slices of bread from the bag and sticking them in the toaster. While I was waiting for my breakfast, my dad turned to me, a smile on his face. “Do you ever talk to Sophie?”

                My heart lurched in my chest, and a sick feeling whirled in my stomach. I clenched my hands into fists. “No I don’t talk to Sophie,” I snapped, turning to face my toast.

                “You know, she was a nice girl.”

                “Yeah, a sweetheart,” I griped bitterly.

                “We all make mistakes.”

                “It’s one that couldn’t be avoided,” I said in a near whisper. I shut my eyes, letting out a slow breath.

                “I know, son. Well, what are you going to do? It’s over and done with, maybe you can still be friends.”

                I rolled my eyes and grabbed the hot bread. It was warm to the touch. I threw them onto a paper plate and spread on some butter, pouring myself a cup of coffee. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed some milk, pouring it into the steaming cup. After adding peanut butter, I dunked it into my drink, and took a bite.

                I hated it when anyone talked to me about Sophie. I mean, I guess there were days I wished we were still together. Sometimes I wished we hadn’t ever broken up. But you had to know her. She was beautiful. She had deep blonde hair with emerald eyes that sparkled.

                But Sophie… she loved to show off. She loved prancing around in the city, showing off her body and million-dollar smile. And I don’t want to say it bothered me, but it did. So when I had heard that she had cheated on me, I had the perfect excuse to break up with her. It wasn’t long after that I found out the rumor was one-hundred percent true.

                Steven broke the silence.“You ready to go?”

                I looked at the clock, finishing my breakfast. The red letters flashed seven thirty-two. “Yeah… yeah let’s go.”

                We shut off the lights, I collected me school supplies, and then headed out. I got into Steven’s truck, shutting the door and looking out the window.

                The whole ride there was a quiet one. The silence wasn’t awkward, it was just that neither one of us really had much to say. When we pulled into the Newton South, I sighed. Out of the two high schools -Newton South and Newton North- Newton South to me was a seemingly better option academically. Not that I was great in school, but South offered some great classes, and if something caught my attention, I was hooked to it. Plus I was lucky, since I lived in the part of Newton that can go to South without paying tuition.

                He looked at me, smiling. “Have a great day, Cole.”

                I nodded my head gently, grabbing my shoulder bag. “I’ll try.” I gave a feeble grin, and jumped out of the Chevy truck, waving as he pulled off.

                I walked towards the front doors, opening them, and was greeted by my friends from the night before. They were all sprawled out on the benches. Keagen, Josh, Brady, and Trevor waved me. There was only one to jump down though, and that was the one guy that was there for me when my relationship was drowned, and who’s been my best friend for years.

                “Cole! Hey man!”

                It was Josh. He came over and slapped me on the shoulder. I flinched slightly. He hit a sore muscle. “Hey dude.”

                “Can you believe it, Cole? We’re juniors this year, man, only one more year of this s**t!” He smiled at me. “Maybe, we’ll meet some new ladies this year.”

                I grinned again. “Dude, you have no idea.” I raised my brows. “Let’s just hope there’s some new kids this year.”

 

                “It’s an honor to be teaching again this year. I would like to welcome this year’s freshman, and all our new kids.” Our principal was a suck up. He wasn’t an a*s, and he wasn’t scary, he was just a suck up. He smiled at the sophomores, juniors, and seniors. “Welcome to Newton South.”

                The auditorium erupted into a chain of clapping. Josh rolled his eyes. “Keagen, dude, see any new chicks?”

                Keagen looked up, his eyes gentle, but he was smiling. “I think so.”

                Trevor grinned. “Jackpot!” He was pointing to the freshman bench. There was a girl with a lot of hair, and she was laughing with a classmate.

                “Trev, you’re sick,” Josh said, withdrawing from the conversation he had started.

                Trevor laughed, and looked up at us. “Guys, give me a break. She could be fifteen, you don’t know.”

                Brady nudged me. “Have you been looking at girls?”

                I shrugged. “No…”

                The principal continued to talk, his speech droning out to something that no one was paying attention to anymore. The teachers even seemed a little antsy, standing impatiently against the back of the wall.

                I started looking around, my eyes wandering back and forth from the sophomores, to the juniors. I saw a few new faces, but none which caught my attention. Looking over the juniors, I spotted Sophie and Brianna, giggling. I blushed. She looked up, and when she saw me, her smile started to fade. She glared, and turned away, talking to Brianna again.

                I rolled my eyes. Like she has the right to glare at me, I didn’t cheat on her.

                “She’s hot,” I heard Trevor exclaim, looking over to the seniors.

                “No, no, no, Trev, you’ve got it all wrong. She’s hot.” Brady was looking across from us at a cute, stylish sophomore.

                Josh chirped in. “Dude! Guys, look at the chick, you’re both wrong, she’s hot!”

                I swung my head up, looking anxiously in Josh’s direction, but failing to see any girl that could be so eye catching.

                “See her, Cole?”

                I looked again. No, I didn’t see her, and I really wished I was able to. I needed to get my mind off Sophie.

                “She’s right there, Cole, the brunette, way in the corner.”

                I gave up looking. I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t want to find the girl that bad; I didn’t want to seem desperate, either.

                Principal Jackson quit his speech and dismissed us all. I jumped down from the bench, eager to escape from the cluttered auditorium. I made my way into the closest boys’ bathroom and locked a stall door. Then, out of nowhere and for no real reason, I just cried.

 

                Josh gave me that look, that Josh look of his. He pulled me out of the stall. We were sitting near the sinks.

                “I’ll be fine,” I moped, staring at the tile beneath me.

                Josh took a deep breath. “Dude, you should talk to her.”

                “I don’t miss her,” I snapped cynically. “I just hate how it all happened, I hate it so much.” I shut my eyes. I had cared about Sophie, I really had. But she hurt me, and I would always resent her for what she did.

                “Well, I hate seeing you like this.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “You need to cheer up, it’s a whole new year, a whole new chance for opportunities!”

                I could only nod. I had to agree with him. “I know, you’re right.”

                I stood up, and forced a smile on my face. “Let’s go, before we’re late.”

                We left together, and met Brady and Keagen in the lobby, talking quietly to one another. “Where’s Trevor?” Josh asked, joining the two.

                Keagen pushed his sandy-blonde hair to the side, shrugging. “Probably off with some girls.”

                Brady chuckled. “Yup, knowing Trevor.”

                I stood there, silent. I didn’t understand Trevor’s opinion on girls. And I probably never would.

                When the bell rang, the four of us lazily made our way upstairs, where two of us went into one class, and me and Josh were lucky enough to have first period together. I hadn’t even paid attention to the class we had, and when I looked around me, I had noticed that it was algebra.

                Yippee.

                “This sucks so bad,” I murmured to Josh.

                Josh shook his head. “Tell me about it.”

                I was about to speak again, but that’s when I heard a voice, an oh so familiar giggle.

                Oh no.

                It couldn’t be.

                But it so was.

                “Sophie?”

                She swung her head around, her mess of blonde hair splashing across her neck. When she saw me, again, she narrowed her eyes. “Don’t talk to me, Cole.”

                I jumped. I hadn’t expected her to use my name, never-the-less speak to me at all. “Excuse me.”

                I turned back to Josh. “Christ.”

                Josh laughed, throwing his head back. “Oh, she’s pissed, and she’ll stay that way until she realizes it wasn’t your fault.”

                I shrugged. I wondered when it would ever get better, when things would finally be easy again. I looked over to her. I picked out all the things I liked about her, and all the things I couldn’t stand. And I decided by impulse, at this exact moment, I could try to be her friend. She saw me looking and flipped me off. I cocked my head, signaling for her to come over.

                Groaning, she stood up. “What?” she said in irritated tone.

                “Can we please be friends?”

                “No.”

                “Sophie.” I looked at her with my sad eyes, my tempting eyes. “I don’t want you to hate me, but… you really hurt me…”

                “Cole, can we talk about this some other time? Class is about to start, ‘kay, thanks.” She gave me a sarcastic smile, and walked away.

                I felt like giving up. I didn’t even care.

                Josh chuckled. “It’ll get better man.”

 

                By lunch, I was so fed up with Sophie that I could care less if she even acknowledged me again. I was sick of caring how she felt about me. And for some reason, she kept thinking I only wanted to talk to her again so I could ask her out, which was completely untrue. It wasn’t that I felt bad about breaking up, I just felt like we should still be able to talk.

                When the last bell of the day rang, I was so relieved to get out a school I almost through my hands up to rejoice. Instead, I barreled past other anxious kids and ran to meet Josh and Keagen. Trevor and Brady were nowhere to be found, and I didn’t feel like looking for them, not now.

                “Ready to get out of this place?”

                I laughed. “I am more than ready, you have no clue!” I was smiling, I was happy. And then, as if she loved to make me miserable, Sophie appeared, out what appeared to be nowhere.

                I almost turned away, I almost nudged her away. “What?” I asked instead.

                “Can I apologize?”

                “No,” I muttered under my breath. I looked up at her; she must not have heard me. “I guess so.”

                She smiled her beautiful smile. “I don’t hate you Cole; I just don’t want to be your best friend.”

                I rolled my eyes. I had been doing a lot of eye rolling today. “Whatever, Sophie.”

                She smiled again. “See ya tomorrow, Cole.”

                “Yup.” I watched her walk away, and within seconds I felt lousy again.

                “Cole… don’t let her get to you, she’s a piece of crap.” It was Keagen. “You’ll find someone else a million times better.”

                “Yeah…” I looked at them. “You guys go wait for me, I’m just gunna go to the bathroom.”

                “Alright man, see ya outside.”

                They left, and I sighed in relief. I leaned against the wall, and my eyes skimmed the crowd. I silently watched the freshman hurry to the busses, I watched the seniors talk happily about how this was their last year. I watched the girls play around, and I watched the guys get ready to go to a big game.

                But then I saw her. I saw a beautiful girl, with beautiful eyes, with an incredible face. And she walked by me, her hair swaying gracefully behind her. And then she planted herself on her feet on the wall across from me, looking around anxiously. Josh came in to get me. “You coming, Cole?”

                I stopped him. “Who is that?” I asked breathless.

                Josh looked at her. “That’s the girl from earlier.”

                I didn’t see her before.

                But I saw her now, and she was incredible.

               

Author's Note

This is chapter one- do you like the opening scene? What can I improve?

Reviews

[MeeSa]

This leaves me wanting to know more!! I do like the opening, it reminds me of how hard it was to wake up early right after a great summer! You did a good job describing how the activities from the night before impacted how he felt in the morning.
I really like how good you are with dialogue. I will have to take some pointers from you. I can't wait to read more!

[Becca*Type2012]

I loved how you started off the story with the morning of the first day of school perfect. New school year... new start... new story. I love how you made Cole this complex character who wants to be friends with Sophie one minute, but dosen't wan't to be her friend the next minute. There is alot going on in his mind and I can tell. Did you base Cole of yourself or one of your friends? Because he seems so real and beliveable to me.
Very nice job.
PS I want more.