Chapter One

Viola's perspective. Super short chapter. ;)

TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER

Viola’s P.O.V

 

          I ran down the street, my flip flops hitting the pavement loudly. My feet would probably hurt later, but oh well. All I cared about right now was getting to the bus stop on time. I should have probably listened to my Mom when she had told me to hurry up, but I was just so tired that I had needed that extra five minutes in bed.

          Now I was paying the price for it.

          The morning sun was blazing down on me, not too harshly but enough to warm me. It was a nice feeling. The sun and the sky were probably my two favourite things on earth.

          As of now, the sky was a nice faded blue colour, as if she bright rising sun had sucked all the energy out of it. I knew that as the day progressed, the sky would become that nice, deep blue -- my favourite colour in the whole wide world because just looking at it made me feel complete bliss. Which is weird, I know, but what can you do?

          I rounded the corner and saw nothing.

          Nobody was there; I had missed the bus, and by a long shot too.

          What was I going to do now? Did that mean I was stuck at home all day? My Mom had already left for work, and she didn’t have a cellphone. And her workplace was a half hour away, she probably would hate having to come and get me.

          Who did I know with a car …?

          Of course. My best friend.

          I sprinted back to my house, needing the phone. I don’t have a cellphone, because I hate talking on the phone and having people able to call me 24/7 and talk to me whenever and wherever -- that was like living in a nightmare.

          I walked down my driveway which wasn’t short or long, either. Just sort of average … you probably don’t care about the length of my driveway, though, but still, I felt I should point out the fact.

          I opened my red front door, and glided [Okay, so I probably didn’t glide] up the wooden staircase and to the phone where I dialed my best friend’s number. It rang only once.

          “Hello?” Jamie answered.

          I smiled. “Hey, Jamie!”

          “Oh, Viola, hey.”

          I bit my lip apprehensively. “I was wondering, maybe, if you aren’t too far into town, and only if you want, you don’t have to, it’s not that big of a deal--”

          “Can you just ask the question?” His tone was teasing.

          “Okay, well I kind of missed the bus--”

          “How can you kind of miss the bus?”

          “Oh, just shut up for a second, will you? I completely missed the bus this morning and have no way of getting to school and I know you have a beautiful truck …”

          He sighed. “I’ll be at your house in five minutes.”

          “Thank you!” I called happily.

          “Bye,” Jamie said and then hung up.

          I smiled at his abruptness as I placed the phone back in its holder.

          My little Jack Russell Terrier, Thaila, was bouncing happily around my feet. I bent down to scratch her on the head.

          Feeling a bit bad for coming in the house and then just leaving her, I tossed her a biscuit before exiting the house once more, my backpack slung over my shoulder.

          I waited at the end of my driveway, sitting in the grass and absentmindedly plucking dandelions from the lawn while thinking about nothing. Well, not exactly nothing …

          Jack.

          Even after all these years, I still love him. Still. Which is completely ridiculous. And stupid. And just plain dumb of me. So I realize the idiocy of still loving Jack, I really do. But it’s not like I can help it, it’s not like I have a choice.

          So, how many years has it been now? Since the fifth grade, right? Okay, so now I’m just ending the tenth, so … six years. That is too many, that is pathetic. Yet I can’t bring myself to regret loving him, and I don’t know why that is.

          I wondered who he was dating now. I only talked to Jack on the odd occasion, after all. It’s not much, but it’s better than not talking to him at all. I wondered if he was still dating Lilly? Probably not, but there’s a slim chance that he might be.

          I haven’t talked to Lilly in forever. She was only in one of my classes, English, and in English she always just whispers in the back with Regan the whole time, and at lunch she ignores me completely. It’s strange to think that we aren’t best friends anymore. Not even friends. Not even casual acquaintances. It’s kind of sad, actually. That you can drift away from a close friend like that. But I suppose it happens even to the best of us.

          To be truthful, I think the reason Lilly and I stopped talking to each other was because of what happened. The Ski Lodge Incident. But let’s not get into that.

          I made a lot of new friends in high school, though, and kept a couple of my old ones. I didn’t talk to Maggie much at school but she came over every once in a while and we always have fun. As for Regan, I barely ever talk to her. And sometimes I’m glad for it. She can be kind of mean -- or, at least, that’s what Maggie said.

          I should probably know better than to listen to Maggie - gossip, though. So I take that back unless and until I learn it for myself. [Even though I already have learned it for myself.]

          I made three very good new friends when I came to high school. I made a lot more friends than three, actually. But only three really close friends. I met Samara [or Sam as everyone calls her], Misty and Jenna. Samara is really bold and always says what she’s thinking. Misty is obsessed with music and has every song ever released on her iPod. And Jenna is meek and shy, but also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and much more outgoing once you get to know her.

          And Jamie, well, we’d become friends almost immediately. He was just very easy to get along with. He can seem kind of overly serious, but he’s actually not. And we try to forget as best we can about The Ski Lodge Incident. It doesn’t really work, because I remember it perfectly, but we don’t ever speak of it. It kind of feels that it was a dream that never happened, but the truth is -- it did happen, and I’m not sure if I’m glad for it or not.

          I started humming ‘My Heart Will Go On’ under my breath. I’d watched Titanic last night and it was stuck in my head. Not my fault.

          I picked a daisy out of the grass and pulled on the petals. He loves me, he loves me not …

          It ended on he loves me not. I was suddenly glad that I wasn’t superstitious.

Author's Note

This is the next chapter. I know it's really short, but most of my chapters are. I would love some reviews, constructive criticism, comments, thoughts, anything would be greatly appreciated. <3