Chapter 1

A Chapter by Layla Mighell

Chapter 1

In my seventeenth year of life, I realised that my life was oddly pathetic. I have stellar grades, yet I’ve never had a boyfriend. It was either boys didn’t like smart girls, short girls, not-so-attractive girls. Or maybe it was the fact that I had the balance and coordination of a baby elephant.

Either way, I am, unfortunately, eternally single.

“You’re unbelievable, Bridge.” I say to my life-long best friend. We’ve been joined at the hip since we were in diapers.

“Why?” She screeches. She is exceptionally beautiful compared to me. Her long brown beach curls, amazing green eyes, and curves tend to attract many losers.

“Uhm, because I have never been on a date, so why would I agree to let you ‘hook me up’ with some random jerk? Especially wearing that.” I say, and gesture to the bright orange tight dress, and black high heels sitting on my bed.

“Trust me, Avery, you will not get a boyfriend wearing..” She starts, looks me up and down, then continues, “ugh, you need serious help.”

“Our differences define our friendship.” I say, as I look down at my bright flower sweat pants, and singlet.

“It’s 1pm, and you’re still in your pyjama’s.” She frowns.

“Shut up, it’s Netflix Saturday.” I say, and she rolls her eyes. She groans and leaves my room.

I look down at the dress again as she makes a ruckus in my bathroom.

I am not wearing that.

She struts back in a few minutes later as I’m logging into Tumblr on my phone.

“If I don’t send you on a blind date, at least promise you’ll come out with me and Marcus tonight.” She says with puppy eyes.

“Okay, but where?” I ask.

“A party thing, Marcus knows this band playing at an under 18’s only concert and he got invited and has extra tickets!” She says, and does a little clap.

“Okay, except I get to wear whatever I want.” I say, she gives me a distressed look, and I continue to scroll through my feed.

“Fine, just get off your goddamn phone. I’ll see you at 8.” She says, and I nod without looking up.

7pm comes around far too quickly, and I start getting ready. I wear a black dress, with orange, pink, and purple flowers on it. I curl my hair at the ends, and apply a little bit of makeup to my round face.

I never really was a huge fan on makeup, unlike my beauty obsessed best friend.

My phone beeps with a text from Bridget, ‘Oh and Eric is coming.’

‘Great! I won’t be lonely’ I type with the smallest amount of enthusiasm, and a huge drop of sarcasm. She ignores me and I continue to get ready. I slip on my shoes, and it’s only 7:30.

“Ugh.” I complain out loud to myself, and safely make it in my�"not very�"high heels down to the front door.

As usual, Bridget is at least 30 minutes late when she gets here, and I rush to the car.

“Took you long enough.” I tease as I slip in the backseat next to Eric.

“Shut up you.” She says, and her boyfriend puts his foot on the accelerator far to quickly and the car jolts forward. Eric then leans over to my ear, and whispers, “You look great by the way.”

He leans back away from me again with a slight smile. I smile back, and say “Thanks.” He flicks his black hair to the side of his face, which is the most Eric ever styles his hair.

I watch him as he goes about fixing his hair, his bright blue eyes look over at me in the dull light, and he gives me a gentle smile before I look away.

“And there we have it, Newton’s first law of motion working effectively.” I say,and Marcus grunts, while Eric laughs.

“Nerd.” Bridget scoffs.

Bridget’s deluded boyfriend turned out to be one of the worst drivers, and kept slamming his foot on the brake. So, Eric grabbed my hand and squeezed it a bit to let me know I was safe with him. Definitely a big brother I never had.

We get to the venue and there’s a line up. I watch the flickering colourful lights inside, and hear loud beating music.

Eric pulls me out of earshot and speaks quietly, my hands trembling as he grabs my hand.

“Stay close to me, hold my hand, and act like my girlfriend.” He says, staring down into my eyes, and we join Bridget, and Marcus near the line up. He confidently walks up to the bouncer, and says something, he points back at us. The guy nods, and opens the door.

We all enter the club, and I have to swallow bile. Sweaty bodies were dancing everywhere, and a band was playing on a stage. They weren’t great, but good enough I guess. There were some drunk people at the bar, and more in front of the stage and dancing.

Eric leans down again and yells into my ear, “Don’t take a drink from anyone, and I mean anyone.” I frown at him as the words leave his mouth.

“Bridget said this was an under 18’s party?” I ask.

He curses under his breath, and looks around, “Where the hell did she go?” He starts looking around, pulling me by my wrist.

“S**t. I guess we’re alone.” He confirms, and looks around the room a bit more. The crowd was getting more crowded, and a knot was growing even bigger in my stomach. A slower song starts, and the crowd complains.

“Do you want to dance?” He asks.

“Sure.” I say, and he pulls me over to the dance floor. He grabs my waist, and pulls me in close, I wrap my arms around his neck, and look up into his eyes.

He slightly smiles at me again, and after a few seconds, he pushes on my waist, causing me to spin, and catches me by the wrist before pulling me in again. He holds one hand, and his other hand is on my hip.

“Avery, I thought you were clumsy.” He says, and I shrug.

“I didn’t think you could dance.” I say, and he shrugs. He leans his forehead on mine, and I notice a few people looking at me, the knot continues to grow until I can’t handle it anymore.

I run towards the bathroom, Eric chasing behind me. Someone grabs my hand, and pulls me into himself.

“Yew roight sweethert?” The guy slurs, his breath smelt foul like manure, which made me want to vomit even more. He was an older man, with wrinkles, and cold hands.

I try to pull away, but his grip doesn’t budge. Soon enough Eric appears, and swings a hand at his face, the guy lets go, and tumbles towards the ground.

“Come on, lets go.” Eric says, and drags me back through the crowd and towards the front door.

“What about Bridget?” I yell over the music, but I don’t think he heard me. We get outside and he turns around to me when we’ve escaped most of the noise.

“What the f**k was that about? When we’re in a place like that again never leave my side, okay? I can’t protect you from the other side of the room.” He says, harshly. I bow my head down, and focus on my feet.

“I’m sorry.” I say, and he hugs me.

“It’s okay, you just freaked the hell out of me.” He says, and calls a cab. While we are waiting, he lights a cigarette, and I choke on the fumes.

“Sorry.” He says and sits down-wind from me. I watch him as he smokes, the smoke lifted up into the air, and he looked really badass in the moonlight.

“So, I heard Bridget is setting you up on blind dates.” He awkwardly says.

“She just wants me to get a life, be a real teenager, you know?” I say, and he looks at me.

“That’s bull, I know she’s our best friend and all, but she’s stupid. You shouldn’t have to do all that crap to be a real teenager. Sometimes I really don’t like Bridget.” He says as he looks away, and I shrug.

“She’s okay.” I say, and he finishes the smoke as the cab pulls up in front of us.

When we get my house, we both get out of the cab. He kisses me on the cheek, before walking away.

“Eric.” I say, he turns around and looks at me.

“Thank you.” I say, sincerely, he nods and continues to walk away.

Later that night I go to bed, but sleep doesn’t come very easily. I kept replaying the whole scene in my head, dancing with Eric, that guy, then Eric in the moonlight.

I also wonder what happened to Bridget. I send her a text anyway, even though she’s probably passed out on a sidewalk by now.