Chapter 1.

 

Olivia looked around, her eyes darkening as the clouds rolled in ahead. James and Donnie sat on either side of her as Eathan stood on the bleacher seat infront of her. James wrapped an arm around her as she shivered against him. She smiled softly. Donnie scribbled on the map and his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he thought. His glasses fell to the bridge of his nose, and he pushed them up without thinking about it.

"So where are we going exactly?" James asked.

"Anywhere but here." Isabella murmered.

Everyone turned to her and Penny, them both panting and sweaty. Olivia cocked a left eyebrow as they both sat down. Penny sat next to Donnie and Isabella sat against the guard rail. She looked up at Eathan, smiling shyly as he turned back to Donnie.

"I'm not sure."

Penny looked at Donnie.

"How about Los Angelas?"

Eathan sat on the bleacher.

"Obviously." he said quietly.

Olivia looked at him funny, crossing her arms across her chest.

"What's your problem?"

Eathan shook his head, leaning forward with his hands intwined on his knees.

"It's just everyone picks L.A.  Why not New York City?"

Everyone looked at him, then at each other and everyone smiled. James nodded, and Olivia looked up at him as if he was an angel.

"New York City is cool, and it's less predictable. Our parents will think we went to L.A since we skateboard, and all the skateboarders livein Los Angelas. So it's better actually to go to New York City."

Olivia smiled, and leaned against him. Thunder cracked overhead and the football team jogged off of the feild. A few of the jocks screamed insults at them and Isabella stuck out her middle finger at them. They all ooh-ed and laughed at her, returning the gestures. Isabella rolled her eyes.

"F**k off, jock straps!" she screamed, standing up to face them. One of them stepped up.

"Why don't you try and make us, little girl?"

Isabella chuckled at them.

"Wow. You really blow me away with your creativity!" she said, sarcastically. The jock snarled at her, throwing his helmet at her. She caught it and chucked it into the parking lot. She jumped from the high steps of the bleachers, and stood two feet infront of him.

"You want to f*****g try that again?" she asked, her face about an inch from his. His eyes were wide with shock, and she chuckled at him.

"P***y." she whispered, turning and walking away.

 

The group of friends had been split up and put together so many times they lost count. Fights broke out rarely between all of them, but small fueds would get in the way. They were like those old 90's bands that break up fifty times inbetween albums.

 

James Johnson was a loud mouth. He was normally the speaker of the group, or as they called it, the leader. He stood at 5'10 with brownish red hair and brown eyes. Him and Olivia had been dating since he was fourteen and she was thirteen. They had been best friends since 5th grade, and everyone expected them to hook up.

 

Olivia Dean was the innocent little girl. She only talked when James was in the room, and she seemed lost without him by her side. She stood at 5'6 with curly brown hair and dark blue eyes. She always wore the same pair of ratty Chuck Taylors which was usually her signature, being as she wasn't anything but normal. She wasn't much of a skateboarder, but she had some talent in the music portion of her life.

 

Eathan Cross, the oldest of the group, stood at 6'0. He was the tallest, oldest, and the smartest of them all. He was the only one in the graduating class in their group. He was the best of them all. Everything about him was perfect. He was good looking, smart, funny and any other good think you could think of. But his emotions got the best of him, and he had a mean temper.

 

Isabella Valasari was an Italian b***h. Even she admitted it. She was five feet four inches of pure mean. No one stood up to her unless there was a brick wall between them. Isabella was the complete opposite of most Italians. Most Italians were calm and peaceful, but not Isabella. Her voice was loud and raspy, and could deafen a person easily. Her black hair would stand on end when she yelled, and her eyes would become large.

 

Donnie Moore, the brain of the group, was the only one who could think straight. His thick glasses would always fall to the bridge of his nose, and would go unnoticed. He was just bellow Eathan in popularity. He was smarter than most kids, but knew how to use it to his advantage. He wasn't your normal geeky kid. He was cool, and could make anyone laugh. His large blue eyes would perk up, and a charming smile would come out when he joked around.

 

Penny Kerpatrick, the cheery one of the group, was the peppiest. She wasn't a skateboarder, but was accepted into the group when her and Donnie started dating. Even if her and Donnie had never dated, Eathan was always with her, being her cousin. She wasn't good at skateboarding, but she sure as hell tried her best, since she thought her and Donnie should share interests. Her blonde hair was always in place, and bright make up covered her pretty face.

 

They all walked to their cars with Donnie and Penny riding together, and Olivia and James together. Eathan and Isabella were left walking home together. Whenever they were together, everytime there was silence it was awkward. They had a lot in common, but Eathan knew Isabella had really strong feelings for him, so he didn't know how to talk to her without thinking that she thought he was flirting with her.

"So have your parents booked the flight to Italy yet?" Eathan asked, his hands in his jacket pockets. She looked at him sideways, and shook her head.

"No. They still need my answer. I don't know how to tell them no without a reason. you know I'm a terrible lier-"

"-Amen!" Eathan shouted, lifting his hands up to the heavens. Isabella laughed, and punched his arm playfully. Everyone knew Isabella was blunt and inuslting, so she never lied about anything.

"Shut up!" she chuckled.

Eathan kicked a small rock on the sidewalk as he put his hands back in his pockets.

"Well, you could tell them that you don't really feel like going to Italy just to see your grandparents. If they want to see you, you shouldn't have to travel overseas and jepordize your life. They're old-- they've lived a full life."

Isabella smiled, and nodded.

"Yeah. Now how the hell am I going to pull that off?" she asked, kicking his calf with the side of her foot. Eathan shrugged, and kicked her back.

 

Isabella stopped at her street, and turned to Eathan.

"Hey. Can you help me tonight with my parents? There's a huge chance they'll make me babysit the siblings if I make them mad," she said, looking at him hopefully.

Eathan looked at her.

"All six siblings?"

Isabella nodded, sighing. Eathan nodded back at her.

"Sure. Just as long as Paolo doesn't take the phrase 'bite me' literally again. He's eight! Has he never heard of sarcasm?" he chuckled.

Isabella laughed, and walked backwards.

"So be at my house around five!" she called, as she started jogging toward her house.

"Got it!" Eathan shouted.

 

Olivia crawled across the seat, and kissed James.

"Do you want to stay for a while? I can lock my door, so my parents will shove off." she smiled. James nodded, a lump in his throat forming.

 

"Mom! I'm home!" Olivia called, but lowered her voice when she added "not like you care, b***h."

James looked at her sympathetically, and followed her into the kitchen, where her mother was humming while she was cooking. It sounded like 'Eight Days a Week' by The Beatles. James chuckled, and her mother turned to face them.

"Hey honey. How was school?"

Olivia got two Diet Cokes from the fridge and tossed one to James.

"A huge waste of my life. How was your day?"

Her mother smirked.

"You want to know how my day was? Do you really want to know?" she shouted.

Olivia nodded, and her mother smiled.

"It was good."

James laughed and Olivia stepped on his foot, making him choke on his drink. Mrs. Dean wiped her forehead, and smiled at James.

"Who's your friend, Liv?" she asked.

Olivia smiled finally.

"This is James, the boyfriend."

James shook hands with her mother, as Mr. Dean came through the door. Olivia looked at her father, and rolled her eyes, sighing.

The parents kissed quickly and Mr. Dean sat down at the table.

"What's for dinner, sweetie?"

Olivia took James by the hand.

"Your mom." Olivia whispered under her breath, walking out of the kitchen with James behind her.

 

James had never been in Olivia's room. He gasped, and burst out into laughs when he saw it.

"Your room has been invaded by aliens from the Planet Fru-Fru!"

She jumped onto her bed, and threw a stuffed unicorn at him.

"Shut up! If you had my parents, you're room would by like this too!" she growled, laying down on the bed. James walked over to her, and sat ontop of her, his knees on either side of her waist. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"I think it's cute. Don't worry."

She smiled, softly at him, and chuckled slightly. She looked at their position, and smiled up at him.

"If we ever have sex, shouldn't we be the other way around?"

James' ears went hot, and his cheeks went pink. They both knew they were both virgins, but Olivia was more open to talking about sex than he was. It was the only thing he couldn't bring himself to talk bout.

Author's Note

ignore spelling mistakes,

Reviews

[Hannah!]

It's an interesting start. I rather like the way you introduced the characters. With such a huge cast, it makes a bit more sense to just give the readers an idea of who all of them are in one fell swoop then to try and introduce them in a more traditional way, through the course of the story. This chapter would be quite long if you chose to do the latter. And it's nice that, for at least Isabella, James, and Olivia, you don't seem to lean to heavily on those descriptions and cut out characterization afterwards. I like the side of Olivia that you've shown us, which is so different from her introduction.

I'm inclined to wonder why Olivia's parents didn't already know James. You said earlier that they'd known each other since fifth grade and had been dating for at least a few years. It seems odd that Olivia had never introduced him to her parents before. The decision to go to New York City seems a bit strange, too, mostly because, were I to run away from home, I'd pretty much decide on either NYC or Paris. XD Anyway, good first chapter! I'm off to read the next one.

[Talia Renee]

I really like how different all these characters are, and how you give them each strong and detailed personalities. Looking forward to seeing how they all interact with each other :)