Skinny Love

1. FIRST SIGHT

CHAPTER ONE
FIRST SIGHT
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Being a black girl in butt fuck of devils tail 90s Virginia was hard. Being shy while being a top of her classes over achiever made it even harder. But she did it. Julianna Jones was a force to be reckon with with a bright future all but in her grasps.

All her strife, her struggling and pain had never stood in her way, never more than a temporary cloud that could never block her unstoppable blinding light. That was until that afternoon, it suddenly felt as if everything she'd been through all those years had been for nothing.

The life she'd spent her youth building, to her, was all about to collapse around her like a house of flimsy cards and there was not a goddamn thing she felt shecould do about it.

It was mock trail day. One of the, if not the biggest deal in school. Everyone and their families would come and fill the old playhouse to watch the towns children play at lawyers, judges, and murders. It was a small town, everyone always made something huge out of nothing.

She sat alone on the abandoned 3rd floor, dreading time as it flew by ever so mercilessly. With every second that passed, she grew more lightheaded, more nauseous.

Most of the semester she hadn't worried about this looming day since she'd been told she'd be playing a juror. Things took a turn when last month the girl playing defense managed to convince the professor to let them switch with a juror, and that unlucky juror, happened to be none other than Julie. Julie, going up against Jessie Bancroft, the appointed defense.

She stood absolutely no chance, everyone knew that. The issue was that if she didn't at least do a convincing job, her grade would go down the toilet, and the mock trail grade was worth 40% of her class grade.

All those years of hard work, potentially down the drain. If her GPA took a dip, it was bye-bye decent college for her. Her mother, above all people would be disappointed. Just the thought made her shudder.

She wanted to get up, needed to, but her ass stayed glued to the ground, trembling at the thought.

She just couldn't do it. The trial was just a few more minutes away, but she was stuck on the dingy floor, shivering with anxiety. She was sure if she went out there, she'd not only fail, but embarrass herself along the way. But if she left, she'd certainly fail. Her classmates would hate her for abandoning them at one of the most important events of the school year. In this small town, she never able to show her face without someone giving her a ruthless glare. She was stuck, the thought was enough to knock the wind from her lungs. She planted her hands to the ground, shallowed breathes that barely filled her lungs. She was seconds away from passing out.

"You are hyperventilating." The voice was not unfamiliar, she'd just never heard it directed at her before. Shyly she backed away from the voice, almost hitting her head against the metal lockers behind her.

"Bring your head to your knees and focus your breath." The voice was cool, not concerned yet stern. The kind of voice you didn't speak back to.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone was up here."

"No one is up here. I'm not suppose to be up here, and neither are you. This section is closed off for inspection this week." He responded bluntly leaning against the row of lockers beside her nonchalantly. "I came here to watch you."

"How did you find me?" She shook her head confused. It wasn't making any sense. Shouldn't he be happy? Wasn't that a sure win for him?

"I followed you." He answered in a bored and low voice.

"You followed me?" She repeated expecting a response. She spoke again when she realized she wasn't going to get one unless she probed. "Why?"

"I was curious to see if you'd run away." He smiled softly to himself, the crinkles of his eyes lifted into small smiles, a cruel smirk grew against his flush lips. "I saw your face when Lauren got switched to juror looked, like you saw a ghost. Thought you'd flake on your team, I wanted to see what you'd do."