Chapter 1

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My story started the day I was born, as does everyone else's, it wasn't until I turned sixteen that my story really got going. So I'm going to start from there, instead of boring you with the details of my childhood. I never did much as a child but as soon as I hit my teenage years, there was no stopping me.
I was born to take on the real world and everything it threw my way. And that's what I did.

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I led with my head resting upon my best friend Tucker's shoulder, he patted my head in a way that resembled an owner patting their dog. I watched the sun set along the west coast of California as teenagers rolled around in the sand, splashing about in the sea.

"Lola?" I heard a voice whisper in my left ear. "Lola?" The voice was then followed by a shake of my shoulders.

I lifted my head off of Tucker's shoulder and turned in the direction of the voice.

"Do you want a cider?" I nodded my head and accepted the can that Imogen held out in front of me.

"Thanks Immy!" I cracked the can open and took a sip of the world's best drink.

Tucker took the can out of my hand and took a sip himself, I glared at him as he took another one to spite me. He placed the can back into my hand and kissed my forehead before lifting himself up off of the ground, he extended his hand out for me to take. I placed my hand in his as he pulled me up and we strolled over to our group of friends.

I grinned at Ethan and Hunter as they greeted both of us. I tend to surround myself with friends that are male, with the exception of Imogen, because they're less drama and they don't expect much from you, of course that doesn't stop me from giving them a lot. I sipped my cider as Hunter, Tucker and Ethan talked about the football, it's classed as football to me because I'm English and I was living my life in America. Although I soon got into speaking like Hunter, who is the only fully American person in our group.

Imogen's phone buzzed and she bid us a farewell with only a few words explanation, leaving me with three lads on the sandy beach at sunset. I sat myself down again and everyone followed my lead, we sat in a little circle trying to keep each other warm.

That was the thing about us lot, we were too stubborn to admit defeat and go home. So we always played a game where the first person to go home was the loser, no one actually lost until the early hours of the morning when a parent would be shouting down the phone until we all went home. We're a tight-knit group and all the parents care about the other children, so technically everyone lost.

I forced Ethan to come over and keep my left side warm as Tucker kept my right side warm. In my defence it was a good way to stay warm, we radiated heat off of each other, so I wasn't being selfish or slutty. By now the sun had fully set and we were left with no light at all, until Ethan got his phone out.

We talked all night about random things, it ranged from To Kill A Mockingbird to Tucker's phone contract running out in a months time. Our fun and games stopped when my phone rang, I answered it and had my ear bitten off by my mother.

"Lola Drake, it's four o'clock in the morning and you're still not back!" I put the phone on loud speaker so we could all listen. My mother doesn't have to raise her voice to be angry, you know when she's angry and that's not a good thing.

"Sorry mum, we've been having fun."

"Yes you've been having fun, you say that every blinking time!"

"Hey Mrs D, how's it hanging?"

"Hello Ethan dear, yes it's swell. How about you?" Ethan chuckled before replying, when it comes to teenage language, my mother is very 'down' with it.

"Mrs D, pretty please could I stay the night?" When it came to the boys, my mum was a sucker. She rarely ever said no to them, I think that's why they like her so much.

"Yes of course Ethan. The others can too, if they want?" Her moods change so quickly, one minute she's angry then the next she's back to her normal self.

Hunter and Tucker thanked her for the invite and told her she would be "seeing them very soon". Now if you ask me that sounds dirty and wrong on so many levels but mum just chuckled and hung up.

Half an hour later we gave in and decided we'd better go back to my house, Hunter decided he would drive because he'd had the least to drink. Now I'm not permitting driving after you've had a drink but he had literally had a sip of a 'special' cocktail, that Imogen had whipped up, and spat it straight out because and I quote it tasted like "fresh dog shit that's been mixed with herbs and spices and shit from other animal species". I don't know how he knows what that tastes like but I sure as hell don't want to find out.

After stopping multiple times, for scratch cards, a toilet break and snacks, we finally arrived at my house, despite it only being twenty minutes away from the beach. As Hunter pulled into the driveway, I texted my mother to let her know we would be walking in the door in a few moments. To which she never replied. I opened the door and locked it behind Ethan, who was last through it, and walked to the kitchen. We all grabbed a stool and gathered our own scratch cards, I won forty on one and lost on the others. The others only made a small profit on theirs.

"Hey Lo, where we sleeping?" Ethan asked me while I made us all an early morning hot chocolate.

"Wherever." I shrugged my shoulders and poured the water into the mugs.

"Floor?" I turned to look at Ethan and nodded.

"One of you can take the sofa in my room, another can top to tail if you want and the other one can go on the floor. Sort it out between yourselves, as much as I love you guys I'm not giving my bed up completely." I lightly chuckled, making sure I didn't wake up anyone in the house.

I passed the mugs of hot chocolate to the boys and grabbed my own as I texted Imogen, to see how she was after she had rushed off earlier that day. We kept our voices low as we talked while we drank our hot chocolate, I placed the mugs into the sink after we'd finished with them. I followed the boys out of the kitchen, turning the light off on the way, and quietly made my way upstairs. I removed the crap off of the sofa and into a corner of my room and prepared a bed on the floor so everything was ready for the boys. With my pyjama bottoms in my hand, I made my way to the bathroom to put them on and left the boys to get ready. I removed my bra at the same time but leaving my tank top on, I chucked my clothes on the floor as I headed towards my bed.

As I tucked myself in, Ethan jumped on my bed as invited himself underneath the covers. I let Ethan get comfortable before getting comfortable myself, I turned away from his rather foul smelling feet and turned the light off once everyone was settled.

"Goodnight guys." I whispered, grabbing my teddy.

"Night Lo." They shouted one at a time, it felt like being in the Walton's household.

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