hey now. (matt press).

Chapter One: New Beginnings and Old Problems

Tomorrow was the first day of sophomore year, and I was not excited. I had kept to myself all summer, staying cooped up inside my bedroom. I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was dead, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I'm not suicidal or anything—I just don't want to go to school. I would do anything to get out of it.

A lot of people liked me at school, but that didn't mean I had a ton of friends. I guess you could say I was friends with Maxine Baker's group, but I was only close with Max herself, Brodie, and sometimes Matt. Matt and I had an odd friendship, if you could even call it that.

I was back to thinking of ways to get out of school tomorrow when my thoughts were interrupted by an incoming call from Max.

"What up, bitch," I answered, holding my phone up to my ear.

"I had two minutes of entertainment when Marcus got busted for smoking weed again. But now I'm bored. Wanna come over?" Max rushed her words out faster than the speed of light.

"But I can't be bothered to move. You come here instead," I groaned.

"No, you come here," Max retorted.

"No." I whined.

This back-and-forth went on for a few minutes until she finally persuaded me to come to her house. I reluctantly agreed.

I couldn't get a ride to the Baker household, so I had to walk the entire way. By the time I got there, I was out of breath and ready to collapse.

"Honey, I'm home!" I panted once I stepped into the Bakers' house. I was always over at Max's, so no one felt the need for me to knock anymore. I just walked right in like it was my own home.

"Finally!" Max shouted as she sped over to me, pulling me into a tight hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in months!"

"That's because you haven't," I smirked lightly.

"You antisocial freak," Max joked as she dragged me upstairs to her room.

"I missed you too," I told her, flopping onto her bed.

"Get this, we have new neighbors, and while my mom was screaming at Marcus, the lady who moved in next door heard everything. It was hilarious," Max explained.

"I can imagine," I snorted. "Man, I love your mom."

Max playfully rolled her eyes as she opened her laptop and searched for something to watch on Netflix. While she was doing that, I moved over to her closet and opened the box labeled 'Math Homework.' Marcus is such a dumbass. I took out a small bag of weed and put it into my pocket for later.

"What's that doing in here?" Max exclaimed, noticing the bag.

"No one checks your room," I shrugged, climbing back onto the bed. She groaned loudly at my comment as the theme tune for *Full House* started playing.

I got back to my house around half past eleven, and as usual, the place was empty. My mom had died a few years back while giving birth to my brother, who also didn't make it. So it was just me and my dad, though he was rarely home—always away on business trips.

I stayed up for a couple more hours before getting ready for bed and mentally preparing myself for school the next day.

It felt like I had been asleep for only twenty minutes when my alarm went off. I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep. This happened at least another six times before I finally got up, realizing I was going to be late. I rushed around my room, trying to find pens, pencils, and other essentials for school. I was always so unprepared.

I brushed my teeth and hair, then put on a light amount of makeup. I quickly decided on wearing denim ripped jeans and a light pink, off-the-shoulder, knitted sweater, paired with my Adidas sneakers.