Change Is Overrated

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: : CHAPTER ONE : :

"WE break promises, but MEMORIES break us."

Plain white walls surrounding me. I wish they could just swallow me whole, it'd be a lot less painful than having these straps digging into my wrists and ankles, restraining me from moving; forcing me to watch the horrid events unfold in front of my eyes, like it's happening again. But in reality, it's just my over-active imagination replaying the scene over and over, forcing me to feel the pain endlessly.

The room consists of the chair I am strapped into and a projector, replaying the scene of my sister's death.

No matter how hard I try, it's like I can't blink. I can't close my eyes. I can't miss a second of this torture. I feel the pain, just the way I had seeing it happen live, in front of me. Now, even when it's replayed in my dream-state, I can't help the tears that rise to my eyes.

"ROSEEEYYY!"

I jerk upright with a loud gasp. I quickly wipe the tears that leaked from my eyes, while shaking out the feeling that dream gives me.

I look over at my nightstand and see that it's 8:03 a.m. Good thing my school starts at nine. That's one upside to this whole situation.

That nightmare has been haunting my sleep ever since she died. Every night, the same dream, always leaving me feeling useless and guilty. I wish I could've saved her... But it's too late now. I need to move on. . .If only it were that easy.

I peel the covers off my sweat-covered body, climb out of bed and walk to my bathroom. I resume my morning routine by taking a steamy shower, washing away all the pain and suffering from my dream, ready to face the new day.

After drying off I go into my walk-in closet, and decide on what to wear for my first day of school. I scan through my rows and rows of colorful skinny jeans and t-shirts and settle on black skinny jeans and a white t-shirt with red stripes and a big red heart in the middle. I pulled it together with some red TOMs and let my hair fall down in waves around my shoulders, after blow-drying it. As for my make-up, I just apply some simple eyeliner and mascara. Other than that I have pretty flawless skin, so I don't ever really use cover-up.

I grab my school books and pull my leather purse over my shoulder. I check the time to see that it's 8:45. Time to head to school. This should be fun. Even in my thoughts I can feel the sarcasm dripping off that statement.

"What's your name?" The receptionist asked me. I am now standing in the front office of Centennial High School. Let the fun begin.

"Aubrey Moore."

"Ah, here we are. Now, let me explain this a little bit, it can be kind of confusing. You're familiar with what an A-B Class System is?" I shook my head. What the hell is wrong with this place? "Well, it's where there is only 4 classes a day, which last an hour and a half each, along with 30 minutes for lunch and 7 minutes for getting from class to class. The days alternate between A-Day and B-Day. And today is an A-Day, so," She pointed to a group of four classes on the page. "These are your A-Day classes, you'll have A lunch for this day." She pointed to the other group. "These are your B-Day classes. and you have D lunch for tomorrow. Any questions?" I shook my head again. "Good, and don't worry, this seems more complicated than it is. You'll easily get the hang of it, especially such a smart girl as yourself. And yes, I did see your record. Very impressive."

"Thanks." I mutter. She hands me my schedule along with a map and says a 'Have a good day' as I walk out of the office and into the rotunda. Wow, this place is huge. I glance at my schedule and see that I have TV Broadcast first. Cool. I've always had a knack for technology and such. It just clicks in my mind, but I've never had an opportunity like this before.

I find the classroom and walk in. It's a room full of about 20 Tower Macs. I take the seat closest to the door and wait for class to start. After a few minutes of me sitting there staring at the blank monitor in front of me, a girl that's a few inches shorter than my 5 foot 5 inch stature walks in and takes the seat next to me. She has mid-length brown hair that's layered to perfection and beautiful blue/gray eyes.

"Hey, I'm Lola. Are you new here? I haven't seen you before." She says to me with a genuine smile.

"Yeah, I'm new. And I'm Aubrey, nice to meet you." I return her smile.

"You're going to love it here. You're a senior right?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess."

"I saw it at the top of your schedule...Can I look at it?" I nod and hand her my schedule. She looks over it with an adorable thinking face. "We have two classes and lunch together today, and tomorrow we have three classes and lunch together! Wow. We're going to be great friends, I can tell." She's a very bubbly person, seems like she'd be a great best friend.. That thought makes me smile.

"Me too."

Broadcast and English went by uneventfully, and now it was 12:15, lunch time. Lola told me to meet her in the cafeteria underneath the French flag... I have no idea what that means, but I guess I'll find out.

I navigate my way to the cafeteria and I notice all the flags hanging from the high ceilings, around the edges of the room. I spot the French flag over in the corner, and I see Lola and a small group of people surrounding a table. Once I reach the table Lola immediately jumps up and hugs me.

"Hi there." I say through chuckles. She's so adorable.

"Come sit by me!" Her happy aura was really refreshing, compared to all the depression I've been feeling lately.

I took a seat between Lola and a girl named Allison. Allison was rather tall, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She looked just like the stereotypical cheerleader, but as I found out, she played Volleyball, and was the team captain. That would explain her Letterman jacket with 'Volleyball' written across the back of it. Way to use context clues there, Bree...

Everyone's heads snap toward the front of the cafeteria as a very handsome boy walks in, calm, cool and collected, closely followed by what seems to be his posse, hooting and hollering like over-excited children, who are following like puppies. They make their way to a table in the opposite corner of ours. As they sit themselves down, the usual chatter of the lunchroom eventually reaches it's regular noise level again.

"Who's that?" I quietly ask Allison. She looks at me incredulously.

"You seriously don't know?" I shake my head. "Oh lord. Lola, please explain to this poor girl, who that was." She turned back to me. "You poor, deprived, child. How have you gone until this point without knowing his name?"

"It's been 2 class periods...Sorry I haven't learned everyone's business yet." Lola turns from her conversation with some other people, who I did not learn the names of, to explain to me.

"That's Harrison Skinner. He's the bad boy of the school. He has dated practically every girl in our grade, not to mention most of the Sophomores and Juniors; along with quite a few college women. This guy is a legend; the perfect womanizer. It's like he took classes on how to seduce the female population. A helpful tip: Don't believe a thing he says. It's not real, he just wants to get into your pants." I nod to her, glancing back to the 'legend' who now has a least 4 girls literally throwing themselves at him. "I'm serious, Aubrey. This guy is dangerous. He gets what he wants when he wants it. Just stay away from him and you shouldn't have a problem. . . .This might seem harsh, but I just don't want you to get hurt." Lola has a look of complete sincerity on her face

"I understand, Lo. I'll stay away from him. I don't want trouble, anyway."

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