Small Town Sweethearts

STS - Chapter 1: Nolan

Chapter 1-

              First days of school are always scary. For example, my teachers last year threatened with suspension if we didn’t obey the dress code this year.

              It’s not like they went through with it, because we still wear shorts and have two holes in our ears instead of one. But the same principle applies; Firsts are scary. Especially without a dad to back you up when things get ugly with your mother. My dad had passed away seven years ago, and I had always been a daddy’s girl. My mom and I hadn’t gotten along since.

              It was raining, that alone made me want to go back to bed. Like, right now. Usually I would have been appalled at the thought. I mean, I couldn’t possibly miss the first day of my senior year. That would mean missing meeting the new teachers this year, not getting my syllabi . . . I couldn’t do it.

              I braved the dripping drops of death while running to my car. My car was my baby. It was light pink, a punch bug, and fit my personality like a glove. It had been my 17th birthday present from my mom. I guess she thought it was a good attempt to patch things between us, though my love can’t be bought.

              I managed to get to Georgina without falling strait on my butt, a huge surprise. Slamming the door of the car closed, I fished around in my purse for my phone, which I heard going off earlier.

              Amelia, my best friend, wanted me to get us Bojangles before school. I rolled my eyes but decided to be a good friend and get the darn food, but we were having a talk pretty soon about me always getting the food and coke to fuel her caffeine addiction.

              After getting our breakfast, I pulled into the school’s little parking lot, juggling all my crap in my arms and using my hip to bump the door closed. Amelia comes running at me, completely ignoring the fact we’re in a flipping parking lot and she could get ran over.

              “Lacey!” she screams, the scarf around her neck flapping behind her. I roll my eyes as she slows herself down enough to talk to me. “Guess who asked me out!”

              Blinking, I grin at her, happy for my friend, “Who?” I ask, walking up the hill toward the school.

              Amelia quickly scurries after me, linking her left arm to my right. We’ve walked this way since middle school, any other way literally feels wrong.

              “Lincoln,” she finally answers my question, turning her head to smirk at me as she flips her dark colored bangs from her face.

              “Seriously? Oh, my God!” I squeal. Amelia has liked Lincoln since sixth grade, but it’s not surprising. With his tousled brown hair and the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen, Lincoln is hot.

              My best friend can’t keep the grin off her face all through our first two classes, math and history. Amelia is amazing at history, but both of us are terrible at math. It’s sad really.

              In our third class, one of our guy friends, Nick, joins us with his girlfriend. Her name is Alexandria and you can tell the couple really care for each other by the eyes they make at each other all through science. By the time lunch gets here, I’m so ready to go back to sleep and escape this love fest.

              My last block class might just brighten up my boring day a bit; the teacher is my favorite. Mrs. Lain is young, laid-back, and really fun. She even takes Amelia and me shopping sometimes on weekends. After she’s done teaching, I sit around with the other students to talk. Nick comes into the room after a few minutes, looking down at his shoes. “My shoes are sticky!” he announced, looking annoyed.

              “What? Why?” I asked, shifting from my perch on a desk.

              “No guy in this school can aim!” Nick says, looking back up at his audience.

              “It’s true, it’s why Mrs. Clinton put up targets on the urinals,” another guy, Seth, agrees. Mrs. Clinton is our custodian, and has a major sense of humor.

              Yet another boy speaks up, this time Jake, “Dude! I get a bull’s eye every time!” He slaps a high five with Seth before we all chuckle at his outburst. Even I have to admit this is funny, though I really don’t like Jake. He’s cute I guess, but flirts with everything with a pulse.

              When school is over, Amelia and I head to my house, where we plan to do ‘homework’ together. I walk upstairs toward my room, dropping my backpack on the floor before heading to the large bathroom. I find Amelia already in there, touching up her makeup. “Got a hot date tonight or something?”

              “Nope. But you never know if they’ll be a hot guy hanging around your house,” she says, blinking at the mirror while adding another coat of mascara. She’s obviously referring to the way someone working for my mom is always at my house, doing yard work, taking care of the cars, etc.

              I bite my lip and nod, “So did you see Payton’s hair today? The ‘I-can’t-bother-to-find-a-hairbrush’ look is back,” I comment while hopping up to sit on the counter. The look we’re referring to is when Payton tries to tousle her hair and it ends up looking like a bird dive-bombed her already fried head. Just because it’s so fried from all the hair dye we call her chicken.

              “Totally! I have to sit beside her in religion, and she goes ‘I can’t see!’ while rubbing her eyes. I’m like, ‘Well that explains the hair!’” Amelia tells me, grinning full on. I laugh loudly, finger combing my long blonde locks. Turning to face the mirror, I look the stark contrast in our appearances. With my dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, and Amelia’s dark hair and eyes, we look nothing alike.

It’s funny, because once this guy at a restaurant thought we were twins and it was our birthday. Mrs. Lain had taken us out to dinner for our birthdays, which were only 11 days apart. The poor old guy though 28 year old Mrs. Lain was the mother of two 14 year olds and were getting a lime green jeep for our birthday.

Hey, you can’t fix stupid.

              Brandy, my babysitter since I was 7 came in then. She was young, about 25, and was always cracking us up. “Hey! Y’all wanna see my lizard? I named him Nolan!”

              So for the next two hours, Brandy entertained up with the story of how she got a color-changing lizard.

Hey guys! Okay, so I know this chapter is boring, but I had to set the scene and all that. I promise it’ll get better in the next few chapters!

Oh, and big shout out to @ila_ish for the cover. Isn’t she awesome?

              Okay, enough boring y’all with my endless chatter! I love you!

-Sparkles