Runaway Train| p. jackson

Chapter one; Killer Dodgeball

Killer Dodgeball

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Olive liked being alone. She was used to it, her moms were usually away for work so she'd learnt to enjoy her own company. She of course had her grandparents in Brooklyn who she stayed with sometimes but it was hard to get to school from there so she often stayed in her large apartment.

Most kids would love to be left in an expensive penthouse with no parents to tell them to do their homework or ground them or enforce curfew but that was what she longed for most and she was pretty sure if those kids' parents had missed three of their birthdays in a row then they'd think differently.

She knew her moms loved her and wasn't purposely missing important events, her mother was very excited to plan her Bat Mitzvah but then she got a modelling job back home in Montreal the same week so it was postponed. Olive had pretended that she didn't care and that she found Bat Mitzvah's lame but inside she was crushed, all she really wanted was for them to do something together like a normal family.

Sally Jackson had offered to throw her a party but it wasn't the same (she did make Olive a three-tiered cake which did help, for some reason it was blue).

Olive started hanging out at the Jackson's apartment so much that they made her a key. Percy had quickly become her favourite person, they met in English class and bonded about the fact that they couldn't read. He was probably the only person at Meriwether Prep who didn't want anything from her, he just wanted to be her friend.

Olive spent the first three hours before school meticulously going through her morning routine. She didn't know why it took so long it's not like she was putting on makeup or picking out an outfit (she always chose her clothes the night before).

Maybe it was because she was a neat freak, everything had to be in the right place or she wouldn't be able to focus on anything else. She'd been kicked out of four schools because she had a bad habit of getting up in the middle of class and fixing whatever was stressing her out.

Olive began her usual morning skate from her apartment on the Upper East Side towards the Jackson's apartment near the Queensboro Bridge, ignoring the many pedestrians that she swerved past. The song Lover blasted through her light blue headphones. Like most days Olive stopped at her grandparents' diner for coffee and a muffin.

"Hey Abuela," she kissed her grandmother's cheek before slipping behind the counter. "How's things? Good? Good. Where's the coffee?"

Her grandmother rolled her eyes. Ana Alonso was a kind woman who was used to Olive's caffeine addiction. She often pointed out how unhealthy it was for a thirteen-year-old to drink so much coffee.

Olive usually listened to her grandmother's superior medical knowledge (her being a former nurse) but Olive just dismissed it when they got to this subject.

"Don't put so much sugar in it, Olivia Grace." She scolded as Olive tore open her sixth packet of sugar.

Her grandmother quickly moved the sugar bowl away from her and headed towards the back of the dinner. "I'm going to wake Abuelo. For years he goes on about having a diner yet all he does is sleep in, that man." She muttered shaking her head. "DON'T BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

Olive quickly grabbed a bag and filled it with three chocolate chip muffins before running out the door.

When she got to the Jackson apartment Percy was already waiting outside for her. "Hey." He said glumly as she came to a stop in front of him.