The Summer Fling

Chapter 1 (Betty)

(A/N) im Australian and this is set in America so sorry if I get the dates wrong for school and other stuff lollolol

Ever since I can remember,  my moms academic standards for me have always been extremely high, the best mark was standard and anything below was worth nothing. She used to say she pushed me twice as hard since there was only one parent to do the pushing. My dad left my mom and I when I was 8 and since then she's always been like this. I know exactly why because my mom used to drunkenly cry to her 9 year old daughter. Apparently my mom and dad were in love and they got married, but my dads family hated my mom because she was Chinese and was not the type of girl they had planned for my dad to marry. One day, just after my 8th birthday my dad left without leaving anything except for a letter addressed to my mom stating that he had found a different, better woman to love and he was leaving me and my mom and I for her. Every month he sends money, enough money that my mom and I get to live in a big house in a rich neighbourhood, all expenses paid and that my mom only has to work 3 days a week. I know its sad to say but my biggest fear in life is ending up like my mom, 39, single with a kid who hates her. I've seen first hand all the ways a relationship can go to shit so I've decided, if that day does come I will do everything in my power to make sure I am with someone who loves me enough that they would not leave me for someone else without saying anything.

22nd of May, 2 weeks before spring break.

I opened my eyes, only to see my bedroom I remembered falling asleep in. It's a Tuesday and I have to go to school. It was just under 2 weeks until spring break and I was counting the days. Grunting, I turned to my side to find my phone next to me on charge sitting on my bed. I wasn't late, but I wasn't early either, it was 6 and my bus left at 7:10 so I still had enough time to get dressed and do my hair the way I liked it but I probably was gonna have to pack breakfast and eat it on the bus.

✾

I got to school at 7:20, most of the paint had peeled off of the outside of the building and every foot or so you'd see black spots on the floor which once resembled gum. The halls were crowded but I was only focused on going to the girls bathroom, I knew Inez would be there putting on lipgloss in the mirror and I wanted to tell her about the dream I had had about James. Inez had been my best friend since we were 6 and despite our differences we loved each other like sisters. Inez was more popular than me, and she was pretty, like really pretty, she had dark skin, dark hair and dark eyes and she had this certain indescribable beauty that drew you in. That's what first attracted me to her, plus the fact she was really nice when we were younger. Since then she's definitely become the schools "gossip" but I didn't really mind, I told her all my secrets and she'd never told anyone else. When I got to the girls bathroom I was right and as I was walking in she was touching up her lipgloss. She saw me in the reflection of the mirror and turned around to look at me. "Good morning Liz" she said in a monotone voice. While most people called me Betty, my full name was Elizabeth Huang-Murphy so Inez always made a point of calling me some variated nickname of Elizabeth, her reasoning for this is that she's my best friend so she has to have some way that what she calls me stands out against others.

"Hi Nez" I replied

She turned around and kept on applying her makeup, looking at herself in the mirror.

In the stall furthest away from us you could see an obvious cloud of smoke rising above the top, it smelled of marijuana so it was obvious someone was smoking a joint. The school I went to was rich enough to get smoke detectors in every bathroom except this random girls one so this is where everyone came to do it.

Inez had finished putting on lipgloss and moved on to mascara. We made eye contact through the reflection in the mirror.

"Do you want some?" she asked holding the wand out to me, one eye with mascara on and one eye without.