re-written

Chapter 1: The perfect life of an imperfect teen

Before:

The sun rose just as it did every morning forcing me to drag myself out of bed for school. Could a girl not get any sleep in this day and age? People expect too much of me. It's not like I care, I just care about enjoying the moment. Then I remember, it's Thursday. Yes! I've been waiting for this all week. Every Thursday it rains. I love the rain. I don't know what it is about the rain but something about it could just make me sit, watch and listen for hours. The rain is so underappreciated. Here we have this beautiful gift of nature that comes pouring down for us every Thursday and no one seems to care.

I quickly get dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a thin maroon sweater, throw on some makeup, and grab breakfast on the way out of the house. Mom is already at work and Dad is probably asleep. But it's not like I really talk to either of them much anyway so it doesn't matter. It's mid-September so the air is chilly. It's a ten minute walk to school from here. I left a little early so I could take my time. As I put my earbuds in and turn up my music the sky starts to let loose a little drizzle of rain. "Come on is that all you've got?" I ask jokingly to the sky. As if having heard my plea for more the sky opened up and it began to pour. I pulled out my umbrella and continued my walk, completely satisfied with my surrounding. Some people ridicule me for being so careless, "life is precocious," they claim. I don't believe any of that bullshit. As long as I'm happy with the way I'm living it doesn't matter if I risk my life. There's something about the potential held within being able to die at any moment, it just seems so justifying. I love it.

I walk into school with a few minutes to spare and before I can do anything else I feel a pair of muscular arms wrap around my waist. I turn around to Leo, my gorgeous piece of man and muscle, who gives me a smirk before I kiss him. I really love him. Well at least I think I do. I've never really known for sure what love is but I'm pretty sure this is as close as it can get. Sometimes I get scared he will leave me. Only because we fight so much, mostly about sex. I mean, I'm only sixteen! He wants to do it but I think I want to wait a while longer.

Whelp. The bell rings signaling us to go to class. I turn to leave after giving Leo a hug but he pulls me back, slipping his tongue into my mouth. "I have to go babe" "C'mon just ditch with me." "No I actually should go to class." I just want to watch the rain. My first class has windows by my seat so I'll be happy there. "Whatever. Don't expect a ride home." With that he turns and walks away. You see? It's things like that, exactly what just happened, that scare me. I get confused very easily around him. But oh well, love is love. Right?

I walk into my first class and sit down, staring out the window. Ignoring my teacher ad everything happening around me I watch the tiny droplets race themselves to the end of the windowsill. Suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder, shaking me from my lovely daze. "Wake up Ms. Axton. This is not the time for sleeping." I'm embarrassed but shrug my shoulders and get caught up. I borrow notes from the person in front of me. He's very nice, always letting me copy his notes on Thursdays. I don't even know his name but I think he knows how I feel about the rain. Still, he's a dork so we will never get to know each other. Reputation is everything.

After first class I slug through the rest of the day catching glances out of windows whenever I get the chance. It's only when the school day ends do I really get happy. I walk ever so slowly down the road back to my house.

The rest of the week goes by slowly and dreadfully, filled with nothing but homework, stress, school, more fights with Leo, and no rain.      

I wake up around 6 in the morning the following Thursday and drag myself through my morning routine. The day at school is slow and exhausting. Leo and I fought again last night but I'm sure we are fine.... The boy in first period let me copy his notes again. I got embarrassed by the teacher again. I walked home in the rain again. Only the last part was enjoyable though. Before going to sleep for the night I decided to take a long and warm shower. The rain storm outside was just breath-taking. Since the lightning was so persistent that night I decided to take a few pictures of it. This is why I love the rain so much.

The shower was so warm it just made all my stress rinse off of my body. I just let everything rinse off, Leo issues, school, reputation... everything. Drip by drip, it all washed away. I could hear the thunder outside and knew the lightning was bad. I knew that I should get out of the shower but I hadn't felt this peaceful all week. The last thing I thought of was the rain. It was then that the lightning struck the house.