Unpredictable

Chapter 1

I dog-ear the page of my book as I walk down the stairs to go home, because let's face it. Even with my experience in walking down high school halls while simultaneously reading, I could never do stairs. I can't even walk down stairs correctly without reading, let alone while doing it.

Just as I think this my foot catches on my other foot and I tip forward, able to catch myself just in time without face planting. I am getting some weird looks though.

At the bottom of the stairs I re-open my book and make my way to the buses. I have a car, not the money to pay for gas, but a car. You see my situation here as a junior girl. As I step outside, the glare of the sun is extremely white against the pages and nearly blinds me, so I'm forced to shut it. My bus driver says hello, and her cheeriness always amazes me. She has to put up with the worst kind of kids, and yet she's always happy. So yeah, the people on my bus reek. She's told me before that if she could have a bus full of me's, she'd be way less stressed. I put my ear buds in before most of the idiots get on, so I was all clear. My little brother hops onto the bus, and I smile and wave at him. As usual, he pretends he doesn't see me and makes his way to the back of the bus. I shrug and stare out the window.

Oh how rude I haven't introduced myself. Hi, my name is Opal. Pretty odd I know. I am a middle child in between two loving brothers! Okay even calling them brothers is a stretch. The older one, Axel, is a sophomore in college. Visits actually quite often, but the thing is we never see him. He does laundry, maybe crashes for the night, then leaves. I haven't actually seen him in months, but we do text sometimes. My younger one is Elliot, only a year behind me being a sophomore. We don't get along, and by that I mean we get in a lot of arguments. Two loving parents and a dog named Lillie, whom Elliot despises but I love. 5 best friends for me. Alice, Rosie, Anna, Bea (Short for Beatrice), and Rowan. And that's about it.

"Oh good mother Elliot! Get off me!!" I cried, trying to shove my football playing brother off of me, which was pointless. "No. If I do you'll change the channel to Say Okay To The Bouquet or something." He shifts to my stomach so I gasp for breath, breathing shallow and quick. "It's Say Yes To The Dress idiot. No get off my stomach before one of my organs pop!" He moves down to my hips, settling on my pancreas. "OW! Elliot I will cut you!" He snickers. "With what? Your fingernail?" I looked at my stubs that I called fingernails. "Whatever! Just move!" I try to push him but he's all muscle, which means he weighs a ton. "Fine! You've forced this on yourself. MOMMA!" I called into the house. "WHAT?" She responded from the laundry room. "TELL ELLIOT TO GET HIS FAT BUTT OFF OF ME!!!" I can hear her sigh. "ELLIOT GET YOUR FAT BUTT OFF OF HER." He does as she says, because if he doesn't he'll be smacked with a wooden spoon in the behind. "Son of a turd." I say, snatching the remote up. "No! Opal!" He screams, throwing himself at me. I've put my foot up against his face to keep him away, but he moves around me easily, taking the remote and changing it to football. I groan and grab my book, uninterested in the channel he's chosen.

"I'm home!" My father calls, and both my brother and I turn our heads. "Daddy!" I call, scrambling off the chair and running towards him. Of course this isn't very manly so Elliot doesn't even remotely do what I do. He stays on the couch, not paying attention. "How's my girl?" He asks, hugging me. "Fine. You?" "Tired. Hello Elliot." My brother raises his hand, but that's it. It's like showing emotion will kill him. I go up behind him and thunk him. "Ow!" "At least say hi to your father!" I exclaim. "Fine! Hello to your father." My dad snickers and I try to get Elliot in a choke hold, but he just grabs my arm and flips me over the couch like some sort of professional wrestler. I gasp, and stay on the floor for a while, because it feels too shameful to stand.

My brothers are pretty handsome, as far as brothers go. Axel, though I haven't seen him in a while, has dark curls and bright green eyes. He's growing a scraggly beard and has had tons and tons of girlfriends that I can't keep up with. Elliot has board straight dark hair, and hazel eyes. He gets a lot of love interests, but turns them all down. I'm guessing because they involve emotion, which he barely shows. My hair can never decide when it wants to be straight or curly. Maybe just wavy most of the time. Wavy brown hair and blue eyes. Freckles, bad eyes but I wear contacts, tall-ish, willowy structure. I think about all of this as I look in a mirror. Then I walk to my bed and turn on my light to read.