Separated Paths

Chapter One

"Violet honey! Get up, you're going to miss your bus!" I'm still in my room deciding what to wear for my first day of junior year, and as always, my room is a complete mess. "I'm trying to get ready mom, I just can't decide what to wear" I rummage through my closet until I find my new pair of distressed dark denim jeans and pair it will my new coral colored t-shirt. I quickly throw on my white pair of high top converse and then I quickly run to my bathroom to curl my straight blonde hair. I run my straightener through my hair and try not to burn my fingers. I do a quick easy Dutch braid at the side of my head and hold it into place with a bobby pin. I check my outfit and hair in the mirror in a split second and then I'm out of my room with my bag on my shoulders practically flying down the stairs. "Violet be careful! Come eat your breakfast your bus will be here in 5 minutes" I give my mom a quick kiss on the cheek before I make my way to the kitchen to get something quick to eat. "Mom, I can't eat breakfast now, I have no time. But, I'll grab something small to eat on the way. I appreciate Nancy making this for me, sorry I can't eat it"  Nancy is our family cook. She is almost like my second mom. She has known us for over 5 years. My mom smiles. "Don't worry about it honey"  I check the time: 8:43. My bus will be here in literally 2 minutes. I open my cabinets and find my favorite breakfast bar- blueberry and strawberry it's a drizzle of dark chocolate. "Okay mom, I'll see you after school- bye!" "See you Violet! Have fun at school!" I run out the door and practically try to make my way to the bus in less than a minute. I know my life seems perfect, and I seem rich and all, you're probably thinking I should have a personal driver that drives me around everywhere and holds my bags while I go out on shopping sprees. I feel like my life is already complicated with me having the reputation of being "the rich kid that gets everything I ask for" and I feel better taking the bus since after all, I am a teenager. I see the bus right in front of me and I run to it almost tripping on the way. I can feel myself sweating and my hair getting frizzy. It's just the morning and it's September, but the weather in California is as scorching as it always is. It's never been this hot out in Cali since 2 years ago when we had a heat wave-I guess it's another heat wave on its way. I keep running to the bus stop and I'm close enough to see everyone in the bus: my friends, my crush and his friends, and so many other people I don't know. While I'm still running, I can see my crush on his phone taking multiple selfies with his new iPhone making funny faces and hanging out with his girlfriend, Miranda. Meanwhile, I'm so focused on my crush and all of his beauty, I forget the real reason I'm running, and I don't see the big yellow vehicle driving away from me quickly. I try to run even faster and try to catch up with the bus, but at my luck, the bus seems to be moving faster and I can't catch up. I finally realize that I won't be able to catch the bus, and I probably look like a wet rat with my already sweaty hair, probably extremely frizzy by now. I can feel my bobby pins  flapping on the side of my head as I stop and run over to the sidewalk. School starts in less than 30 minutes and I need to get there on time. I don't even know who my homeroom teacher is, and it's junior year- I need to make a good first impression on all of my teachers, first impressions are a,ways important. Now what will I do? I check my phone: 8:50. "Oh no!" I scream. I was wrong. School starts at 9:00, not in 30 minutes. I try to start walking and trip again. "Ughh!" I just got a huge scratch on my leg, but it doesn't look infected. After all, I only fell on the ground. All of a sudden, I hear a bunch of guys maybe in their senior year laughing and talking to each other. I realize who the leader of the group is: Toby Reynolds, the most popular guy at school, and my other crush-he is extremely good looking: dark brown hair and light blue eyes. I guess I'm still not fully awake since I haven't realized that the guys are in Toby's car laughing with the windows rolled down, and I can hear the loud music pumping in their car, which might I say is bright green, and beautiful. I quickly reach into my bag and grab my hand sanitizer with a napkin, I try to disinfect the scrape on my leg. I know this isn't the correct way of disinfecting a scrape, but my had sanitizer is all I have with me. I wince in pain as I feel the quick sting in my leg. "Ah!" I scream. I see the guys in the car turn around and give me a weird look. I try to smile in return and be nice. The guys in the car are Toby's best friends, and are all on the football team at school- Jaxon, Mike, & Ricardo. I see Ricardo whisper to Toby and he turns around to see me. And then he did something I never thought he would do: he smiled at me. I suddenly got a million butterflies in my stomach and my face turns into a light pink. Toby turns his car into the the same path as I am and I get scared and shout. I feel like the are going to run over me, so I walk over to a corner where there happens to be a rock. I take a seat and check the time: 8:53. Oh no, school! I always seem to forget!They laugh and Toby runs out and walks over to me with Ricardo, Mike & Jaxon close behind. They park their car and all 3 of them make their way over to me. I am extremely surprised that the most popular boys at school are sitting in front of me. In my opinion, they are all attractive, that's what makes my hear skip a beat. I gather up the courage to speak to them, I can do this. I clear my throat. "Hi" I manage to squeak out. "Hey" Mike and Ricardo say at the same time. I wonder if they plan these things, capturing a girls heart,with their undeniable charm, and good looks. "We saw you walking to school, and you seemed a bit distracted and off, so we we wanted to see if you were okay. Why would the most good looking guys at school want to know anything about me, and talk to me? "I'm fine, I just need to get to school, I'm going to be late." I get up and start walking away. I feel an arm on my shoulder stopping me. I quickly look up and I am met with Toby's hand. "Um, wait. Would you like a ride to school? If you don't take this ride, you're most likely going to be late for school." I turn around and see Mike and Ricardo looking at me obviously waiting for an answer. I think to myself: Of course I would like a ride from people as popular as Toby and his friends, I mean, who wouldn't? But I don't know them. For all I know, they could murder me!" I ignore the thought and turn to Toby. He smiles again making his eyes twinkle. I blush again. "Sure, I guess a ride would be nice" They all get up and finally Mike says something. He's been quite this entire time. "Then let's go!" I walk up to Toby and he suddenly holds my hand. I feel all jittery inside, who wouldn't? It's Toby Reynolds! I try to play it cool and I smile. He leads me to his car with Ricardo and Mike getting into the back seats, and I take a seat on the passenger seat. All of us fasten our seat belts. Toby turns on the radio on to a song which happens to be my favourite: "Hey Mama" by David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha, & Afrojack. I hum along forgetting that I'm in a car with popular guys and I forget what time it is. My mind is still on the music until I realize why I'm in a car with people I barely know. "Oh my gosh!" I say. It's 8:50, school started and I'm late on my first day of junior high! "It's alright" Ricardo says "Thanks for the ride guys!" I smile and walk out of the car.  I turn around and see them parking their car. They smile back and say bye. I practically jog when I am out of the car. Then I realize something very, very important: I forgot my bag in Toby's car.  How could I do this? It's my bag! I try to look around me, guessing that the guys could still be there, but it looks like they have left. wait, I thought I just saw them parking their car! Violet! focus I scold myself. It's my bag- where I have everything: my food, my stuff- everything! I search my pockets to see if I may have brought my phone with me. I sigh in relief as I find my iPhone in my shorts pocket. I try to find someone I can call, but who?I could call my mom or Nancy and let her know that I missed the bus, and I got a ride to school from the best looking guys ever and now I lost my bag in their car. I sigh. Here's my first day of junior high, and it's miserable.