Twist of Fate

Summer Plans: Part 1

This is the first scene of the first chapter for a book called Twist of Fate. It takes place in 1982 and chronicles of life of 15-year-old Zoe Evans. For the last two years she had been living with her birth mother in California, but her life is about to take a turn.

This scene is Zoe's last day of school before the summer that will change her life.

Note: A portrait of Zoe I made with DAZ.

Zoe Evans was tapping her fingers on her desk to the rhythm of her favorite song, while waiting for the bell to ring. It was her last class of the last day of school, and she really just wanted it to be over. She didn't know why she even came to school today. The last day of school was after all pointless.

As she stared at the clock unable to take her eyes off of it, she felt something poke her in the back of the head. She jerked her head back only to see a paper airplane on the floor behind her chair. Whoever said Teenage boys were mature young adults? She saw two boys in the back of the room laughing and knew the boy who did it.

Tylor Donahue was the class prankster that it made his life's work to irritate her. As she stared at him, her pupils became small, and she glared at him. He suddenly straightened up in his chair and stopped laughing and tried to give her an innocent look, but she wasn't buying it. She turned around again, gathering her things in her bag just as the bell rang. He made a point of passing her desk.

"See you later, Zoe," he said and kicked the paper airplane in front of her.

She pondered whether or not to pick the thing up and could tell that there was writing on the notebook paper that the plane was made of, so she crumpled it up and threw it in her bag. Rising to her feet, she grabbed her bag strapping it to her back and picked up her purse and loose books before leaving the classroom. She did have a few things inside her locker, but she cleaned out most of it a few days earlier.

Freedom finally came, and her sophomore year had ended. She was excited about the impending summer, feeling as if it would be the summer that would change her life.

After she cleaned out the rest of her things out of her locker which she brought an extra bag that day to do, she walked down the hall wanting to start her three months a freedom as soon as she could. She was barely two steps outside when she ran into Tyler Donahue and his best friend Jack Grayson. Tyler gave her a hard time most of the time, but her mother told her it was because the boy liked her. Zoe never believed it at first, but she was starting to.

"Hey, Zoe, did you read my note?" he asked in a nonchalant manner.

"No," she said and tried to walk away from him, but he blocked her way. "Tyler, I've got to get home."

"I just want to talk for a minute," he said and had a hopeful look in his eye.

"Fine, but without your shadow over here," she said and looked straight at Jack.

"I know where I'm not wanted," Jack said and took a few steps away from them. "Bye, love birds." He chuckled as he left the two of them, while Zoe just rolled her eyes. One thing she hated was a smartass teenage boy, Tyler included.

"So, what do you want?" Zoe asked, but she saw something serious in his face.

"Well, I wanted to ask if you'd maybe like to go out tonight?" he asked stumbling over the words. He was no longer playing the cool guy he usually did when his friends were around. "I wanted to ask earlier, but Mister Gordon gets so uptight over anyone talking in class."

"Yeah, I know," Zoe said and shook her head. "So, is that what was in the note?"

"More or less," he said and gave her a coy smile. "So, what do you say?"

"I don't know," she said and looked away. "You know I'm leaving for the summer next week."

"So, we'll get in three months' worth of dates in a week." She laughed out loud at his words. "So...?"

"Well, okay, but just tonight," she said with a determined look in her eye. "Call it a probation date."

"Yeah, sure," he said and laughed. "Hey, why don't I give you a ride home?"

"I can handle it," she said, but he already had a hold of one of her bags. "Tyler!" he shouted out his name as he snatched one of her bags away.

"Hey, what would it look like if I let my date carry all that stuff by herself?" He said and gave her a wink. People were looking at them, and she wondered if he was doing all this for show. Still, getting a ride sounded better than carrying all this stuff home while walking.

"Fine," she said and handed him the other bag and walked out into the parking lot. She made a beeline straight for his car and looked back once she reached it. He was still standing there holding her stuff looking like an idiot. By the time he reached his car, she was sitting on the hood looking bored. "What took you so long?"

He used his free hand to unlock the car door and moved his head back and forth and rolled his eyes at Zoe. "Get in."

She jumped off the hood of the car and entered through the driver's side and slid over to the passenger's seat. He threw her stuff in the back and started the car. She took it upon herself to find a good station. Of course, it had to be classic rock. They played mostly 60s and 70s music, which was her favorite.

"You know, most girls hate this stuff," he said as he pulled out of the school parking lot.

"I'm not most girls," she said and started humming along with the music. Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit was blaring through the speakers.

"You should be a singer," Tyler said, and she looked at him like he was a space alien.

"No way," she said and shook her head. "Mom is the star in my family. I don't think we could take another one."

"Come on, Zoe," Tyler said as he stopped in front of her house. "You're talented, and your mom would agree. You should be on the stage, and you know it."

"I don't think so, Tyler Donahue," she said and exited the car. She grabbed her bags and walked towards her house.

"Pick you up at seven!" he called out from the driver's seat.

"Yeah, sure!" she called back before entering the front door.

To Be Continued...

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