Sea Glass Summer

Back To The Room Where It All Began

Song Title Credit: Nine In The Afternoon by Panic! At The Disco

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We, Jubilee and I, we are like seaglass. We started out beautiful to those around us, yet still sharp-edged and jagged. Then we were tumbled around, rubbing and tumbling against others, wearing down our edges. In the end, we came out with faded edges and a faded color. We weren't so sharp and jagged anymore. We are still beautiful, only in a different way. This was a summer of change. It was a seaglass summer.

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Jace's POV

"Jace Maddox Essen! Come down here this instant!" I heard my mother's high-pitched shriek from the foot of the stairs. I had just been in my room, laying spread-eagle on my bed, staring at the ceiling, allowing the sounds of electronic music to pump through my ears from my phone next to me. But of course, much like everything else, she had to ruin my peace and quiet.

I sighed quietly to myself, sitting up and pulling my ear buds out of my ears. I crawled toward the end of my bed and climbed down the ladder from my bunk to the ground. Grumbling about my mother and her pesky shrieking, I walked my way to my door. I threw the door open and walked into the hallway.

"What did I do this time?" I asked once I had reached the top of the stairs. I closed my eyes a little bit, pretending to be bored. Well, maybe not pretending. More like exaggerating.

"I just got a phone call from your principal. Apparently, you got into a fist fight with another student, am I correct? Well, mister, you are facing a 3 day suspension over this." She said all of this with her hand on her hip and and eyebrow cocked.

My mother was not, is not like other mothers. For starters she owned one of the largest and most recognizable fashion/clothing line companies in the world. She spent most her time travelling between New York City or Los Angeles. We lived in Northern California, specifically, Fremont. So, I didn't really see all that often. For every six months of the year, I probably only saw her one week. And that time was never really around any of the holidays.

It was just my luck that the week I decided to get into a fight with this punk freshman, she was home to yell at me for it.

People say I look like her. We both have high cheekbones, tanned skin, and a dusting of freckles across our nose. We both have the blue eyes, but hers are lighter and mine are a dark shade of blue. And our hair is the same: dark tumbling waves.

"Yeah, you're right. This freshman decided he had the audacity to taunt me about my position on the lacrosse team. I told him to stop but he didn't listen and it eventually escalated into a full-blown fight," I explained to her. I walked down to the stairs and when I was standing in front of her I pointed out the (rather obvious)bruises gracing my cheekbones. I also lifted up my shirt and showed her the bruises covering my rib cage and stomach. I hated that kid with a burning passion, (I think his name was Frank?), but I have to hand it to him. He can throw a mean punch when he wants to.

Just as always, my mother didn't even blink or act vaguely surprised that her "baby boy" was hurt. All she did was stalk over to where her cell phone, the latest model no surprise, was sitting on the coffee table in the living room.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked her in a cocky tone but with an edge of worry on my voice.

"First, it was the detentions, missing assignments, and bad grades. Next , it was the fights. Now the suspensions. I don't know what happened, but it is too much. After tomorrow, you will be spending the summer with an aunt." And with that, she walks out of the living room with the phone cradled between her shoulder and cheek.

I sighed (looking back, I was doing that an awful lot at that time) and ran my fingers through my long hair. I need a haircut, I thought. I turn on my heel and trudge up the stairs. Once I made it back into my room, I flopped back on my bed and closed my eyes.

Starting early on in 9th grade, I went rogue. I guess you could say I had always been the golden boy, the apple of my parents eyes. They were there all the time when I was younger, but as I got older they slowly began seeing them less and less. I had always been the golden boy to them, but it never really felt like that to me. I had been called arrogant and self-centered before, but never thought much about it. I figured it was just bullies being bullies, putting down those who they thought were above them. But, looking back now, those words were true.

At that point, my grades started slipping. I started getting detentions more and more often. After that, I started fighting with other students, over small things left and right. Those fights landed me 7 suspensions before freshman year was over. I was sent to different doctors, physiologists, and  psychiatrists. They all said the same thing: there was nothing wrong with me; I was simply lazy. I was just done with school. I was only a sophomore now, but this year was getting better. Although I should say this year went better. Today is Thursday, June 14th. Tomorrow ends another year of my own personal hell.

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Knock, knock, knock

¨Jace? Can I talk to you?" My mother's voice, muffled because of the door between us, awoke me.  Apparently, I fell asleep after she interrogated me. I checked my wristwatch, where the digits 6:28 were looking back up at me. So I slept for about 3 hours. Yay.

    ¨Come in!¨ I yelled as I rolled over from my back to stomach, smushing my face in one of the many pillows adorning my  queen-size bed.

    My mom peeks her head in through the door, eyes darting around the room before they land on my form on my bed. She crosses the room and sits down next to me. The only way I knew this was because I could feel the bed dip under her weight.

    ¨Hey, guess what? I have some news for you,¨ She paused, as if waiting for me to respond to her statement. When she didn't say anything after a minute, I vaguely moved my hand in the air as if to say 'carry on'.

    ¨Oh. So your dad has rather distant relatives, as you already know. So, by some relations that I am not aware of, you have a distant aunt. She lives on the coast of Maine, and I have spent the last 3 hours talking to your father and her. I think you need a break from everything here, so you are leaving and getting a little taste of the rural East Coast. This Saturday, you will be leaving on a plane to go spend the summer with her."

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So how was that for a first chapter? Good, bad, let me know! Comments, likes, and follows are very much appreciated as I like to know what my readers think of my stories.

xoxo

lauren

P.S.: Music is basically my life so you guys will be seeing names of band members popping up here and there. Frank Iero already made an appearance in this chapter, so be on the lookout for more names! Comment when you see them!