His Stars/h.s

One: Join Us.

  It was about a year and a half ago, and I was only seventeen. He was eighteen, and everything anyone could ever want. He would mean everything to me, but of course, I didn't know that. Not yet.

Jay and I were sitting in the middle of the crowded food court, enjoying our fast food dinner. It was eight fifteen and I had just gotten off work, and so did he. We were both starving and didn't feel like buying expensive food at the restaurant we had worked at, so we ate there and walked around the mall for a bit. Fast food sufficed.

Jay nudged my arm. "Hey, you should totally join the writing club," he says, picking up one of his fries and putting it in his mouth. He looked at me and waited for a response.

"Eh," I say, shrugging my shoulders, "I'm not really a "club" kinda gal." I didn't look at Jay, I just looked at my burger as if it was speaking to me.

He swallowed his fries and let out a loud and dramatic groan. "Come on, you never leave the house besides going to school and your stupid job. You're always cooped up in your bedroom. It isn't healthy, you need to start doing things and meeting new people. I'm serious, Hazel."

I took a bite of my burger and thought about my response before speaking. I swallowed hard. "I don't know what you mean by," I held up air quotations and spoke in a funny voice, "you're always cooped up in your bedroom," I brought my hands down, "because right now, I'm in a public place besides school and work, with you."

Jay laughed at my mimicking of him. "True, but I guess today I just got lucky by actually getting you to go somewhere with me. The point is, is that I just think that you should try new things besides your usual routine. Who knows, you might even like the writing club! Writing is your favorite thing to do, so being around other people might just be fun for you, you all have something in common." His voice turned more and more serious as he spoke.

I nodded my head and took a sip of my soda, then said, "Yeah, I guess you're right bu-"

Jay interrupted me and held up a finger in my face. "Nope, nope, nope," he quickly said, "I know I'm right. Continue."

"Chill. I was saying, I guess you're right but I don't really like other people, and it's too much time taken out of my day to stay at school, go to the club, then walk home. It's seriously something I don't wanna do. And besides, why would I want to go to a certain place to write, when I can just go home and do the same thing I can do at the stupid club? Makes no sense," I replied, then took another bite out of my burger.

Jay gave me a nasty look and proceeded to try to convince me to go to the meeting. "Oh my god, you're so difficult. Just go to one meeting, maybe you'll like it. I just care about you and I want you to go and meet new people."

"I already have enough friends, I'm fine with what I got." I argued back.

"But meeting new people just spices things up. It's fun, I promise." He replies as he finishes up the last of his fries.

"My life has enough spice, thank you very much," I say. Jay continues speaking, but I totally tune out. Maybe this whole club thing isn't such a bad idea, and Jay is totally right. I do need to spice things up a bit...life is actually quite boring. I just don't want to let him know he's right, he'll rub that shit in my face. But anyway, I should just see how I like it. "Okay, Okay, fine," I say loudly, interrupting him, "I'll go. Happy?" I raise my eyebrows.

Jay smiled. "Yes, very happy. Thank you," he says. Then, he picked up his phone and looked at the time. I saw the time on the screen, it was eight thirty. "Shit, I gotta go. You know my mother, always wanting me home early and still treating me like I'm six. Thank you for the food, and by the way, the writing club is Thursdays right after school, so it's tomorrow. Text me when you get home!" He stood up with his tray and quickly walked over to the trash and threw it out. I watched as he made his way all the way to the mall's exit.

I guess he wasn't going to wait for me to throw my stuff out and leave with him, douchebag.

Once Jay left, I put my phone in my bag and put it over my shoulder. Then I stood up and grabbed my tray and soda and headed towards the trash can. After I threw my stuff out, I walked towards the exit. As I was walking, I felt a light tap on my elbow. I turned around and looked down, seeing a little girl about seven years old. She had brown hair up in a ponytail and a cute pink dress on. She had stunning blue eyes.

She looked up at me. "Hi," she said in a small voice, "I like your hair, it's really pretty..I've never seen anyone with hair like that before. Can I touch it?" She gave me a big smile.

I laughed and knelt down so that I'm eye to eye with her. "Thank you, and of course!" I took a little section of hair between my fingers and gave it to the little girl. She curled it around her tiny fingers and looked amazed at the color, even though its only a little orange. "Wheres your mother?" I ask her, wondering why she's all by herself.

The girl looked behind her as she twisted my hair in her fingers. "She's in line right over there," She pointed to a middle aged woman, holding a smaller child's hand. They looked exactly alike; her mother had long brown hair and a sophisticated outfit on, she looked like a business woman.

I assumed that the mother didn't know her kid was over here. I kinda wanted to go home, and the little girl looked like she was having way too much fun touching my curls. "Maybe you should go and get back to her, I have to go anyway, okay?"

The girl let go of my hair and I stood up. "Thank you!" She says as she flashes me another smile and makes her way back to her mother. I turned back around and smiled, she was too cute. I continued to make my way out of the mall and into the parking lot.

Okay! So this is chapter one, and I know it's a little boring and short-ish, but it's only the beginning. I'm working really, really hard on this story and I hope you guys like it!
- Ava