Jaded Heart

Chapter One

    A strong breeze scatters several multicolored Autumn leaves across the pavement as I watch. The frigid air was dry, causing my slightly chill nose to tingle. I force my bare, pale hands into the pockets of my maroon colored pullover hoodie, with the slight hope to keep them warm. A small cloud forms as I take a deep breath in frustration.

    Where is he? I ask myself, stomping my feet to the ground to try and thaw my frozen toes. I always thought southern states were so lucky to have bearable weather during the Autumn months. But then again, they may think we're lucky to even experience snow. I figured it depended on what you were used to.

    I waited a few more minutes before storming back inside my house with a groan of frustration. Why wasn't he here? It wasn't like him to ditch me without letting me know first. Come to think of it, Josh has been acting strange lately. I figure it's the fact that he just started dating a cheerleader. Loser.

    Once I enter my house, I begin searching through drawers in order to find my set of keys. I had no such luck. Soon enough, I become frantic. I was going to be late. God damn you, Josh. Once I begin to get angry, my younger brother, Jonah walks into the kitchen.

    "Jonah! Have you seen my set of keys? Josh hasn't shown up," I ask him, a tone of irritation evident in my boyish voice.

    He shrugs subtly, making it almost impossible to even see that he had done such movement. "I think Mom got tired of you losing the damn things and took them. She just left for work, too. Too bad." I raise an eyebrow at his response as he leaves the room, obviously forgetting what he had come in here to do. A soft groan escapes my thin, chapped lips in surrender; I had to ride the bus.

    Reluctantly, I adjust the strap of my backpack and dart out the door I came in through. Fortunately for me, the bus stop was only a few houses away, allowing me to walk. The bus always came last minute anyways.

    Minutes passed before the yellow vehicle arrived to where I was standing. I give a look of disgust as I step onto the bus, not even bothering to touch the helpful railing. As soon as both of my feet are on the steps, the bus driver shuts the door behind me and begins driving once more, causing me to fall forward. I was really starting regret not grabbing that railing.

    Much to my surprise, no one laughed at my mishap but, every set of eyes were on me. Wincing, I make my way toward the only empty seat while making an attempt to avoid the vacant, zombie-like stares. Immediately after sitting down, I toss my backpack between where I was sitting and the gray seat in front of me. Only then did I notice the girl sitting next to me, staring out the window. The most peculiar thing was the fact that I had never seen her before.

    The girl looked tall, but it was hard to tell due to the fact that she was sitting down. She had long, jet black hair tied back in a loose ponytail. She also had short, side swept bangs that slightly cascaded over her left eye. Her eyes were a dark brown, but had a lighter tint when the sun beamed in her direction. She wore a black leather jacket with a simple, white V-neck and black skinny jeans.

    I must have been staring because she gave me the most uncomfortable, puppy dog eyed look ever. I gave her an awkward smile in a silent attempt to apologize before turning my head back to look in front of me. I sunk in my seat, completely regretting what I had just done. What she did, however, made me feel much better about it.

    "Hello, I'm Thalia Cameron, I'm a new student at Cadwell, transferring from a school you've probably never heard of in Rhode Island. It's a pleasure to meet you." Her voice sounded sweet, but slightly raspy from waking up not too long ago. Her words were very carefully said, perhaps rehearsed, as if she was afraid to mess anything up. A kind smile graced her full lips perfectly without any effort at all.

     "I'm Logan. It's a boy's name, I know. My parents are weird. Anyway, I hope you enjoy Massachusetts, the most mispronounced state in the U.S. It's not as cool as it seems. Why'd you move here anyway?" I felt nosy, but I guess it was making 'small talk.'

    Thalia lifted her arms slowly toward the back of her head before tightening her ponytail. By how fluently she did so as she squinted her eyes ever so slightly, I could tell that she did that as a habit when her thoughts were processing. It took her a moment to answer my question. "My mom and I moved here away from my father. They got divorced a year ago but my mom just now decided to move out of the house that they bought together. We left my sister behind with him." A sad sigh escaped as she looked down at her shoes, but only seconds later, she looked back up at me with the same bright smile she greeted me with.

    Only seconds later, the bus came to a halt. I could hear shuffling throughout the entire bus as we all got up from our seats and grabbed our stuff. People from the back silently make their way to the front and out of the giant vehicle, making no room for me to escape. I run my small hand through my tangled mess of dirty blonde hair, only to get my hand stuck in my own hair. As I struggled to let my hand free, I hear muffled giggles come from behind me. I turn my head to find Thalia laughing into her hand while watching me.

    I set my hand free from my bird's nest of hair as my lips purse into a thin half-smile. With most people, I would destroy them with their biggest insecurities for laughing at me. My hair was definitely not the easiest to manage. I had thick, dirty blonde hair that would always end up looking like I have never brushed it. I hated it, and most people would make fun of it. With Thalia, I didn't mind that she was laughing.

    Moments later, we both get off the bus and make our separate ways, but something told me that we would meet up again soon.