Her Choice

Chapter 1

           "Teagan Rae! Time to get up!" Groaning, I slowly get out of bed, not prepared for the day ahead of me. Being the first day of Junior year doesn't bother me, and neither does starting a new school. What bothers me is that once again I'm going be known as Brandon's little sister. My brother is a senior, and my entire life, I've never been known as simply Teagan Rae. I'm always known as "Little Harley" or "Mini Brandon". I don't even understand why he's so popular and why I'm always compared to him. I just wish we had moved next year so I could have started at my new school without Brandon there.

"Teagan!" My mom yelled through my door. I gave an unintelligible grunt and opened the door, pushing past her to go take a shower.

"Teagan! I need the bathroom!" Brandon yelled through the door.

"Too bad, Bran! I'm using it!" I was in the middle of putting on my makeup, granted I've already gotten dressed and done my hair, but he didn't seem to care.

"Teagan! Get out of the bathroom!" He was pounding on the door now, and I let out a scream of frustration. God, does the universe just revolve around him? Finishing my mascara, I took a step back and looked myself over in the mirror, deciding my look was complete. I stayed in the bathroom an extra couple seconds just to piss Brandon off more.

"Finally!" Brandon exclaimed as I opened the door and walked out. He looked over me and nodded his head, "You look... alright," he rolled his eyes before walking into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him.

"Mom! I'm leaving!" I yelled into the vast emptiness of my house. Running to the garage, I checked the time. I should have left like 10 minutes ago. I decided to leave Brandon at home. He could just take his car. I climbed into my Ford Mercury pickup truck and put the school's address into my GPS before pulling out of the driveway. This really should be an interesting day.

"Hi," I said awkwardly, standing in front of the secretary's desk in the main office of HBHS, "I'm Teagan Rae Harley, and I'm new here." The secretary, whose little nameplate thing read Ms. Stevenson, looked at me in annoyance. It was clear to anyone who looked at her that she didn't want to be here at all. "Grade?" she had such a snooty tone to her voice.

"Junior. or ah, 11 I guess."

"I have you right here. Is your brother, ah, Brandon here as well?" She handed me my map and locker info and schedule and planner and handbook.

"He should be coming soon. We took separate cars," and with that I left the main office and went to find my locker. Locker number A-62... combo 35-03-27. Seems easy enough. I put my books in my locker, assuming that we wouldn't be needing them at all for the first day of school. My first periods Physics, one of my least favorite subjects. Great.

"Everyone," my Physics teacher, Mrs. O'Sullivan, began "we have a new student with us today," oh God, please no. I hate introductions like these, where you have to get up in front of the class, and tell them all a little something about yourself. "Teagan Rae please stand up and come to the front of the class." It wasn't a question, but a demand. I slowly made my way from the back of the classroom, where I chose to sit, up to the front. God damn... I really don't want to be here. I hate all these introductions.

"Why don't you tell us a little something about yourself?" Mrs. O'Sullivan asked me after I stood at the front of the classroom awkwardly for about a minute. I think she finally realized that I wasn't going to speak up on my own.

"No thank you," I told her sweetly, earning chuckles from a few of my new classmates and causing Mrs. O'Sullivan to get all flustered.

"That wasn't really a question, Teagan," I could tell she was trying not to get upset and yell, but it was just too damn funny messing with her.

"It's Teagan Rae," I said, just kind of looking at her, waiting for her to challenge me.

"Isn't Rae your middle name?" she asked, apparently extremely confused.

"No. Teagan Rae is my full first name. Just like Anna Maria, and Mary Beth," people accept those names, why can't they accept mine?

"Okay, Teagan RAE," she emphasized the Rae, it's not like it's some strange thing. Why can't people just say it normally? "Please tell us something about you."

"I already told you, no thank you," I was getting really irritated now, "Everyone here knows my name, they don't need to know everything about my personal life as well," and with that, I walked to my seat, not even waiting for her response.