Beautifully Shattered

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Lying had never been something I was good at. Luckily, I’d never had a reason to lie about anything other than, “No, I didn’t take the cookie out of the cookie jar.”  Even things like that only happened on rare occasions.

      The end of the school year was only a few weeks away, and an acquaintance of Marcie’s, my best friend since the first grade, invited us to go to his pre-summer kickoff party. There was no way Dad would ever let me go, and we both knew it. Parties were something he considered evil; Devil worshiping is one term he’d used to define them in the past. It made me wonder what kind of parties he had gone to when he was my age.

In the end, Marcie managed to convince me to tell them I would be staying at her house for the night. We told them we were having a girl’s-night, study party. They actually bought it.

      Dad stayed mad at me all week which meant he wasn’t talking to me. To be honest, it was better than him preaching at me all the time. There was always something I could be doing differently, and he was always right there to let me know what that something was. It kind of hurt to think that I would never be the kind of daughter he wanted me to be, but it seemed as if no matter what I did, nothing could ever appease him.

I watched the week breeze by, spending most of my time hiding in my room listening to music and sticking my nose into school work and books; they were the two things that I had always been good at, so I just kind of went with it. Friday snuck up on me, and before I knew it, I was on my way to the school cafeteria for lunch.

      “Aliss!”       

      I turned to see Marcie waving at me down the crowded hallway and waited for her to catch up.

      Marcie Hemwick had been my best friend since she had waltzed up to me and declared it true. She was one of the most popular girls in school, and rightly so. Due to her long, curly black hair and massive sea green eyes, she was one of the most envied girls in the whole town; there was nothing ordinary about her. She had that body type that made other girls take a ten point knock on their self-esteem just by being in the same room as her, and I had always been one of her helpless victims.

My being the most unpopular human being in school, made things difficult for Marcie, but because of her ties with all the right people, I was invited to certain events I otherwise wouldn’t have been. Hence how I was in my current situation. 

      “Excited about tonight?” She asked when she caught up. The smile on her face screamed that she was.

      “Yeah, I guess.” Normally, I wouldn’t have even been considering going, but I knew it was important to her. “Dad’s still giving me the silent treatment, so that always makes things fun.”

      “You do know he’s insane, right?” She said with a hint of empathy.

       I laughed like I hadn’t noticed. “Yeah, it’s not really that big of a secret.”

      “Jammi Long is gonna be there tonight.” She informed me with a wink. “I know you’ve been hung up on him for like, ever.”

      “Oh, whatever.” I rolled my eyes dramatically. “Jammi Long wouldn’t notice me if I walked in wearing a chicken suit.”

      “That would sure as hell get my attention!” She giggled.

      The number one bad boy of my town was the notorious Jamison Long, but everyone just called him Jammi. With dark, wavy hair and piercing blue eyes that could quite possibly melt metal, he was gorgeous to say the least. Every parent in the world adored him, but no one could ever figure out why; I assumed it was due to his natural ability to charm anyone or thing he came into contact with. Who really knew though?