Tightrope; A New Romance

Chapter 1- The Good Life

"Scarlett! Wake up! Scar!" boomed the voice of my best friend at my bedroom doorway.

The rude awakening caused me to grown and pull the soft covers over my head after having a quick glance at my alarm clock. Six a.m. On a Sunday. Typical Ellie. I don't know why I thought it was ever necessary to cut her her own key to the house. I mean, sure, her parents were away a lot and she often stayed over, but it's days like these I regretted ever doing that.

"Do you know what the time is, Ell? What are you doing here?" I mumbled groggily, peaking out from above the covers and rubbing my tired eyes. It took me several moments, but I managed to finally sit upright against my bed head, releasing a well justified yawn.

"We're going shopping, remember?" I felt her toss my clothes onto the end my bed.

An immediate uh oh ran through my head as I racked my brain for when we'd decided to make plans to go shopping today.

Nope, we hadn't made any plans that I could recall. "Since when?" I questioned.

Ellie's hands went straight to her hips. "Since I decided we need new dresses for Chad's party Friday night."

I groaned again and swung my legs over the side of my bed. I'd totally forgotten about Chad's party. Ellie had the biggest crush on him for months so this wasn't surprising me at all.

"Why so early?" I mumbled.

Ellie shot me a flawless grin. "Who knows how long I'll need. Now, get dressed."

I laughed softly, shaking my head. That was Ellie for you. She was very pretty, with her petite frame, blonde hair sitting at her shoulders and warm brown eyes. She had on her white peplum top and denim skinny jeans, looking way to stunning just to be going shopping. But then again, Ellie is always the one to make an entrance and stand out.

"You know I can dress myself right?"

She scowled. "'Thanks Ell for getting my clothes,' would do fine."

I rolled my eyes, finally managing to get to my feet. "Give me twenty minutes?"

She nodded and slumped into my desk chair, pulling out her phone, probably to text Chad.

I picked up the outfit Ellie had thrown on my bed like the trusting person I was and made my way to my bathroom across the hall.

I quickly showered and pulled on the black skinny jeans and frilled turquoise tank top along with the brown flats. Thankfully, Ellie had good taste when it came to fashion. I quickly ran the straightener through my hair, did my simple makeup look and glanced in the mirror. A seventeen year old girl stared back at me with long dark hair in that tumbled down her back, a few freckles here and there and very dark green eyes. I let out a deep sigh; I really wasn't in the mood for shopping but I had a feeling Ellie wouldn't let me get out of this one; she'd probably drag me to the mall anyway.

Ellie and I silently crept down the stairs, being extremely careful not to wake my mum and step-dad. They both worked in the hospital and had long night shift hours, so it was good to know that they were getting their much needed rest.

I quickly wrote mum a short note explaining that I was out with Ellie and that I'd text her later. She was pretty cool when it came to letting me go out, as long as I obeyed her curfew rules, which I usually did.

My step-dad, Mike, was the closest thing I've had to a father. My Mum, April, remarried when I was four so he was the only real Dad I'd ever known. My birth father abandoned us a few days after I was born and we'd never seen or heard from him since and had no desire to. I was thankful Mum had Mike, I think she'd be broken without him. I couldn't have imagined what she went through.