Happy

Chapter 1

"Wake up Ali !"

I awake to my older brother Camden yelling in my room. As I wiped the sleep from my eyes I realized that if Cam was already awake then that could mean only one thing. We were late. His yelling also leads me to believe that my father has already left for work. My thoughts were confirmed as I look over to my alarm clock and surely enough it reads 7:56.

"What good is having the stupid thing if it doesn't go off when I need it to." I grumbled bitterly as I rolled out of bed and onto a pile of clothes beside my bed.

Groaning, I made my way into my bathroom to brush my teeth and shower. School starts at 8:00 and at the rate I'm going we should make it by 8:30. Within the next ten minutes I've showered, brushed my teeth, gotten dressed, and applied the necessary makeup to cover my latest addition to my already large collection of bruises. I'm actually pretty good at hiding them. YouTube and Instagram make it possible for everybody to be a makeup guru. I decide to perch my wildly curly, bird's nest of brown hair on top of my head in a neat, or so I hope, messy bun due to the limited amount of time I had to straighten it. At 8:17 I run downstairs and into my brother who is lazily chewing a slice of toast. I look over onto his plate and see my an extra slice with strawberry jam. I know that one is mine because Cam despises jam on his toast. I can't understand how he eats his dry. It perplexes me honestly.

"Thanks Cam, now let's go." I say while grabbing his hand and pretty much dragging him out of the door to his black Chevy Silverado. The drive to school takes about ten minutes and we arrive at school at exactly 8:30. Shit. One more reason. I depart from my brother and we walk to our first period classes. As I enter the class my English teacher, Ms. Gorray, gives me a tight lipped glare for interrupting her oh so exciting lecture about correctly using semicolons. I go to my usual spot in the back corner of the class near the giant window that basically overlooks the entire school. As I make my way to the seat I see my bestfriend Ash sending me a weird look, probably wondering why I, Ms. Perfect Attendance, was late yet again for the fourth time this month. I understand her confusion. It's not normal for me of all people to be late once, but four times, geez I should really get it together. I take my seat and stare out of the window, tuning out the boring lecture until the bell rings. I meet Ash and follow her to our lockers. As I'm exchanging my books I feel a hand grasp my shoulder spinning me face to face with my boyfriend Zach. Zach grins amusedly at my surprised face and plants a quick kiss on my lips. Ash makes a disgusted face and waits rather impatiently for Zach to go leave. When he doesn't she hints at her distaste for him.

"Come on Ali, I can't stand people who stay where they aren't wanted." She spits coldly.

"Well it doesn't seem like Alison wants me to leave, do you Alison?" He says sweetly.

Ash tugs my hand but my feet stay planted to the ground. I already know that walking away from Zachary Campbell is a big mistake, I learned that the hard way. It'll only piss him off. You know that saying "the ends justify the means"? Well in my case that couldn't be any less true. Walking away from my straight A, football slash basketball star boyfriend would only lead to an ending that, for me, justifies nothing. So I did what I always do. I stayed.

" I'll catch up to you later Ash, I promise".

It physically pained me to see the hurt that flashed on her face.

" Of course" Ash sighs. " See you later babe."

Dread fills my body more and more the further she walks away. You see Zach is every girl's dream. Handsome, great body, smart, and popular. What more could you ask for right? Wrong. Maybe a little respect would be nice. I mean I know he could have any girl he wants but that doesn't make it okay for him to treat me like a doormat.