Paige & Angel

Chapter One: London

I pull into the school parking lot, barely able to make it into my designated spot due to my shaking hands. I always got nervous on the first day of school even though this will be my third year in attendance here. Just the thought of encountering certain people made me wish I could speed out of this lot like a NASCAR driver.

However, my mom did inform me that there was absolutely no way I would be able to skip school today no matter how pointless the first day of school truly is. I mean, I've had most of these teachers before and I know where everything is. Today is just going to be full of, "Tell us a fact about yourself," or "What did you do this summer?" And honestly, neither of these sounded the least bit appealing to me so sue me for craving my warm, cozy bed over the rock hard wooden desks and snake-infested student body.

Before I could debate sneaking out to the mall and sleeping in the mattress section of Macy's, I hear a knock on my window that makes me jump in fright. My head whips to the right to see my best friend, Liv waving at me enthusiastically. I reach over and unlock the door to my light-blue Volkswagen Beetle with my right hand, placing my left hand on my fast beating heart.

"God dammit, Liv. You scared the crap out of me!" I exclaimed as she slides into my vehicle with a laugh. Before I have a chance to shove her face away, she grabs me in a hug. I flinch as her bracelets dig into my neck at the pure intensity of her affection.

"Get...off... c-can't breathe," I wheeze as I try to bring a little bit of oxygen into my flattened lungs.

"Oh shut up, you big baby," she has a bright smile on her face and I can't help but notice how naturally beautiful she is. Her dirty blonde hair flows down a little past her shoulders contrasting with her big blue eyes. Her perfect teeth are pulled into a grin which makes me angry considering she never even had to have braces. She's currently dressed in a flowy, dark blue skirt and a snug long-sleeve white shirt.

God, why is my best friend so perfect.

I look down at my gray t-shirt dress with half-length sleeves and the small rose necklace around my neck. Looking into the rearview mirror, I stare at my green eyes - my favorite feature - that jump out at you against my olive skin. My curly brown hair is braided into a side braid down the left side of my neck and I frown at a baby hair sticking straight up in the front.

As I attempt to pat down the stray hair, Liv talks animatedly about her plans for today. "Okay, so we need to go out to lunch today. Which lunch do you have? We should go to that new sandwich place across the street. It's called Which Wich. Get it? Like which sandwich-"

I place my hand over her mouth to prevent her from vomiting up more words and she rolls her eyes at my reaction. "I agree that we should go out to lunch today to celebrate never having to eat in that crusty cafeteria again, but just calm down Liv, it's the first day of school not your wedding day." She licks my hand attempting to get me to lift it from her mouth, but I don't even flinch.

"Youf hanf taftes like bacon," she mutters against my palm and I remove it from her mouth finally as she glances in the mirror and reapplies her lipstick that I had smeared. Great, now I have Revlon on my palm.

"Alright Paige, ready to get this day started!" she exclaims excitedly as she bounces in her - well, my - seat.

I groan loudly in response and she, once again, rolls her eyes in response before leaping out of the car and running over to the drivers side. "Well, you don't have a choice!" she chirps excitedly.

My heart speeds up considerably as I am practically dragged from the cozy interior of my car. My palms grow sweaty, partially due to the humidity in the air, but mostly due to the nerves eating away at my intestines.