lorelei.

chapter 1.

"Wake the hell up," an irritated voice growled at my dormant form sprawled beneath my grandmother's faded quilt. I groaned and turned over, pulling the covers with me.

"I swear to God, Lorelei," the voice came again.

I slowly opened my eyes, faintly recognizing my sister's features—deep jade eyes, strawberry blonde waves, and olive skin sprinkled with light freckles. "School in 35 minutes, Lorelei, let's go!" she said, yanking the quilt off of me and onto the floor.

I sat up and threw a glare in her direction. "Just because you're 21 now, Faye, doesn't mean you can go around acting like my mother," I shot at her.

"Well currently I'm the closest thing you have to a mother—or a father, for that matter—so if I were you, I would stop complaining and show some appreciation," she countered. I frowned and looked away.

"I'm leaving in 25 minutes," she said as she walked out of my room, "with or without you."

I gazed out of the bay window for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not it was worth it to get out of bed, then finally, against my better judgement, crawled out of my cave and made my way towards the bathroom. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and assessed the damage.

Another sleepless night had left me with dark circles under my light green eyes and tangled curls in my lengthy strawberry chestnut hair. Despite being paler than I normally am in the sunnier months, my scattered freckles still stood out across my cheeks and shoulders. I hopped in the shower, hoping it would work some magic and help correct my sleep deprived facade, and quickly got ready and dressed.

"Two minutes, Lorelei!" I heard Faye yell as I dashed down the stairs to the kitchen, grabbing the first piece of fruit I saw.

"Coming!" I yelled, shoving the pear in my mouth. I threw my backpack over my shoulders and hoped my thick sweatshirt would be enough as I walked out the door, locking it behind me, into the frigid Indiana February.

I opened the passenger door to Faye's 2005 Fiat and quickly climbed in, trying to avoid her accelerating backwards without me fully in the car.

"I can't keep taking you to school every morning, Lorelei, I'm gonna be late to work" she said, turning the car radio on to our favorite alternative rock station, "You're 17 now. It's about time you got your license."

"I told you Iris offered to pick me up until I do get it," I said, already knowing how she would respond.

"She's a new driver. You're not riding with her until she has some more experience." I sighed and looked out the window.

We pulled up shortly to Alistair High—a name that makes the school sound much fancier than it really is—and I scanned the courtyard, which was bustling with groups of students socializing, for the gang. I spotted them—Iris, Levi, Remi, Beck, Marley, and Cassia—quickly and yelled, "Hey losers!" out of my open window.

Faye rolled her eyes as my friends grinned and yelled back to me, earning many turned heads from the surrounding students. "Thanks, sis," I called, climbing out of the car and shutting the door behind me.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she smiled sarcastically at me, "Love you."

"So you do care!" I exclaimed. She rolled up the window without a response and drove off, making me giggle as I walked toward the table that my group was scattered around.

Remi was skateboarding around it, attempting some new trick he was determined to learn, while Beck was sitting back on the table top with Marley—who was really only part of the group because she was Beck's girlfriend—laying perpendicular to him with her head in his lap. Levi was leaned nonchalantly against the table, while Iris and Cassia sat around it, conversing about music and gossip and God knows what else.

We were the type of group that was labeled as "stoners"—even though we weren't exactly—which we earned through our apparent "too cool for school" demeanor and our tendency to cause trouble in or out of school and not really care. Despite that, most everyone in the gang was fairly intelligent and ambitious, while still knowing how to have a good time.

Some didn't like us because we didn't conform, while some did like us for the exact same reason. We were extremely tightly-knit and as close to "ride or die" is it comes.

They had all been there for me and supported me when things with my parents went wry.

Everyone grinned and greeted me as I walked up. I did the "bro handshake" with Levi, my best friend apart from Iris, as he moved over to give me room to lean on the table beside him. I turned my head towards Iris and Cassia, "How's it hanging, gals?"

"Apparently there's a new kid," Iris responded.

"Hm, anything special?" I asked, doubting there would be.

"I heard he moved here from California...I hope he's attractive," Cassia added.

I rolled my eyes at her—the only boy-crazed one in the group—as Remi hopped off his skateboard, leaned next to Levi and I, putting an arm around my shoulders, and said, "Not more attractive than me," smirking.

I shoved him off  of me, laughing, "In your dreams!"

We all chatted for a few more minutes before the bell rang and we parted ways. Remi, Iris, and I all had first periods on the same end of the school, so we walked there together, complaining about whatever boring classes we were about to attend and stopping at our lockers along the way.

As I leaned against the locker next to Iris's while she was grabbing her books, there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere in the hall. I looked up as conversations faded and realized what everyone had stopped for.

An unfamiliar face strode down the hall, exuberayting confidence yet nonchalance and silently demanding everyone's attention. He was tall—and I mean tall—with messy dirty blonde hair and copper eyes, and when we made eye contact for a split second, I looked down at my shoes quickly.

I glanced at Iris who was very obviously staring as he passed by. She whispered, "Cassia's going to be a very happy camper." I giggled and Remi scowled as Iris slammed her locker closed and we made our way towards our classrooms.

I glanced around for the mysterious stranger once more then cleared the thought from my mind.