The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. As I maneuvered through the throng of people in our too-full hallway, I slipped my headphones into my ears, turning up the volume. I can be a bit of a quiet person and though I do consider myself to be social, I tend to drown the world out every once in awhile, getting lost in the music blaring through my speakers.
I grumbled to myself as I began the mile and a half long walk home from the school. My beat-up, secondhand Volvo was in the shop again, one of these days it's going to be kaput. I was just hoping I'd have enough money saved before that happened.
As I made it to my street, a car pulled up next to me at the stop sign, the bass of its extremely loud music, pumping out the open windows. I looked over to see the owner was, of course, Chad. He had been stopped at the sign a few seconds too long and he looked over, giving me a smirk, as he flicked a cigarette butt out his window before speeding away.
I rolled my eyes and continued my trek home. Once inside, I grabbed a snack and flopped on the couch in front of the TV. This had been my normal after-school routine for years. My mom wouldn't be home until at least 6:30, so I had about three hours to do whatever I wanted, free of her constant prying. She was a social worker, and brought some of her tactics home with her when the workday was finished.
As much as I loved her, I was excited to be leaving for college next year. I believe teenagers need freedom, especially when they come from such an uptight household. Thank God today was the first day and there was no homework. Although I enjoyed school, I was currently still on summer mode and I knew my mother's first question when she walked through the door would be "is your homework done?" It's been that way everyday, without fail, as long as I can remember.
I soon got bored of TV and decided to take advantage of the sunny weather outside. Slipping into my favorite bikini and grabbing a pair of sun glasses, I walked outside onto our deck and dipped my toe in the pool, checking the temperature. The sun had heated it up, but not too much. Satisfied, I somewhat gracefully hopped on the inflatable float, stretching my limbs and making myself comfortable. I found it so relaxing to lay out in my pool, so much so that I often fell asleep out there.
I woke up to the sound of my phone dinging, while it sat on a chair atop the deck. I climbed out of the pool, inspecting the amount of sun I'd gotten while asleep. It was a lot. After I'd dried off, I grabbed my phone off the chair, to see that it was almost six, and that I'd missed a few text messages and notifications from various social networking sites. My fingers slid across the key pad as I typed in my password, and I opened the messaging app. Newest text message was from Dylan, a boy I'd been decently good friends with for awhile now. The message said: Hey Bel, hope you had a good first day, maybe we could catch up over a pizza sometime soon?
My stomach did a little back handspring at the words displayed on the screen. I'd always been kind of attracted to Dylan, but it wasn't something I would have pursued unless he made the first move. I quickly typed back a nonchalant, but chipper Sure! and made my way inside before my mom got home.
*
The next morning, I woke up and easily fell into my usual morning routine: shower, dressing, hair, makeup, breakfast, teeth brushing, school. The lazy and laid back summer mornings were quickly dissipating and the school routine was beginning to become the norm again. Once I was done and ready, I said goodbye to my mom and rushed out the door. I had needed an extra push to get out of bed this morning, making it so that I would have to rush in order to make it to school on time.
I'd only made it two blocks before I saw, out of a corner of my eye, a car slow beside me. I diverted my eyes towards the driver window to reveal Chad behind the wheel. "You want a ride?" he asked, coming to a full stop.
I considered it for a moment, could I really trust this guy? Ever since I was little I've gotten the stranger danger talk, about not getting in the car with untrusted or unknown people. Even if they have candy. But Chad wasn't really a stranger, we had English class together for Christ sake. I agreed, and walked around to the passenger side door, opening it and sliding in the seat. "Thank you." I said, once buckled and en route to the school.
"It's nothing." Chad replied, focused on the road and not even glancing in my direction. Instead of continuing to attempt and make conversation, I focused on the houses we were passing, imagining which one I'd like to live in someday. I looked at the large estates with vaulted ceilings and rose bushes and neat green lawns and it all felt so impersonal. Like the people living there just did that to impress everyone else. I scoffed at the thought, earning a glance from Chad. Crap, he probably thought I was scoffing at him.
I decided that I should try to avoid pissing him off, and explain myself somewhat. "Sorry, deep in thought." I told him, before glancing back out the window.
"About?" he asked, eyeing me, but quickly diverting his eyes back to the road. I was slightly taken by surprise by his interest.
"Just the houses," I explained, "I just don't get the point of the façade." Chad didn't look like he fully understood, so I explained further, "What I mean is, the perfectly manicured lawns and the picket fences and everything seem like it's just away to impress everyone. It's stupid."
Chad chuckled as we pulled into the school parking lot, looking over at me, "you're different, aren't you?" With that, he slid out of the car and walked toward the school, without so much as a backward glance.
Author's note:
EEP. Hope you guys liked the first chapter. I'm pretty excited about writing this, it's my first non-fanfiction lol. I'll be adding more to the cast soon. And yes, the name Arabella for the main character was inspired by the Arctic Monkeys song.
Comment/Vote/Share with your friends! Thanks loves.
-L.B.
