Earning Her Own Name

Chapter 1

“Hey Sami!” One of my sister’s friends chimed. I shook my head and continued to walk. So much for her being one of Sami’s best friends. She couldn’t even tell us apart. I turned down a hallway and got to my locker. My sister was standing there with her boyfriend leaning against the locker next to hers, which just happened to be mine.

“Excuse me Nick.” I mumbled. He turned around.

“Oh, sorry.” He said and stepped out of the way. I didn’t not like Nick, but he definitely wasn’t the type of guy I would associate with. I mean, he treated Sami right and everything, but he was still a jock that loved to get his hands on my sister and I knew that when he was tired of the same old stuff, she was getting thrown away without a second thought.

“Danni?” My sister called I threw my books into my bag and looked up.

“Are you going straight home?” She asked. Nick was casually walking over behind her and he wrapped her arms around her waist. She looked over her shoulder at him and giggled. I tried not to gag.

“Uh Yeah… why?”

“Could you tell her that I will probably miss dinner. Cheer is going to probably run late tonight and I want to go to Nick’s after.” Before I could answer her, my phone vibrated. I grabbed it out of my back pocket and looked at it.

“Sorry. She just texted me. We have to be home by 4:15 because we are going over her friend’s house for dinner. So that means you have to come right home after cheer, maybe even leave early.” I chuckled. She gave me a snotty look.

“What’s so funny about that?!” She whined.

“The fact that you think the world is coming to an end now. Grow up Sam, you don’t need to see him every day of your life. He’s here with you now.” I smirked as I shut my locker.

“Danni, you just don’t understand. You’ll see when you fall in love.” She turned and gave Nick a goofy, lovey smile and kissed him.

“So will you.” I scoffed and walked away. That girl needs to get her head out of her ass and realize that he doesn’t love her. As much as she irritated me, she was still my sister and I didn’t want to see her get hurt. I took a deep breath and walked out of the school. As I walked out I passed Sean. He laughed with his friends as I passed. I couldn’t help but let my gaze shift in his direction. He opened his eyes and looked at me, the smile from his laugh was still plastered on his face as our gazes locked. I quickly looked away and put my headphones in, blasting my music. I walked fast down the sidewalk not turning around. I felt the heat in my cheeks and the stupid smile on my face.

He doesn’t even know who I am, yet whenever I see him I feel like someone had just doubled me over. He literally took my breath away. It only took five minutes to get to my house. I immediately ran upstairs to my room and through my bag on my bed. I changed into sweatpants and threw m y hair up into a messy bun. I took my contacts out and put on my glasses. Finally I grabbed my guitar and walked over to my bed. I let out a long, deep breath, releasing all of the stress from the day. I felt comfortable and I worried about nothing. Then with a smooth strum, I started to play chords on my guitar. Soon enough the intro to Good Riddance by Green Day was echoing throughout the bedroom.

“Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road,” I sang the first line of the song. I continued to sing the song line by line, chord by chord, getting lost deeper and deeper into the song. It wasn’t long before I played the last chord and sat there in the silence of my room, taking in what I had just played. I had that song down to a science. I was about to start another song when I heard a knock at my door.

“Yeah?” I called.

“Danni?” My Mom called.

“No Santa Clause.” I answered rolling my eyes. She opened the door.

“You know I do not appreciate all of your sarcasm.” She glared at me. I groaned and fell back on my bed.

“What do you want Mom?!” I snapped at her.

“Stop with the attitude. Did you get my text?” She asked. I nodded looking back down at my guitar.  “Okay well you have to get ready soon. We are going to visit my friend who I haven’t seen in years. She just moved back up here with her kids. In fact she has 17 year old twin boys.” I glanced up to see the stupid smile on her face.

“So?” I shrugged.

“Well, they’re twins… you’re a twin… I don’t know. We are leaving at 4:30 exactly so be ready.” She said and left the room. I shook my head and put my guitar down. I hated being a twin, especially an identical twin. The world only saw one of us. To most people there was only Samantha Augustine. Danielle Augustine didn’t exist; we were one person. I hated living in her shadow. Society had picked which sister they liked best. It’s a shame. We weren’t much different as far as looks go. I guess it was the social aspect. Sami was a great cheerleader, danced, did gymnastics, and was your typical popular girl. She had a good heart but let her hot boyfriend and her looks go to her head and sometimes she has a tendency to just be a slut.

On the other hand, I wasn’t into cheerleading or dance or any of that. I played softball, not for the school team, and I was really into music. I played my guitar and sang every day, I even wrote a few songs. I was always so nervous to perform them or let anyone else hear me play or sing or look at my songs. I kept to myself. I didn’t need anyone else’s opinion on my life.

I was interested in only that one guy. The same guy since 8th grade. Sean Mitch, a super hot kid in my grade. The type of guy that would never be caught dead with me. He was the subject of most of my songs, thoughts, actions.  I felt like I lived for him, and he barely knew I existed. It also bothered me when my mom or sister tried to set me up with someone. I wanted to chose who I was with, not anyone else to chose for me. That’s probably why my mom was taking us tonight. A set of guys my age. She thought I was lonely, and desperate for a boy friend. I got lonely sometimes, but I was not desperate. Just because I didn’t have a different boyfriend every few months like Sami did, did not mean I was lonely or desperate.

I rolled over and closed my eyes. I did not want to go to dinner tonight. Just more guys for Sam to flirt with and break their hearts. Just another wasted night. Like always. Slowly, my thoughts faded into dreams and my breathing slowed as I drifted off to sleep.