The Butterfly Effect | grayson dolan

Chapter One

I sighed as I slid my sandals on and finished braiding my hair into a ponytail. As the early morning sunlight shines brightly through my bedroom window, the shades of the blinds blocked out part of the sun's rays, creating a striped pattern over my body as I finished getting ready for school. I looked out to the sunrise as I finished up my hair; the sky was painted a dark, golden yellow, with hints of pink and blue scattered about, indicating that it was most likely going to be a beautiful October day. Just as I finished up my hair, I heard my phone buzz.

Jackie🙊😈: You almost ready? I'm really not tryna be late
6:47 AM

Me: chill fam, I'll be down in two secs. go start the car
6:48 AM
*Read*

I rolled my eyes at my younger sister's urgency. She was a freshman at the high school we both went to, and such a nervous wreck over getting to school on time. Even though it was October she still didn't feel quite settled into her new academic climate.

I checked my face one last time to make sure my makeup was blended onto my face, and there were no bumps in the hair of my ponytail. I slung my backpack over my shoulder, grabbed my phone off the dresser and began to walk down the stairs, snatching a banana off the counter on my way out the door. As I walked towards the garage I noticed a note hanging on the door from my mom.

Hi Girls,
Have a fun day at school. Please unload the dishwasher when you get home. Fruit in the fridge for after-school snacks.
Love you, Mom

I smiled at the cuteness of the note; I usually don't see my mom in the mornings, since she's a nurse and works 7PM-7AM Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but she would probably be arriving home soon within the next half an hour. My parents are divorced, and my dad lives in Pennsylvania; he left the state as soon as the paperwork was finalized.

I opened the door to the garage to see Jackie in the front seat with her headphones in, the car running, and the garage door already open. Homegirl was ready to go.

"Freaking finally," Jackie muttered, as I slid into the driver's seat. I rolled my eyes ... kids these days, am I right?

"Would you relax, the Dolans aren't going anywhere, you stalker,

" I smirked, plugging my phone into the aux cord.

Jackie took her headphones out of her ears to respond. "I'm not worried about the Dolans, I'm worried about our punctuality, Jen!" Jackie replied, her face turning pink from embarrassment.

"Whatever you say. Just don't let them catch you peeking ... one day you might actually have to explain your staring," I retorted.

I hand my phone to Jackie to let her pick a song from my phone to play as I reverse out of the garage and into the driveway, my arm holding the passenger seat as I looked behind me to back out. Suddenly, I see something black out of the corner of my eye in the street, and immediately hit the brakes. I stopped just in the nick of time to see a black range rover race off down my street, going about 40mph in a 25mph zone, with the radio blasting some rap song. As soon as the car turned the corner, and I could see the 'hang loose' bumper sticker on the back of the car, I knew exactly who the car belonged to; the Dolans.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jackie and I argued the whole way to school about whose fault it was that we almost got hit. Jackie said it was my fault, because I was backing up too quickly into the street, while I claimed it was whatever Dolan Douche was driving because they were going way too fast, leaving me almost no time to react as I backed out. Jackie would take a bullet for those twins; they were her counselors at some surfing day camp that she did on the shore this summer, and every day she came home it was, "Ethan this," "Grayson that," the girl was obsessed.
I let out a deep breath of relief as we pulled into the school parking lot; finally, some peace and quiet from Jackie for six hours.