The Run In

Chapter 1

It was the kind of summer that Michigan was known for.

One day the humidity would feel unbearable and hang in the sky, like a cloud waiting to be cracked by lightening. The next would be a breezy sunshine-y day where all you wanted to do was go out to get ice cream and ride your bike around the neighborhood.

I woke up to my lavender pink walls painted in light grey morning light. Out my window was a small storm brewing. This was normal for late June, apparently.

Peeling my blanket away from my sticky-with-sweat legs, I slid off my queen bed and walked over to my vanity.

Okay, I hate myself and my stupid genes. Looking in the mirror, I saw a tall, lanky brunette wearing a wrinkled blue t shirt and a pair of polka dot pink shorts. My skin- a beige tan- looked shiny on my face. My dark auburn hair, tucked in an abnormally large top knot, began to fall down from the weight of all the frizz. And don't get me started with my nose.

 My nose isn't even the cute kind of nose that ski slopes down and into a point. It's what I consider a hamartia, which according to my literature teacher is "a fatal error".

It's the kind that when you turn your head, it doesn't slope down and to a point. My nose is a 45 degrees line until you get to the tip.

I like my eyes though. They aren't hazel or blue or green. They are just the perfect shade of brown, framed by my nearly perfect sculpted eyebrows that, this morning, look like something you'd find in a bird's nest.

I went into my bathroom and washed my face. Walking down the stairs, I passed my fifteen year old brother sitting in a bean bag chair in only his boxers, playing Xbox.

"Hey." he sighed.

"Put on some clothes, jackass." I replied, slumping over to the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah. Mom said the same thing like forty minutes ago" His yell traveling into the kitchen.

"Don't you have summer homework to finish?"

I heard his fingers stop moving over the controller. "I mean, it's not that hard, it's basically nothing."

I shrugged as casually as I could. "Nothing."

Jacob is a very good baseball player. He takes after my older brother, Alex. They both were blessed with long lean bodies and wavy chocolate locks, if they grew out enough.

Alex got a scholarship to a college in Indiana and has been there for three years. He comes back now and then to help my dad at work and to do laundry.

I, on the other hand, only run. Run and bike around.

I ended up making two pieces of toast nearly dripping in homemade jelly and pouring myself a glass of orange juice. Carrying it back up to my room, I sat on my bed and watched some videos on my computer, listening to the rain on my roof and the hum of my fan.

My grey and white cat, Biscuit, sashayed through the door and hopped up onto my nest of blankets. She purred as I fluffed up her fur with my fingers.

As soon as I got situated, my phone buzzed uncontrollably from under my covers, making Biscuit's big green eyes move around uncontrollably. Fishing around under the sheet, I pulled it out and looked at the screen. I grinned.

Sliding the screen to answer, I cooed, "Well hello there."

"Hello hello hello Miss Madison Moore." The female voice said on the other end.

I laughed, "Hi Kate."

"Hi Maddie."

Meet Kaitlyn Taylor. Being best friends since seventh grade, I basically know everything there is to know about her. Her favorite ice cream (espresso twist with Oreo cookie crumbles), her bra size, her favorite place, her celebrity crush, bad habits- everything. Like me, she hates herself. But in reality- she's gorgeous.