Of all the Things in Life

Chapter 1 | Warren

I'm not the coolest kid in school i guess you could say. I'm the type of guy that would rather sit at home and write a book or a short story than go out to a night on the town. My days consist of going to school, being harassed by the bully of the school Ross Holt & going to work for my mom at her bakery. When  I was younger my world was tipped over on it's head when my dad died in a shootout at a gas station, He was the responding officer. Mom took it hard for years, becoming kind of a quiet person whenever she was around me and my Sister Keely. Keely though took it a little better than the rest of us, the way she put it was "Someone has to be happy to keep us together." guess she thought of herself as a sort of martyr. I took to writing, I've written two award winning short stories that were featured in the New York Times, Cool huh? Yeah not really, nobody really pays attention to the weird recluse kid in the back of the class jotting down notes into a scrap of notebook paper. Except for the only person who thinks it's funny to throw those pieces of paper out the window into the pond at the bottom of the wall, and you guessed it; Ross. It was strange though, I was never mean to him, never tried to fight back, dad taught me to be the better person. But he insisted on tormenting me every day at school. One day though he decided to get to me he was going to "Prank" Keely, that was a big mistake. He dropped a cup of water onto her new band shirt that she wore to school that day. Keely stood up and punched him right in the nose breaking it, Keely was suspended for a month. Did i say where we lived? No probably not, i'm somewhat forgetful. It's a big-ish town named Cedar Bay, NY. Just off the coast, but don't let that fool you, is really really cold here. We're primarily a fishing town, we get ships and fishing boats coming into harbor constantly. My best-friend (Gwen) works on the docks with her dad, working on becoming a marine biologist like him. She's a rescue assistant, working with ocean animals and fish. Me and her have been inseparable since we were eight, she's always been there when I needed her. But she tends to boss me around most of the time, saying mostly that I should be more social. I try to tell her, i don't enjoy the company of people. It's not because i'm antisocial, it's due to the fact that i'm a jumbled mess around others. Today was no better, see there's this girl i really like; i know how original. And i totally got the courage to talk to her this time, and of course anything that could go wrong did. 

Hailey Queen, she was pretty much my crush since middle school. Yes i know, i'm a walking, talking cliche. But she has this smile that makes your heart melt, Her green eyes will pierce your soul. And today is the day i actually ask her out, to prom. I'm sitting in the grass on the football field with Gwen and Max, our other less important comedian friend. Max is going off about some movie he saw last week, Gwen is arguing with him as she studies her play script, i'm watching them laughing as they yell at each-other with smiles on their faces, Gwen grabs him in a headlock, she is much stronger than him from swimming and helping at the docks. I look to the right of me as i hear a shout coming from the cheap pole vault area the school set up for the vault club. I see a Hailey, she has her black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she's giving orders to some of the other girls with a whistle, she turns her head and looks at me, i looked away quickly and flipped through my book with haste, trying to act like i wasn't staring. I fumbled my line as i tried to speak it aloud. Max and Gwen look at me trying to hold in their laughter, "Dude, your not subtle." Max says laying a hand on my shoulder and making a concerned face. "Shut up dude, i wasn't staring..." They chuckle and shake their heads. "Hey War, why don't you just ask little miss plays with poles out?" I glare and shut my book sighing heavily into the air, glancing at over my shoulder at Hailey who is vaulting over the bar now. "It's not that simple, I've never even talked to her really. I don't even think we have anything in common." Max stands up stretching his arms to the sky with a groan and helps me up to my feet. "Who know's War, she may be a closet nerd." He chuckles and punches my shoulder, we all laugh as Gwen gets to her feet. "I doubt that, she's seems pretty barbie girl to me, just look at her eyebrows." Gwen says looking over at her, she shakes her head and lets out a huff before turning on her heels and walking towards the gate of the fence surrounding the field. "You really wanna date that War?" She says as Max follows her, he turns around walking backwards and shrugging. "Just try man, you don't wanna go to prom with Keely do you?" Gwen without hesitation speaks to Max, "Keely has a date already, he's screwed." Max laughs out loud "He's screwed." I sigh and look down at the ground, i lift my head and take a deep breath ready to man up and ask the girl I've been swooning over for five years to prom. I turn around and nervously start moving myself towards Hailey whom is drinking what looks like Gatorade in a bottle. I make it nearly half way, pumping myself up for courage to ask her out to the dance, when i hear someone call my name, i'm suddenly knocked to the ground into the mud, my jacket covered in the brown muck. I open my eyes to see Ross standing over me laughing. "Sup' Warren, how's the ground taste buddy?" I look at Hailey who is trying to hold in her laughter, i grit my teeth as Ross picks me up and pats my shoulder, "Shit sorry man, didn't see you there." I look at him then at my clothes and sigh looking away and walking off. "It's cool, it  was a good hit." I regret not looking to see the football player whom hates my life coming full speed to tackle me, guess i was too busy being a wuss to notice.