Hi friends :-) Here is the first official chapter of Alleviate! (Ignore grammar errors and stuff k plz and thx)
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After stumbling and tripping on a branch, I have come to the conclusion these heels need to come off and be burned on a stake. I kicked them off, which almost resulted in my face greeting the hard earth beneath my feet, placed them in my hand, and continued walking. I just need to get away from all those delinquents at this party.
Why am I even here, you ask? Because I, Haley Kate Knight, am a victim of severe adolescent peer pressure. And an idiot. My friend, Ashton, convinced me to go because this girl he really likes from another school asked him come to a party and he didn't want to go alone. Yeah, if I was her I would absolutely adore it if the boy I invited to a party showed up with another girl. See, I live in a really big town by the name of Armietta and there are a bunch of different high schools in different areas. This girl just happens to go to a school on the complete opposite side of town that Ash and I live in. So, here I am, standing in the woods outside a party where I know one person.
I looked back and could still see the lights from the house and hear the bass of the music, easily. How do people even handle stuff like that, all the time?
I slide down against a large tree, not facing the party. I put my hands up and rubbed my face, not even caring how much of my makeup I'm ruining. Nobody in that house is sober enough to care. If it wasn't for the fact that I was Ash's designated driver I would've left the second we stepped through the door and a boy ran across me to puke in a fern. What a time to be alive.
I pulled out my phone and checked tumblr to pass the time.
"You shouldn't be out here alone."
"OH MY HEAVENS NAME," I screamed at the top of lungs, putting my hand over my heart, as I acknowledged a boy sitting against a tree near me.
"Okay, was that really necessary?" Mystery Boy asked, covering his ears. I couldn't really make out what he looked like because he was sitting in the shadow of the tree. I could, however, easily see his hair was styled higher than the average teen boy's would be.
"Yes, indeed, it was. You could've made yourself noticeable in a more subtle matter than saying a line I'm pretty sure is in every murder movie in the world," I scoffed. My heart is still honestly beating like a mouse. I'm surprised I haven't gone into cardiac arrest yet.
"Oh sorry, next time I'll send a dove to you holding a kindly worded letter," he seriously says. I couldn't see his facial expression because he was still hidden in the darkness the night was providing.
"Actually- Wait, who are you to say I shouldn't be out here alone when you are literally doing the exact same thing, you hypocritical punk," I retort, getting really frustrated, immensely fast with this boy.
"I am a boy. Therefore, no male is going to come out here and try to assault and or take advantage of me," he replied, as if this is the most obvious thing in the world. He's got me there, not that I will admit it, of course. He began talking again, unfortunately, "Wait, why are you out here in the first place? Shouldn't you be in there drinking your own body weight in alcohol and throwing yourself at hormonal teenage males, asking if they could "help you find a bathroom" in which you coincidentally end up in a bedroom doing things you will most likely regret the next morning?" He asks. Wow, do girls really do that? Idiots.
"Actually, you should know I am out here because I absolutely despise parties. I only came to this terrible excuse for a social gathering because my friend wanted to see this girl he likes," I inform him.
"Wow, I can honestly say I am shocked. Well, we are kind of in the same boat here except, I don't hate the parties. I just hate all the idiotic underage drinking and illegal drugging that goes on at them," He tells me.
"Illegal drugging?" I let out a light laugh, quoting his words.
"Yeah, that's right. Some of the weird kids here were trying to get me to smoke some cocaine, so I said I had to go to the bathroom and climbed out the window," Mystery Boy says.
"Isn't the bathroom on the third floor?" I ask, wondering how he got down without getting hurt.
"Have you seen my legs?" He answers my question with another question. I ignore the remark and rest my arms on my knees to get more comfortable.
"Oh, and by the way, you don't smoke cocaine, you snort it," I inform him.
"You seem to know a lot about drugs, care to explain?"
"First of all, my 14 year old sister even knows that. And second of all, yeah, you should know that I'm the leader of the biggest drug cartel in America. If anything, you should be scared to be alone with me in the woods," I say, smirking at him in the darkness.
"I'm so scared," he sarcastically replies, shaking his heads, "I'm literally quivering in fear."
I glared at him even though he probably didn't notice, "Yeah, it's actually extremely dangerous to be in the woods by yourself. Do you know how many dangerous animals live out here? You could just be walking through, minding your own business then BAM, there goes your leg, ripped straight from your body and into a black bears’ mouth and of course the smell of the blood will attract - "
"Your hair is nice," Mystery Boy randomly spoke, snapping me out of my rambling. Thank goodness. I told you, I ramble a lot.
I stared at him not quite understanding why he decided to say that out of all things.
"I like it," he announces. I continue to stare at him, frozen with my hands out in front of me from when I was rambling about bears or something.
Luckily, my phone buzzed at that moment, taking me out of my state of utter confusion.
"Incoming Call: ASHTON"
Oh no, this can't be good.
I swiped the screen to answer, "Alright Ash, what's up?" I ask, preparing for the worst.
"Haley, guess what?" Ashton slurred, completely ignoring my question.
"What?" I could feel the Mystery Boy's eyes watching me.
"Harry Styles is here and he just asked me to become part of One Direction!" Ashton screamed excitedly into the phone while giggling. He literally has the biggest obsession with them, especially Harry Styles. I think it's his number one dream to be asked to become part of One Direction.
"Ashton, I think it's time for you to leave. I'll come and get you right now, okay? Where are you?" I ask, praying for an actual answer. I'm really not in the mood for Ash to say something about being in the land of the free or the Great U.S. Of A.
"I'm in a room with a large amount of food, not quite sure what you call that," Ashton replied. I could just imagine him looking around the room in thought, tapping his chin, trying to figure out what it was called.
"Kitchen, that is a kitchen," I sighed, running my hand through my hair, "I'll be there shortly, do not move. I repeat, do. Not. Move." With that, I hung up. If he moves from the kitchen I will literally light him on fire.
"So, Haley, huh?" Mystery Boy asked. Frick, he could hear Ashton's excessively loud voice.
"Yes, that is indeed my name. Congrats, you can understand the English language," I say, standing back up and dusting off my butt. Mystery Boy followed my lead and stood up and let me tell you sitting down did not do his extremely long legs justice. He is easily 6'2, at least. I can't see his face clearly but I can tell he is wearing black jeans with a hole in one knee and red and black flannel shirt with a black Vans shirt underneath and black Vans. Wow, he already dresses nicer than 85% of the boys at my school. Okay, it's the literally May, in California. How is he not having a heat stroke? Alright, Haley, now is not the time to question the body temperature of strangers.
"I have to go get my friend home," I say, shoving my phone into the back pocket of my high-waisted shorts.
"Yeah, everybody I was with is probably too stoned to question where I am by now," he sighs.
"You know, you should really consider getting some new friends," I tell him, knowingly.
"Those guys? My friends?" He started laughing, throwing his head back, but quickly sobered up when he saw my confused expression was still present, "You're funny, really. All my other normal friends were busy and I didn't want to sit at home so I went with the stoners for the night," he replied, coming out from the shadow of the tree, finally give me a good profile of him. Styled blonde hair, blue eyes, and a lip ring that he kept taking into his mouth.
"Wait, so you get to know my name, but I" have to refer to you as Mystery Boy in my head?" I question him.
"Oh, right. My name is Luke, Luke Hemmings," he says, smirking at me. He needs to stop before I wipe that smirk off his face by bashing it repeatedly into a tree. No mercy.
"Well then, goodbye, Luke. I'll probably never see you again so, have a good life," I sweetly say before turning away from him and walking back to the house, heels in hand.
"Oh don't worry, I will see you again. I promise! Goodbye Hal!" He calls from behind me. Great, a nickname.
That experience was peculiar. I look up into the clear sky with the moon and stars shining brightly. Isn't it weird how no matter where you are, you're always looking at the same stars and moon as somebody else, far, far away.
I'm actually in love with night. There's just something bittersweet about how it signifies the end of a day and gives you a new beginning. Like, you could do having the worst day ever. Then, night comes along and ends it for you. What a nice thing to do. How thoughtful. Shoutout to you, night.
I walk into the house and immediately regret it; a couple people passed out here, a few people conceiving children there. I pushed through the sweaty monkeys and found my way to the kitchen. Of course, there was Ashton drumming his hands on the kitchen counter, acting like he was performing at a concert or something. His face had such a serious, determined look on it I almost didn't want to interrupt him. Then, I could faintly hear "Happy" start playing from the living room. Yup, definitely time to ditch this popsicle stand.
"Ash? It's time to leave," I say shaking his shoulder slightly. He looks up at me and a big smile spreads onto his face.
"Haley! You're here! I missed you. Never leave me again, okay?" He asks, grabbing onto my hand. I laugh to myself and smile down at him.
"Okay, Ash, I won't. Now c'mon, let's go home," I say, pulling him up and leading him out of the house. We reach my car and Ashton stumbles his way into the passenger seat. I start driving down the road, driving past a couple stray teenagers.
"Wait, how did it go with that cute blonde we came here for?" I ask, knowing she probably wasn't the girl Ashton thought she was. He's too impulsive when it comes to crushes and all that junk.
"Turns out she forgot to mention she has a boyfriend," he mumbled.
"Oh?" I should've seen that coming to be honest.
"On the football team," he continues, resting his head on the window.
"Oh," I reply, my eyes widening. Poor guy. Ashton's more of the type you'd see in the music room, than the football field. Eventually it will pay off, I know it.
"So, did you find any eye candy tonight?" Ashton asks, wiggling his eyebrows. I debated telling him about Luke, then decided against it. It was really nothing, just a simple conversation.
"Ashton, I think you already know the answer to that," I say, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.
"Oh that's right, you don't believe in love or anything, I forgot. It's all lies and distrust to you," he sarcastically replies, quoting me from the many times I've said that.
"I'm just saying I have yet to see it actually occur in front of my eyes," I say, even though he's already heard this a thousand times. I can even see him in my peripheral vision, mouthing along to me speaking, waving his hands around. Wow, even drunk he knows that line. Have I really said it that many times?
The rest of the ride is filled with us singing extremely loudly to songs off my phone that I connected to the radio.
I pulled up to my house and Ash stumbled back out of my car and closed the door behind him.
"Goodnight Haley!" Ashton waves his hand, even though his back is turned to me. He walks across my driveway and over to his lawn.
Did I mention we are next door neighbors? Yeah, well, we are.
I met Ashton one night in 7th grade when my mom had just told me I was going back to the psychologist, again. I had ran to the backyard and just sat there laying on the ground, watching the night sky. All of a sudden a brown haired boy came over and laid down next to me. He didn't ask a question, just silence.
"Ashton," he stated, sticking his hand out.
"Haley," I whispered, sticking my own hand out, shaking his. That was the bloom of a beautiful friendship. Ashton knows my entire past, as he's the only one that does. You know, other than my family.
Actually, scratch that. I mean, my family, minus my dad know my past. He barely knows my name. Seriously, my last birthday he sent a card and wrote Hailey on it, I kid you not. My mom said he probably just wrote it too fast, but I don't think she even believes that. And people wonder why I have trust issues. Hm, that's a real toughy.
I walked into my house, to find my mom sitting on the couch, reading a romance novel with Peyton's head resting in her lap with a blanket covering the rest of her body, sleeping peacefully. My mom looked up at me, pushing her reading glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"How was the party?" She asks, sitting up straighter. I sighed, slumping down on the couch next to her.
"Why can't I learn to say no to Ashton?" I ask her, blowing a piece of hair out of my face.
"Wait a minute. Oh my god, Haley. What did I say about setting boundaries? However, I don't blame you. Ashton is one fine slice of pie. I mean the things I would do to that boy if I was your age - "
"OH MY GOD MOM, BE QUIET," I yell at her, putting a pillow over my face, concealing the embarrassment on my face "That's not what I meant!"
"Well, that's what you made it sound like," she mumbles to herself.
"I meant, why can't I say no to him about going to parties?" I ask, ignoring her comment.
"Because you are too good of a person," she replies, patting my leg.
"Yeah, right. Me, a good person," I scoff, slightly laughing.
"You are!" She reassures me, "You've been through so much, yet you don't hate the world completely! If I were you, I'd definitely be a depressed bitter teenage girl by now!"
"Wow, thanks Mom. That really makes me feel so much better," I look over at her. She starts laughing and grabs onto me, hugging me tightly.
"You are a good person, Haley Kate Knight, and you deserve only the best in your life. One day, you'll find somebody who gives you that," she smiles, rubbing me back and interlocking her other hand with mine.
"Mom, I've learned to not base my happiness off of others my entire life. You're not really helping with that," I say, leaning into her farther.
"I know," she replies, continuing to smile down at me. I just watch her, confused. I stood back up off the couch.
"I'm going to bed," I declare, trudging over to the stairs to go to my room.
"Alright, love you, honey! Sleep tight, don't let random boys sneak into your window" She calls to me.
"I love you too, Mom," I call back, walking up the stairs, down the hallway, and into my room. As if any boy would even want or be able to get through my bedroom window.
I shut the door behind me and flick the light on. The white walls covered by my vinyl record covers collection. Okay, actually, they only cover one of the four walls. I went into the closet and changed into some comfy clothes and slowly shuffle into the bathroom to wash my face. After plugging my phone into my night stand to charge and turn off the light, I fall back onto my bed and reposition myself so under the covers. I look out the window right next to my bed and look at the moon and all the stars, filling up the entire sky like a sidewalk when it's just began to rain and the individual water droplets are still visible.
Right before I fell asleep I saw my phone light up and squinted at the words on my phone screen.
"ASHTON: mall tomorrow be there or be square"
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alleviate || l.h
Fanfictionəˈlēvēˌāt/ make (suffering, deficiency, or a problem) less severe. "he couldn't prevent her pain, only alleviate it"
