Always Adam

Chapter 1

I know I'm in deep shit. I sit in the waiting area of the principal's office patiently while Mr. Wilks speaks to my "legal guardians". That would be my aunt and uncle. When I was six, my parents were killed in a plane crash. They were traveling for a work related project. My parents were brilliant. They built a marketing firm from the ground up. They were flying in a small private plane when it crashed near the Florida Keys. There were no survivors.

My mom was beautiful and smart. I miss her every day. I am a carbon copy of my mom. My mom was short like me. I'm barely an inch over five feet tall. Not exactly the envy of my friends in this area. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find clothes to fit my height? I hate being short. I am always the last to see things. Like when a fight broke out between Brenda Hicks and Jan Thompson. I missed the entire fight being too short to see over the crowd. I had to hear how Brenda tore Jan's top only to show Jan wasn't wearing a bra. Not that I needed to see it, but I think everyone but me did see it.

I have the same long curly brown hair that my mom had. And I mean curly. Not wavy. I'm talking long ringlets that fall down my back. My hair is thick and full. I have the same beautiful shade of light brown skin that my mom had. I look tan all year round. This does make me the envy of all my friends. My mom was Spanish. I have the same deep dark brown eyes that she had. Often when I look in the mirror I see her eyes looking back at me. This can sometimes be comforting and other times disturbing to me. I got curves in all the right places. Other than being too short, I guess I can't complain.

If I didn't know better I would think I was an immaculate conception. There isn't a trace of my dad in me. He was tall and thin with blond hair and green eyes. I was a daddy's girl. I had him wrapped around my finger. He adored me. I had a perfect life before the plane crash. After that things definitely changed. I moved from a beautiful mansion in Arizona to a small cul-de-sac in Pennsylvania. I live with my dad's brother and his wife. His wife Donna was pregnant with their first child when I moved in. She was less than thrilled to have me. 

My uncle Ted was alright, but I didn't have much interaction with him. I actually spent most of my time alone if I wasn't playing with Teddy or Olivia. Teddy was their first child born three months after I moved in. He's twelve now and doesn't really give a crap about me anymore. He used to worship me but then he got older and found a life. Olivia is six and cute as a button. She still worships me. I love her to pieces.

My name is Carly Harris. I just turned eighteen six weeks ago. I am a senior in high school. I am a cheerleader and of course popular. I have been doing gymnastics since I was four. I hang out with the popular crowd. I would date the popular boys, but haven't since I am not allowed to date. I'm not one of those stuck up popular girls. I am nice to everyone. As a matter of fact I have never done anything wrong in my entire life. I get great grades and I'm the perfect student. So how did I end up here in the principal's office. Well I guess even the most perfect people can totally screw up. It wasn't just my screw up. It was a massive group screw up.

Two nights ago, there was a huge victory party for the team at Eric Greystone's house. It was your typical crazy underage booze party. Eric's parents are separated, and he lives with his mom in an old farmhouse that belong to his grandparents. His mom has a boyfriend that lives a couple hours away, so she stays with him every weekend. That means Eric and his older brother Eddie have the place to themselves. Eddie's twenty-one so he supplies the booze. How his mom never heard of these legendary weekend parties is beyond me. Or maybe she knew but didn't care. I want to place some of the blame on her. If she didn't stay at her boyfriends every weekend, then there wouldn't be these wild parties. Alright so Eric's parties have been an issue for me before. Mostly just drunk and hung over issues. Never trouble though.