Second Chances (under editing..like a lot.)

chapter one: hello again. (edited)

PRESENT DAY. THREE YEARS LATER.

"One coffee and one biscuit topped with gravy, just how you like it!" 

"Thank you doll." 

"Oh and, don't worry about the bill Ms. Brandy, this one's on me." 

Ms. Brandy is regular here at the coffee shop, she comes here every day.  She's eighty-six years old. She and her husband always use to come here to get their daily drink of coffee. Sadly, he passed away a year ago. She sits in the same chair every time.

I felt crushed seeing her talk to the cold, empty chair across from her, she always tells it about her day. 

I looked at the clock, and as I thought, the time passed by amazingly quick. You arrive at twelve in the morning and as soon as you know it, it's 8PM.

"You better get going now, you may be seventeen but you're still in high school. Get going now."

"Alright, alright, I'll see you then!" I went to the coat rack to put on my leather jacket and my purse.

Now, time to write the essay.

_______________________________________________________________________________

THE NEXT MORNING.

"Good luck on the speech." 

"Thank you mom." She gives me a kiss on the cheek and we say our goodbyes.

As soon as I walked in the hall, I took a deep breath. Today, everything I say determines what happens for me in the future. I mess up, I'm done for.

I repeated "I mess up, I'm done for" over and over quietly to myself as I walked down.

"I mess up, I'm done for. I mess up, I'm done for. I mess up, I mess up I'm done for, I mess.."

"Geez, who let the broken record into the school?" A voice suddenly said from behind me.

I jumped and turned around to see a grinning Cody behind me.

"Hey, that's not very nice!" I laughed.

"You know it's true though." He winked and then leaned down for a kiss.

I backed away. "Not so fast, people that make fun of me don't get kisses." I teased.

"You didn't let me finish on my last statement, I was gonna say a cute broken record." He put emphasis on cute.

"You're lame." I gave in and gave him a peck.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" 

"Ah!" I jumped again. "Jesus, is everyone out to scare me today?"

"Sorry. Anyway, Kayla did you see the new kid! He's so freaking hot." 

"Mandy, you say that about every guy." 

"Shhhhh, let me talk. I mean, sure he's hot, and he's hot, and he's hot too." He pointed at every guy that walked by.

"But the new guy, he's like hot hot. You know what I mean?" She grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

"Oh please, I'm sure he's average to say the least." Cody scoffed.

"Fuck off, don't you have some math exam to take." Mandy spat.

Cody rolled his eyes.

I laughed, "You guys are crazy, get to class."

________________________________________________________________________

"Though everyone might not agree, I think that love is love. And judgements shouldn't hold us back from what we want. Same sex marriage should be legalized in every state. Gay people aren't any different from us, we deserve to be happy, and so do they. Thank you." 

The class clapped and I went back to my desk. 

Not to sound cocky, but I was feeling pretty good. I looked back to the professors writing down notes and whispering to each other. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I hope they aren't scolding me, that's for sure.

The principal came in and whispered to the teacher and then he nodded in exchange.

"Okay everyone, settle down. Now before we continue any further, we have a new student that will be joining the class. Please sir, introduce yourself."

The boy walked in. I took in his blue eyes and facial features. He looked so familiar, I sat there probably looking like a total creep as I studied his face. Where have I seen him before?

After awhile I gave up and just resorted to reading my book, as the new kid rambled on about his name or whatever. I couldn't really hear anything cause I blocked it out so it just really sounded like a bunch of muffled noises.

I heard the bell ring and picked up my things and was ready to walk out of the door.

When I was an inch out of the door I was headed straight to my locker- 

"Kayla!"

To get ready for my next class to-

"Kayla!"

Prepare for-

"Kayla turn around!"

"Huh?" I spun around and saw that someone was calling for me. It was that new guy.

"Can I help you?" I said in confusion.

"Look, I know you probably don't want to talk to me. And I know you hate me, so let me just explain." 

He looked like he was about to cry. 

"Did you hit your head or something bud? I can take you to the nurse it's no big deal, she'll write us an excuse letter-"

"Wait, you don't remember?"

"Remember what? I don't know you." I was getting freaked out. What was his problem?

"Kayla, I'm..I'm.."

"I'm Grayson."

My heart stopped. A bunch of unwanted memories flooded back to me like a brick hitting my head.

I was about to freak out on him and ask him who he was and what he wanted, until I realized why he looked so familiar.

The hair, the eyes, the voice.

It really was Grayson.