On the Verge of Falling

Chapter 1

It was quite chilly for a summer night, a cool breeze was brushing my brunette hair and I was ready to face whatever stood before me. All my life I had been held back, I had been told to observe but never interfere. Don't get me wrong I am not the kind that would intentionally want to bud into people's business, though in some cases it's crucial to speak up.

A series of things had led me to what I was about to do right now. Not only was I done lying for others, but once and for all I wanted to stop being their puppet. If they thought they could sweet talk me into testifying on their behalf, then they're wrong.

I took a deep breath as I placed my right hand on the handle. Opened an old door that led to the courtroom, the door's rusty hinges made a dramatic squeaky sound as I entered the room.

---- Oh wait, let's rewind a bit. ----

'Long day,'' Ace read from my tired look and my messy bun. I just nodded in agreement, as I placed my diary in my locker. "Oh come on, cheer up," he said making stupid puppy eyes at me. Ace had those ocean blue eyes which popped out, even more, when he happened to be wearing his blue jersey. He was on the football team since his freshman year and never lacked a positive attitude. I managed to give him a weak smile in return, which was followed up by my curiosity, "Hey, what is that paper you're holding?" "It's nothing, really, don't worry about it." I've known him long enough to know that he was clearly lying to me. Even though I was dying to know why he would feel the need to hide something from me, I never dared to ask more. " Are we still on for that movie, tonight," he changed the subject rapidly while placing the paper along with some other books in his backpack. "Yeah, as long as I can pick what movie we watch," I teased.

"Of course," his lips curled up in amusement.

Then we parted ways, I headed over to my first-period class, which also happened to be my chemistry class. Entering the class I saw a group of guys laughing at a joke that Caleb made as usual and a group of girls playing never have I ever. I was never fit to play that game. In fact, that game bore me to death, it had always been an easy win for me. Never have I ever snuck out of my bedroom to go to a party. Never have I ever gotten anything lower than a B+ on a semester exam. Never have I ever lost my v-card to my best friend's brother. And so on....

In other words, I was viewed as the perfect student and daughter to have. Instead of spending my time chasing after hot guys, I wrote articles and edited the school paper.

The ringing of the bell snapped me out of my daydreaming, reminding me to start paying attention to the teacher. Mrs. Piper was about to start the class when out of the blue, a girl burst into the classroom. "Hi, sorry, I had trouble finding my classroom," she admitted, as she tried to catch a breath. She was wearing one of those super short floral dresses. Her blond hair fell nicely to her shoulder, it would've been longer if it weren't for the beach waves it was curled into.

"I am so sorry for being late," she continued. "You see, my amazing older brother, Jason, not only slept in but also had to go through all the pockets of his jeans just to find that he left his car keys under his bed. Name one person, who leaves their car keys under their bed? Honestly, stupid. So, this pretty much summons up why I'm late. Anyway, sorry for the interruption," the speed of her murmuring almost made it impossible to understand what she was trying to say. After her somewhat useless and embarrassing little speech, Mrs. Piper instructed her to take a seat, and of course, there just happened to be an untaken seat right next to me. Autumn made her way to it. She wasn't even situated yet but was already striking me with numerous questions of all sorts. I managed to give her the simplest answers to all of them until we hit a subject that I pretty much live for.

"So, you are on the track team," she repeated after me and then stopped to think about it. "Personally, I've tried running several times, but I never found it to be something I would enjoy. I am more into dance. Though Jason wakes up every morning at 5:30 just to go running. This has been his routine since our mother's death. He started running to forget how hurt he was and to clear his mind though he never admits to it. He hates to show any kind of weakness." Autumn drew me into the story to the extent that I, the girl that never talks in class, started engaging in the conversation. "I am so sorry for your loss," I said, trying to show sympathy."Thank you, it's fine Even though identifying with people wasn't my strongest side, I still attempted to commiserate with her. "Thank you, I am over the mourning for her now, unlike my brother, who seems not to want to let go. Since then he hasn't been making wise choices, and has gotten himself into some shitty stuff, like.....

Now that the conversation was finally getting juicy, we got interrupted by no one other than Mrs.Piper, " From all the talking you ladies have done in my class today, it's safe for me to say that you two will be working on the project, that is due in a week. Here are your guidelines. "She placed a stack of about fifteen papers on our desk and walked off. I helplessly stared at it for a while and then turned to Autumn. "You should come over today after school so that we could get started on it," she suggested, not thinking twice I agreed to it, but later realized that I promised Ace I would watch a movie with him. Great, I guess this will be a very busy afternoon. To top it off my mum started calling...

"Hey mum, what is it?" I asked rather carelessly.

"Your dad has been arrested this afternoon for.."

I hung up refusing to listen to the same old reason, knowing that I will never be an accomplice to my dad's wrongdoings.