Redwood

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The end of summer was quickly approaching. In a sense it was nice, because fall was my favorite season. It was neither too cold nor too hot, a perfect balance between either extreme.

With the approach of fall came the return to school, a journey no one truly wanted to go through. I had moved to the small town of Redwood, Washington, just an hour north of Seattle a year prior. The school year was midway through and I decided I would rather wait until the next year to start at the local high school. So I finished the school year off online and started a few more classes just to fill time.

I had met a few people when my family moved in. My closest friend Allie was 5 feet 4 inches of pure sunshine, finishing off the look with dirty blonde hair stopping just at her shoulders and bright green eyes. She was my neighbor who lived half a mile down the road and the first person I had met in Redwood.

The second person was Drew. He was the youngest of four boys, a struggle I'm not sure how his mother endured. He had medium brown hair cropped close to his head with chocolate brown eyes and an olive skin tone. I had bumped into him at the local supermarket, quite literally and had knocked the bottle of pop right out of his hands.

The three of had come together, an unlikely combo that no one quite understood why it worked but it did.

The pair had convinced me to spend my junior year at Redwood High School, the local school taking it's name from not only the town name but the abundance of redwood forests surrounding it. I had begun taking high school courses in middle school, starting with math and spanish. After my sophomore year, especially with the bonus classes I had taken, I had nearly all my credits to graduate. All that was left was one English credit and one Science credit. I had intended to take my final two credits online while I attended the local community college for a year or two, before heading off to a larger university.

There was two days until school started and I had to finish the last of summer work for the music history class I had decided to take to fill time.

I had already gathered my supplies and stuffed them into my backpack and picked out an outfit for my first day.
Allie had dragged me shopping the weekend before insisting that I need a new wardrobe for the school year after I stated there was a new pair of shoes I wanted.

Allie, Drew and I were spending the night at Drew's house with a movie marathon and the 'administration of crucial high school survival advice'. Allie seemed to have forgotten that I had actually been to high school for a year and a half before moving to Redwood.

I packed an overnight bag earlier that morning and was now sitting passenger in Allie's car headed to Drew's house. The trip took 45 minutes and wound through the outskirts of town.

As we pulled up the long gravel drive, Drew's house came into view. It was a large white two story with a wrap around front porch and large windows.
Two cars were parked in the drive when we pulled up behind them. Drew and his parents always parked in their garage, prompting a confused look to overcome Allie's face.

"Is someone else supposed to be coming over?" She asked with confusion.

I shrugged and exited the car grabbing my bag from the backseat and started my descent towards the house. Knocking on the door, Allie now stood behind me waiting to enter.

A large broad shouldered figure standing at what I could only guess as 6' 3" opened the door. He stood clad in dark wash jeans and an army green shirt. With long sandy brown hair and hazel eyes he towered over us making my 5'6" frame feels small in comparison.

"Well hello there. Can I help you with something?" He asked his deep voice sounding somewhat familiar.

"Allie! Olivia! Is that you?" Came from deeper in the house.