No Regrets

Chapter One

Chapter 1..

             Our small town, Bynes County was still small as it was three years ago. Not much,though, could happen in three years anyway.
           I couldn't wait to leave, then, but now, I am so glad to be back. I carried my light luggage into my room with Aunt Cass in tow.
        "I'm just gonna let you settle in "she said as she placed my suitcase behind the door.
        "I'll be downstairs if you need anything".she said before she closed the door. I heard her light footsteps patter down the stairs.
         I pulled out my phone to call mom. It rang a couple of times before I got the answering machine.
        "Mom, I got here like an hour ago" I paused to see if she'd pick up then "okay, so I guess you're not available.  ,but call me when you are. I'm doing great though". I sighed when there was still no answer.
        "alright, love you Mom. Take care of yourself." I let the line go dead then I clutched my phone in my hands and I sighed sadly. I knew Mom was home. She never went out on Sundays. No. She always stayed home on Saturday nights and got drunk so she was always sporting a hangover on Sundays.
             She could hardly keep her hands off the neck of a bottle. And you can't blame it on her divorce with Dad because that's why he left her. After they got separated, Dad went off to Pennsylvania and I stayed with mom. Bad idea. She barely knew I was in the house. She was either out with friends, drinking, or at home drinking, Most of the time she was also sleeping (probably dreaming about drinking) and I was left to mother myself.
        Don't get me wrong, when she's sober she's a great mom. But she's hardly ever sober.
        A knock on the door snapped me off my thoughts.
My cousin Erin popped her head through the opened door.
"you doing okay, cuz? " she said as she walked in and closed the door.
      Erin and I are about the same age but she's a couple months older than me. We have same kind of just -below-the-shoulder length hair, hers being a darker shade of blonde than mine is.
"yeah, I guess." I replied, stowing my phone back into my pocket.
     She plopped down the bed and I joined her.
"Bynes hasn't changed at all" I said.
"well what were you expecting, skyscrapers? "she asked me.
      After a short comfortable silence, I heaved a sigh and said
"so, back to Fontane, huh?"
        Fontane high was the school I left behind in Freshman year, and now as a senior, I was not certain if I could handle being the old new girl.
"yup,"she said, popping the 'p'.
"But it's pretty much the same though.Trust me you're gonna love it all over again" she added.
        I shrugged. I mean it's not like I have a choice or anything. I made the big decision of coming back and though it's killing me, leaving mom, a danger to herself, on her own like that, I was going to have to deal with it.
            "So tell me, what'd I miss all these years? " I asked Erin knowing that the only way to evade my thoughts was to listen. She started off about many things that I forgot the moment she said them and as she chattered animatedly about various nonsense, I pretend to listen nodding and reacting where required.
I was glad that in contrast to many, I was already used to this.

* * * morning....
        I wasn't awoken by the usual loud snores from the next room. It was Aunt Cass yelling for Erin and me to wake up. I got up from the bed seconds before she pushed open the door.
"Rise and shine, sweetie. "
       I replied with a groan as I slowly made my way over to the bath room.
      "Get ready while I go wake Erin. "she said as she left.
I got into the bathroom with sleep in my eyes. I did my routine and by the time I was done, I was wide awake.
            I did what I had to do post shower and I got dressed.
I wasn't sure what really sufficed for a second first day at school so I dressed in a simple pair of black jeans and a statement tee. So and so, I went over to Erin's room.
"Are you ready? We have like...thirty minutes " I told her, knocking on the door.
"just a sec!"
          The door opened and she was out. She slug her backpack over her shoulder and knotted her jacket around her waist.
"let's go. " she said with a beam.
"aren't we gonna have breakfast? " I asked as I trudged behind her towards the front door. I also noticed that Aunt Cass was gone.
"We only have like two periods before lunch, so we can skip."
      Soon we were driving in Erin's black sedan on the familiar road to Fontane.
We got to school with six minutes to spare.
      We walked into the familiar hallway to the principal's office .
The secretary was busy on the system when we walked in. She was younger than the secretary I knew before I left. We stood in front if the table until, seconds later she noticed us.

"were here to see the principal, please. " Erin said to her.
"Go on in. " the lady replied without even cracking a smile.
          As we made for the door that read'PRINCIPAL' ,Erin shrugged at the lady's unwelcoming attitude
We walked in after the principal replied our double-knock.
          The principal was the same Mrs O'Hare from from before I left and she cracked a smile when we walked in and extended a hand for us to sit. Erin and I sat down opposite her and replied with warm smiles.
           "Well it's very nice to have you back, Samantha." she beamed as she pulled out a folder of what I assumed were my files.
"I'm glad to be back ma'am "
"Here's your schedule" she handed me a long sheet.
"I'm afraid this might take a little getting used to as its different from the one you used to have "she finished
I examined my timetable and it was actually different from the last one. I had Biology first
"I still have all my AP classes"I said surprised.
"and I trust you will do great in them"she said.
       After giving me the whole no rule-breaking speech and all that she finally said,
"Erin, you take care of her and just show her the ropes. "

We left the office and after Erin took a look at my schedule, she affirmed that we only had English together 3rd period on Tuesdays so we will probably only meet during lunch.

* * * * * * * *
Lunch.....
             Biology was as uneventful as I'd hoped. We got paired into partners. I was paired with Grey Prescott. A few of the people I used to talk to before I left offered smiles and waves but the rest just minder their business.
I walked into the small caf and made my way to the lunch line. The cafeteria was small. Like I said Fontane was always a small school. No mean girls, no popular table, just a normal high school. Which added to the reason why information spread fast and last long.
I got myself an apple and a yoghurt and set off to find Erin. I felt bad for tagging onto her like this but I didn't really know anymore and plus, she didn't seem to mind.
I looked around the caf and spotted her at the far end. It was not hard to notice her when she was waving at me to come over.
              As I made my way over to her table, I noticed shw was sitting with a boy I knew.
I sat down and Erin started,
"Sam, I don't know if you'll remember but this is Jayson Hitch."
        That was when I remembered him. We used to be late partners for Biology back then. He was a lot smaller then though, now he had grown a stubble of a moustache and looked generally more muscular. His dark hair was shorter than it used to be then, giving him a more mature look.
         "Hey Jayson. I remember you. We used to be late partners."I said.
" yeah. I used to copy your assignments all the time. " he laughed and so did i.
             We started chatting about various things. Jayson was telling me about the way people were at the school as opposed to how they were in freshman year. I was laughing so hard, yoghurt almost came out of my nose.
Jayson was telling us about a prank they pulled on coach Anderson the last year when a bronze-haired boy hastily sat down on an empty chair beside Jayson. Jayson stopped talking and turned to him.
"Dude when's our English paper due?" he asked
"today, fifth period " Jayson replied
"oh, great. Then i got time. Gimme your paper man. " the bronze haired boy said in a rush.
Jayson sported a disbelieving look.
" Dude! We had three weeks. What the Fuck were you doing? "
"C'mon man! Are you gonna hook me up or not? The other boy sighed.
         Jayson opened his backpack and pulled out a couple of sheets stapled together and handed it to the other guy.
          Throughout this interesting exchange, Erin just focused on eating lunch.
"thanks man". The boy took the typed-up paper and was about to leave when Jayson added,
"oh yeah. This is Sam, she's _"
"sure, whatever man. Thanks for the paper. " with that, he got up and left.
        That was partly offensive and partly confusing. Erin and Jayson though didn't look surprised at all.
"why'd you even bother?" Erin said Finally looking up.
Jayson just shrugged. I turned to look at the boy's retreating figure and was still transfixed when Erin said,
"Don't even bother, babe. " I turned back to look at her.
"What's his story?" I asked taking a bite out of my apple.
"that's Connor Simms. Jayson's delightful friend. She stressed the 'delightful ' sarcastically.
"Why's he so cold? " I asked Jayson.
"He's not -"
"He hates girls."Erin cut him off
"He doesn't hate girls "Jayson said defensively
"He's not just into them. He's over his last girlfriend yet" Jayson explained.
      Jayson continued telling his story but I wasn't listening anymore. My mind was on bronze-haired Connor Simms.
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So this is my second story on wattpad and I'm so happy to be pushing that publish button again. If you haven't already seen it, please go check out my other book, The fast and the freckled. Please don't move on without voting I beg you guys!
Thank you so much for giving this book a chance and I promise not to let you guys down. Feel free to message me anytime and also drop a comment as well.
Special thanks to my manager Hillary and my editor Erica. I love you guys!
Thanks baes!!
Skylar....