"Bryce, we gotta go! We're running late!" I called up the stairs worriedly, clutching the wooden bannister with both hands.
I heard his footsteps strolling down the stairs and sighed in relief, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, and tapping my foot impatiently.
He stepped off the last step and smiled knowingly at me, dark hair askew. I knew that it was twisted with gel to get the Edward Cullen tousled look that was lusted after by teen girls everywhere. Truthfully, it seemed to be working for him. What had looked goofy in his childhood had sprouted into masculine features that my friends drooled over, including a sharp jaw dotted with black stubble and electric blue eyes like mine.
Unfortunately, mine were paired with brown hair that I had poorly attempted to dye red and a light smattering of freckles that made me look younger than I desired.
"Finally!" I complained, glaring at him.
He raised an eyebrow and I shrunk down, deciding I didn't want to pick a fight right now.
His cocky smile irked me, but I repressed the anger out of fear that it would slow us down. He grabbed the keys from the hook beside the door and led us out into the cool morning air, locking the door behind us.
"If we left in twenty minutes you would still get to school on time. I don't know why you think you need to be at school a half an hour early," he said, unlocking the car. I climbed into the passenger seat and placed my backpack gently on the floor by my feet, staring away from him so I could roll my eyes.
"I need to study and prepare! I don't even have my locker code memorized," I informed him, squeezing my thighs together nervously.
"You know it's the first day of school, right? Do you even know what you're studying?" he asked mockingly.
"I'm just going to start from chapter one. I need to get things right. It's my senior year and good grades are key to impressing colleges." I recited my sentence like it was memorized, and in a way, it was. Bryce and I may have been the only family that we had, but my friends' parents all seemed to take a deep interest in what I was going to make of myself. I secretly wondered if they asked because they pitied me, given my situation.
"You know we don't have the money for you to be attending college right now," he said, glancing from the road to me. His blue eyes swirled with shame, but I smiled at him.
"You don't need to worry about me, Bryce. I'm going to get scholarships and the college nearby isn't that expensive. I can get loans and do a work study job and..." I said, voice rising in confidence as I thought about it. I cut myself off when he sighed.
"Don't worry until there's something to worry about," I told him, giving him a serious look. He may be five years older than me, but there were still things I could teach him.
"Don't get your hopes up too high, kid," he said, lifting his arm from the console so he could ruffle my hair.
"Hey!" I whined, pulling away and yanking my brush from my bag. I tugged it through my straightened hair and flipped down the mirror so I could make sure it looked good.
"Trying to impress the boys?" Bryce teased, slamming down on the accelerator so we could make it through a yellow light.
"Just one," I reminded him, smirking at the fact that he still wouldn't acknowledge that I had a boyfriend.
"Oh yeah," he grumbled. "How's that going?"
"Great," I told him, smiling arrogantly. He predicted from the start that Hunter and I wouldn't work out, but we were going on six months now.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, knowing what I was thinking. He pulled up to my school and swung around quickly, jumping into the drop-off line.
"Meet you after school. Same time, same place," he reminded me, as if I had forgotten our routine after three years of doing it. We pulled up to the right place and he unlocked the doors, swatting at my shoulder to get me moving. The second the door opened he tapped the radio on, so his inappropriate rap playlist came blaring from the speakers.
People nearby spun to see the commotion and I blushed fiercely, jumping out and walking away like the car was on fire. I heard Bryce rolling down the windows and laughing from the car as he drove away.
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A/N Sorry for the shower pic at the top lmao but it was the only dude that matched my mental image!
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Perfect Student
Teen FictionYears ago, Adeline's life fell apart when her mother left, dad was taken, and older brother was left to watch her alone. Her brother's best friend had always been her protector; the person she turned to when she had nobody else. When he moved away...
