Strings Attatched

|Chapter 1|

"Girls and guys will indeed go on together, on the same teams and such, but girls be careful and not too aggressive." He teases and earns a laugh from all the girls.

--

Before I can even realize, gym is over and it is the end of the day, and luckily it is a Thursday, so one more day until the beautiful weekend. I jog back into the change room and put my tights on while swinging my bag over my shoulders and getting out of the school as fast as I possibly can.

I plug my headphones into my ears and shuffle my music, but I instantly get interrupted with a tap on my shoulder. "Yes?" I say while turning my head towards the direction the person came from. I look up and meet eyes with Jack Gilinsky, who yet again never fails to make me angry.

"What can I help you with?" I say with pure sarcasm and attitude in my voice, but only for him of course.

"Why do you hate me so much?" He says, sounding like what I thought was curious, but I was obviously wrong. I am not about to list the never ending reasons on why I hate Jack Gilinsky. Why couldn't he just ask someone that were both close with? For starters, this boy is so god damn stubborn and he doesn't know when to stop or better yet, leave someone alone. He uses girls for sex and drops them completely. He is a compulsive liar. He once had sex with this girl and video taped it. Him and his friends made fun of her from then on and he leaked it soon after.

My stomach turns at my never ending thoughts and I close that pathway. "Why does it matter?" I say while taking one earbud out of my ear and turning my music down a little lower.

"Woah, I was just wondering. You're all bark and no bite," he says while laughing hysterically. His friends walk up beside him and luckily they all pool away from me, leaving me to walk in peace.

The entire walk home seemed long and consisted of my thoughts of today. Tonight would probably consist of me looking up things about Canada for this project that Jack will deviously take no part in, which I am not surprised by.

I unlock the front door and slam it behind me. "Is anyone home?" I yell and it echoes, but all that comes back is silence. I just moved into this new neighborhood and the houses are huge. My mother and father both travel the world for their businesses so they have quite a lot of money, and I am both lucky and grateful for that.

I walk into the kitchen and see my little brother watching YouTube videos with headphones plugged in, so I decide to scare him. I slowly creep up behind him and jump at him. His reaction is priceless as he drops his tablet, but not so priceless when the tablet now has a line through the middle of it.

"Madison, why would you do that?" He says furiously. My brother is 13, and I'm 17. I can't ever take him seriously, he is such a child sometimes. "Oh shut up, we will get it fixed," I say flatly while making myself a Nutella sandwich.

"How was school?" I ask him while taking a huge bite out of my sandwich due to my lack of food during school hours. "Good but I didn't get a lot to eat." He slurs quietly because he is too focused on his YouTube videos.

"I figured. I was really hungry too," I complain while finishing my sandwich. "But now I'm full, and I'll be in my room if you need me." I tell him before walking out of the kitchen and into my room.

I flop onto my bed and plug my phone in before everything I look up more interesting things about Canada. I am half Canadian and I was born there, but my family instantly moved to America. I was only born there because of the free health care. Relatives of mine live in Canada but I rarely see them anymore.

I decide to go onto Twitter for a little while before finishing this. I follow Jack quickly just so I can dm him, but hopefully he follows me back. While waiting for Jack to follow me back, I plug in my phone and turn my music on shuffle once again.

My music goes quiet automatically as Jack follows me back and direct messages me. He simply sends a hey, so I know full well that I will have to ask him about the project and not vice versa. I don't respond to him and I turn my music off as I hear my mother and father walk in the door. I rush downstairs charging at the both of them.

"Mom, I have missed you so much, dad oh my god!" I squeal in excitement. I have not seen them in 2 weeks and seeing them now makes me happier then ever, not just because living with my brother alone is hell.

"Well, I'm assuming you have missed us?" My mother chirps in. She is the only reason I haven't given up on everything yet. "Of course we have," my brother says as he moves from hugging our father to our mother.

We all move to our dining room and sit at the table while discussing their trip to New York. "I have something important to tell you kids," my mom stirs. I am not sure if I should be sweating or shaking or relieved but it is somehow giving me slight anxiety. "We are going on a trip to New York, as a family, and your dad and I are thinking of moving there," she explains in deeper thought. My heart is in many places at once. I have grown up in Omaha and we have just bought a new house, I thought this was our fresh beginning?

"We what," my brother speaks obviously traumatized by her words, as I am myself. "We are thinking about moving, as a family," she explains herself again. This may not be as bad as I am making it seem, but what about Taylor? I haven't said one word but my jaw feels like it's on the floor and my mouth is formed like an 'O'. This is utter shock and I'm not sure how I should be taking it.

"Madison?" My father questions as I stare into space thinking of the possibilities. "When do you think we would move? How soon?" My question is blurted out quickly because it feels as if I am losing air. The last thing I want to do right now is move, especially in senior year.

"Don't worry, we are letting you finish senior year before this happens, but that's why we are taking a family trip over Christmas break because I want you both to see New York for yourselves. It is so beautiful," my mother squeaks in excitement but frowns because of both my brothers and my facial expression.

"Oh," is all that comes to mind and out my mouth. How am I even letting this happen? I guess it's better than moving in the middle of the year, but I'd still like to stay here. I am 17 almost 18, but I don't want to move out quite yet. Making decisions and commitments is hard and I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet.

"I'm gonna go to bed," I stutter while walking out of their conversation. I can't even take the entire thing off of my mind, let alone sleep because my mind is so jumbled and consumed of New York.