Paper Trails // h.s

Chapter 1

a/n - I personally hate this first chapter but you have to start somewhere, i swear by chapter 3 it actually gets ok. just bear with me. (Or skip to there. Don't care. You won't miss too much. Jk you kinda will)

- Maddi

Bakersfield, California was the hole I called home. It was the only place I'd been and the only place I feared I would ever go. It was a black hole of bullshït and lies, where families and friends knew everything going on in your life, or so they thought anyway.

The aspirations of this town were huge, children would work hard through school, made heir parents proud with good grades and then ship off to college, then come back home and make the new generations of this god forsaken town.

I think that's why I hated it so much, I didn't have the same agenda as everyone else. I had the aspirations to travel and explore and find something outside the boundaries of this place. I dreamt bigger than going to college and coming back 'home' to create a family and make another child put up with the havoc I was now surrounded with, which is what lead me to the decision of not applying for any colleges or making any plans after school.

"Zoe." Someone snapped. "Zoe you idiot." They repeated. I blinked a few times, registering what was going on. Lux, my best friend, snapped her fingers furiously in front of me. "We're about to graduate and you're off with the bloody fairies." She shook her head.

I gave her a smile, shaking my head as she turned her attention back to the crowds of people. We were lining up, my whole year about to graduate. Lux and I were always placed together in line and I think that's the original reason we became friends, she was I guess in a sense 'popular' so it was weird when she recruited me to her per say squad. The majority of them bïtches and too faced, aside from Samantha.

"... And most importantly, don't forget those people around you here today. Cherish these people as you all made it through this journey together. Congratulations and may your lives be filled with success and joy. You are now the new graduated class, well done." Cheers erupted out all around me but I just clapped turning to my right to try and get off this damn stage.

"Now that this bullshit is over, lets get ready for the party." the familiar voice of Samantha rang behind me. I spun around quickly, a smile erupting on my face at the sight of her.

"Look at you, you were actually allowed to graduate." I mocked giving her a playful nudge. Samantha never showed up to school so it was a shock when she was actually able to graduate, and even better, had gotten into a Ivy League college. She was set off to Princeton in the early summer.

"I know right, must have done something right." She shrugged and lazily placed her arm around me pulling us along towards Lux who had ditched me after the ceremony finished.

"Baby girl. Look behind you." Lux laughed, her voice ringing through the air.

I turned swiftly, only to see Alex Smaller, Lux's on and off boyfriend.

"Wow. Alex actually graduated." I deadpanned, sighing as I looked back to her. She gave me a scowl, rolling her eyes.

"Behind him." She groaned, reaching out to turn me around. I complied, turning as she pushed me. "Look straight past Alex." She whispered, right next to my ear.

Harry Styles. Aka the guy secretly was crushing on. Ok maybe not secretly. He was standing with his mum, I mean I guessed it was him mum, at the back of the hall. Both of them deep in conversation, a laugh escaping his lips.

"Too bad I'll never see him again." I sighed. Just like majority of my grade, everyone would be going off to college, starting their lives. Aside from me.