The Mistakes We Make

Chapter 1 (Edited)

The clocked tick by as my fingers tapped on the corner of my desk. My leg bounced underneath making the desk nearly shake. My nerves far too high to containe I let it be. I looked to my left, and there stood one of my best friends, Dylan. His head bobbing as he was on the edge of falling asleep. I couldn't blame him Mrs. Jenkins going on about how we should do our summer reading list was boring and no one was listening. His lightly sun-kissed skin and dark hair along with his muscular six-foot build made him good with the girls, to put it lightly. I've known Dylan since we were babies, and our parents were best friends. Were being the main word.

I looked to my right and there was Gina rolling her eyes at the teacher and typing on her phone. I've known her since we were five. She kicked another kid off the swing set her was messing with me. She's half Mexican and half white-bread American, and a total bad-ass who could kick your ass faster than you could ask for help. Being was raised with only a father and five brothers, so she had to learn to take care of herself.

Then there's me, stuck in the middle. But these are my people and always would be.

I'm Casey Jamie Noel Philips or CJ. I have long red hair thanks to my dad, who walked out on my family when I was seven. My mom ended up with light brown hair and tells me she always wished she was a redhead. I said she should reconsider that wish. My mother almost seems like a completely different person since my father left. I'm about five foot five, same as Gina, and I'm a swimmer, which gives me a muscular but slim build.

The school bell rang, and I bolted out the door, racing to Dylan's car. I've been running in the morning before school to get faster at swimming. Even with Dylan on my tail I still reached the car first. "Yes!" I put out my hand in front of Dylan. "Twenty bucks! I told you I was getting faster." He smirked as he pulled out his wallet.

"I was falling asleep, it shouldn't be fair."

"You knew the deal, you couldn't stay awake long enough to get up faster is your own fault," Gina said as she gave him a slap on the back.

"Come on, lets' go. Tomorrow is the first day of summer and my birthday. Tonight I want to have some fun." I got in the front seat of the car.

"You're the craziest fifteen-year-old I've ever met," Dylan said, poking at my sides, and I pushed him away.

"Now sixteen!" Dylan drove to my house. For a while, we sat around waiting for my seventeen-year-old brother Lewis to come home from football practice, and then Gina and I got dressed. Gina put on a black fitted skirt with a pair of flats, and I put on a dark blue skirt that stopped mid-thigh with a white tank-top, and I slipped on my Converse. Lewis and Dylan just stayed in their shirts and jeans. I rode with Dylan, and Gina rode with Lewis.

The local nighttime hot spot for teens was called Under21. It has music and dancing until three in the morning. We didn't come often, but Gina and I had come in more than a few times to let off steam and getaway. No one's lives are really simple besides Dylans. He's gotten luckier than all of us.

My mom was once normal, then my father left and she became controlling. She then lost it along the way and met Todd. Todd is a nasty piece of work and I've never liked him, but my mother never cared about that. It seemed once she found the bottom of a bottle better than spending her time with her daughter and eventually Todd who helped her find the bottom of those bottles that it was no use trying with my mother anymore.

Gina's father just wanted her to be safe, a bit overprotective. In a nutshell, my mom was mental and her father was overprotective. Dylan's family was the only "normal" family out of the bunch. His family was made of old money, apparently, but he'd never really cared for it. He was the one who kept Gina and me in line. He helped keep us out of trouble, mostly from ourselves.