The Way ✓

Chapter 1

I love the way

You make me feel

I love it

I love it

I groaned in frustration and put the book I’d been reading next to me on the windowsill.

Now don’t get me wrong; the song wasn’t that bad. But when your younger sister has been blasting it on repeat for the past half hour it kind of gets on your nerves. I even considered going to her room and telling her to keep it down but I knew how she’d react: she’d grin at me and turn the volume up simply to spite me.

A sound of a door closing made me look outside just in time to see Trevor get out of his house and into his car. As each time I laid my eyes on him, my heart skipped a beat. How could anybody look this good?

He was one of those boys who made your knees go weak just because they smiled at you. His full lips would twitch up, his brown eyes would sparkle and you’d think you’ve gone to Heaven. He had this amazing surfer’s body that made the girls glue their gaze to it and the guys consider going to the gym more often. Even when he wore nothing but plain blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a varsity jacket he looked like a model.

No wonder all the girls at school were drooling over him!

“Maggie, honey, come to get some breakfast!” Mom called cheerfully from the kitchen below then added in a less affectionate tone: “April, come down as well!”

I got up and headed towards the voice that was summoning us. The moment I stepped into the kitchen, my mother’s eyes started examining me. I sat on one of the stools and started to eat my toast. After about a minute, she sighed and shook her head. I knew what that meant: she did not approve of me.

When my mom had been a teenager, she’d always been a popular one. But even though I’d inherited her blonde hair and blue eyes, her sense of fashion was not flowing through my blood stream.

In case you hadn’t figured it out by now I was April - the quiet and introvert one in the family, and my sister and everybody’s favorite was the outgoing Maggie. We lived in a two story house right opposite one of the school bad boys. Although I never comprehended why Trevor was categorized as such.

Whenever I heard the words “bad boy”, I’d imagine a loose cannon, who’s addicted to alcohol and drugs, perhaps someone who even sells them. But Trevor wasn’t like that. He was your cliché popular guy over whom all the girls (I admit, me including) were swooning, who could have a different girlfriend for each day of the week, who got invited to all the parties and who occasionally pulled some frat-worthy prank along with his friends.

That did not categorize him as “bad.” Just stuck-up, spoilt, irresponsible and almost completely indifferent to the feelings of others. And good-looking. Because let’s face it: in order to climb the social ladder in high school you better have the looks.

Maggie chose this precise moment to enter the kitchen and make our mother smile.

“Just look at those curls! Maggie, your hair is amazing today!” Mom cooed.

I rolled my eyes.

Maggie’s brown hair looked amazing every day! She never left her room without fashioning it into a style and without making sure to put enough makeup on her already pretty face. Today, she’d gone for a foundation, eyeliner to frame her blue eyes and pink lip gloss, the same shade as that of her skimpy top.

Why did my mother allow her to go out displaying so much cleavage and with a skirt so short it resembled a belt?

“I’m skipping breakfast, mom. I’m going to ask Trevor to give me a ride to school,” she announced with a lusty grin.

I opened my mouth to tell her he’d already left but closed it before I uttered a sound. I didn’t need to let Maggie know I’d seen him; she’d just start making snappy comments about me liking and stalking him. And our mom would just pretend she couldn’t hear her.

“Honey, I think Trevor already left,” my mother mumbled apologetically as if it was her fault and she could’ve somehow stalled the boy so that her favorite could get a ride with him.

“Fine!” My sister pouted and it was obvious she was anything but fine with it. “I’ll just call Todd then.”

Todd was one of Trevor’s best friends and what I called “Maggie’s puppet”. He’d do her bidding because he knew she’d reward him later. Apparently making out with cheerleader Maggie Pool was incentive enough for him to be at her disposal twenty-four/seven.

“Well, since you won’t be needing a ride,” my mom started, putting on her coat, “I’ll be off to work!”

She kissed Maggie on the forehead, careful not to ruin her hairdo, and left. My sister followed suit with her mobile already glued to her ear.

“I think I’d like to walk to school today, mom; thanks for asking!” I muttered, throwing what was left of my breakfast in the trashcan. 

I’d lost my appetite.