Chosen

Chapter 1

7:45 AM. Shit.

It usually took me about half an hour to get ready for school in the morning, twenty more minutes to eat breakfast and about five minutes to get to school by car. School had started at eight o'clock ever since freshman year, and obviously, four years later, it was going to be the same. The first day of  Senior Year, to which I was going to be late.  

I woke up quicker than ever, raced through my room to my bathroom, in which Ethan had been washing his teeth for what could've easily been twenty minutes. 

"Ethan! Hurry up for God's sake. It's been twenty minutes!" him losing time in the bathroom - and admiring his perfect body every morning - had really started to get on my nerves. 

The bathroom door opened and Ethan came out wearing just a thin towel around his waist, half-smirking.  "If only I had more time to look at myself in the mirror after getting out of the shower, she would be even steamier." He then shuddered his amber hair into my face and took off as if we hadn't even talked.

The bathroom looked as if a flood had been just cleared out, and I found myself in a sauna that smelled like Abercrombie and fucking Fitch. The mirror was all blurred out and now I understood what my step brother meant by 'she would be even steamier'. Truth is, he wasn't much wrong either. Any girl in our school would die to see Ethan Reynold almost-naked after a good twenty-minute shower. 

Wiping the mirror with a paper towel, my face started to show up: brunet hair, dangling across my face in loose curls, slightly over my chest; full red lips and tanned skin, turned up nose - and then my most interesting feature - eyes so green you could see a forest hiding beneath them. It was just then that I realized I was sleepier than I thought, so I washed my face with freezing water. I had no time for a shower, so I sprayed myself with probably a little bit too much perfume and went back to my room for the hardest part of the morning - the dressing up.

It was usually simple - a random T-shirt and some jeans, but today was special. Today was the first day of the last year of High School. The year everything was going to change. So I decided on putting on an off-the-shoulder shirt I had from the previous year (looks like Hollister is still doing a pretty good job), and a jean skirt. Not the best outfit for school, I must admit, but I was pretty sure no one was going to draw my attention more than they've already had for three years. I was a pretty good student, so no one ever said anything to me regarding how I dressed or any other aspects of that matter. 

It took me about ten more minutes to finish getting ready - probably the quickest I'd ever been - although I still had no time for breakfast. I went downstairs in a rush just to see my mom and Douglas - my new stepdad - enjoying a sweet kiss. Well, I guess we could say that my appetite really turned the other way around after seeing them together like that. Don't get me wrong - Douglas was a funny, charming man who I got along with really well, although his son was a complete burden; but I was still not used to seeing my mom with someone else after she and my dad broke up back when I was in my first year of High School. Ethan, on the other hand, was nothing like his father. I'd seen him around the school before his dad and my mom, well, got together; but never really talked to him. All the girls in our school had their hearts stolen by E but he was never really the emotional type of guy.  The annoying thing was, he knew about his looks and used them to hook up with girls every weekend and then ignore them for the rest of their lives. And now, I was stuck to those dark brown eyes for the rest of the school year, until I was going to go to college. 

"Bit lazy this morning aren't you, Olivia", Douglas said in a strong voice. 

"Am, yeah, the alarm didn't go off. Good Morning"

"Good Morning, dear. Breakfast?" my mom seemed to be happier than ever, and that only made me happy, too. 

"No time. Where's E? He's supposed to drive me to school". Ethan owned a black Jeep which he'd gotten for his seventeenth birthday, back in July. His dad worked as a lawyer so their financial condition was pretty good. Mom, on the other hand, was a Promoter; she basically helped to organize Festivals, talked to artists and musicians, booked the venue and stuff. 

"He must be in his car waiting for you. Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" Douglas was such a good parent, how could Ethan be so different? Oh well, I had only lived with them for two months, maybe I'd figure it out in the next few ones. 

"Yeah, just make sure you don't overheat the microwave, it tends to burn whatever's inside. Bye mom, bye Doug" and that was it. I opened the door, the sunlight blinding me while I got to the car. The first of September was always a pleasant day, the sun was more powerful than it had been in months, and although I could feel sweat already tickling my lower back, I was more cheerful than ever for a fresh start - family, and school. Ethan was waiting for me in the car, and because I was taking so long to get there, he started honking at me with desperation. 

"Shit, Olivia. We're already fifteen minutes late and I've got to sign up for this year's team captain. What's been taking you so long?" I couldn't care less about E's football team, to be honest.

"If you wouldn't have taken so long to look at your pretty face in the mirror, then maybe I would've been ready before you. So shut up and drive." E looked at me as if I'd just told him I wanted to make out with him, and then, starting to drive and finally getting on the road, he said in his I'm-going-to-make-you-fall-in-love-with-me voice, a little smile on his perfect face:

"Don't tell me you didn't like what you saw when our paths crossed this morning, Liv, because I sure did"