Shaken

Chapter Two

The rest of the week goes exactly the same.

Come home.

Leia.

Mom, third stool from the left.

Dad, watching television.

Jackson, M.I.A.

Homework.

Dinner.

Ashley.

Shower.

Sleep.

Until Friday morning.

The get a boyfriend quest hadn't been going all that well. How long did it take to get a boyfriend? I was pretty, I thought. Ashley was pretty and she had a new boyfriend every 3 months, so why couldn't I get one? I had tried to stop thinking about it while I was getting ready, when I heard a loud engine outside. It was so loud, I just knew that tons of black exhaust was coming from it. I can practically taste the pollution. When I looked out my window, saw a moving truck parked outside the house across the street.

I really didn't think anything of it. People have been moving in and out of that house since I've lived in the neighborhood, which is all my life. My day went the same, class after class, until I got home. My hand was on the door knob when I heard glass breaking and a high pitch shriek. My head whips around to the house across the street. There was a tall, thin woman with blonde hair stomping from around the moving truck. She was wearing an obnoxiously frilly yellow shirt and her bright red heels matched the color of her face. Her heels didn't even click-clack like heels are suppose to, but instead she clunked in them from all the stomping she was doing. I felt bad for the pavement.

"Do you even realize how expensive that mirror was!" The woman screamed. Her voice was too shrill for comfort. Soon after I hear a deep voice bellow from the open door of the house, "Katherine, I bought the mirror! How about you carry the rest of the junk in since you're so careful?" She huffs and before she clunks back around the truck, I hear the words "your fault" and "cheap neighborhood" come from her mouth. I roll my eyes and walk into my house.

Leia was already waiting. "Why are you so late?" she asks me. I look at my phone and it reads 3: 12 p.m. "Calm down, Leia. It's only five minutes." I roll my eyes and keep walking. I felt kind of bad saying that to her, but the way she points out my normality got under my skin. When I look into the kitchen, my mom is closing her laptop. She checks her watch when she sees me and her eyebrows furrow.

"Everything okay?" she asks me.

"Why wouldn't everything be okay?"

"Your just a little late is all."

I run my fingers down my face and sigh a "Yeah," before going up to my room. I decide not to say hi to my dad just because I don't want to keep answering why I'm so "late." When I get to my room, I realize that Leia is already gone. It was as if me being five minutes late to open the front door threw me into the twilight zone.

I text Ashley about it and she suggests we go out and do something.

Ashley: I'll pick you up a 7 :)

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We have dinner everyday at 5 p.m. Today Jackson is only 10 minutes late. My mom cooked Chicken Alfredo and it was absolutely delicious. I try not to get a second plate because I'm sure Ashley and I are going to grab something.

After dinner, I take my time getting ready. I refresh my curls and carefully apply makeup that makes my caramel skin glow. I'm wrapping a belt around my jeans when my mom walks in. She looks a little startled to see me dressed up. I'm actually not very dressed up, I'm just wearing a t-shirt that doesn't have a book reference and an unintentional bleach stain on it. Maybe that's why I can't get a boyfriend.

"Well, you look like...you're ready to go out. Is that shirt suppose to look like that?"

I'm wearing a white t-shirt that was holes tastefully scattered throughout it. Now, I didn't have to pay $30 for a ripped up shirt because I could've easily of made 15 of these shirts for the same price, but I try to keep up with the trends.

"Yes, mom. Ashley and I are going out tonight." I already know what she is going to say so I answer her questions before she asks them. "No, I don't know where we're going or who will be there. I won't be doing drugs or drinking or getting pregnant. I'll probably be home before one." When I do go out, I'm usually home by ten, but saying one makes me feel like my life is interesting.

"Okay..." my mom draws out. "I was just wondering if you could do me a favor. We have some new neighbors and I baked a delicious apple crumble. On your way out, would you mind taking it over to them?" I don't even ask why can't Jackson do it because I know he's out somewhere doing God knows what. I mumble a "sure" and expect her to close my door, but instead of her leaving, she stands there a moment longer. "You're one beautiful girl, you know that?" She gives me one her small smiles. "Thanks mom." Part of me hates when she does it, but the other part is grateful. It's so embarrassing even though it was just the two of us in my room, but she always calls me beautiful at all the right times. I know I'll always have my mom by my side, rooting me on.

I come from a line of beautiful people. My mom is black. She has smooth chocolaty skin that seems to melt beneath your touch and a voice so velvety she could make anyone fall asleep if she tried. My dad is white. He was clear skin and just a few grays at his temple. My dad is a little over 40 and my mom is coming up on it, but if I didn't know them and they told me they were in their late 20's, I'd believe them. They compliment each other so perfectly. She's fire, he's ice. Where each lacks, the other makes up, and that is so beautiful to me.

It's 6: 53 p.m. and I know Ashley is going to be 10 minutes late, because she always is I grab the apple crumple which smells so delicious, I wish my mom would've made one for us, carry it over to the new neighbors.

I did not want to go to this house. After hearing the shrill yelling and how that woman thinks our neighborhood is cheap, I felt I had every right to take this apple crumble into Ashley's car and eat it with her. But I didn't. I dragged myself across the street and up the driveway, past the moving truck. Before I got up to the driveway, I noticed a shiny black sports car parked alongside the curb.

Ding-dong. As the doorbell rang, I was anticipating the clunk of the woman's heels, but instead I got a sock-footed boy. My breath caught in my throat and I almost choked. It wasn't just any sock-footed boy. It was Mason Bell.

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A/N: I know, I know. It gets better. Please tell me how you like it so far and like and comment! Thanks for reading!

-Jaydenah