Author's Note:
This is my very first story so don't be so harsh. I'll try to upload new chapters whenever I can... I love to write so I'll probably post like everyday or at least on the weekends. I hope you guys like it.
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"Jade come one lets go, your stepmother is waiting", my father hollered from outside the house as he out the last of his boxes into the now fully packed van.
"Coming, Dad", I yelled as I grabbed my last box from my room. I took one last glance at my room. The posters of my favorite band all gone, my pictures packed away safely along with everything else. It was all so bare. I was still coming to terms with the fact that my dad had gone out and found himself a new wife, complete with a daughter over summer break. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for love at first sight, but it felt more like his new wife saw his money and fell in love. If life were truly on my side, it wouldn't be long before my dad realized this and he would leave them and we would resume our normal lives. As I loaded the last box into the moving van I said goodbye to my life and welcomed hell with open arms.
"You ready", my dad asked
"Ready as I'll ever be", I opened the car door and sat next to my new step sister.
"Hey, sissy-poo, ready to be best friends", she teased.
"I will fight you, just not in this car", I threatened.
"It wouldn't even be a fight", she quickly retorted.
"Girls calm, down or I'll make you two share rooms", my stepmother, Kate responded. Angela and I both scoffed at the threat. That would just be inhumane; Angela and I were complete opposites. She was your average blond, complete with striking green eyes and enjoyed my least favorite pass time, cheerleading. "Captain, I'm captain", I could already here Angela correcting me. Not even in my mind could I escape this blonde demon.
Sure we shared the same eye color but besides that, there wasn't much. Her delicate small hands never went un-manicured and were always smooth to the touch. Mine were are rough and callused thanks to years of softball followed by yeas of guitar lessons. Music had always been the one thing I could call mine.
"You sound just like your mother when you sing, she'd be at every recital, every gig, front row, cheering her baby on, cheering you on." My father's kind words echoed on in my head. A smile formed across my face as I reminisced all the good time I had with, Belle, my old guitar. Of course now she's stuck in the back of that van because Angela's makeup needed to ride upfront with us.
"We're here", Kate exclaimed as we pulled up to the giant overkill of a house she had convinced my dad into owning. I miss our two bedroom, one story, steel-wired fence, house already.
"Hey Jade will you help your father bring down the boxes, I can't and Angela has a pep rally and we don't want her getting hurt." I rolled my eyes but did what I was told as I held my need to punch both of them in the neck. Soon.
"Fine but I'm not unpacking anything that belongs to you or her", I said as I began unloading.
"Come on champ, we'll have more fun bringing down the boxes just the two of us anyways", my dad said as he patted me on the head. If it's one thing I loved, it was the bond my dad and I shared. It had grown stronger after it became just the two of us, even now, with a new daughter, my dad still found time for just as two, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.
"Oh, Jade one last things can you and your father take mine and Angela's boxes to our rooms, thanks", Kate said as she walked into the house, leaving us two do all the heavy lifting. It took us multiple trips but eventually we finished. My dad and I proudly shook on a job well done and we left to our perspective rooms to finish our own unpacking.
It wasn't until the last picture was hung, the last shirt was folded and Belle was out in her stand that it hit me. I have a stepmom and sister that I despise, but will have to forcibly get along with. What a way to sour one's afternoon; but at least I get my own room... that's right next to Angela's. Whoopee. My mind was still having trouble figuring out where it went wrong. Just a couple months ago my dad I were out by the old lake, me strumming my guitar, him complaining about how there were no fishes biting. This tall blonde walks up to us to say, "Hello", and poof now I'm here. This was all so... exhausting. My brain and body were clearly beat so I changed into my pajamas and went to bed. Maybe if I was really lucky, I would wake up in my old room, with no Angela or Kate in sight.
"Angela, hurry up! You know we only have two bathrooms in this house and the other one is being used by your mother", I yelled as I banged on the door. Two hours, she had been in there for two hours. Six am. She had been up at six am and still wasn't done. I made the mistake of letting her go before me even though I had beaten her to the bathroom.
"Jade, Angela hurry up and get downstairs and eat breakfast, if you take anymore time both of you are going to be late", my dad yelled from the downstairs kitchen.
"I would if Angela got out of the bathroom", I responded. My dad came upstairs and gave me a why-are-you-still-in-your-robe look. I pointed at the bathroom door where you could hear Angela singing on the other side. My dad rolled his eyes and banged on the door.
"Angela, Out! Now!"
"Fine, but if my hair starts to flop at the pep rally I'm holding you two responsible." She opened the door and saluted us with big, blonde, bouncy beach waves. How I envied her luscious locks, but I took comfort in knowing that she never woke up looking like that. According to my watch, that look took about two hours to achieve and probably an extra hour to perfect.
I ran into the bathroom and took a shower, brushed my teeth, and blow dried my hair. Luckily I had picked out an outfit the night before, so I threw it on in minutes, grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. Angela was already downstairs talking about how cute she was gonna look in her cheer uniform. Her white, leather hello kitty hand bag she begged dad and Kate to get her when we went back-to-school shopping last week was sitting on the counter. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. All I had was my brown aeropostale bag that I bought with my own money after my summer job had ended. My clothes didn't come with fancy logos to show off nor did I want them to. To be honest, I'm too lazy to have designer things. If I can wash with soap and water then I can own it, any special directions after that is a hard "no" for me.
"Alright everybody in the car, I'm taking you to school today, Kate had to leave for work early", my dad said as he put on his coat and grabbed the keys.
"Thank God", I whispered to myself, one car ride with Kate was more than enough for me. I don't mean to be harsh but her idea of parenting was offering me weight loss advice and salons that would do a good dye job. It was like she was trying to turn me into Angela, granted some girls did want that but I wasn't one of them.
"All right have fun you two, make friends and learn", my dad said as we got out of the car. We waved goodbye and began to make our way inside. We reached the entrance of the school and Angela let out a loud squeal causing my ears to ring.
"OMG, there they are, the girls I met at cheer camp", she yelled at the top of her lungs. I tried to ignore the obnoxious girl who was now my sister and tried to look for an escape route, but I was interrupted by Angela repeatedly smacking my arm from excitement.
"OMG, who is that; he is gorgeous!?!?!" I looked at Angela's new crush for a quick second them looked away. He was to far to be labeled as gorgeous but I could see some defining features.
"Yeah, total beauty", I said as I fiddled with my phone.
"A word of advice, you might want to keep your reactions hush, hush. Word always spreads quickly in high school" I told her as I walked away from her. She wasn't alone for long, soon more Angela clones came to her aid and they all joined in the mindless gossip with an occasional squeal here and there. I made my way to homeroom where I would receive my classes... hopefully none with Angela. Thankfully I was a pretty smart teen, smarter than Angela at least so it was unlikely that I would. I love you brain.
1st period: AP Human Goehraphy
2nd Period: Math Analysis
3rd Period: Music (Thank God)
4th Period: AP Spanish
5th Period: Physiology
6th Period: Honors English
7th Period: AP US History
8th Period: Leadership
Eight classes meant a block schedule. 1-4 one day and 5-8 the next, great. Since it was the first day we had all 8 classes and we were all going to sit through eight teachers talking about themselves and reading the class syllabus. Thankfully, by 2nd period I had already made a friend, her name was Cynthia. After some banter, we figured we had a lot in common, like a mutual hate for entitled children and a love of music. Once periods 1-4 were over the lunch bell rang and I headed out with my new friend.
"Are you new here, because I've been here all three years and I've never seen you before", Cynthia asked.
"Yeah I just moved here with my dad, my stepmom and sister." I told her the whole story, even though I had just met her, I reveled at the chance to vent a little over my unfortunate circumstances I was now under.
"Wow, that's a lot of change in one summer."
"Yeah, but nothing I can't handle", I shrugged.
"I'll pray for you", she said jokingly as she put her hand on my shoulder in solidarity.
"Thank you", my voice cracked as if I were holding back tears. We shared a laugh and went on enjoying our lunch. She told me more about herself and so did I. Towards the end we were both laughing and sharing funny stories from our past.
The bell eventually rang and we headed back to class. As I made my way to 5th period some kid bumped me causing me to say hello to the lockers. I looked up to see who it was but I failed to see anything but the back of a head that camouflaged in with the rest of the students. When I entered 5th period, the teacher was there standing by the board.
"Everyone please stand against the wall, I have a seating chart for you guys."
We did as we were told and stood in the back. Most teachers were kind enough to let us choose our seats, except for math, he had promised to have one done by next class, alphabetical order, of course. My short frame ended up engulfed by the crowd and was forced to tippy toe to see through necks and heads. I noticed Mr. Gorgeous was in most of my classes, but I didn't really bother with him. He was gorgeous as Angela pointed out but he was your average high school jock, so gorgeous was a cliche must. We shared the first letter of our last names so our partnership was end game. I did manage to catch his first name though, Damien, I think it was.
"This is boring", I whispered to myself.
"Tell me about it ", Damien responded as he turned to me and smiled. Okay, well I guess I needed to work on my whispering.
"Well, I'm over this", I said as I pulled out my earphones already connected to my phone. Sixth period no different. Once again, Damien had graced the classroom I was in with his present and once again we were labeled partners. First day of school and I was already fed up with the universe. Waving an unattainable hottie in front of me, cruel, just cruel. As soon as the bell rang, I rushed to seventh period, hoping, praying for Damien to be gone.
"Well, well, we meet again", the hottie jock said as he walked up to me, or should I say the door I was standing next to. I rolled my eyes and walked in, immediately asking if there was a seating chart. He shook his head but jokingly offered to make me one if that's what I really wanted.
"No thank you, Mr. Polamer", I said taking a seat up in front while the other students jsut stood around socializing before Mr. Polamer took control. I was hoping my seat choice would deter hottie jock from being my partner and I could be clear of that raspy deep voice that made me swoon. Snap out of it, off limits. Leave the cliche hottie alone.
"Alright class, social hour is done, please take a seat", he announced. I heard a backpack drop on the desk right next to mine. I looked up and was greeted by a smiling hottie jock.
"I didn't want to ruin the streak", he said.
"Of course not", I sighed as I turned towards the board.
"Get comfortable class, these are your permanent seat for the whole year", Mr. Polamer uttered just as I was about to move.
"Well, I'm pretty comfortable, how about you?", Damien asked.
"Never been better", I told smiled.
When I reached eighth period I was both relieved and disappointed to see Damien was missing from the class. Though I did see Cynthia so I wasn't completely alone. If I was being honest, Damien definitely wasn't a Leaderhship kind of guy, you know paints/posters type of deal. His gorgeous self was probably doing something sports related right about now. My assumptions were proven right as I peeked out the window and saw the body dynamics class outside, there he was. Even though we didn't have the same class I still had a pretty good view of things. Once again the universe was dangling the unattainable cliche in my face.
I was snapped back to reality by the noise of the teacher heels as she paced back and forth explaining the class rules and expectations and what not.
"Hello class, I am Ms. Bredahoft, the Leadership teacher. For those of you who are new, leadership is a class where we plan, decorate and even host events like dances or fundraisers. Now, this is a very demanding class. Be prepared to come in super early and leave super late some nights. I will need all of you before, during, and after events. Now if any of you feel that this is too much work, don't come back next class. Ask the counselor to change your classes. I need hard working students who are well motivated, helpful, and creative", she paused and looked around, "I thought I would have more students that this, but we will make do." She quickly went around the room signed our programs and handed out our student contracts that basically repeated everything she had just said. Since it was the first day of school, she let us socialize for the remainder of the period. The final bell rang, releasing us back into the real world.
"Wow that was brutal", Cynthia said as we walked out.
"What?"
"The whole, don't come back deal", she said.
"True, but imagine how many students probably walked out during events. She probab;y grew tired of it."
"I guess", she sighed, "so any plans right now?"
"None that I can think of."
"Okay, wanna grab-"
"Where are you going silly, we still have a pep rally to go to", Angela said grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the football field.
"I don't, but you do, you're the cheerleader remember", I clarified taking possession back of my arm.
"Yeah, I know, but dad doesn't want to make two rounds so he's going to pick us up after the pep rally", she said.
"Ugh fine, Cynthia wanna join us?"
"Hmm go home or sit in the sun and watch cheerleaders, I think I'm gonna head home", she responded.
"Alright", I laughed.
"Come on Jade we gotta go the football field", she said desperately pulling me.
"Ok, ok calm down I'm walking, I'm walking." I waved goodbye to Cynthia as Angela dragged me away. I took a seat at the top of the bleachers and waited for my darling stepsister to make her big debut. The cheerleaders came out, did a quick routine and Angela took the mic.
"Hey guys, we are your cheer leaders for this school year. How does everybody like the first day of school", she yelled into the microphone with every last bit of enthusiasm her little body had. Though I hated her, Angela really knew how to work up a crowd, she had the whole crowd cheering and screaming.
"And now let's welcome the football players! Woooo!"
The all came running out and chanting who-knows what. They lined up one after another and the football coach started to introduce them. One by one, the each took off their helmets offering the crowd a wave and a smile.
"Let's not forget our star player, the man whose going to lea us to victory, Mr. Freight-train himself, Damien Salvatore", the coach hollered at the top of his lungs. I called it.
Damien took off his helmet and the crowd went crazy, I swear I saw someone fling their bra at him. I stood up to get a better view of the forbidden eye candy. So cliche hottie was a football player, no, he was the football player. Our eyes locked on each other and he smiled at me.
"Not bad, hottie jock", I mouthed to him offering a measly slow cap and pathetic thumbs up. He obviously knew I was teasing so he nodded and gave me a half smile.
"Thank you", he mouthed back. I looked over at Angela who was no longer swooning over him, nope she was too busy shooting daggers at me. Her eyes said it all, "Stay away from him, he's mine." I rolled my eyes. Oh, cruel universe, must you play with my life, why me?
I grabbed my phone, faking a text message and looked away from both of them. Angela clearly didn't want me in the stand anymore so I left and decided to wait for her by the locker room. The pep rally didn't last much longer, but by the time it was I was so ready to go home and lay down. When we finally got home Kate was waiting for us in the kitchen.
"How was school", Kate asked as we entered the kitchen
"It was fine, Kate... I mean mom", I corrected myself. To be fair, Kate did say she was fine with not being called mom but dad insisted I call her by what she really was, and no it wasn't "Hilton Wannabe."
"For you maybe", Angela scoffed, "But for me, it was A-MA-ZING! OMG, mom today was awesome, the pep rally went great, I'm the lightest one so I'm a flyer and everyone wants to make me captain!"
"Congratulations, sweetie!"
"And I already know who I'm going to date", she said. "Oh no", is all I thought to myself.
"Really, who is it", Kate asked.
"Well, I don't know his name, but he's gorgeous and a football player. Quarterback actually."
"His name is Damien", I answered without thinking.
"How do you know him", Angela asked.
"I have him for like 3 classes", I shrugged then immediately leaving to my room before she could grill me about Damien. It didn't take long for Angela to waltz into my room, arms crossed, eyes once again shooting daggers and mouth pursed.
"Let's just get something straight, Damien is mine. He's a football player and I'm a cheerleader. We're meant to be, so don't even think about it", she spoke without hesitation.
"You need to calm down, I barely talk to him and when did I ever give the impression that I liked Damien or that he liked me. Now get out before I pick you up and do it myself." She scoffed but didn't say anything after. I looked at her and motioned her to do something but she just rolled her eyes and walked out. Man I hated her, but why would she think that me and Damien would end up together? Whatever, I shrugged it off and went to my bed and chilled until i heard dad come home. I headed downstairs to ask if he could sign the slip for leadership.
"I could have signed, I am your mother now", Kate said.
"Stepmother actually and you are not my legal parent or guardian", I said handing dad a pen.
"Well actually she is now the paperwork came through Kate has legally adopted you as her daughter and I have legally adopted Angela as mine", dad said with a huge grin on his face as he signed off on my paper.
"Awesome, I'm going back upstairs now," I said and headed back to my room and threw myself on my bed. I yelled into my pillow, guess there was no going back now. Kate was my mother and I had to deal with it. I sat up on my bed and stared out my window for a bit. I was thankful for my big room. It had come complete with a giant window that allowed me to see the sunset and the city light up at night. It was the only calming thing about this place. I glanced over at my phone and saw I had two unread texts. One to Cynthia and one from Damien. Now, Cynthia had my number because I had given it to her, but I had no idea how Damien had gotten it.
Cynthia: Hey, how was the pep rally
Me: Awesome, you should have been there!
Cynthia: I really hope you're being sarcastic. If you're not I'm never talking to you again
Me: Don't worry I am :-)
Cynthia: You better be, txt ya later :D
I was contemplating about whether or not to look at Damien's text since Angela had basically threatened to end my life. I mean what's the worst she could do? Open the text it is.
Damien: Hey :)
Me: When did u get my phone?
Damien: I took it during 7th period. u didn't seem like you were using it.
Me: Maybe, but u could've just asked
Damien: I would've except...i was what you call shy
Me: U, the guy who stood and waved at a giant crowd???
Damien: Yes, im human
Me: Well it isnt Silence of the Lambs creepy so i can let it slide
Damien: Silence of the wat???
Me: wow, I shall explain more at school
Damien: Ok well, until then...partner ;)
Me: K bye
"Partner" and a winky face, was he trying to roleplay as a sexy cowboy. It was late and I was tired so that text would have to be overanalyzed some other day. If Angela ever found out she'd kill me, good thing I didn't care.