Yoho! It's time for the first chapter!
Unedited Chapter.
Enjoy!
Arix
• Chapter One •
"Julie Ann Jones!"
I jumped awake, sitting up so fast I got dizzy. Seconds went by as I waited for my eyes to adjust to my surroundings. The first thing I saw was a fluffy thing at the edge of the bed. I blinked a couple times, confused. What was that?
"Julie!" Mom's voice was coming from downstairs.
"I'm awake!" I screamed back at her, my voice sounded rough and sleepy. My screaming seemed to wake the fluffy thing because it stirred its paws lazily. I narrowed my eyes at it. What the... I extended my hand to it and poked it. The thing stirred once again, showing its small face this time. It was a...
A-achoo!
I started sneezing uncontrollably. I jumped out of the bed, sneezing my ass off.
"Mom!" I yelled, entering the hallway "There's a cat on my bed!" I ran downstairs, getting as fast as I could to the kitchen. I was out of breath; My nose was itching so bad. Mom was getting something out of the oven. She glanced at me and smiled.
"That worked out pretty well," she sounded satisfied.
"Excuse me?" I was scratching my nose like crazy. My mother smirked at me "What's going on? Why is that thing-" I said referring to the cat "-on my bed? You do remember I'm allergic, right?"
"It's not a thing," she repeated the word apprehensively "its name is Wake-up-lazy-girl and I do remember all your allergies, sweetheart. I have a skilled memory."
"Then why-" everything finally clicked inside my head. Mouth hung opened in shock "You put it there to get me out of bed?" I asked, glaring at her. Mom smiled innocently at me and shrugged.
"It worked just fine,"
"That is so... obnoxious! And bad! And thoughtless! And unprofessional!" I could keep going but I had to sneeze again.
"You’ll be fine," she gave her back to me to get another tray out of the oven.
"Do I look fine to you?" I yelled at her, struggling not sneeze again "That thing is on my bed! I will sneeze to death!"
"You'll be fine." she repeated, placing the tray on the table "I will pick it up now." she took her cooking gloves off.
"You're a bad mother!" I screamed at her back.
"And you're a lazy child," she retorted, humming as she walked upstairs. I couldn't believe her. What kind of mother would do that to her child? She was a doctor. She knew better than anyone what an allergy could do to me. Coughing a little, I walked to the fridge. My reflection on the fridge door made me jump back. I looked pretty bad. My hair was in its usual morning glory. My eyes were watery and my nose as red as an apple. While other kids got sweet mothers who bring breakfast to their beds, I got a crazy mother who put a cat next to me knowing very well I’m allergic to them.
Very nice, Mom. You're so winning the best mother award this year.
I thought sarcastically.
I sat on the table, eating my breakfast. Mom came back, rubbing her hands with a cloth as she just washed her hands.
"It's in the backyard. You have nothing to worry about," she ruffled my hair. I gave her a killer look.
"We are not keeping it, right?" I sipped on my juice.
"No, it belongs to a patient. It's a little girl, she asked me to take care of it while they're running some tests on her. I'll take it back to the hospital later."
"And you decide to use it for your evil purposes, didn't you?" she looked guilty for a moment.
"It's been hard getting you out of bed this summer. It's past noon, that's not healthy." she explained. I opened my mouth to argue but closed it. She was right. I'd been staying up late every single night of this summer. I blamed it on my sexy arrogant boyfriend. I grinned like a fool at the thought of him.
Evan...
His mesmerizing dark eyes filled my mind. We hadn’t seen each other since the day we stayed at his house. That was two weeks ago. The distance between our towns was one of the reasons why and he was also taking a summer job so he didn’t have time to drive all the way here. I didn’t have a car so we were stuck for now. It sucked really. I was getting sadder every single day, I missed him. Of course, we talked everyday through wattpad, texts and calls but it was not enough anymore. Hopefully, we would be able to see each other this week-end. I let out a long sigh. Mom cleared her throat. I snapped back to reality, staring at my food.
"Eat it all," Mom ordered seriously "all." she repeated, kissing my forehead before walking out of the kitchen.
I was finishing my breakfast when the back door was thrown opened. I almost choked. Jason entered the kitchen, with a huge grin on his face.
"I have returned!" he said a pretended British accent. I gave him a flat look. When was he going to stop pretending the British accent? He sucked at it "Wow, you look so..." I glared at him "lovely," he finished, sitting across me.
"What are you doing here?" I wasn't in my greatest mood. He grasped an apple from the table bowl and took a bite.
"OW!" he whined when his teeth clashed against the fake apple. I chuckled "You could have told me it wasn't a real apple," I shrugged.
"Not my fault you're an idiot," he narrowed his eyes at me.
"You woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, I see." he ruffled his own hair and got on his feet to look for the real apples in the fridge "What happened to your face?"
"Oh, nothing," I started pinching my pancake with my fork "I just have such thoughtful mother that she decided to put a cat on my bed this morning even though I'm allergic," Jason burst out laughing. I gave him a killer look. He coughed.
"Your mother is hilarious," he nodded approvingly.
"Do you see me laughing?" I raised an eyebrow.
He let out a sigh, "Brighten up, witch. We have cool plans for today,"
"Plans?" I stood up, grasped my plate and proceed to wash it in the sink.
"Yeah, there is a reason for my presence this early around here," he explained "You sure knew I wouldn't have driven all the way here for nothing,"
"Right," I rolled my eyes.
"Get your lazy ass upstairs and put some decent clothes on. We're going out," was that excitement in his voice?
“Where are we going?” I was curious now.
“It’s a surprise,” he wiggled his eyebrows. I narrowed my eyes at him. Jason's surprises were not always pleasant. What was he up to? His grin widened.
"Stop grinning like that. It's scaring me," I commented, turning on my feet to go upstairs "I'll be back in ten,"
I was getting dress when my phone beeped. I picked it up and sat on the bed. It was a text from Evan.
<3 Evan <3
Afternoon, peachy girl ;)
I smiled like a fool. God, I loved this boy. I started typing a reply.
Me: Afternoon, dark poet :(
Him: Why the sad face?
Me: Mom put a cat on my bed to get me up.
Him: Haha it worked, I see.
Me: Don't laugh! I could have died!
Him: You're so dramatic, Jules.
Me: -.- it's true. Anyway, what are you doing?
Him: I'm at work. You?
Me: Getting dressed.
Him: You're going out?
Me: Yeah, Jason's over. Apparently, he has a surprise for me.
Him: Hmmm I see. Behave.
I narrowed my eyes at his text.
Me: I always behave.
Him: ;)
"Jules!" Jason's scream came for downstairs "Are you sewing your clothes?! You said ten minutes!" I let out a sigh, putting my shoes on.
Me: Gotta go :( I'll text you later.
Him: Okay.
Me: Have a nice day at work :) <3
Him: I will and Jules...
Me: Yeah?
Him: I miss you.
My stomach fluttered.
Me: Me too, silly dark poet.
Him: ;) I think you meant SEXY dark poet.
I chuckled.
Me: Yeah, that too :)
I got on my feet, pushing my phone inside my jeans' pocket. Jason was waiting for me at the end of the stairs. He complained about me taking so long but my mind was somewhere else. I told Mom I was going out with Jason and then walked out of the door. It was really sunny outside. The weather was pretty hot. I was thankful I have decided to wear a sleeveless summer dress. My brown hair was in a simple ponytail, it was too hot outside to let my hair loose. Jason didn't seem to mind the weather because he was wearing a dark t-shirt with some jacket on.
"You do realize it's hot today, right?" I commented, getting on his car. He started the engine.
"And you do remember there's a thing called air conditioner?" He pushed some buttons to turn the car's AC on.
"So you're not planning to get out of the car today?" I raised an eyebrow. Jason seemed to be thinking about it.
"Maybe, maybe not," he shrugged, driving off my house. I was about to turn on the radio when he spoke, "I need to talk to you," It was a whisper. I barely caught it. I looked at him. His expression was pretty obvious. I'd always been able to read him; he was my best friend after all. He looked nervous, like worried about something.
"What is it?" I finally asked as we reached the main street to our town. He took his time. I knew him well. It wasn't good to press him to say something so I patiently waited for him to speak.
"It's Lau," he spoke softly.
I frowned, "What about her?"
"She..." he trailed off "I just, I don't know, Jules," he grasped the wheel with force.
My frown grew bigger "What are you talking about?"
He ran one hand through his hair as he drove with the other "Please don't freak out, okay?"
"Okay, you're officially scaring me," I turned my body towards his. He kept his eyes on the road.
"I think..." he scratched the back of his head.
"Spill it out already, Jason," I said impatiently.
"I think I like her or something," my eyes widened. My jaw almost touched the car's carpeted floor.
"What?!"
"I'm not going to repeat it," he muttered embarrassingly. To say I was shocked was a understatement.
"What-How-you-" I couldn't form a coherent sentence. I closed my mouth, trying to compose myself. Jason glanced at me worriedly. I knew he was scared of my reaction "Okay," I let out a deep breath.
"Okay?" Jason furrowed his eyebrows "That's all? You're not going to punch me or give me a lecture?"
"Would that help?"
He smiled sadly "No,"
"So no need to waste our time then," I continued "Since when?"
"Huh?"
"Since when do you... you know feel this way?"
"I don't know. She and I have always teased each other. I thought it was just a game for both of us until..."
I stared at him interested, "Until what?"
"Until I found out she started dating Jordan. I was angry at her all the time and I didn't know why,"
"You were jealous," I affirmed following his chains of thoughts.
"Yeah,"
I stayed in silence for a while. Okay, this complicated things a lot. Laura was my best friend, and she had a boyfriend. Jason was also my best friend and he had a girlfriend. Jason liking Laura was just an invitation to a messy group drama since we were all friends.
"What are you going to do?" I had to ask.
"Nothing," he sighed, "I really have feelings for Helen. And I know Lau is crazy about Jordan. I won't ruin that," for the first time since we were kids, Jason was actually acting like a mature guy "I'll just take some distance from Lau until I stop feeling like this around her,"
"That's not going to be easy. We're all practically together every day,"
"I know. Sorry for including you in my mess. I know she's your friend and this must be awkward for you," he said, parking in front of Lau's house.
"You're my friend, too, silly" I punched his shoulder "You can always trust me," I smiled at him. He looked at me and returned the smile.
"I know," he leaned over and kissed my forehead. When he leans back, he looked relief as he had gotten something off his chest.
"Hey, guys!" Lau said jumping in the back seat. She looked radiant. She was wearing a blue summer dress. Her hair was braided at the sides of her face "God! The heat is unbearable!" she whined putting her sunglasses on. Jason glanced at her through his review mirror, a glint of longing appearing in his eyes. I watched him pitifully until he lowered his gaze and shook his head "Are you guys mute or what?"
No, we were just talking about you.
Lau came closer to us by leaning into the space between our seats.
"What's up?" I blurted out unnaturally. Anything to break the uncomfortable silence. Jason drove off in silence.
"What's wrong, Jay-Jay?" she teased, touching his shoulder. Jason shook her hand off "Whoa, easy there,"
"He's just hungry," I excused him, getting her attention. Lau shrugged.
"Anyway, are you ready for an awesome day?" she asked me, grinning like a fool.
"Where are we going?"
"See it for yourself!" she exclaimed excitedly, pointing ahead of us. I saw the big sign on the beginning of the road. It said: River-town: 25 Km.
"We're going to River-town?" my heart wanted to burst out in joy.
"Yeah! Surprise!" Lau shouted, smiling at me.
We were going to my boyfriend's town. I was going to see Evan! The dragons in my stomach growled in anticipation.
I couldn't wait!
x G U X
A/N:
Hey, guys. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter :D
Jason likes Lau :O Shocker, isn't it? Anyway, I know you miss Sexy Evan, Arrogant Shane and Crazy Jordan but you shall read about them soon. Be patient. I missed your awesome comments, they always make my day.
P.S My skin is peeling off because I went to the beach and apparently I was too much time under the sun. It wasn't my brightest move, gotta admit that.
Love and yellow tomatoes,
Arix out!