"One of the most bittersweet moments is when you realize how much you are going to miss a moment while you are still living it."
Chapter 1- Scream Like a Banshee
AUBREY'S POV
"Thank you so much!" I said to the receptionist whom I've come to know is called Gloria, flashing her a grateful smile.
"Anytime, sweetie! Your first class according to your timetable is in Room 21. It's just down the hall. In case you face any problems, you can always ask someone. Have a good day." She replied, ushering me in the desired direction.
Before going to class, I hit the restrooms. Those took me a while to find but before long, I was running down the hallways towards my class.
My day began with my brother screaming at me to wake up. I smiled, shaking my head, recounting my morning.
"Wake up, Aubrey! Wake up!"
I got out of bed with a start. "What is wrong with you? Stop screaming." I groaned, running my hand through my tangled hair. I gave a weary look to my twin who was pacing around, his arms waving about as he spoke, conveying his already evident excitement.
"I hope you remember today is the day Rey. The day you have been waiting for all your life, the day you have been ranting on and on about and boring us for days. The day that ..." Austin droned on dramatically.
What day is it again? I checked my phone.
Today is Monday, the 3rd of the month and Monday means.....
Oh my god.
How could I possibly forget? Today is my first day of senior year at Islesbury High. I have been waiting for it since days! I couldn't wait to hit the books. I removed my covers and got out of bed. I wonder how can someone be excited on a Monday morning for school? Shouldn't I be getting the Monday morning blues? Is this normal?
Oh well. Who cares?
After 10 minutes I finally succeeded in kicking a seemingly sugar high Austin out of my room.
I smiled at my brother, who was standing besides me, frowning at his schedule.
Austin Jake Parkinson is my twin. It was scary how the less two of us looked alike. We were both tall. We had the same light brown hair, however that's were the similarities end. Austin looks like, what you would call your typical boy next door but with a hint of cockiness and a buckets loads of mischieviousness inside him. He had electric blue eyes like our mom.
Unlike me, Austin loves to create trouble, is a major drama queen, has a mouth that could put a sailor to shame and was quite popular at our previous school.
Me? I have been in the background since the day I stepped in through the doors of elementary school.
He also has made it his aim in life to make my life a living hell and keeps playing pranks on me.
But stories of his pranks are for some other time.
Despite everything, I really love him and I know that he loves me too.
"Okay now listen up." I said, snapping my fingers to get his attention.
He looked up expectantly.
"Are you gonna be hanging out with me or your own group friends?"
"Hmm." He hummed. "I think I wanna have my own group of friends. No offence."
"None taken."
"...unless you want to hang out with me?" He asked as an afterthought. "I am cool with it."
"Nope. I am good. See you after school?"
"See ya, sis." With that he waved goodbye and walked out of the doors.
I took a deep breath.
This is it.
New school. New start.
Senior year.
Wow I graduate in a year. Well, less than a year, which is even scarier.
The good kind of scary.
I must have been in there giving myself a pep talk for a good while cause when I stepped out, Austin was nowhere to be seen.
I started walking down the corridor, keeping my head down a little.
But then they were everywhere.
CRAP!
They were everywhere.
The students. Staring at the new girl.
Ugh. Why do they have to make the situation awkward?
Now I regret not taking Austin's offer. I would have had someone for moral support I guess both of them left to search for their class/locker.
Finally, after a minute of internal conflict with my stupid conscience, I stood up straighter and walked a teeny weeny bit more confidently than usual. Now that's a huge step from where I was before, ok? It's progress, and progress is always slow.
As I continued searching for my locker, I quickened my pace and jogged noticing that the hallway was emptying. I walked into class when I saw that the teacher wasn't there yet.
My first period was Math.
Imagine my excitement.
Math is my least favorite subject in the entire world for obvious reasons.
I glanced around the room, trying to figure out where to sit. I ignored the stares that I was getting, which really were unnerving.
"Ahem." I heard some cough from behind me and snickers went across the room.
I froze.
Crap.
I slowly turned around with an apologetic smile on my face.
"Good morning, Mr...." I squinted at the sign on the door. "Mr. Cunningham!"
"Why on Earth are you not seated?" He frowned, a look of pure irritation on his face.
Well someone got up from the wrong side of their bed.
"I am sorry, sir. I am new so I was..."
"Oh so you are new, huh? What makes you think that that gives you the right to disrespect me?" He sneered, crossing his arms.
"But sir, I...."
"I don't want to hear another word about it." He said abruptly. "Go and take a seat beside Miss Miller. Miss Miller, please raise your hand."
A beautiful curly haired brunette with a kind face raised her hand. She was slim and had an angelic face with a dainty nose, small mouth and blue eyes.
Quite the epitome of good looks I must say. She was sitting at the very back with an empty chair beside her.
I walked towards the empty seat and settled down.
"Now that Miss Parkinson has settled down, I want you all to turn to page no. 42......"
I did as he told and began concentrating on what was being taught.
So if 3zx + 2/3ay=13axz then 4xz .....
"Pst....." I heard someone say. I guessed it was for calling someone else I ignored it.
If we have 7xy+6/5az = 13y......
"Pst.....Aubrey right? Are you deaf?"
I turned to see the Miller girl looking amusedly at me.
"Can you please help me with this question? I don't understand a thing." She pleaded in her sing song voice.
"Sure." And then me being the amazing generous person I am, helped her.
When I saw through her problem I found out it was pretty easy so I quickly started explaining it to her.
"And so that is how we get the answer to be 0." I looked at her and saw her looking at me with awe.
"Are you a math maniac or something? I don't understand a word of this shit."
"I don't really like math but it's ok. You have to study it no matter what." I shrugged.
"By the way, my name's Kiara. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too. My name's.... oh never mind you know it anyways."
"Miss Parkinson. Miss Miller. I advise you to stop talking or else...." the bald man barked.
We quickly apologised but continued talking anyway.
"So, how has your experience here been so far?"
"Not much has happened, to be honest."
"Oh well, first days are not that eventful. Are you going to be attending the activity fair tomorrow?"
"Activity fair?" I asked, confused.
"It's exactly what it sounds like. It's so much fun. Basically..."
"Miss Miller! Miss Parkinson! Another word from the two of you and you will be seeing each other only in detention for the rest of this week!" Cunningham barked, causing both of us to wince.
We turned our attention back to the books.
"Cafeteria. Lunch with me and my friends?" Kiara whispered.
"Done." I whispered back, trying to keep the huge grin off of my face.
I couldn't believe it.
Someone had asked me to sit with them at lunch on my very first day! Doesn't that never happen to people?
Oh well.
I am just happy I won't have to awkwardly stare at everyone as they ate.
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I stepped out of class and sighed.
Lunch time. Finally.
I walked towards my locker and stashed my stuff in, relieved to put away the books for a while. I think I have had enough of Karl Marx and Microecon for the the time being.
I turned around to see that the crowd was moving in the same direction so I decided to do the same. They were all headed towards two gigantic red doors with word CAFETERIA written above in giant red block letters.
I walked in and was hit with the steely smell from the air conditioners, the delicious smell of pizza and the loud chattering of hungry teenagers.
I was a bit taken aback by the number of students. I was way too used to the quiet environments and little population of my old school. I got in the queue for food and pretty soon was squinting around the room, trying to spot Kiara.
I then saw her standing at the back of the very same line I had gotten off. I walked over to her and she spotted me before I could reach her.
She smiled and waved. "Hey! I didn't see you there." She then looked down at my plate. "I see you just got your food. Pro tip: I wouldn't eat the sandwich. It's just two slices of bread with cucumbers in the middle. Healthier than the pizza, but it really is a downer."
"Okay." I chuckled.
"Could you wait for just a couple of...oh no, you know what? I think this line is gonna take a while. Those are my friends over there. That's Tory waving her hands about in a crazed manner." She chuckled. "Why don't you go over and sit down? Introduce yourself?"
"Oh no, I think I..."
"Don't worry." She said, smiling kindly. "I already told them that you would be sitting with us at lunch. They are so excited to meet you!"
"But I..."
I stopped myself.
Remember Aubrey. New school. New you. Better you.
More confident you.
"Okay." I said, plastering a smile on my face. "That table right there, correct?" I said, sticking my thumb in the direction.
"Yep. I will see you in some time. Don't worry. They won't bite." She called as I walked away and I nervously chuckled.
I began to mentally form a plan of action.
Okay, so here is how things are gonna go.
You are gonna go up to them and they are gonna either recognize you or ask you who you are. You will tell them that you met Kiara and she asked you to sit with them and her at lunch. Don't be too awkward about it. Be yourself. Also, if possible, maybe seem a bit funny? Get them to like you? No. Trying to be funny would seem too desperate and pathetic. You know what. You should...
Suddenly, one of the girls stood up and waved their hands about in the air in a very enthusiastic manner. She turned around and started talking really fast to the first person she saw.
Guess who it was.
"Hey! You, yes you!" The girl said, crossing the arms. "What do you think is better? From-the-edge brownie or centre brownie?"
"Wh-what?" I stuttered, completely caught off guard.
"Well?" The girl said, her big brown eyes turning even bigger.
"From-the-edge brownie, of course." I said honestly.
The girl's mouth fell open as the rest of the table burst into chuckles.
"See? I told you. Everyone prefers from the edge brownies!" Another girl exclaimed. She had light green eyes and dark hair.
"You just ruined 15 minutes worth of fighting in centre brownies' favor." The girl in front of me gave me a playfully annoyed look.
"Yeah well. I can't help it. Centre brownies are too...moist." I answered.
Almost instantly, the silent girl and the girl in front of me visibly cringed as the other burst into laughter.
"Eugh. Don't use that word, please?" The quiet girl said, speaking up for the first time.
"What? Moist?" I said, smirking a little and the other two started laughing again.
The third girl's green eyes shone as she grinned at me,"I like you. You annoy Tory and you like from-the-edge brownies."
"Thanks, I guess." I chuckled.
"Hey why don't you sit with us? You seem pretty cool. A couple of other friends will be coming too!" She said and the other two nodded, smiling.
"Thanks!"
"Oh by the way, my name is Astrid." The green eyed girl said, tying her hair in a pony tail.
The girl who had stood up took a seat and put her hand forward and said,"Hey! My name is Taurielle but you can call me Tory!" I nodded and shook her hand.
"My name is Celeste. It's nice to meet you." The last one, who was quieter than the other two, said.
"It's so nice to meet you guys! My name is Aubrey and I..."
"Wait that means..." Tory chuckled. "You are the girl Kiara told was gonna join us at lunch!"
"Yeah." I grinned.
"Well this just means that all of us like you." Celeste smiled.
"Why don't you tell us something about yourself?" Astrid said, picking up her pizza and scrutinizing it.
I was just about to speak up when Kiara joined the table.
"So what's going on?" She said, looking at us expectantly. "What did I miss?"
"Oh I was just about to sort of introduce myself properly." I replied.
"Perfect timing for me."
With that, I launched into a full introduction. All of them listened so attentively, and I could see Celeste and Astrid trying to analyze me and my words. It worried me a little that they might not like me so when I was finished and they all smiled, I let go off an internal sigh of relief.
Kiara grinned. "Well, you seem pretty cool. I mean, you get our weird conversations and sense of humor so..." She chuckled. "I guess we should introduce ourselves."
"Aubrey, this is Taurielle Wilson, aka Tory." She said pointing to a brunette.
I noticed that she had a small face with dainty pink lips, doe shaped eyes that I'm sure no one could say no to and long eyelashes. But what grabbed my attention immediately about her was her silky brown hair, that fell in waved beautifully around her face, framing it perfectly.
She greeted me with a radiant smile."Hey Aubrey! It's very nice to meet you."
"Hey Taurielle." I said smiling.
Next, Kiara introduced me to the taller brunette standing next to Taurielle. She has really pretty green eyes, beautiful almost straight hair which were tied in a high ponytail, full pink lips and high cheekbones. She gave out an energetic, merry and adventurous vibe. She was dressed in shorts, converse and a nice shirt. She looked really pretty.
"Astrid, Aubrey. Aubrey, Astrid. Astrid over here loves to play soccer, likes to run marathons, eats like a freaking ogre...." She got a slap on head for that one.
"Ok, ok. I am sorry. She also might appear to have a tough exterior but underneath all those layers of boyish attitude and vigor lies a heart of pure gold." Kiara finished off.
"Well Aubrey. It's great to meet and you and I have a feeling we are going to be amazing friends." Astrid grinned and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.
I love her already.
"And this is our dear Celeste O' Connor."
Celeste was the shortest out of all of them. She wore a cute top, jeans and flats. She had dark hair, hypnotic blue eyes and a figure to die for.
"Hi Aubrey." She days shyly. They all seem like really nice girls. I hope they like me as much as I like them. Mom always said that friends are the only ones who help you survive school. Its a miracle that these girls actually want to me to be their friend, cause I am not the best at making friends.
I wave at her and then we make our way over to a lunch table in the far off corner. The cafeteria appeared to have a total of 20 tables and is quiet big. Students have the option to go out to the grounds and have lunch too. But since it's so hot out right now, most of us are inside.
We sit at the blue table and take out our food packets. Students have the option of cafeteria food, but never trust cafeteria food.
It's best if you bring your own.
I had brought sandwiches and the others had brought stuff like cookies, sandwiches, noodles, etc.
"So, Aubrey. Tell us something about yourself."
"Umm..where do I start. I am very bad at introductions." I mumble to myself. I really am. I really dont understand what you should say in an intro, and what not. So I just blurted it all out-
"Ok. So my full name is Aubrey Anne Parkinson.I...uh...like the color white, puppies and warm hugs." I said, chuckling nervously. "I guess...I uh...like to sing, dance..."
"Okay, okay. We will put you out of your misery." Tory chuckled. "You can stop now. It's all chill."
"Thanks." I smiled.
Lunch went pretty well. I kept quiet most of the time but found out that I meshed really well with these girls. They were really nice, although I couldn't gather much about them in the mere 30 minutes I spent with them. However, by the end, I could see that I could be great friends with them.
My last class of the day was P.E.
The girls locker room was filled with the smell of rubbery soles, perfume and sweat. I was greeted with loud, high pitched chatter and could hear a few girls singing along to a Taylor Swift song playing in the back. I clutched my bag closer to me and kept my head down as I walked to the nearest changing stall.
I changed into a pair of loose green shorts and a gray shirt and white sneakers. They allowed us to wear whatever we wanted as long as it was not slutty and did not make us trip over.
I stepped out into the gym, rubbing my arms nervously. Students were slowly entering the area, talking among themselves. I awkwardly stood in the middle, trying to look for a familiar face or the coach, anyone who I could talk to really.
Unfortunately, there was no one. So I moved towards the sides and stared at everyone like a creep.
A few minutes later, a middle aged man with a mess of dark hair, bored looking eyes and what looked a lot like a pot belly entered the gym, blowing his whistle as loudly as he could.
"Okay, you annoying no goods, listen up!" He yelled, his voice echoing. "Since I am too tired to stand and watch you guys fall over each other while running track and given that you all could clearly use some excitement in your sad little lives, how about we have a good old fashioned game of dodge-ball?"
This was greeted by some cheers and some groans.
I was happy as long as I didn't have to run track. I suck at running.
"Okay, who would like to be team captains?"
Instantly, two guys raised their arms, and the coach groaned. "Not you two again."
The rest of the class laughed.
"Okay. Come up here and pick your teams." He said, gesturing to them to come up.
A cheer went across the gym as the two boys went up. I stared at them. One of them was a smug looking blond and the other was a curly haired brunet with mischievous green eyes.
I don't know if I wanna be in either of their teams.
And then they began picking. I ended up in the brunet's team along with 8 others. The guy called us all over and then told us the game plan, which was just, to quote, "Kicking their asses."
Oh and we were to call ourselves "The Scrambled Legs".
I love the originality.
With that, we took our positions in the court and waited for the coach to blow his whistle.
Pheeeettt!
I rushed to grab a ball and ran a few steps back in and threw it at the nearest confused teenager. The balls caused her to fall back on her butt before I could think anything else, I saw a ball hurtling towards me from the corner of my eyes.
Instantly, I ducked and grabbed another ball and sent it rolling like a bowling ball towards an oblivious boy. Without checking to see if it him him, I grabbed another ball and backed away into my court.
Before throwing another ball, I kept an eye out for any other balls that might be coming my way. I almost got hit by a ball that was rolling towards me after knocking out someone from my team. I threw the ball in my hand towards the blond captain who unfortunately ducked and turned his attention on me.
I dodged his first throw by stepping to the side. I instantly picked up another ball and knocked out the player nearest to me. I stumbled over my own feet and thankfully avoided another one of his throws.
"You got this, new girl!" I heard someone yell. I turned to face the stands and there they were.
The rest of my teammates, including my captain. He was waving his hands and yelling,"Remember the game plan!"
I was the only one left.
And so was the blond captain.
I saw the guy run towards the ball nearest to him.
Oh crap. I am not even standing up right now.
So I grabbed the ball nearest to me and in my half up half down state, aimed at the guys legs. I threw the ball with all my might and oh my god it hit him.
Well, not in the legs, but somewhere higher and somewhere where it must have hurt him a whole lot more.
The blond dude shrieked out and the stands burst into cheers. Me? I lay with my head on the wooden floor, panting and staring at the ceiling which almost instantly became blocked by a dozen heads excitedly congratulating me on the win.
I was suddenly yanked up, making me feel a dizzy. I looked around confused.
"Hey! Great work." I focused my gaze on the curly haired captain, who had a wide grin on his face. "What's your name again?"
"Aubrey." I said, still slightly out of breath.
"Well, it was nice to meet you. I hope to see you around some time." He said, winking, and disappearing into the crowd.
He seemed like a nice guy. Really cute too.
A few more people came up to congratulate me. The coach, on the other hand, was still busy on his phone. I think he was playing Subway Surfers.
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"Oh god!!!" I moaned.
Before you get the wrong idea, let me explain.
I am just moaning out of the satisfaction of reaching home and lying down on my soft bed after a really exhausting day of school.
Still, it was fun. School is always fun when you have friends. I have each of the girls in one or the other class with me. I am actually liking Islesbury High.
Plus the fact that I helped win a game today really worked well for me.
I looked around my still messy room, and my eyes fell on a family photo, sitting on my table. As soon as we had moved here, the first thing I did was find a place to hang the family photograph.
I went over and picked it up. I sighed.
All of us were looking so happy in it. It was the last photo of all of us with Mom before she....well, died.
The photo was taken when we went to the beach for the first time together. Austin had his arm around me and so did Alex. Austin and me both had a few teeth missing and were looking at the camera, giving it a toothy smile. Dad's arms were wrapped around Mum's waist and he was looking at her with such heart warming love and adoration that it hurt me to see them. Mom on the other hand was looking straight at the camera, while laughing at something. He really loved her. I m sure he still does. He changed after she died, became more workaholic and spent less time with us.
Don't get me wrong, I love my dad. But I just wish that he would spend more time with us. It's been years since we last sat together in a table and ate Iike a normal family. I usually have dinner with Alex, Austin and Mary, our caretaker.
When Alex and Austin aren't home I usually have my books, the photos and the occasional bird to look at.
My life is seriously as exciting and happy as a dead rat.
"AUBREY, AUSTIN, ALEX!!" I heard Mary call out.
"Yeah?" We screamed back.
Our regular screaming makes up for the emptiness of the mansion.
"Dinner is served."
"Race you to the dining room losers." Austin called out before making a wild run for the stairs. Alex and me followed not far behind.
During dinner, we talked about our first day at school. Alex had spent his day getting some stuff for his dorm room. His college was located in a very remote area and didn't really have a lot of stores around.
Both me and Austin were pretty excited about the activity fair tomorrow. So many stalls were going to be put up and I couldn't wait to sign up for some clubs.
They would make school so much more fun and would of course help in my resume.
Dinner passed by pretty normally and I found myself getting excited to meet the girls.
It had been so long since I had a stable group of friends, given that we are constantly moving due to Dad's work.
But this time, we were here to stay. Atleast for a few years.
Hopefully this year is gonna be as exciting as I hope for it to be.
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Guys! Our very first chapter. The coming chapter will be much, much longer and we give you a 1000% guarantee that it gets better.
Lots of love!!
xoxo
Sky&Sava