A rapid buzzing sound emitted from my alarm clock and woke me quite abruptly. My eyes fluttered open and I blinked a few times at the blurry red numbers on the clock as my eyes situated to the time. 6:57 it read. My eyes widened in horror. I was going to be late!
"Oh god!" I screamed as a rush of adrenaline and fear overcame my body. I jumped up from my desk causing a textbook to come crashing down on my toe. "AH!" I screeched as I hopped around holding my toe. "Fudge! God I hate everything!" I screamed trying to limp over to my bathroom. I angrily hopped into the shower and began to brush my teeth with enough force to break the toothbrush...this was definitely not going to be the best day. My teachers to decided band together to make my life even more miserable than usual and gave me a major project or essay in each of my classes. On top of that I also have midterms coming up and I hadn't even begun to study yet. Oh, and I can't forget my bridesmaid fitting that I have tonight for my brothers wedding with that a stone cold woman he called his fiancé. I had run out of chances to skip the dress fitting and the wedding was a mere two weeks away and if I didn't make it out of the house before 7:30, I wouldn't have a dress to wear in time. However, despite all of the things I have to do, I'm still here standing underneath a seemingly broken shower head with ice cold water pouring down on me and my broken toes. Suddenly my phone began to ring and I couldn't even roll my eyes hard enough. I stormed out quickly and struggled to keep my towel on as I answered the phone.
"Hello?" I asked in an annoyed tone.
"CHARLOTTE!" My best friend Bridgette exclaimed. "I'VE GOT TEA TO SPILL!"
I giggled. If there was anyone I could stand in the morning, it was Bridgette. "Ooh, girl! Spill!" I replied giddily as I slipped into a pair dark blue jeans and plain white sweater. She began to quickly drone on about a new mysterious boy she had recently met and was planning to take to my brother Stephen's wedding. "Look, I've got to go soon but I'm excited for you to ask him—what's his name again?"
"Derek." She replied. "He's Jackson's older brother."
I sighed. "I'm glad you're done with him. You deserved to move on from someone so horrible, you deserve the world and anything less is unacceptable." She fell silent for a few seconds. "Bridgette?" I asked. "You okay?"
"Thanks." She sniffled. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done but I'm glad I did because he would've destroyed me. I'm glad you helped me the entire way too."
"Of course, that's what best friends are for." I replied in understanding. "See you at school, okay? Love you sister!" I replied bidding my farewell.
"Love you to Charlie girl! See you soon!" She chirped before hanging up. I set my phone down and slipped into my black boots and grabbed my backpack and phone. I struggled a down the stairs as I held onto the several other things I needed to bring along with me today.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa kiddo!" My brother Stefan intruded from behind me. "You've got quite the load ther, let me help!"
"Ugh, thank you." I said as I handed him my purse and laptop. We walked into the kitchen and I dropped my backpack onto the floor and rolled my wet hair into a slick bun. "I want you to know that I'm considering dropping out. College isn't that appealing anymore."
Stefan laughed. "You should've dropped out in high school then. No point in working so hard to get such a good school to only drop out." He turned around and handed me a muffin. "Besides, if that's tough then imagine dealing with the real world."
"You say that whenever I complain about anything. The real world isn't all that tough you know."
"That's cause you're a kid Charlie."
"Um, I'm nineteen, I'm legally past the age it to takes to be considered an adult in this country." I looked at him up and down. "Besides, you think you're an adult because you wear a suit and tie but I know that underneath you're more of a kid than I am."
He raised a brow. "How so?"
"Your marvel socks can be seen underkneeth your slacks." I winked.
He looked down and chuckled. "So? I've earned my title as an adult. When you finish law school and have your own firm then you can call yourself an adult too."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "Where's my cereal?" I asked trying to search for it.
Stefan chuckled and handed me his travel mug full of piping hot black coffee. "Here, since you think you're such an adult then maybe it's time for a heart healthy grown up breakfast—" he grabbed my box of Lucky Charms from the cupboard behind him and poured himself a bowl and grinned ear to ear as he took a bite.
I shrugged. "Fine, I love coffee anyways." I took a deep breath and began to drink the coffee. "Delicious." I replied nearly gagging. "Love how there's no cream or sugar."
"I know, I love extra dark roast."
"Mmhmm." I smiled with a mouthful of bitter coffee. "Just how I like it."
I set the cup down and looked down at my watch. I groaned in annoyance. "Do I HAVE to go to this dress fitting today?"
Stefan sighed. "Yes, Charlotte. You have to."
I licked my lips. "But she hates me so much Stefan. I'm surprised she even wants me to be a bridesmaid."
He gave me a confused look. "What do you mean? She decided to make you her maid of honor."
My eyes widened. "What?!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm surprised she hasn't told you yet. She wanted to be able to spend more time with you for the next few weeks and make sure you were actually involved in the wedding."
I took a deep breath. This was for Stefan, one of the only other people besides my Dad in this world that I loved more than anything. "Okay. Just for you. Maybe it's my fault for not giving her a chance." I replied lying through my teeth. I had given her chances, multiple chances. She just did not like me. To her I was just another person in the way of her being able to grab ahold of the wealth that my family was lucky enough to suffice. She was the dictionary definition of a gold digger. In fact, my brother had first met her in high school but that was before my father had started his company and made a name for himself and therefore she hadn't paid him one ounce of attention. She actually told him straight up that she could never go to prom with a 'poor boy'. Well, the joke was on her, well not really considering she swooped him up the day after he was featured on Forbes magazine. Poor Stefan, he was smart as hell but not smart enough to see right through her. I tried my best to tell him my distain towards her but he wouldn't listen. I had stopped once I saw that he was genuinely happy with her. Why? I don't know. But, this was the happiest I had seen him for a long time and I wasn't going to let my opinion of her get in the way.
"Good." He replied. "And, uh, take one of mine or Dad's cars, okay?"
I raised a brow. "Why?"
"Well, it's a really nice area and well, Jenna doesn't really like your car and you have go with her and so it'll just be easier."
I closed my eyes and let out a long and annoyed sigh. "Why? We're not even going to be in the same car."
He held his hands up in defense. "Hey, I love your car! She just has a certain standard by which she lives her life and she'd prefer that you live up to it. And she said that if you're going to follow her there then she wants to make sure that if anyone shows up to take pictures that she isn't seen hanging out with you after coming out of your car."
I shook my head in annoyance. "It's just a car."
"Yeah, a car from 1891, which was like a million years ago!" I heard a shrill voice screech.
I turned around and saw Jenna as she strut into the kitchen with a fluffy fur coat and brand new Louis Vuittons.
"1984 actually." I corrected smiling at her spitefully. She smiled back with piercing eyes.
"Right..." She replied before going to kiss Stefan. I rolled my eyes as she tried to swallow him for the next two minutes.
"AHEM!" I said clearing my throat loudly. "Ready to go?"
"Yes! Bye baby!" She grinned maliciously before strutting out towards the front door.
"I still don't understand her logic but whatever." I said as I grabbed my things.
Stefan chuckled and followed me into the garage as I began to pile my things into the trunk of his car. I walked around to the front door where he stood in front of the drivers seat with the keys held in his hands. I crossed my arms in annoyance. "I'm a safe drive dude. I don't need you to give me a lesson!"
"This is my baby, Charlotte. This girl here, she is my world." He said melodramatically as he rubbed the sleek black car. "She races through those streets like silk--you will want to race this car I promise you but you better not. I expect her back with no scratches or--"
"Stefan, dude, it is not that deep!"
He rolled his eyes. "You're not a car enthusiast so you wouldn't understand." He said shaking his head. He handed me the keys and opened the door. I slid inside and gave him a quick kiss and hug goodbye.
"Peace out loser!" He yelled as I reversed out of the drive way. I shook my head laughing and waved him goodbye before I began to follow Jenna to the bridal shop for my god forsaken bridesmaid fitting.
****
Agony. The day had been pure AGONY. Well, that's a little dramatic. The bridesmaid fitting was definitely agony. The other bridesmaids had all of their dresses fixed and ready to go and took their sweet time to make snide passive aggressive remarks to me the entire time. I was glad to leave the wine drunk women after a miserable five hour fitting that almost caused me to miss one of my classes. However, the rest of the day wasn't too bad. I was able to turn in most of my work and get a good hours of studying in for my midterms but I had definitely overworked myself. It was nearing midnight as I left my school library and began the thirty minute drive home. I decided to take a quick shortcut to cut the drive about ten minutes shorter because I was so exhausted--unfortunately that would cost me more than I ever could have imagined.
For one, I'd never actually gone that route to go home and so I probably shouldn't have done it on a night that its dark and stormy and I've only had three hours of sleep from the night before. I was already exhausted and I was starving on-top of that, I'm sure I was on the verge of suffering from some sort of sleep deprivation caused delirium. Maybe that's why when I started to hear some loud howling I didn't think much of it. I mean, I lived near the city, what would wolves be doing so close to the city? Well, they could actually be doing a lot. For one, a thick brush of forest was on the outskirts of the city and so if wolves would reside anywhere, it would definitely be in this Forks wanna-be woods.
But, it was my mistake to not take into consideration how close the animal noises had been. I should've slowed down--hell I should've stopped for coffee before beginning to drive this way. But, due to my lack of better judgement, I didn't. That's why when a stray animal ran into the middle of the road I wasn't able to brake in enough time. I let out a blood curling scream as I was forced to swerve the car and slam into a tree. I heard the animal crush my windshield, causing it to splinter. The animal then rolled from the rear of my car and hit the ground with a thundering force, enough to shake my entire car. The car vibrated as it smashed through the barrier on the side of the road and my head bounced off the steering wheel repeatedly as I hit a tree. I screamed as a branch pierced through the front windshield and splattered piercing shards of glass all onto the dash and onto me. Before the pain could fully be processed by my body, I watched as the light began to disappear and I was soon left alone in black.