Chapter One

Slamming my hand onto my alarm for about the sixth time this morning, I finally lifted my body off of my extremely comfy bed. It seemed dramatic, but I felt like I was losing a friend when my skin was no longer touching the soft sheets.

Unfortunately, It was the first day back at school and being a senior, I still didn't think I could ever get used to getting up at six thirty in the morning. I felt genuine pain when I would hear my alarm.

Seeing as the word 'snooze' was hit one too many times, it was now twenty minutes past seven, which didn't give me much time to get ready.

"Gabby, James gets here in twenty minutes, so get up!" Kylie shouted harshly as she pushed the door open to my room. I smiled sarcastically at her before getting to my feet and walking to the bathroom.

Kylie was my fifteen-year-old sister, and she annoyed me more than most things in life. As a child, I was thrilled at the prospect of a new little sister. That was until I heard the first ear-splitting scream from the cot in the hospital room.

Ever since then, its all been downhill.

However, on odd occasions, she can be kind to me, but it was very rare and happened maybe once every year. " I know," I huffed out as I locked the bathroom door and stepped into the shower.

As soon as the warm water hit my head, I was automatically relaxed again. If I had a choice, I would spend my days alternating between my bed and the shower.

Despite not having long until our lift was here, I took a longer shower than necessary, making sure I washed my hair and body, whilst also trying to fully wake myself up. However, it was easier said than done.

As soon as I climbed out, I dried myself and picked out some blue jeans and a white t-shirt to go with them. My wardrobe wasn't exactly very interesting, but it was filled with my comfiest clothes, and that's all I needed.

Dragging a towel through my hair, I left it natural, not having enough time to do anything remotely nice with it. My hair was a dark brown colour and fell comfortably below my chest, and like most people in my family, it was thick and wavy, with some curls falling at odd places.

I applied a small amount of make up and put the necessary books into my school bag. Surprisingly the shower, the hair, the make up and books only took fifteen minutes, leaving me time to eat breakfast. "Breakfast is ready!" As if on cue, my mother called us from the bottom of the stairs.

Running down to the kitchen, I sat down on one of the kitchen seats and threw on a denim jacket hanging off the back of it. "You excited to start work today?" I asked mom, smelling pure heaven when she placed a plate of pancakes in front of us.

"Of course," she smiled with pearly white teeth and began digging into the pancakes in front of her, "I checked out the hospital the other day and I love it," I smiled back at her, seeing her happy made me happy and that's all that mattered to me

My mother had recently quit her outstanding job as soon as she graduated with a nursing degree from an open college. It was beyond me how she managed to work full time, yet study for her degree at the same time.

She had wanted to be a nurse all her life but she always settled into an office job. Her and my father fell in love at a young age, so she threw away the prospect of college, for him.

Her hair was a dark brown colour like Kylie's and mine, but it was shorter, falling just above her shoulders. People always say that I have my mom's looks but I always feel myself mentally disagreeing with them.

My mom was beautiful, and I just didn't see myself as looking anything like her.

Nobody could ever tell me that I looked like my father, seeing as he wasn't around for anyone to compare. My father was a difficult man to describe. The last I remember of him was his rugged beard and his angered face as he slammed the door on my mother and I.

That was the earliest memory of my life. Barely three years old, and it was of my father walking out on us. Mom was pregnant with Kylie at the time, leaving only Mom and I to remember his subtle yet defined features.

The story is that he found someone else. As if he could've found someone better than my mother. He went with her because he was 'bored', as my mother would kindly put it. However, at only three, it was hard for me to remember what my father was actually like as a person.

My mother never got round to disclose that part about him.

After finishing the breakfast in front of me, I mumbled a quick thank you to mom and ran up to brush my teeth. It was already twenty to eight, meaning that James' car would probably be waiting outside, his car rumbling and his patience running out, like every morning he would pick us up for school.

Running back downstairs, I noticed Kylie had already left the house. Grimacing at the fact that she left me, I grabbed my bag and an orange juice that mom had conveniently left on the counter.

"Have fun at work," I said as mom smiled back and kissed me on the cheek.

I walked out of the house, still holding onto the orange juice I was given. Of course, on the day that I wore jeans and a denim jacket, the California sun would be blazing down onto my head. Kylie was already sitting in the car, staring at her phone, like usual.

James smiled in annoyance as I climbed into the car and gave him my best guilty smile. "Morning," I called; looking into his eyes, knowing that he wasn't happy I was late. Being a good girlfriend, I leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

He soon smiled at the trace I had left on his skin. I knew he would forgive me for me waking up late, again. James and I had been together for a full two years, so he was already used to my 'sleeping in' habits, and the ways I could make him forgive me.

Every time I would look at him, I thanked my lucky stars that I finally revealed my ever-expanding crush on him in sophomore year, otherwise id probably be getting into a completely different car. I messed up his dirty blonde hair as he accelerated down the street.

"I can't believe we were seniors," James mentioned, looking over at me and smiling. "And you're a freshman," he said, looking at Kylie through the rear-view mirror. She gave him a quick, half-hearted smile before looking back down at her phone again.

I wasn't sure why, but Kylie had never been a big fan of James. He seemed to always try his hardest with her, but she was like a brick wall. I rolled my eyes at her reaction before looking back at him.

"How was your summer then, Kylie?" James asked her, attempting to get something more out of her than just a facial expression. She looked up to him with an unreadable expression.

"Well, I had a great summer," she began to say, " but, I didn't see you much since you spent most of it in my sisters bed," I coughed loudly and glared back at her, however, that still couldn't help the small smile and blush that was appearing on my face,

James let out a small laugh from beside me, attempting to act like she was being sociable with him.

When we arrived at school, we still had fifteen minutes until first bell, so we waved to Kylie as she ran over to some other girls, and James and I walked hand in hand to our lockers, which were evidently next to each other.

"Incoming," James called, but I didn't have time to react before two arms crashed down and wrapped around my torso. Flora.

Flora King was, unmistakably, one of my favourite people in the world. We had been best friends since third grade, along with James. All three of us were inseparable ever since we all ended up in a ten-minute detention together, all for different reasons.