Chapter 2

“So ladies, how was your day?” Elaine asked her daughters as the family was sitting down eating dinner.
“Well, my day was good,” Morgan spoke first, “I have a lot of new cute guys in my class and they already love me. Unfortunately, there are some new girls in my class too. I can tell I don’t like them already.”
“Why is that? Is it because they’re prettier than you?” Michelle teased.
“That’s really funny, Elle. Like someone could be prettier than me. No, they were jealous of me. I was talking to the guys and I think a couple of them were their boyfriends, but I didn’t care.”
“You better watch yourself. One day, you’re gonna mess with the wrong chick, and she’ll knock the mess out of you.”
“Yeah, right. I think I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah, ok, Jackie Chan. I’d like to see that happen for once. My day was pretty boring. None of the teachers gave any homework tonight.”
“Yeah, cause that’s really a bad thing.” Morgan sarcastically put in.
“Shut up, Morgan. Anyways, Mr. Rolle, the science teacher, said we’ll be going to an amusement park at the end of the year to learn about the physics coming from different rollercoasters. I’m pretty excited about that.”
“Maybe you should get a head start and go to an amusement park this weekend. We don’t want you getting another B this year, now do we?” her father added.
“Dad, it was one B. Sure, it wasn’t an A, but everyone else in the class did poorly.”
“Well, include yourself with the class because you did poorly alongside them. Having a B average is not acceptable. You could’ve done much better,” Ben boiled up.
“Dad, I was the only one with the best grade in that class. Besides, Morgan gets C’s all the time. Why is it that you never come down on her, but you never hesitate to always come down on me? No matter what I do or say, it will never be good enough for you,” Michelle abruptly stood up at the table, threw down her napkin, and walked off.
“Elaine, talk to your child.”
Elaine found her child outside angrily pacing back and forth on the porch. “Elle, I’m sorry that happened in there. I know it’s hard to believe, but your father does love you and he wants the best for you. He just shows it differently.”
“Mom, you and I know that’s bull crap. He can’t stand me, and the feeling is mutual. I can’t wait until I graduate and get away from this monstrous household. I’m taking a walk down the street, don’t wait up.”
Michelle stormed down the sidewalk. She had so many thoughts circling in her head like: “why does he hate me so much? He never gets on Morgan’s case. I can’t wait to leave this place.” The thoughts kept going and going, until she heard an elderly woman asking for help.
“Oh my, let me help you with that,” Michelle offered a hand to the older woman as she was carrying a boat load of groceries by herself into her suburban home. Once all the groceries were put away, the woman thanked Michelle and offered her a cup of tea and Michelle accepted. The woman explained that her grandson was visiting from Boston and she bought all those groceries to keep him occupied during his stay. Then she went into other stories about her family history and other things that Michelle didn’t care about, but didn’t want to be rude and leave the old woman alone by herself. So she decided to stay until the grandson came home. The old woman was just about to tell a story about the time she ran into pirates when she was interrupted by a Boston accent.
“Grandma, your door was unlocked. Do I need to get that fi…” he stopped mid-sentence when he saw Michelle sitting in the living room with his grandmother.
“Hi. I’m Michelle. I was walking and I saw your grandmother struggling with her groceries, so I helped her carry them in and put them away. I was just listening to her tell her stories.”
“Well, thank you, Michelle. My name is Mark,” he shook her hand, “that was very nice of you to do that for my grandmother. I’m usually home, but I had to go out for a second and get some things done.”
“It wasn’t a big deal. But I should get back home soon; it’s getting late and all. It was nice meeting the both of you.”
“Well, at least let me drive you back home,” Mark offered as he followed her to the door.
“That’s not necessary. I’m just around the corner, so I should be fine,” she continued down the street, “good night!”
It took Michelle three minutes to arrive back at her house after meeting her neighbors for the first time. It was already passed ten o’clock. She knew her parents were already in their room for the night. She didn’t feel like sleeping herself, so she decided to go into her sister’s room and tell her about her night.
“So details, girl. What did he look like?” Morgan asked sitting up in her bed after her sister told her about her productive night.
“He was about five feet eight inches, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and very muscular. He looked really good. He seemed very mysterious.”
“You got all of that from just a few minutes with him? Wow! He sounds very hot though. Did you give him your number or anything?”
“No way! I didn’t know the dude. I don’t just give out my info to complete strangers the way you do. I have more class than you in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Whatever. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to see him again before he leaves for good.”
“Yeah, and then I can send him your way. You’d be ok with that I’m sure,” Michelle responded with a fake smile.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I’m goin to bed now. Good night.” Michelle exited her sister’s room for the night and climbed into her own bed, but no matter how hard she tried to go to sleep, her thoughts continued to stray to that mystery guy, Mark.

Chapter 1

“What the heck are you doing in there? Why is it taking you forever in the bathroom, Morgan? Come on, let’s hurry it up!” Michelle Harper banged on the bathroom door that she and her younger sister shared. Today was the first day back to school, and Michelle’s day was already starting off rough-waiting for Morgan was always painful.
“Calm down, Elle. It’s not the end of the world if we don’t make it early enough to see your friends. You’ll have all year to see them,” Morgan Harper explained as she walked out of the bathroom brushing her shoulder length black hair. “It’s your senior year. Try to relax for once in your life.”
“Morgan, you know I can’t do that, even if my life depended on it. Now hurry up, I want to leave the house in ten minutes.” Michelle then went into the bathroom and began fixing herself up quickly. Unlike her sister, Michelle was the tomboy of the two. She didn’t care what she looked like or what other people thought of her. She did care about her grades, as well as, any other important matters that needed to be done. She was very cool to get along with. Everyone loved her. She was little Miss Perfect, and that caused a lot of tension between her and her sister.
Morgan was the prettier one of the two. She was the one that did take a long time to get ready. She cared what she looked like and everything had to be in its place. She wasn’t as easy to get along with like her sister. She was very judgmental towards other people, but for some reason all the boys loved her anyways and she loved the attention.
“Let’s go,” Michelle said as she came out of the bathroom putting her hair into her regular high ponytail making her way downstairs to greet her parents.
“Good morning, sweetheart. Are you ready for your first day back?” her mother, Elaine Harper, kissed her eldest child from behind the counter in the kitchen.
“Yeah, I’m ready for all of this to be over with already.”
“I can’t believe my baby is graduating this year. Can you, honey?”
“Let the year begin first, Elaine. You never know she could end up in the wrong crowd, fail everything and redo senior year.” Ben grumbled behind his newspaper. Ben Harper was very strict when it came to his oldest daughter. He never was the loving type towards Michelle. He criticized her for the simplest thing; if she received a B on midterms, he was the first one to bring her down. She tried and tried proving herself to Ben, but that didn’t get her anywhere. So, now she doesn’t even try.
“Don’t listen to your father, Elle. He’s really happy for you.”
“Yeah, he’s really happy for me,” Michelle responded sarcastically, “when Morgan comes down tell her that I’m in the car and she has two minutes or else I’m leaving.” She grabbed a granola bar and her backpack and headed out the door.
“Why do you act and say things like that to her? You know she tries her best, yet you just bring her down every time.”
“Elaine, I treat her no different than I treat Morgan. I love them both the same.”
“Good morning, guys.” Morgan exclaimed when she arrived in the kitchen.
“Good morning, Princess. Are you ready to start a new year?”
“Yes, Daddy, I’m so excited!”
“Morgan, your sister is in the car waiting for you. She said she would leave in two minutes. You know when your sister says something, she means it. Now have a good day and we’ll see you two when you come home.”
“Have a good day, Princess,” Ben hugged his youngest daughter before she headed out the door.
Elaine looked at her husband and questioned, “Treat them both the same, huh?”

“Ok, so remember we meet back at the car around 4:30 after school, which gives us almost an hour to hang out and talk to friends or whatever you usually do,” Michelle explained when she parked her car in the school’s parking lot.
“Ok, I got it, Elle. And remember to loosen up a little this year. Don’t take everything so serious. Now if you will excuse me, I see my friends. I’ll see ya later, Sis.”
“Hey, you,” a friendly male voice called out to Michelle.
“Charles! Hey, how’ve you been? How was Florida?” Charles was Michelle’s best guy friend. He was a year younger than her; he was in the same grade as her sister. He was the type where he was there for her when she needed him most. He always gave an encouraging word, but he was also brutally honest. He was like the brother she never had.
“It was amazing. Met a lot of hot girls, who still call me to see what I’m doing,” he pushed his black curly hair back out of his face attempting to look cool.
“Yeah, whatever. You know you were working in your grandfather’s factory with men all summer long.” The two friends laughed.
“You’re just jealous. Did you meet anyone special this summer?” he nudged her as they walked up to the school’s entrance.
“Sike! You know if I did, Morgan would’ve taken him already. You know she has a reputation for stealing guys that I’m into. Guys just love her. It makes me sick.”
“Well, just think once you finish your last year at this dump, you’ll go off to college and have all the guys you want.”
“Yeah, and don’t forget I’ll be away from my evil father. But this year, I’m going to try something different. I’m gonna actually loosen up a little and try not to be so tight on everything.”
“Oh, I like that idea, but we both know that won’t last long at all.”
“Ha. Ha. Shut up.” She lightly pushed him, “I’m not that bad.”
“Yeah, right, and I’m really black. Please, we both know what we just said is so far from the truth. Elle, you’re like a workaholic; you hardly take time for yourself,” he paused to let her think of what he just said, “This Friday, we’re going to the club. A friend of mines is having a random party and you and I are going, whether you want to or not.”
“Usually, I would say no, but because I am trying something different this year, I’m down for it.” The two friends did their signature hand shake on it. “Now, may I say something? Let’s go to class. The sooner this small Christian school starts the closer to freedom. I can’t wait to get away from this place.”