Chapter 1: Cameron
It was a Monday. The first day of high school.
I woke up to find two pitch black eyes staring at me. I groaned and rolled over.
“Just five more minutes?” I asked, my words muffled through the pillow. I already knew it was hopeless. Aliza was impossible to keep at bay when she was excited. And she was definitely excited.
“Nope. It’s the first day of school. How can you even sleep. I’m so excited.” No amount of first days seem to dull her excitement. I sit up on the bed, rub my eyes and glare at her. She smiled back at me, a look of triumph on her face.
She was beautiful, almost unnaturally so. Tall and slender, she had an angular rather than curvy body. With her high cheekbones and full lips paired with her pale face, she could easily be a supermodel. But, the most mesmerizing part of her was her eyes. Almond shaped and long lashed, they turned up towards the edges, barely missing her cheekbones. And the pitch black eyes just added to her allure. It drove guys mad. But he had never thought of her that way. To him, she had always been a best friend and nothing more.
“Cam, did you hear what I asked?” she asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“No?”
She sighed and started to repeat the question. “Have you picked out your outfit?”
“No”
“Of course you haven’t. But no worries, I already picked an outfit for you,” she said, a gleeful expression on her face.
Uh oh! “I think I’ll pass,” I said cautiously.
Her face fell
“But I would love to see it,” I amended quickly.
Her face lit back up. She rummaged through my closet and immediately returned with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans draped across her arm. The shirt has a picture of a kid with glasses and read I am a geek. I rolled my eyes. Most of clothes were courtesy of Aliza. I had a walk in closet just to accommodate all the clothes she buys for me.
I look back up at her, about to tell her that I wasn’t going to wear those when I froze.
The smile that had been on her face just moments ago had disappeared and was replaced by a sad pout. She was staring intently into my eyes, her eyes pleading. I should have known she would do this. That conniving little monster. Even knowing that she was playing me, I couldn’t resist her plea. She had won and she knew it.
“Fine,” I sighed. “Now, get out.”
She skipped happily downstairs, the smile returning to her face.
When I came down to the kitchen, Aliza scowled at the grey sweater I’d worn over the t-shirt but didn’t say anything. She was making cereal for the both of us when my dad came into the kitchen, looking sleepy as hell.
“Hey, Aliza,” he greeted her groggily.
“Hey, Uncle Patrick,” she replied in a chirpy voice as she started to fill another bowl with milk. “Dad sends his regards.”
“Does he really?” my dad asked, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Well, his exact words were, ‘Tell him to stop interfering in my work or he’s gonna regret it,’ but I thought it best to edit.”
My dad burst into laughter, almost spilling his cereal. “Well, he always has been a bit dramatic.”
“You have no idea,” Aliza and I said together, rolling our eyes.
“Jinx,” we said, still in sync. “Double jinx.”
Dad was looking at us like we had gone crazy.
“Teenagers,” he mutters under his breath, a smile playing on his face. Soon after, he finished his cereal and left for work.
After dad left, Aliza quickly snatched up the keys from the counter and far too casually said, “I’m driving.”
That’s when I fainted.
