Here's the first chapter of Keeps Gettin' Better! I hope you all like it. This character's name is Lea. This story will have three sequels, and this one takes place during Jak II, since that was the game when Jak started talking.
Genres: Action, crime, adventure, romance, and drama
Rating: T for blood, language, and violence
Pairings: Torn/You, Jak/You, Jak/Ashelin
Summary:
Your POV:
You groan as your alarm goes off. It's Monday. You hate Mondays. That means school and you can't sleep in and you have to work and take tests you didn't study for and make up excuses as to why you didn't do your project that was assigned a month ago-and it's going to be ugh. Oh well. It's all just civics class, and it's not like you need the credits. You put in enough effort the previous years to get more than enough to graduate, and then you know exactly what you're going to do with your life-you're going to become a video game tester and start your own shop. No college, why bother? You once thought about designing video games, but that's too much effort. However, you might get off your lazy ass and take a few business classes.
You slam your hand on the snooze button and get fifteen more minutes of sleep before it goes off again. You roll out of bed, and dress in your usual t-shirt and jeans. You slip into your converse, and grab your phone and PSP and toss them into your messenger bag before beginning the walk to school. You would just take the bus, but you live too close to the school and you have to live at least two miles away from it to being able to ride on the bus.
You slid open your phone, and go to "Favorites". You're looking for somebody to talk to. You scroll down and you see Arianna's name. She's your cousin, and she lives in the next town over. You select her number and wait for her to answer.
"We're sorry. The number you've called is no longer in service."
Hm. That's weird; maybe she changed her number or something. After that controlling jackass boyfriend she had, you wouldn't be surprised. You try her sister, Cerlie.
"Hey, I'm not here right now. If you leave a message-and I think you're important enough-I'll call you back."
That's just like Cerlie to be so rude about it; she didn't even say goodbye. You left a message, and you'll call her back later. She must either be playing a game or just not in the mood to talk. Cerlie is a lot more antisocial than Arianna is.
You put your phone away and walk into school, dealing with Civics class and then sleeping through all of the study halls you selected. You're in your last one, where the teacher doesn't let you talk, so you're sketching doodles in your Civics notebook. After a few minutes of peace, it's rudely interrupted by Kristen. She's talking rather obnoxiously loud to her friend that wears too much eyeliner. They're gossiping about you.
The teacher, Mrs. Myrtle, snaps at them. "Be quiet, students are trying to work."
Kristen rolls her eyes and says, "No, we're talking."
It continues like that, back and forth, and ends with Kristen getting two days of detention. That's so typical; Kristen has no respect for authority or rules, and never does what she's told. She's entirely self-absorbed, and does nothing except drive you (and all of her poor teachers) up the wall. It's no wonder her mother kicked her out. To think you're almost the same age; she's 18, and you're 19 (you got left back in 6th grade), yet you still act a lot more mature than she does.
You haven't been able to stand each other since you've known each other, and you met way back in middle school. You locked eyes for just a moment, and you both said to yourselves, "I'm going to fucking hate this bitch." And that's how it's been for all of your lives. It's been about 10 years now, and 10 years too long.
After that final bell, you make that last trip to your locker, and begin your walk home. It's like this every day; never changing, always the same.
You pull your phone out of your bag and call your friend, Danny. "Hey Danny,"
"Hey Lea. Got a question: you gonna watch the meteor shower tonight?"
That's been the talk of the town recently. You live in a rural, country-place. Still plenty of shops, but still more trees. You live on the opposite end of Main Street; there's the library, the bookshop, the candy store, the gas station, and the bakery and a Subway. You like living here, but a change of pace would be nice. That's why the meteor shower is so big. Nothing exciting like that ever happens around here.
You grin. "Hell yeah! I've been waiting for this forever! I even got off my lazy ass and marked it on my calendar."
"Awesome. Make sure you come over to my place; I got plenty of good stuff here."
You laugh. "Dude, you are such a stoner. But Danny, I can't go home smelling like marijuana."
"Why? Your mom gonna beat your ass?"
"Hell yeah, she would. Remember that time I played a joke on her and told her I was pregnant?"
"Oh yeah. The whole town heard her screaming."
You wouldn't be surprised if people three towns over heard her screaming that she was beyond pissed and disappointed. She looked like she was damn close to having a heart attack or going into cardiac arrest, and that's when you vowed to never play a joke like that on her again.
"Right. Anyway, I gotta get ready for tonight man; I'll talk to you later."
"See ya."
You snap your phone closed, and get into the door. Your mom's not home from work yet. It's just you and your mom. You never knew who your father was. It kinda made you jealous of Arianna and Cerlie, who came from happy and complete homes.
Your mom told you your dad was a soldier who fought in the war overseas, and that he died in battle. Every year on his birthday (June 16th), she pulls out the blue box that has his letters and she…cries. She just stays in her room all day until she finally cries herself to sleep. You've tried to comfort her, but she locks the door and doesn't even respond to you. Over the years, you've learned to simply leave her alone in her grief. That day is so much harder on her that it is on you.
You immediately start playing Jak and Daxter. You haven't looked at the other games yet (because you don't want spoilers) and your mom hasn't had the money to buy them. You were thinking about trading in some of your games that you don't play anymore like Final Fantasy X and just getting the Jak and Daxter HD Collection. First three games for 40 dollars. It'd so be worth it. You really want Jak II, because you read that he actually talks. You just don't understand the purpose of not making the main character talk. Really, what's the point of that?
You pause your game and log onto your cheap and old laptop; at least you still have internet and Yahoo chat on it. You wait for Amy's signal to show she's online.
Amy has been your best friend-your BFFL-since you guys were in kindergarten. You both moved here at the same time, and since you had no friends, you almost immediately bonded. You did everything together from that point on-homework, projects, summer reading, first jobs (you even worked at the same place), learned how to drive together-and you spent the night at each other's houses all of the time, sometimes even during weeknights when you mother has to work late.
You're more than a little protective of her-Amy is so sweet, naïve, and innocent, anyone and everyone would take advantage of her-and you're the reason why she's never had a boyfriend. All of the guys are too scared of you-the same reason why you've never been approached. You only chuckle at the thought and pick at the little Gir BFF necklace. You've got the half that says "Friend". It's a little head of a silly Gir with "FRIEND" written under him. Amy's got the other half that says "BEST" because she's the best.
In a minute, she logs off and you two chat about each other's day-which you already know most of, because you have almost all of your classes together except your last study hall-before you sign off and say you'll meet her at Danny's party.
YES, finally! First chapter is DONE! I just realize what a short week I'm gonna have. I got Friday off, and a field trip this Thursday. 3 I seriously did skip last Friday, and I'm glad I did. I'm in for a rough week (cannot wait 'til spring-and then summer-break).
See you soon!
~Mimi