Ok so this isn't really based on this story, it's more inspired by it but nonetheless i hope you enjoy! Note: I switch viewpoints to another character in Chapter 2.
Vada Preston approached the route #31 bus stop outside of her house on a typical overcast September morning with low expectations. She did this to, for what seemed rational in her vastly complex mind; avoid further emotional turmoil than she had already received.
She did not expect the upperclassman to be nice or administration to be helpful, she did not expect the boy she befriended through a prank call (and lost contact with last year) to remember her, and she didn't even expect her old friends to wave at her in the halls. It was all about starting over. Starting new. Moving on from the haunting memories of last year and making new friends, focusing on new classes, and creating a new life. No nostalgia would hold her back from her ambitions, and most importantly, her social life.
To her surprise, everything turned out to be the total opposite of what she expected that typical overcast September morning. Though this elated her at first, she would come to find that not all of these findings may have been something to jump up and down with joy about. The problem, however, was figuring out which one.
For over eight years now, Pine Hill High School has been rewarded as one of Oregon's most noteworthy schools. It has been rewarded the Oregonian Cup three times in a row, and has the lowest narcotic rate in the county. These positive aspects, however, have been overlooked due to a multitude of frivolous rumors started by the jealousy of the competing high school on the opposite side of town.
Tree Valley High School was the name, otherwise known as Pee Alley or Trash Valley, common nicknames given (as is tradition) by former students and carried on from generations ago when first built. Tree Valley did not speculate the academic achievements of this institution, nor the low drug rate, or even the astounding record-setting accomplishments (from a national basis) set by the track team. They only saw what they wanted to see. It was new. Untouched. A threat. Little did they know their ignorance would cause them to forget one very important universal rule: what goes around comes around. Not only would the school itself suffer, but a select group of students as well. This story in full is uncommon, but the very details happen to everyone, everyday, everywhere. This is life. This is fact. This is human nature.
"Vada! I missed you!" Jane squealed as she hopped up to Vada and gave her a tight squeeze, much to her surprise. Barely two minutes in her new high school had gone by and already she was surrounded by old friends from last year, something she had prepared herself to avoid. Jane hugged her as if she hadn't seen her in years instead of only two short months.
"Missed you too, Jane" is all she could say. She honestly wasn't expecting such an enthusiastic greeting. After she stopped hanging around with Jane sometime in mid-June, she was positive that she would forget all about her, and the close bind of friendship that had connected them. Then again, it was always hard to tell with Jane. She was a complicated person, with complicated thinking patterns. So she was wrong.
"Oh well" she thought. "So it didn't go according to plan. At least I don't have to go through the trouble of making new friends…again."
Barely two seconds had gone by until she had noticed her lanky, drooling, crooked-toothed boyfriend gaping beside her with a glazed look in his eye. He looked like a bumbling imbecile, Vada thought, awkwardly standing beside her, practically leaning on her, with the most foolish grin on his face she'd ever seen. Part of the reason she had discontinued her…association with Jane over the summer was because of him. Despite continuous warnings about him, that he only dated her because he was lonely and desperate for arm-candy; point-outs on how he constantly followed them around (even when asked to leave, courtesy of Vada), and that, most importantly, he was a loser.
"You could do so much better Jane, and deep down you know that too!"
"But…he's so nice. And he loves me, and pays attention to me and-you've seen the way he's held me. It's so sweet, and I think I love him too…"
"No you don't" Vada sighed, slowly draining of patience. "I know you better than you know yourself, and you don't love him. You just want to believe that you love him, because you want so badly to fill that empty hole inside of you. Falling in love is not the answer, because you can't really love someone until you've filled that empty hole yourself."
"But-I care about him. I-I can't just…just hurt him like that" she stumbled over her words in an overly-innocent tone, as if she believed the extra enunciation would achieve in making her point.
"Trust me. Dump the loser. He's not worth the heartache."
"You…you can't make me do what I don't want to do!" she screamed weakly. Vada let out an exasperated sigh.
"You're right; I can't force you into this. You're too damn stubborn. Believe me though, by freshman year you'll be choking on your words. I'm leaving now."
"No, don't' go. Just because you can't get me to dump my boyfriend doesn't mean you have to leave!" she pleaded halfheartedly.
"It has everything to do with that. I know he's coming over later, and I also know that you're going to make me hide him from your sister again! I can't keep going against my integrity for someone I despise! Now goodbye!" With that last statement and an augment of rage, Vada Preston stormed out of the little house on Grate Street. "Pure waste of my time. A lost god damn cause. Stubborn-ass bitch! She'll regret this sooner or later, and come crying back to me" she muttered in a low, contemptuous growl.
Like always, she added in her mind. This is exactly like the other times. Her nine other mistakes. A god damn pattern that's never going to change. She's never going to learn, there's no way I can stop this. I just have to sit back, and watch her world crumble.
Jane didn't run after her, predictably. She stood at her window, gazing sadly out at her best friend as she departed in a rage. Less than a moment later she shrugged it off, turned away from the window, and continued her previously abandoned chores. Without a second thought.
"What an insipid loser" Vada mused, fixing her gape on the way he limply wrapped his noodle arms around her waist. At this point, Vada considered vomiting. Even physically, she felt a peculiar churning in her stomach. This was, of course, only due to psychological persuasion, but nonetheless, she was truly repulsed. "Please go away, please go away" she internally chanted to herself, hoping if it would actually take place if she thought it enough.
"Uh hello? Vada? You there?" Jane waved her pale hand in front of the vapid expression on Vada's face several times before capturing her attention.
"Huh? Oh, uh…"
"You forgot what we were talking about, didn't you?"
"Well…yes." It was common for Vada to lose her though in the middle of a conversation, even a sentence, but no matter the frequency, Jane never failed to become equally as frustrated as the time before. Vada has always been bewildered as to why she hasn't gotten used to it after two years, since everyone else has adjusted just fine. This thought she abandoned as well, due to her short attention span.
"My god, I swear, sometimes you are the dumbest person the planet!"
"An obvious and, highly inaccurate hyperbole," Vada reasoned, "considering my 4.0 GPA."
"Well just forget it, I forgive you. So let's check out our new classes! I'm not getting lost this time…"
"Ok sure, but does he have to come?" she sighed, pointing at whom she believed to be a mindless idiot.
"He has a name Vada" she retorted, grabbing tighter, as if to squeeze out the remainder of his pigment.
"Oh, right, sorry. I have a hard time remembering since she's had about nine more of you in the last three years. So what was it again?" Though her motive was to seem facetious, she had truthfully forgotten his name as well.
Stay tuned for Chapter 2...Okay so tell me how you liked it1! Constructive feedback would be loved even if if negative! I wanna know!