Chapter 1:
Have you ever had that special something that if you lost it, it would break your heart into a million pieces? Well, I know exactly what that feeling feels like. In life people like to take things for granted and it's true. I should know firsthand what it is like because I was one of those people. You know that saying when you take things for granted, those things eventually get taken away? That's also true. I always thought that because my family was rich and I could get anything I wanted, that I didn't have to worry about anything bad happening in my life. Well I learned fast that that wasn't going to happen.
My parents were always high school sweethearts, staying with each other through collage. They were happy together, and that's all I could ask of my parents; to keep our family together. I didn't want to be like those other kids who only had one parent or their parents were divorced. My mom was a musician, but when she settled down and got married, she became the ultimate track mom. She has long brown hair that always seemed to shine, and I always thought that she couldn't get any more beautiful. My dad was her perfect consort. He was the star football player in high school and got a scholarship into collage. When I was in middle school, many of my teachers would ask me if I was related to the great Gabriel Masters.
Then there was me- Jailyn Masters. I was gifted with my mom's brown hair, while I have my dad's bright green eyes. I inherited my mom's love for music and my dad's love for sports. Every Sunday my dad and I would sit on the couch and watch the football game, and at the end of the game we would be screaming at it. When I was ten, I learned how to play the guitar by ear, and my mom said that was the first sign to becoming a great musician. In middle school, I tried out for our schools track team and I was the fastest runner there. Every weekend my dad and I would get up super early to run around the block a couple times, and at the end we would always race. Of course he won because, you know, he's my dad and you just have to let them win because it makes them happy.
My life was great. I had perfect grades and my freshman year went without a hitch. I was easily accepted by the people who considered themselves cool. I wore name brand clothes, and followed the latest trends, pouring over magazines and talking about cute guys in our school and who was the hottest movie star. I would spend hours on end talking with my best friend Emma. My house was the perfect place to hang out and have sleepovers. My house was like a mansion so we had enough rooms to spare and we had an indoor pool. It's the perfect kind of life a girl could ever ask for.
Then everything changed. One minute I'm the most popular girl at school, and then I'm sitting in an unfamiliar bed thinking about how my life could have gone different. I was at Emma's house doing a school project in English and I was spending the night because my parents thought that it was the perfect opportunity to have a date night and celebrate my mom's grand opening to her first music store. Emma and I decided to watch House at the End of the Street, my favorite movie. It was about10:00 when we saw blue and red light flashing in the drive way and I knew that that couldn't be a good sign. I thought that my life was over and I wanted it to be too.
I was numb as they told me what happened, describing every detail and not bothering to see if I was affected by any of it. They didn't even say their condolences, just nodded at me and went on their way, back to their car and driving away like it was just another day for them. It took a couple of years for me to get my life back, and even today I still can vividly imagine the entire crash as if I had been a bystander or one of the people in it: screams, the screeching sound of metal against pavement, the last words of the paramedics telling the police that my parents had died on impact still ring in my ears to this day. They represent what a constant role I played in my parents deaths by not being there.
I was put into foster care because most of my family lived out of state and my grandparents died when I was five years old. I remember driving past this orphanage every day when I went to school, and I never thought I would be sitting in one of these rooms with other kids that don't have a family. But guess what? Here I am, sitting in a room that I share with one other girl, and her name is Macy. I still go to the same school I was going to, but everything changed after that. I lost my popularity because people believe that if your life isn't perfect like theirs, then you don't have the right to hang out with them. Emma still talks to me, but we've grown farther and farther apart the past two years. My house was put up for sale since I couldn't live in it by myself unless I was eighteen, so I had to take all my belongings that are special at me and I put them on a shelf in my closet. The rest is either in storage at the orphanage or is in my closet. The people at the orphanage had me go through my parents stuff and take what I wanted out of it and everything else was either thrown away or donated to thrift stores.
That's a story of a foster child. Doesn't it sound exciting?
I woke up the next morning to my alarm clock screaming its head off next my head. I groaned and rolled over and smacked the alarm clock. It took me a couple of attempts to shut the alarm off. I rolled over and pulled my blanket over my head. I heard Macy get out of bed and the floor boards squeaked under her feet. I felt the bed dip next to me and she started shaking my shoulders.
"Come on Jailyn, we have to get ready for school." I groaned and pulled the blanket tighter. I heard her laugh and she started shaking me harder. "Don't make me yank the blankets off your bed because if I do, you will regret it." I held the blanket tighter in my hands and rolled onto my side.
"Five more minutes." I mumbled and I was in the edge if falling back to sleep when the blankets were yanked off my bed and I was hit with a blast of cold air. "Hey!" I sat up in bed and turned to glare at her.
She held her hands up in the air. "Hey I warned you before I did it. It's your problem for not listening to me." She tossed my blanket on the bed and she stood up from my bed and walked over to her dresser. She yanked open one of the drawers and pulled a pair of dark jeans out.
I yawned and stood up from my bed and stretched my arms above my head. I grabbed my robe from where it was hanging at the end of my bed and walked towards our bathroom. "I'm taking a quick shower." I shut the bathroom door before she could reply and grabbed a towel from under the sink. I turned the water on and waited for it to warm up before I stripped my pajamas off. I stepped into the shower and I sighed when I felt the warm water hit my back. I took my time washing my hair and when I stepped out of the tub, the bathroom was full of steam. I towel dried my hair and tied my robe around my body.
When I walked out of the bathroom I saw Macy sitting at her vanity straightening her hair. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table and saw that I had thirty minutes to get ready and get to school. I walked over to my closet and grabbed a pair of faded skinny jeans and a blue t-shirt.
"Am I driving us to school or are you?" I asked Macy while getting dressed.
"I can because I have to stop for gas anyway." She answered and I turned to look at her. She was putting pins into her hair and I walked over to unplug her straightener. I grabbed her hair brush and brushed the knots from my hair.
"Okay that's sounds good to me. I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast." I grabbed my book bag from the foot of my bed and shut the door behind me.
Macy and I have become best friend after a month of me living at the orphanage. When I first arrived here, I kept everyone at a distance and wouldn't talk to anyone. Who could really blame me? But Macy wouldn't let me shut everyone out, and after a couple of weeks of her talking to me and me not answering, she finally snapped and let me have it. She left the room and I felt horrible for her to have to yell at me. I broke out of my mood and I let her in. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to everyone else, but I'm glad that she didn't give up on me. I learned after a few weeks that she came here with her brother when she was thirteen because her parents also died in a car accident. Her brother is a year old then me, making him nineteen.
I walked into the busy kitchen and made a bee line to the refrigerator and pulled out the ingredients for my breakfast- orange juice, eggs, and bacon. I cracked a egg into the frying pan and laid out a couple of strips of bacon. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and when my eggs and bacon were done, I put them onto a paper plate. I turned and went to go to the the kitchen table, but I was stopped by Macy's brother Max. He snatched a piece of bacon from my plate and shoved it into his mouth.
"Hey go make your own." I smacked his hand away and stepped around him.
"Why when I can just take yours?" He snatched a couple more pieces of bacon and I gave him the plate and went to grab a thing of yogurt. I sat down next to Max and I quickly grabbed the last piece of bacon from his plate. "That was the last piece! You thief!" He pouted and poked his eggs with a fork, making the yoke run onto his plate.
"That's what you get for taking my bacon. Plus, I didn't even get a piece when you started stealing my breakfast." I shoved a spoonful of yogurt into my mouth.
"Yeah, but you gave it to me." He stated and I bumped his shoulder with mine.
"After you stole the other three pieces of bacon." I told him and tossed my yogurt container into the trash.
"Still." He mumbled and I gave him a hug.
"I'll make extra just for you tomorrow." I grabbed my book bag from where it sat next to the counter and I noticed that Macy hasn't come down yet. I wonder what's taking her so long. "Hey, do you know where Macy is? She was supposed to be done about ten minutes ago." I asked Max and he shrugged his shoulders. "You are absolutely no help." I walked up to our room and I say her standing outside the door texting someone.
"Hey we have about fifteen minutes to get to school." I said walking up next to her and she put her phone into her pocket.
"Sorry, I didn't know I was standing here for that long." She said sheepishly and grabbed her bag from where it sat next to her feet. "Come on i still have to get gas and I have to talk to my English teacher before school starts." She walked ahead of me and I followed her after she was a couple of steps away from the stairs.
We walked out to her car out front and she unlocked it. She bought her car when she turned sixteen. She started saving up her money when she got a job and I did the same thing. We made a quick stop to the gas station, and when we pulled into the school parking lot, it was packed. She pulled into a spot under the trees in the shade and we made our way to the school.
"So I'll see you after school right?" She asked me and I watched her glance at the school.
"Actually I need to go to the library to check out a book for my social studies project." I told her.
"Oh ok so I'll see you when you get to the orphanage." With that she turned and made her way to the school. I wonder why she's so distant today and I plan on finding out.