Prologue
Absentmindedly, I fiddled with my stylus, unsure of what to draw. I had just taken my Galaxy Note III from my hoodie's pocket, but now I had no idea as to what I was planning to do with the device. I suppressed a bored sigh and slipped the cellphone back into my pocket. It was no use to waste battery if I was just going to stare at the screen, anyways.
My brother stood at my right, tapping away on his suitcase's handle. I had gotten used to his annoying habit after living with the dork for my entire life. Unfortunately, some strangers surrounding us found it aggravating. I could tell by their impassive facial expressions quickly morphing into ones of irritation. No one bothered to scold my sibling, though, which was one thing I was grateful for. Having your older sibling, who was "superior" to you by five years, be yelled at in front of you by some elderly lady or whatever was extremely embarrassing. I would probably just deny us being related and separate myself from him as much as possible in that sort of situation.
We were currently waiting for a ride. That ride happens to be our middle-aged uncle who was, as usual, fashionably late. By half an hour, of course. Uncle Fredrick deserved all the time in the world, however, in my opinion. His wife had just passed away from her excessive smoking (this runs in the family apparently) and he had been emotionally crushed by her death. That was why we were here in Detroit, Michigan. Our mother decided it would be best if we went to visit him during our winter vacation. We had about two weeks to improve our uncle's mood, in other words. My brother would most likely be doing all the work as I had homework to complete and I could not comfort others to save my life. I was by no means emotionless or cold, but I did lack reactions to tragedy. I had apologized for me being me countless times when I had accidently upset people close to me. Only my true friends ignored my flaws and stuck by me. My small group of friends included two other girls and three guys, ironically enough. We had always been even in terms of gender without meaning to.
"Why is he so damned late?" my brother finally snaps, yanking me out of my thoughts. I glance at him, annoyed by the rude awakening to reality, "How am I supposed to know, Eric? He'll get here when he gets here." Eric pulls off a childish pout, which looked absolutely retarded on the face of a twenty-three-year-old "man". Rather than taking the bait and allowing myself to fall into a sibling argument, I stay silent. My brother huffs at the fact he was not getting a fight, but I find myself gazing blankly at the sky. I observed each gray cloud with the upmost curiosity. I wondered how much it would snow this afternoon. I knew it had been on the forecast, but I had been in a deep, tired haze and had not cared too much about weather at the time. Eric kicks at the sidewalk out of sheer boredom, probably scuffing his shoes, but I continue to let him be. If he wanted to destroy his sneakers, then I would leave him to it. He was paying for his own clothing now since he moved out with his girlfriend, anyways.
"I'm going to kill myself I'm so bored!" Eric exclaims exasperatedly.
"Please don't," I mutter, tugging my sleeves over my hands for extra warmth, "Mom would somehow resurrect you and murder you herself if you did that. Besides, I need a pin cushion."
"Douche," he snorts in reply, much to my chagrin. I enjoyed pissing off my sibling just as much as anyone else did. It was certainly one of my favorite pastimes aside from videogames. Speaking of videogames, I could hardly wait to replay one of my favorites on our PlayStation 4; The Last of Us. This videogame had the classic zombie background drama, but the story was much more realistic compared to others I had completed at a younger age.
A sharp, sudden vibration distracts me momentarily. My cellphone? I think, I thought my friends were busy today or something. It must be vibrating because of low battery. In that case, I was much too lazy to answer it or give the screen so much as a glance.
The device begins to vibrate again and I then concluded it had to be everyone on the group chat we had set up a while back. Annoyed by the constant buzzing in my pocket, I risk taking a look at the Samsung phone:
Dani: The fudge? What do chu mean she's in Detroit? ._.
Ah, Daniella. The one who forgot every single thing you told her. The short, fiery Puerto Rican had a remarkable temper, but could never hold a grudge due to her famous forgetfulness. She was the one who I had first met sometime in the middle of the fifth grade. I had been alone since then unless you count Kindergarten playtime with the guys. I was such a weirdo back then considering I always preferred to pretend to be dragons with the boys in my class, whereas the majority of the girls went to play as dumb, little housewives. I was determined to never live that life. I would much rather be a badass dragon who burnt down villages and stuff like that than some bleach blonde trophy for some rich person. At the mention of "rich person", thou-who-shan't-be-named replies to Daniella's text:
Rich boi: I mean she is in Detroit, Michigan with her brother and her uncle. There is not that much to it. She told us this last week.
Dani: Chu mean to say she just up and left? What the flip?! :O
Rich boi: Duh. She is going to come back, but she is currently away. I have no idea what you want me to tell you.
"Rich boi" lived up to his title. His real name was Phillip and he was (an extremely wealthy brat) another teenager who sat at our table during lunch. He sort of migrated over after his seat was taken by some new kid I still have not gotten the pleasure to meet. He had immediately been welcomed and is now our prime target for teasing and jokes as his sense of humor is painfully limited. Because of this, fortunately, half the jaunts thrown at him go in one ear and out the other. If they did not, Phillip probably would have enough connections and strings to pull on to get us all executed. I am dead serious, too. That was just how rich this loveable jerk was. He had not impressed us at first, but his dry humor makes a rare appearance and pays for all of the days he sits there with a poker face.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bae: let's avoid the sass pl0x
This wonderful woman was my best friend or, as her name on my cellphone suggested, "bae". We were not in a relationship as many idiots in our school believed, but we were close friends despite our numerous differences. Leah was a random Korean who came up with absolutely crazy assumptions and ideas, much to the amusement of our peers. I had never laughed at her unless she had meant to be funny, though. This is the reason she practically forced herself upon me by attempting to find anything we had in common. Although Leah's missions had been unsuccessful she had convinced Daniella to drag me to their lunch table, anyways, just for the heck of it.
Jackie Chan: shuuuutt uuupppp
Jackie Chan: so much fukin vibrating i literaly cant
Hollister: sorry, jack. i could've sworn i told them. it's either that or they weren't listening.
Jackie Chan: u told us
Jackie Chan: they just nevre listen
Jackie Chan: now shut yo faics n let me sleep
Hollister: text me privately, dani. let's take this off the group chat for jack's sake.
Jackson had a nasty habit of clogging up our chat with spam, but it was "acceptable" then. If the teenager was resting and someone chose to start a conversation, that person had automatically broken the rules. Jackson was with our strange, little crew for unknown reasons. He was the school's most popular jock and was not very intelligent. He began sitting with us in the beginning of the year and we assumed he was attempting to provoke us for fun, so we all fell silent and hardly communicated. Eventually, Jackson started a couple of conversations and was acting pretty normal, so he just ended up sitting at our table as we went back to conversing and pulling off stupid stunts. Said stunts involve apples, water bottles, and average school supplies most of the time. It was phenomenal what we could create (or destroy) using the everyday items.
I had earned the silly nickname "Hollister" after purchasing one of my favorite white hoodies from the store. I had never taken it off and my friends made a loose connection between my name and the brand's name. Ever since that moment, primarily Daniella and Leah have been calling me that.
Matt: Gnight folks
Rich boi: It is midday, genius.
Matt: Close enough dont care
Dani: Tch! In mah head it's flipping midnight. :P
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bae: same
Hollister: agreed. yet i'm sitting in the cold while waiting for my uncle to show.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bae: dayum. that suck monkey balls
Rich boi: Damn. That sucks monkey balls.*
Rich boi: Work on your spelling and grammar, please. It is atrocious.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bae: go die
Dani: In a hole located in the deep dark pits of Hail.
Dani: High-five via cell? C;
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bae: highfive via cell
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bae: yey /flies away
My friends were total weirdos, but I loved them nonetheless.
"Matt" was simply Matthew. He was our adorable resident gay who currently lacked a nickname. None of us could decide on what to call him so he was stuck with classic, shortened version of his name. Matthew was first discovered by me, for once. I had seen him roaming the halls and to me he was just any other ordinary student. Matthew and I were not even acquainted enough to greet each other. One day, I had turned the corner of our school building and caught several dirt bags teasing him. Naturally, I stepped out of sight to avoid the conflict, but remained to see the outcome. When one of the males went to throw a punch at the defenseless stranger, I had hollered something to distract them. I had taken my phone from my pocket, too, to record the situation and send the video to the principal. I was by no means swift, but I could probably run fast enough to allow the video to go to the principal through email before I was captured. The tormentors seemed to have enough brains to know this. In the end, we all agreed to never speak of this incident. By that, I mean if I heard of the stranger getting picked on again I would immediately send the principal the video I had taken. After the mutual agreement, Matthew and I traded names and he did not even have to announce his sexuality – I knew after the first few words he said. Knowing our table could care less about his "flaw", I invited him to sit with us.
We all immediately hit it off. Even Phillip, who was against the LGBT community, found a friend in Matthew. A few ships, courtesy of Leah, actually set sail. This led to a budding relationship between Daniella and Jackson. To make this pairing better, Leah and I had actually been joking about their romance. However, according to Disney logic, love found a way.
Sudden violent honking jolted me from my reminiscing. Uncle Fredrick had finally arrived.
"You kids just going to stand there all day or are you actually going to get in?" a voice above the usual baritone guys were depicted with asks humorously. Eric grasps my suitcase before I can protest and drags both to the back of the dirty, green pickup truck. I was unfamiliar with the brand, but, by the looks of the vehicle, it was just some fixer-upper. Unlike most teenage girls, I felt honored to have such a ride. This old thing probably had soft, comfy seats rather than the hard material in expensive, modern sports cars. I was one of those people who would take comfort over luxury any day.
"I've got hot cocoa waiting for you slowpokes! Hurry it up!" Uncle Fredrick calls, sticking his beanie-covered head out of a stained window, "Hup! Two, three, four! Hup! Two, three, four!"
I had a feeling this was going to be a rather interesting winter vacation.
Ready for the crappiest A/N in Fanfiction history? I'm not!
Wow, the word count without the author's note is 2,160 words. I'm proud of myself.
Yeah, I'm going to be redoing this piece of crap until my fingers fall off. After that happens, I'll probably end up speaking into a mic and taking twice as long due to how inaccurate that stuff is. Fun, fun.
So, I wanted to do this in time for the holidays. It sat and sat on my computer until I found the file containing all of my Microsoft Word passwords for my stories. Hey, it might have taken a while, but it's here. And, to make this whole thing even better, I'm currently working on the first chapter while this uploads. This is my way of saying, "Merry Christmas to those who most likely hate me by now," and not to forget, "and a Happy New Year if I'm a lazy couch potato who doesn't work on this damn fanfiction ever again!"
I suck – that much has been established, anyways. However, I've been looking at every new email coming in saying how I still earn a new follower/favorite now and then. That's actually quite flattering considering I can't get this story right. I thank you all for the support despite the fact you've probably noticed my asshole-ness! :D I can't believe it whenever I see a new follower. It amazes me every time, guys!
All in all: THANK YOU SO FREAKIN' MUCH! I LOVE YOU ALL! [Insert happy squealing noises here]
Heh, ^^; I ought to continue the first chapter now, but I can't stress how much I adore everyone who sticks with this story.
It's awesome.
You're awesome.
I am un-awesome.
Got it? Get it? Good! C:
That's all, folks! Bye!~