Chapter 1: Life isn't always great

"Lana! Wake up! I have something I need to tell you!" I woke up with a start when I heard my older brother, Rob, yell at me to wake up.

I looked at my alarm clock, it showed 2 o'clock in the morning, I groaned and him with a pillow.

"What?" he scowled.

"What do you want? I'm trying to sleep jerk off." I grumbled.

"Grandma Margaret is dead. I just thought you would want to know." he walked out of my room, shutting the door behind him.

I sat up on my bed in shock for a few minutes.

Margaret was like my best friend. She always told me stories about when she was growing up in Fells Church, Virginia. Margaret was actually my great-grandmother. My grandmother, Joanne, didn't talk to us that often. She had left my grandfather, Stan Gilbert, he was Margaret's only son.

Margaret never married, she was engaged but when she found out she was pregnant her boyfriend left her. Thus, her name stayed Margaret Gilbert.

Stan and Joanne had one son and one daughter. Their son being my dad, his name is Cal. He married his highschool sweetheart and my mother, her name is Luise.

They had my brother Rob, who is now entering his second year of university , which would make him 20. Then they had me, Lana Gilbert. I'm entering my senior year of highschool, which would make me almost 18. Finally, they had my baby sister, Charity. She is going to be 9 soon, she is in grade 4. I get along with her a lot better because we have to stick together, thats what I tell her anyway. We also look alot alike, with beautiful blue eyes and silky blonde hair.

Anyway, my grandparents other child is Donna, she never married because she is a little too young to marry. She is only a month older than me so it makes sense that she hasn't married yet...

I got out of bed, in little shorts and a tank top, and went downstairs to the kitchen. At the table sat my grandpa Stan. He looked at me and I immediately went to comfort him. I sat beside him and grasped him in a hug. I cried on his shoulder until I fell asleep again.

"Lana! Get up for school!" mom called from the bottom of the stairs.

I sighed as I stretched. 'It must have just been a dream.' I thought as I got out of bed. I went to the bathroom and took a shower.

When I got downstairs mom asked "Are those clothes that you bought in Venice this summer?"

"Yeah, do I look okay?" I asked with a blush.

I had on a pair of designer jean capris with little holes down the front of the legs. The holes started just above the knee and ended about an inch above the end of the capris. My top was a white tank top, except the lacing was rimmed with black. Covering some of my shirt was my best guy friend's sweater.

It was much too big on me but I loved it and he said everyone liked to stare at my cleavage.

"No, you look amazing, like always." mom smiled.

I sat down after getting a cup of coffee, grandpa was sitting reading the newspaper beside me.

"Morning grandpa. Anything interesting in the newspaper?" I asked after I kissed his forehead.

He shook his head and put the newspaper down. He had red-rimmed eyes, so I pulled him into a hug. I sat there crying with him for a bit.

After a little while I finished my coffee and ran back to the bathroom to brush my teeth. "You, Lana Gilbert, are the most popular girl in school. You went to Venice for the summer with your family. Nothing drastic happened while you were gone." I smiled reassuringly at myself before getting my designer flip flops on, they were silver. I also grabbed my besigner bag and purse, both being black leather.

I ran downstairs to say bye to my family.

Wait a minute Lana" dad said.

I sighed "Yes daddy?"

"Be home by 4. We need to start planning the funeral, kay?"

"Yes, daddy" I smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

I ran outside, as soon as I was out my face fell. 'I don't want to plan her funeral...it will be devastating!' I thought to myself.

I got my phone out and was about to dial Donna's number on my iPhone when she pulled up in driveway. She jumped out of her pink corvette and headed inside.

"Donna, I don't want to be-" I was interrupted by crying. I saw my usually adventurous aunt crying on dad's shoulder.

Her hair was black, her eyes were a deep caramel. She was wearing black converse, skinny jeans and a 'Beatles' t-shirt. Her hair was usually down to her butt, but she cut it so now it was up to her chin. She also had her nose and her tongue pierced.

"Donna, go to school. We'll talk later." grandpa said.

Donna nodded and walked outside, I followed.

"Don, can I ask you something?" I asked as we pulled up in the school parking lot.

"Whats on your mind Lon?" she asked as she turned off the ignition.

"Are you going to be okay today?" I asked as I got out of the car.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, a lot has happened to you over the summer -"

"My mom is a bitch! I don't care about that. I also don't care about Sam" Sam was her boyfriend, until he cheated on her with one of her ex's/ She got her bag and we started walking towards the entrance.

The first person I saw was Ryder. He had dark blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that was shaggy.

"Ryder!" I ran into his already waiting arms. Ryder's actual name was Shane, but his middle name was Ryder. 'Shane Ryder Honeycutt', I sighed.

"Lana Margaret Gilbert! You look like Aphrodite...so beautiful." he smiled as he put me down.

"Well Mr. Hercules over here. When did you get so big?" I squeezed his biceps.

"Umm...well I had to buff myself up to impress my favourite person while she went to Venice with her parents during the summer." he gushed.

"Oh stop" I hit his arm and then reached into my bag "Here."

I gave him a bag, that was inside my bag.

"Thanks...I think" he looked so confused.

I started laughing. "Look inside the bag, you wiener."

He looked into the bag and gasped. He pulled out a pack of limited edition football trading cards from 1957. He loved anything football.

He hugged me again, I laughed and hugged him back.

"Hey Ryder." Donna said.

"Hi Donna, how are you?" he asked.

I wrapped my left arm through Ryder's right arm as everyone circled around us.

Then I heard someone struggling to get through the circle. It was my other best friend Shaye. She was short with brown hair. She also had glasses that framed beautiful emerald eyes. She broke through the crowd, I saw that she wore a black mini skirt with black spandex, and a tube top. She had a sleeveless hoodie to cover her belly (the zipper only went up to the bottom of the top). Her footwear was a pair of her black pumps.

I smiled at Shaye as she came to hug me.

"The summer was so insanely boring without you." she groaned.

I laughed "I bet."

The bell rang, Shaye and Donna went their separate ways. Ryder and I had English together.

"Welcome back students" Mrs. Price smiled at us.

She was a tall, lean woman. She had just gotten married to the Football coach during the summer. I rolled my eyes and got my phone out. I texted Ryder.

'So, how was your summer? For real...was it so bad without me?'

I heard him chuckle behind me.

'Not really. I missed you a lot but I survived. I actually went on a few dates.'

I had to hold back a gasp.

'With who? Do I know them?'

It took him a while to answer.

'No, this girl is new in town. Her name is Meredith Sulez. She is starting school today...I think. I just know you guys are going to get along.'

'Huh, thats interesting' I thought to myself.

Ryder always told me whenever he had a date. I felt a little sad that he didn't tell me.

I put my phone away and paid attention to the teacher.

"Lana! Wait up!" It was now lunch and I hadn't said anything else to Ryder. I was shoving my bag in my locker when he caught up to me. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"No." I replied as I shut my locker and walked away.

He grabbed my arm "Lana, was it because I told you about Meredith? Because we only went out a few times." he sighed and hugged me.

"You don't need to tell me about who you date. I'm fine with it. Its not like you belong to me." I murmured.

"But I like to tell you things anyway. Thats what best friends are for, right?"

I sighed "Yes, okay I'm sor-"

"Shane! Hi!" a girl came up to us. She had olive toned skin and heavy eye lashes, also she was a bit taller than me.

"Meredith! Hey, how are things going?" Ryder let go of me to hugh her.

I glowered at them until I realized that it was stupid. I shook my head and smiled as Ryder let go of her.

Meredith looked at me and she looked shocked. "Mer, this is Lana Gilbert. I told her about her."

Meredith seemed to have gotten over the shock because she smiled at me and shook my hand "Its a pleasure. I've heard many things about you. Will you just excuse me for a second?"

I nodded as she walked away, a little quickly.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked as I wrapped my arm through Ryder's.

"Beats me." he replied as we made our way to the cafeteria. We stepped in line to get our food. "What do you want for lunch?"

"Just a salad and water." I noticed that the cafeteria went quiet.

"Whats wrong with everyone?" I whispered.

Ryder looked at me confused and asked "What do you mean?"

"They are so quiet. Its a little creepy." Ryder laughed as he paid for our food, then we made our way to our usual table.

Donna sat with her face in her hands, Shaye sat beside her trying to calm her down.

"Whats wrong Donna?" Ryder asked.

We sat down across from them.

"Yeah, I'd like to know too. Both you and Lana have been in a slump today and-" Shaye was saying.

"Shaye, no need for the pep talk. I'll tell you if you just shut up."

I watched as Shalana McCullough actually shut up.

"Okay, so this morning at like 2 my brother woke me up. He told me that he needed to tell me something. Then he said that Margaret."

Shaye gasped "I'm so sorry, that must've ruined your whole...well life." she had tears in her eyes.

I smiled as tears came into my eyes. "The worst part of it is, my parents are planning the funeral and they want my help."

Ryder wrapped his arms around me "I'm sorry Lana."