Chapter One

Jpov

I was out of breath and my heart was pounding like crazy. I slapped my hands down on my knees and an echo shot through the room. My breathing was heavy, but I was beaming. Soon the exhaustion took over me and I collapsed to my knees. The laughter around me bounced off the cave walls and I joined in. I heard feet pound on the ground and looked up. Melanie was standing over me frowning. She glared at me and I laughed harder.

"That was not fair! You are a lot bigger than me!" she whined.

"And faster. But that is beside the point. I am officially better at soccer than the great Melanie!" I laughed. She glared and I playfully glared back. She smiled deviously.

"I guess you are good, for a kid." she teased. I jumped up. How could she say that when was towering over her? I was about to smack her like her and I did as kids, but then I remembered I was a lot stronger now. I took in a deep breath, glared at her, and stormed toward the kitchen. She screamed my name, but I heard Jared mumble something to her.

When I got to the kitchen I grab a "Jamie" sized helping of bread and soup. They named a food size after me because I eat so much. I glared at my food as I thought. They always call me a kid. I will be 20 in a month! Apparently they still think I'm 14. Jared, Kyle, and Ian say that they call me that because I don't "have a girl". It's not like I have a choice! I slammed my fork into my bowl.

"Whoa there! Jamie, what's wrong?" Wanda asked. I looked at her. She was the only one left eating. Concern etched across her face. She held onto my hands. They looked humongous next to hers. At least Wanda never thought I was a kid.

"Oh nothing." I smiled at her genuinely. She smiled back. I could see why Ian liked her so much. She is so sweet and caring. I would never like her like Ian does, but I need someone like that.

"Wanda, I need to ask you a favor."

"Anything!" she whispered. I smiled at her. I was going to miss her so much.

"Tomorrow morning I need you to tell Mel and Jared that I need to prove I'm not a kid, okay? But you can't tell anyone until tomorrow." I whispered. She eyed me suspiciously.

"Okkaayyy?" she said more like a question. I smiled and got up from the table and walked to my room. I grabbed all my clothes and 8 water bottles. I grabbed lots of canned foods that nobody but me and Jeb would eat. I wrote a note that said "Don't look for me. -Jamie" and headed out to the cliff where the cars were at.

I got there around 9 o'clock and put all my stuff in the little car that Wanda used when she went for "doctor appointments". I hopped in and took off through the desert.

I drove for days and days. Soon I was low on water and food so I decided I would need to stop soon. I was in a small, woodsy town in Washington. I was on a dirt road that led to the next town when the car made a very loud gurgling noise and stopped. I sat there for a second and then yelled out angrily. I got out of the car, grabbed my stuff and slammed the door shut. I started walking down the dirt road.

Soon I was walking in the middle of the woods. I don't know how I ended up there, but I did. My throat scratched and my legs ached. Then to make everything worse, it started pouring. I collapsed right there. In the middle of the woods.

Why did I leave? Why did I risk this? Just because I didn't want to be treated like a kid? I am so stupid! What did I set out to do anyways? I am going to die. My always excited and happy mood finally faltered at that moment. I sighed and closed my eyes. Hopefully I will fall asleep so I die a fast death.

Death. To be honest I never really thought I would die for at least 50 more years. I'm not ready for it but I must accept it. There is no escaping what's coming.