disclaimer ; nothing belongs to me, but i'm happy to have found my less vampire-y version of edward i get to call me own :)

Just walk away
Gather your thoughts for the second wave
Of this argument on this epic changing day
It's crazy to think that an hour ago all things were great
But we stand both proud both wrong and right
Throwing cheap shots in this stubborn fight
And our lives are so intertwined in one
And we're just so stuck in this moment its clear that were coming undone

- Goodbye Waves And Drive Aways, The Rocket Summer

Chapter One.

I woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache, Renee's screaming from downstairs not at all helping. I listened closer to hear what she was saying, who she was even talking to. She was complaining about me, something I did last night. I tried to think back to what I could even done to make her this angry, but everything turned out as a blur.

"She's out of control! She's ninteen years old now, she should have a job, her own place! Normal kids her age are in college," she spat the word, "and for God's sake, she hasn't even finished high school! I thought it was just a phase, that I should let it go because she would be back on track in no time. She's a brilliant girl, and she is gorgeous. She could go anywhere with her life, instead she is hanging out with these losers.. I don't know what I'm going to do, what can I even say to get through to her?"

I waited, hoping to find out who she was ranting about me to. It was silent, except for a few "mhm" and "but"'s. It killed me to hurt my mom, after she had been hurt so bad by my father, but it was making me feel better, wasn't that all that really counted?

"She's your daughter too, Charlie!" A small growl escaped my mouth, she hadn't talked to my father in three years, and neither have I. He sent us money, and he sent me gifts and cards for every holiday, but that was all that I heard from him. That was all I wanted to hear. She finished up with a "Whatever," before hanging up the phone. Suddenly, the intercom paged up to my room, and her exasperated voice let me know that Vonia's finished cooking our breakfast, and it was time for me to come eat.

I grabbed a robe off the back of my door, and headed downstairs to eat. I was dreading the disappointment speech I knew my mom had in store for me, knowing completely that I would deserve it. I walked downstairs and greeted our cleaner, Celia, before heading into the dining room. Vonia had made me a plate of scrambled eggs and french toast, and Renee was already seated with my step-father, Phil. He was a very wealthy man, a famous baseball player. He made Shirley extremely happy, and I was thankful for all he did for our family.

"So," my mother began, mentally preparing herself for the lecture that was coming, "Have fun last night? I'm assuming you did, Celia had a fun time cleaning up your vomit from inside the umbrella holder," hey, I thought, at least I did it in a closed space, "So I gave Rajah the day off today, and you will be cleaning the lawn, mowing it, picking weeds, and trimming the bushes."

My mouth dropped open. Our lawn was huge, bigger than all my friends houses put together, and she expected me to do that?

"Can't you just ground me like a normal parent?" I asked, appalled at the task she had laid out for me.

"Bella, I've tried that, I've tried everything. You sneak out, you bring people in, nothing works. I'm sorry, honey. My mind is made up. After breakfast, you will go outside and you will do every task that I have laid out for you," I let out a long sigh, expressing my anger through my breath.

I ate my breakfast extra slow, eating my eggs one piece at a time, and cutting my french toast into microscopic pieces, doing anything to delay the grusome work I had ahead of me.

Finally, I stood up, sliding the chair loudly against the ceramic tiles, before my mother found another way to ruin my already disasterous day, "OH! I almost forgot, Celia laid a dress out on your bed, you are coming with your step-father and I to a charity banquet tonight," before I had time to complain she said, "I bought an extra dress for Angela, I figured you wouldn't want to go without her." I knew there was no way of getting out of this, and accepted my fate. Stomping up my giant staircase and slamming my door before calling Ang.

She answered on the first ring, "Hello?"

"Angie, cancel any plans you have with Ben later, or at least postpone them. We have a date at a ball tonight," I said, in a elegant fake british accent.

"Well, that sounds like fun," she said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

"Obviously, you're going to fake sick. We'll only be there an hour, tops. Renee and Phil, on the other hand? They will be out until at least one o'clock. We leave at 8, tell the guys to meet us here, and then the fun will start," I told her, pride clear in my voice with my genius plan.

"Fiiiiine," she said in defeat, hanging up to call the boys and tell them to be here for 8. It was rare that I was left with an empty house. Our help was always here, day and night, and my parents rarely went out, I was going to take advantage of a night when no one would be home.

I couldn't escape my punishment much longer, so I threw on a pair of tattered shorts and a "Smashing Pumpkins" t-shirt, and grabbed the lawn supplies and stormed out the front door. I decided to start with the hedges at the front of the house, trying to work from the front to the back. As I walked down the long pathway, I realized just how long this would take.

The hot California sun beated down on me, and I was starting to appreciate Rajah more. I never noticed how hard the work was. I was trimming for twenty minutes, before my arms were tired and my legs tired from standing. When a nail broke off, I let out a loud, "Oh for fuck sakes! Come on!" and let my body slide down to the hot sidewalk.

I heard a low chuckle coming from behind me, and I turned to find my neighbour Edward watching me. His eyes were mocking. He laughed again at the angry face I gave him.

"Do you find this funny?" I asked, letting the acid leak into my words.

"I just didn't know someone so hardcore," he put air quotes around the last word, "would get so upset over a broken nail," I gave him another scowl, and he laughed even harder. He was gorgeous, I couldn't deny that. He had long bronzed hair, perfectly gelled o top of his head, accomplishing the much admired bed-head look. His beautiful green eyes pierced into your soul, and you couldn't help but stare back. He would be exactly my type, if it wasn't for the fact that he was just so.. good. He was an honour student, and a freshman at UCLA. He was the kind of boy that your parents wanted you to end up with, and that was exactly the reason that I didn't want to. He lived alone in a house a bit smaller than mine - but still huge in comparison to a normal house - across the street. His parents had left it to him after they moved to Bermuda so his dad could open his own hospital.

He was still standing there laughing, so I just stuck my tongue out at him. He let out on last laugh before going into his house. I stood up, determind to finish in time to get some alcohol for the party tonight, when he came back out with hedge clippers of his own.

"What are you doing?" I asked, kind of shocked that he would help me. I had never been nice to Edward. He lived across the street since we moved here, two years ago. He had been friendly enough, but I wasn't in the mood to make friends like him, I was tired of being good, and associating with good people. I had shut him out, and found ways to intentionally piss him off.

"I'm going to show you how to do it, since you're clearly too much of a princess to do yardwork," he laughed one more time at my expense, before trimming away. I followed, and in less than 15 minutes, the hedges were done.

"Er.. Thanks," I muttered quietly, not really wanting to say the words, but knew it was the least I could do.

"No problem, how did you get yourself on yard duty anyways?" He asked, in a smug voice. Of course he would think this was funny, someone getting punished. He was the type of kid that never did anything wrong, never had anything to get punished for.

"My mom caught me screwing the yard guy, so she fired him and she's forcing me to take over his job until she finds a less attractive replacement," I said, rolling my eyes at the ridiculous story. He just stared at me, shock colouring his face. He obviously doesn't understand what sarcasm is. "Kidding?" I said, kind of questioningly, "I got a little more drunk than I realized last night, and threw up in the umbrella holder. Apparently that's a terrible thing to do."

"Good, I would hope Rajah wouldn't have to stoop that low," he said, half-jokingly.

That did it, "You can go now," I said, through my teeth, letting him know how angered I was by his comment.

He raised his hands, and backed away, as if I were holding a weapon, and retreated into his house.

I mowed, picked weeds, and watered in a daze. Still angered by Edward's words, and by the time I was done, Angela pulled into the driveway in her old beat-up ford. "So, should we go with the flu, or a headache?" She asked.

"Headache works perfectly, you don't have to feign throwing up that way."

I showed her the ridiculous dresses my mom had picked out for us, consisting of pinks and teals, and we gagged at them together. We went through all the notions, though, getting ready, curling our hair, putting on sparkly eyeshadows and bright pink lip gloss. If my mom thought we were excited about it, she wouldn't find it suspicous when we had to leave early. When we went downstairs to meet my mother, she was beaming from head to toe. So excited that I was doing something normal Californian teenagers did.

Me and Ang told my mom we wanted to take my car, the newest gift from my father, and she agreed it was fine. We climbed into the sleek black ferrari, and blared music. We stopped by my dealers house first, picking up ecstacy, shrooms, and weed in preperation for tonight. Mike, Tyler, and Ben were bringing the alcohol, and for anyone else who was coming, it would be BYOB.

We pulled up at the banquet, and I refused to let valet park my car, since this was where we would be keeping the drugs. We got out, and I was already annoyed at the high heeled shoes I was wearing. I voiced my complaints to Ang, and she shared them. We were both dreading the short hour we would be spending here.

When we walked in, and every pair of eyes in the room turned to stare. I rolled my eyes, I sometimes get annoyed by all the attention Angie gets. It's terrible to feel jealous over your best friend, but I did. I would never match up to her beauty, and I accepted that long ago, but was it such a horrible thing to wish we could be on the same level?

I pushed my thoughts aside, and got the rest of the hour over with. We danced, and snuck a couple glasses of champagne, and then Ang started to get the worst migrane. My mom told us to go home without another word, and we were happy to comply.

As soon as we got into the car, we popped our first pill, and drove back with blaring music. There were already ten cars in my driveway, waiting for the host to come home. I was a bit angry about this, because it meant I wouldn't have a chance to change, but I was determined to make the rest of my night fun. I got out, and met the guys at the door, unlocked it, and let the partiers in.

Finally, the real fun began.

A/N,

i decided to let it go with 3 reviews. so enjoy this chapter. please review. if i get 3-5 reviews on this chapter, i'll post the next one tomorrow at this time.

love always,

jaaay.p :)