♕Harley Anderson♕

Anything and everything looks
different when you look at it from another perspective than what you usually do. Sometimes it may seem better and other times worse. And most of the time it's way too far out of our comfort zone to try and see things differently so we simply stick to what we know. However, if we just went a little more out there we could find something so incredibly amazing than what we currently know.

I'm woken up from my reverie of thoughts when my door is suddenly slammed open. I remove my eyes from the poster of a 1968 Mustang plastered to my wall to see a pair of brown eyes staring back at me in amusement.

"You need to stop sitting like that." Audrey exclaims and I pout from where I'm sat lying on my bed with my feet against the wall.

"I know, I know." I respond playfully, sitting upright and feeling blood rush to my head from sitting upside down. I hold a hand to my head and groan lightly which Audrey chuckles at. I roll my eyes with a laugh. "Don't feel so smug."

"Too late." She retorts and I laugh at her before standing up with a stretch.

"Why aren't you getting ready yet?" She asks and I roll my eyes.

"If you're referring to that party, I told you I'm not going."

She pouts at me in disappointment as I make my way to my desk and take a seat. "Why not?" She whines and I give her a dubious look.

"Not everyone feels like partying their life away. Plus, I don't even like parties and you know that."

"But have I ever dragged you to one which you didn't have fun at?" She counters, twisting my chair around so I'm forced to look at her. I purse my lips in response, deciding not to say anything. She leans back smugly, her eyes shining in amusement. "My point exactly. So get your ass ready- we're leaving at seven." She calls before slamming my door shut on the way out. I roll my eyes at her retreating figure but a small smile worms its way onto my face.

I'm grateful that Audrey moved in eight months ago after my previous roommate moved out. And I'm not saying that because she's helping me pay for this really nice apartment fifteen minutes away from our college but rather because she's refreshing. I never really had friends in high school- I couldn't- so it's nice to finally have one now who always knows the next place to go to. Audrey is the definition of a party-animal. If she wasn't at a party, she was at a club and if not a club she was at the local pub, doing shots with her boyfriend- Caleb- who was just as outgoing and wild as she was. If I was being completely honest, I didn't understand how they did it- went out all the time, I mean. Audrey was studying architecture which means that, besides her always staring at buildings and commenting on them, she had a busy schedule with work while Caleb was a true football player at a nearby varsity where he was one of the star quarterbacks. He is incredibly good at it- apparently- and he seemed to love doing it but it, too, needs a lot of time which is why I don't understand how they always go out. However, I think they love each other to the point where they'd do anything to see each other.

They really did love each other; that much was clear. You could see it by the way they stared at each other adoringly while they couldn't not smile when they were with each other. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking simply because some of us have never experienced genuine love at all and probably never will.

I shake my head to wake myself up before I push myself off of my chair and open my cupboards to observe what I have to wear to the party. I settle with a simple denim shirt, a black skirt and block heels which make me seem quite a bit taller than usual. I look down at the outfit displayed on my bed in satisfaction before I bounce over  to my bathroom to start getting ready.

****

"Oh my fucking-"

"Audrey."

"You look amazing!" Audrey gushes and I give her a grateful smile. I'm pleased with the way it turned out- the outfit goes perfectly together- and I decided to straighten my usually curly golden brown hair for a change and hardly put any makeup on, only settling with mascara and a little bit of eye shadow to bring out my hazel eyes. However, I leave my face bare so that my light scatter of freckles are visible while my lips are stained red. I turn around and eye Audrey's ripped jeans, band tee and combat boots with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" She asks, flicking her ginger hair over her shoulder.

I giggle. "You look really pretty, Audrey." I comment and she smiles, her glossy lips shining.

"Why thank you, Harley." She grins and I roll my eyes just as the sound of a door opening and closing is heard. Audrey's eyes widen in happiness before she skips to the door where she throws herself at Caleb. I trail behind her, watching Caleb wrap his arms around her waist as he smiles at me over his shoulder.

I wave a hand at him. "Hey Caleb." Him and Audrey pull away and he gives me a brief hug. His blue eyes then go on to scan the outfit of his girlfriend and he kisses the side of her head lovingly.

"You look gorgeous."

Audrey's eyes flutter shut before she opens them and reaches for her bag. "C'mon, lets go." She says and we all amble out of the apartment and into Caleb's car before we hit the road. My hands tremble slightly due to the darkness that sometimes encloses the car and I try to distract myself by humming to the music softly.

When we pull up outside of the party, I'm not surprised to see the road lined with cars while college students hang around the driveway all the way up to the house. When we're back in the chilly air of Oregon and making our way inside of the house, one of the guys whistle at Audrey and she rolls her eyes before flipping the bird at him which makes Caleb and I chuckle. When we finally knock on the door of the house- that seems like it will come tumbling down due to the music any minute now- it swings open to grant us access. We all push our way inside, squishing pass the sweaty, dancing bodies to try and get to the kitchen. When we do, we ignore the group of young adults- or teenagers more like it- doing body shots on one side of the kitchen island and head to the alcohol. Audrey settles with a cup of tequila and Caleb settles with a beer while I simply pour water from the tap.

"Seriously? Water?" Audrey asks incredulously and I roll my eyes.

"I don't feel like drinking myself onto my ass tonight."

"You don't ever feel like doing that." She retorts.

"Babe." Caleb cuts our bickering off, "Not everyone likes to test their liver like you."

I snort unattractively and Audrey playfully rolls her eyes at me.

"Shut up." She jokes and I hold my hands up in defense, smiling into my cup as I take a sip of the water.

"C'mon. Lets go outside." Audrey says as we begin our walk to the large yard which has people swimming around in the pool aimlessly. A bunch of kids sit in a circle on the patio and pass around a bong which makes Audrey make a detour before Caleb pulls her back.

"Audrey." He chastises and she pouts at him.

"I haven't had a go in, like, a month." She whines as he pulls her to the edge of the patio where we stand in a circle. However, along the way, I'm pushed from a bunch of wasted boys and I wrap my arms around my torso while I'm reminded as to why I hate parties as much as I do. People do stupid and unforgivable things when they're wasted which is why surrounding yourself with a whole bunch of them isn't a good idea.

"Can we keep it like that?" Caleb asks her and she crosses her arms over her chest in a mini tantrum and he laughs. "You know I'm only doing it because I love you Auds." He says and her facade resolves, making her melt into his side. I look down at my feet, feeling a little disappointed and uncomfortable before I feel a familiar presence make itself known. When I look up to the person who holds it, my lips kiss my teeth.

He's so tall that he towers over me, making my 5ft.7 frame seem incredibly short. He has the darkest hair I've ever seen in my life that's being left messy, matching the slight stubble on his jaw. He has piercing russet brown eyes that are nearly the same colour as the slight freckles across his cheeks and nose while his defined jaw and high cheekbones make you stare longer than necessary. Cameron Dawson is in all words- handsome.
But besides handsome, he is also scarily intelligent and carries an aura of dominance, power and authority. He's a guarded boy who is always forced to socialise because of Caleb who he is friends with.

I'd be lying if I said he didn't make me shrink into myself, even just a little, because he did. Quite a lot actually. I grew up my whole life with an extremely authoritative man in my life so to see one like Cameron- with ethereal features and absolute confidence- it was unnerving to say the least. However, he was sort of intriguing despite how much he could annoy me with his sarcastic and cold remarks.

I look up to see him greeting Caleb before he gives a small smiles to Audrey. His eyes then slide to mine and he nods in greeting which makes me give him an awkward wave in response.

Despite how many times we've seen each other at these social gatherings, we're yet to actually be classified as friends. Although I doubt that would ever happen... he's too guarded.

"Remind me why I came here again?" He asks Caleb, his smooth yet raspy voice holding a slight tinge of irritation.

"C'mon man. What's one party?" Caleb asks and Cameron scoffs, shoving his hands into his leather jacket.

"A lot of shit, that's what."

"Oh loosen up." Audrey teases and he rolls his eyes.

"Your second name should have being Party," he quips and I chuckle to myself.

"How about a game of beer pong?" Caleb suggests and Audrey immediately agrees although Cameron doesn't seem too happy to oblige. He purses his lips and Caleb pats his back.

"Alright man. You can stay here with Harley if you don't want to come along." Cameron nor I get a chance to respond before the couple are walking inside to play the game. When I return my gaze to Cameron, I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

"The both of them should really stop dragging us along." He mutters and although his words sound irritated, I can't help but laugh lightly.

"I see someone is still pissing in your cereal in the morning." I tease and he shakes his head to himself, his lips twitching into a somewhat amused smile.

"I don't eat cereal."

"Then it's obviously in your coffee."

"I don't drink coffee either."

"Well maybe you're drinking piss dry then."

He raises an eyebrow at me and cocks his head to the side with a small smile before running a hand through his onyx hair.

"You enjoy the party Harley, I'm going to go get something to drink." He says before walking away and leaving me all alone in the yard of the party with disappointment because now I have nobody to be with. I let out a sigh and slowly head inside as well, intending on occupying myself so that I don't look so weird.

I don't know why I even came to these damn things- most of the time I was just third wheeling or dancing by myself. And even though I enjoyed myself most times, sometimes it was frustrating because I just wanted company. But I guess that's what you get when your friend and her boyfriend are basically inseparably while you're lonely as anything because you have hardly anyone left.

And perhaps that's the way it'll always be for me.

Although I sure hope it isn't.

•••

And there we have the first chapter up.
Please let me know what you guys think and don't forget to vote and share the story! ;)
You have no idea how excited I am for GR. I've being planning this story before I even finished writing Game Changer.
I'm also so excited to write a story that touches on topics that are serious and need to be brought to light so I hope you guys find this refreshing and mind-opening.
You'll also find that GR, in its entirety, is a lot more mature and I'm- once again- incredibly amped for this story!

If you spot any errors, please POLITELY, drop me comment so I can fix it right away!
Also, I will be updating every Saturday :)

I love you all and thank you for all of your support.

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