I was late.

I was never late, having been woken up by my mother constantly but with the fact that she was currently in the hospital, I was left with the task of getting up by myself. i had obviously failed this morning and it was as if everything decided to go wrong in that very moment.

I could feel my nose scrunch up at the new smell that filled my small room, my eyes landing on the device that was causing it. My straightener was still on, the cloth being burned through like no tomorrow. I screamed as I rushed to get them away from each other but only succeeded in burning myself.

My phone beeped, the sound causing my head to whip around. my eyes widened as I saw the time, letting out another scream of frustration.

"Aspen! Hurry up and get downstairs or we'll all be extremely late!" The voice of my father echoed throughout the house, my eyes narrowing at my closed door. He knew he could have woken me up instead of letting me sleep through every single one of my alarms.

The sound of my door opening made me stop in getting my bag ready, my younger sister, Thalia, standing there with a smirk placed on her face. As usual, it was covered in makeup and no matter how many times I told her she didn't need that much, she wouldn't listen.

"What do you want?"

Thalia walked over, her eyes seeming to judge my outfit in every way before a cheerful smile appeared across her face without a second thought. "Oh my god, Aspen, why are you so good at being pretty!"

With the heat rushing throughout my face, I could tell that I was blushing. I struggled to get my sister to let go but it seemed she wasn't budging. With a sigh of defeat, I succumbed into giving her a pitiful hug and slung my bag over my shoulder.

"Come on, Cyrus and dad are waiting, dimwit!"

Now it was Thalia's turn to turn bright head, the girl letting out a scream as she chased after me. I rushed out of the house, grinning at my dad as I slid into the passenger seat.

"What did you do this time?" Cyrus asked, his eyes showing that he was watching Thalia pout and stomp her way over to the car like a child.

"Called her a dimwit."

Cyrus let out a laugh, stopping himself just as Thalia let herself into the small car. He grinned as wide as possible as his eyes met that of his sisters. "Hey there, dimwit."

Thalia let out another scream which caused my dad to slam on the brakes slightly, his eyes holding panic as a car behind him honked.

Thalia went on hitting our brother, talking in a much more calmer voice. "Just because we're twins, doesn't mean you call me that, you idiot!"

"Enough out of all of you!" My father's voice overpowered Thalia's, all of our attention turning to him at once.

I watched as my father put the car into park, his eyes holding worry that never went away, no matter the consequences. "Get out, I need to go to your mother now. They said she's getting closer."

I nodded, as did Thalia and Cyrus. I knew that we would ned to be on our best behavior, even if we wanted to mess around. It was the price of coming from a big family that could barely afford to pay the bills.

As I waved goodbye to my brother and sister, I watched them walk in the direction of the freshman building. They were growing older each day and some day I wouldn't be able to help them if they needed it. I could only hope they would be right behind me as I walked, following in their older sisters footsteps.

It was a tough going into the school but my mood seemed to lighten a little when I saw the blonde hair of Paisley rushing towards me. A squeal came from her lips as she pushed her glasses back up her nose, the smile never leaving her face.

"Aspen, Reece Kelly just talked to me!"

"What? no way! Good for you!" I said, stretching a smile onto my face even though I wanted to curl up into the fetus position. Reece was my high school crush, someone that I shouldn't be crushing on.

"Hey, Torres! Where the hell were you? You missed morning practice!" The deeper voice of my teammate and friend, Lily, filled the air around Paisley and me. Lily slapped her hand on my back, forcing me to take a few steps forward because of her extreme strength.

"I'm so sorry, Lily! I overslept because my mom had us at the hospital super late again last night." I could tell instantly that Lily was no longer mad at me, she never really was. It seemed overtime I told her it was something with my mom, she instantly let the topic dropped. It was something everyone did.

"It's fine. Anyways, what've ya got there in your bag? It's bulking."

Lily was horrible at hiding her curiosity, the bigger girl having an expression that could only explain interest. She gave a nervous laugh when I didn't answer, instead glancing at the watch on her wrist.

"Shit! The bell's gonna ring and I still need to go to my locker! Bye guys!"

With that, Lily was gone. She was odd in her own way, not really fitting in the category that would be used to describe Paisley or me. She was more masculine then she was famine and we had completely opposite tastes but we still managed to be friends through it all.

Paisley just rolled her eyes, wiping at her forehead. She had no fear of wiping off any makeup, seeing as she made sure it would stay on no matter what.

"She's weird sometimes," Paisley said, looking as if she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes once again.

"But she's our friend!" I said in a cheery voice, starting off towards my locker while Paisley followed after me like a lost puppy.

"Did you do the history homework?"

I shook my head, turning to look at my friend and scold her for not doing her homework once again but that was when I found myself falling towards the floor instead. It was like the overly cliche plots in movies, the ones where the girl falls and the boy swoons over her.

However, it didn't exactly happen like that.

"Watch where you're going."

I could feel my eyes widening, my face heating up as well as hear my heart start beating faster. My eyes met those of Reece Kelly's, the tall boy staring down at me like I meant nothing.

By the time I was up, he was gone. I couldn't even apologize for acting like some sort of idiot.

Paisley grinned at me, her eyes holding some sort of emotion that I could just tell was no good. "Aspen Torres, you just ran into your crush. How did it feel? What cologne does he use? Is he buff?"

I rolled my eyes at Paisley's pathetic attempt to get me to talk but I had a class to get too. That was when I remember that Paisley was in my first period and I couldn't escape her clutches for long.

"I felt so embarrassed, he uses some type of axe and oh god, I could feel his muscles through his shirt, Paisley!" I gushes out finally, wincing as another squeal came from Paisley's mouth.

"You are so, so lucky! I would have died to be able to feel his muscles. . .even if it wasn't on purpose." Paisley let out a nervous laugh after that, her eyes seeming to flicker over to another group of girls that looked like they were sneering at her.

She brought her books closer to her chest, using one hand to one again push up her glasses. She picked up her pace as well, matching her steps to walk alongside mine as if she were afraid that I was going to leave her.

"Hey. . . what's up? You look absolutely terrified right now." I asked, it seemed she wouldn't tell me though. I frowned, following after my shorter friend as we then rushed to our class, hearing the two minute bell sound throughout the school.

This day was just going to be terrible, I could feel it.

++++

Hi guys! I just couldn't wait to start this novel so I'm so, so excited. I know it's so cliche with the bad-boy story and stuff BUT I really wanted to write this.

Gif of Reece on the side!

I wonder what's gonna happen, hehe

Btw, what do you guys think is up with Aspen's mom? (; It's not life-threatening. . . or is it, LOL.

This is dedicated to Megan for being an amazing teen fiction writer and an amazing friend! (:

-Nikki xx