Our senior year started this morning, I couldn't actually believe that this is my final year. No matter how much you'd be looking for high school to be over, you won't be able to shake off that feeling of nostalgia that'll envelop you once you realized that you won't be able to see your friends as much as you used to or that you won't be able to live those moments again, good or bad.
The fact that this will only be my second year at high school and that this journey is already coming to an end wasn't making the whole situation any easier.
I've been homeschooled most of my life dreaming about attending high school while watching different teen movies and series. My mother thought that it was the best solution for me since I was often sick in my early years, nothing serious but it didn't stop her from worrying too much.
It wasn't so hard to make friends, everyone wanted to talk to the new kid and get to know her and in the end, I ended up with the best of friends I could ever ask for, Callie and Ethan, we got close pretty quickly and I will always be so thankful for them.
After getting my schedule, I headed to my locker to put my extra books and get what I'll need. Not a second later, I saw James coming my way with that perfect white teeth smile from the corner of my eye.
"Hey Nikki, good to see you!"
I hate it when he acts all friendly because after this politeness comes his requests and from that smile, I could figure that I wouldn't be so fond of that one.
We used to be friends when we were like 5 years old but we grew apart as we grew older and he had been nagging me since I joined the school.
"Yea, hey.."
Our parents are in fact close friends and it would've been so awkward if I acted rude towards him and that was the only thing keeping me from ditching him and also without forgetting that my mom would be thrilled if I dated him.
"You know I was wondering, while we're the most popular and rich people of this high school, even in this town actually, we will definitely make the best couple..."
I can't help but laugh, that was the most ridiculous way of asking a girl out, I knew already that he was dumb but never expected him to be that dumb.
"I advise you to just forget about it."
"I'll give you time to think..."
"Hey Nikki!" Thankfully Ethan and Callie came to cut him off and spared him a rude decline.
"I'll see you around." He said and then left to join his friends.
"Hey guys!" I open my arms for a group hug "I missed you both a lot!"
We shared our greetings, hugs and excitement about the new year, Ethan was such a gossiper, he was the news and rumors tracker of our little group and he wouldn't stop enlightening us.
"Anyway what was that jerk of James talking to you about?" he eyes him dirtily if only looks could kill.
"Same as always, but this time he asked it in such a dumb way that I can't believe he just did it" I explained how he had come to me and they both stared at me unbelievingly.
"You made the guy lose his mind," says Callie "you know I, sometimes, wonder why don't you give him the satisfaction of dating you just for fun?"
"Have you lost your mind!" screams Ethan horrified "of course she won't, he's such a jerk! Anyway, have you heard of the new guy? Ian Seel." he said his name in such a dramatic way his hands forming a rainbow in the air "they moved here this summer, while you were away, anyway I saw him once and I can guarantee you that he's PER-FECT, he's an only child and his father owns one of those fancy hotels in Seattle, they say they moved here because it's his father's hometown."
"He must be just like these rich jerks" I sigh knowing how he'll be acting all fancy as soon as he sets foot in the school.
"Well you're rich and as far as I know, you're not a jerk." Ethan says and I can't help but smile "but seriously talking, people who've encountered him say that he's nice. I think you should take your shot on this guy!"
"We'll see.." the idea of meeting him started to appeal to me.
We kept on chatting about our summer adventures and Callie's new lover, who was actually from another town and they met at a camp.
"You know what we should do?" asks Ethan but without waiting for our response, he continues "a sleepover! Because we truly have so much to catch up on. What about tomorrow?"
"On a school night? Come on! You know how hard it is for me to wake up after a long night, let's keep it for the weekend." I ask hoping I can convince him because I knew that he already set up his mind.
"I'm sorry but I can't, Ryan is coming over on Saturday."
"Well you can invite him over, I'd like to meet him." suggests Ethan.
"I'll introduce him to you for sure, but will you give us your parents' room? Because I don't know what secret dirty desires you have but I'm not fond of people watching me while I'm having sex with my boyfriend." I couldn't help but laugh at her words.
"What did I do to you! Now I won't be able to get these images out of my mind. I'm going to throw up!" Ethan made such a horrified expression and pretended he was going to throw up.
I kept on laughing so hard my eyes were beginning to water, I really enjoy being around these two. Then Ethan stopped laughing and became serious.
"He's here!" He announces and I can't help the feeling of excitement growing in me.
I keep on searching for him and then I see him and he was totally perfect. He was wearing black trousers with a white t-shirt tight enough to make me imagine what's under that clothing, his thick black hair was pulled back in such a casual sexy way, the simplicity of his look made him beyond gorgeous. You could feel his confidence through the way he was walking and you could see how all the whispers and the eyes on him didn't intimidate him, not even the slightest bit and he actually seems nice with that little smile on his face.
I check my reflection on my cell phone's screen and flash my best smile.
"Hey!" I say as he passes by, but he has totally ignored me.
"Nice you were saying.." I say frustrated.
"But.." Ethan tries to calm me down but I cut him off.
"Never mind, he wasn't worth trying anyway, let's go."
I pick my books and head towards the classroom trying to shake what happened off my mind. But all day I couldn't think about anything but how he ignored me and the best part was that we had two classes together, French and Mathematics.
What a good start of the year.
I went home and to my surprise, Joelle was there.
"Hello sis'!" she greets me as always with a big hug "I missed you so much!"
"Me too!" I say hugging her back "what are you doing here? I thought you'll be away for another month."
"Well, Martin got called back for work so here I am!"
Joelle is my older sister, she's 26 years old, yes there's a huge gap between us but we were always so close. She got married last spring and since then she's been traveling the world with her husband.
"Poor him, and when is he going to come?" I ask after sitting by her side on the living room's couch.
"Well he's already here, in the garden with dad, preparing for a barbecue and also Carl is coming." she announces.
"Are we celebrating something?"
"Nah...Just a family reunion."
I eye her suspiciously "I know that you're hiding something but I'll leave it for now."
Mom joins us a couple of minutes later.
"Who wants some coffee?" She says holding a plate with three cups on it "I knew that you'd be already here."
We chat a little bit until Carl comes, I jump at him and hug him as soon as I see him.
"You asshole! How come you don't tell me that you're coming?"
"Can you pretend to show some respect in front of me?" Says my mom.
"Hello to you too chubby face." We both ignored her remark and she rolls her eyes at us.
"Stop calling me that" I pout and he squeezes my cheeks.
"How cute!" He laughs and goes to greet mom and Joelle.
Carl is our oldest brother, he's 29 years old, and right now he's running our company in Detroit.
"Come on let's go see those men before they burn down the whole house."
We join Martin and dad who were struggling with the barbecue.
"My little one is here." says my dad before kissing me on the cheek.
"Can you all stop treating me like a little girl?"
"Well that's what you are actually." laughs Carl.
"We should admit that she grew a couple of inches since last spring." laughs Martin.
"Well thank you all for taking me so seriously."
They keep on joking around and Carl helps the others with the barbecue, he's actually a great cook and he always takes pleasure in preparing our family meals. Joelle sits down and asks me to join her while mom helps Carl finding whatever he needs.
"So how was your first day? Did you finally give James the pleasure of dating him?" she chuckles.
"Oh come on, stop! I'm not going to date that dumbass even if he's the last man on earth."
"He's not that bad you know and you two have been so close."
"Yea when we were like 5, he changed a lot you know."
"Okay, okay I know how stubborn you can be sometimes. Let's talk about that sexy summer love you had."
"You said it yourself; he's just a summer love. We said we'd keep in touch but it's hard being hundreds of miles away."
"Well lots of people have long-distance relationships and lots of them work it out."
"Well yea, but it's just not my type of relationship."
"Oh you're the touchy type." she says touching her arms sexually which makes me burst into laughter.
"You can say that, actually there's something I want to tell you.." I say and make a pause, debating whether it deserves to tell her about him or not.
"Are you pregnant?" she asks with wide eyes.
"Of course I'm not, I use protection, you taught me that." I wink at her and she smiles.
"Well then?" she asks impatiently.
"Well, there's this guy..."
"Are you in love? Is my wish finally coming true? Who is he? Tell me everything, I'm all ears!"
"First I'm not in love, it's not a big deal, it's just that I feel weird about it, it never happened before."
"You're not helping me here you know."
"Okay, just don't cut me off anymore, so he's new, some Ian Seel, Ethan told me that he's sympa and all but when he came to school today I tried to approach him, to make friends you know because he's new," she smiles at that point, probably not believing a word, I myself don't know why I tried to befriend him "and he totally ignored me like truly, he looked me in the eyes and just walked past me. Can you believe that?"
"Well you look pretty in these clothes and your make-up is just fine, I don't get it either."
"Stop joking around, I need real advice."
"Well, I guess you can't get everything in this life even if you have money and looks."
I daze away, trying to figure out what happened, why would people say that he's nice if he's acting that way, he could've at least smiled or said a simple 'hello'? Or maybe is it me? Did I look too bitchy for his taste? I didn't wear anything extravagant today, just a simple crop top and jeans, maybe I was too boring for his taste? Or maybe was it my smile, did I look freaky? Oh and after all why am I overthinking this. There's nothing wrong with me.
"So what are you girls talking about?" Carl joins as minutes later.
"Girls' talk." I say but Joe saw otherwise.
"Apparently there's this guy who ignored our gorgeous sister and that didn't please her at all, can you believe that!" she says dramatically.
"Who can resist such beauty? Who's that asshole? I'm going to kick his butt." Carl says clenching his fists as if preparing for a fight.
"Can you not tell him everything? And it's not a big deal so stop acting so dramatically."
"I'm offended here! So you were not going to tell me about this new love affair of yours."
"It's not a love affair, I barely know the guy actually I only know his name."
"Well, I can get lots of information about him just from his name."
"I told you..." I start but Joe cuts me off again.
"Ian Seel"
"Dad told me about the Seel family a couple of days ago, they're new in town right!"
"Yes and don't even try to do anything about it, I don't want any information about the guy."
"We'll talk about this later, let's go eat now, they're waiting for us."
We join my parents and Martin who looked so proud of the meat he cooked, it's been a while since we gathered like this and as I expected Joelle had something to tell us, she was pregnant, Martin was so surprised he cried and we all hugged her and congratulated them on this big news. I was so happy at the idea of becoming an aunt but also I couldn't stop that feeling growing inside me at the idea of me not being the little one anymore and not having my sister at my disposal all the time.
After dinner, we sat all inside because it became a bit chilly outside, mom prepared fresh juice for all of us and everyone was so excited about Joe's pregnancy, Martin never seemed happier, he was so excited, he was already looking for babies' bedrooms and showing it to Joe while we all laughed at him. But somehow, there was this feeling of jealousy inside me, I didn't know why, this never happened to me before, maybe it's because I was never put in this kind of situation.
I get up and leave the living room, fortunately, they were all so into the conversation that they didn't notice me leaving. I get to my room, take my cigarettes pack and put on a sweater then go to my secret spot, it's not truly a secret spot since both my siblings know about it, it's just this little cottage in the back of our garden that no one approaches and where I like to go whenever I feel like staying alone. I took the liberty to decorate it as I please, there were different blankets thrown on the floor with a dozen pillows to keep it warm, I also put up shelves where I put my books and differents small pots of flowers and I only use candles to lighten it up. I take out a cigarette and lit it, I should feel happy for my sister and not jealous of an unborn baby, she doesn't deserve this.
"I knew that you'd be here." I jump and turn around, it was Carl, I could barely see his face in the dim light of the candles.
"you scared the shit out of me." I glare at him and he just sits next to me.
"So you smoke now! Does mom know?" he asks.
"Of course not, she'd kill me"
"Well you know it's bad for your health and she's right for worrying because you know you're the first one of her children to cause such trouble." He says as he takes the cigarette and smokes it.
"Says Mr perfect!" I say ironically "do you want me to remind you of that time you made me a fake ID and took me to a bar and got me an alcoholic drink for the first time?"
"Don't you ever speak of that again, we said that it'll always stay between us yet you told Joe and got me scolded."
"Well, it was one of the best nights of my life, if that makes you forgive me." I said with an innocent smile.
"I know why you came here, just know that you'll always be my number one and that's why, I brought you a present." He says hugging me.
"Are you serious? Give it to me!" I exclaim excitedly, all feelings of jealousy fading away.
"Can't you be polite and thank me or something?"
"I'll thank you when I get my present."
"You're a lost case truly, come with me." He finishes the cigarette then guides me to the garage. When we get in, there was a huge thing covered in its middle, I had my guess but I still can't believe it.
I look at him with big wide eyes "Seriously!" I ask.
"Mom will kill me but yes," he smiles seeing my eyes getting wider and my mouth forming a huge O "check it out!"
I remove the covers and there in front of me, was a huge black 2006 Harley Davidson 1340cc, the same model that I sent him a couple of months earlier. I let out a loud scream and then jump at him, hugging him and thanking him.
"Thank you, oh my god! I can't believe that you truly got it for me." I hug him tighter "I'm going to get Joe, she won't believe it. Oh gosh, mom will truly lose her mind."
He laughs at my excitement and gives me the keys.
"Joe!" I scream as I get into the house, "you've got to see this!"
"What's happening?" my mom asks as soon as I enter the living room.
I hold the keys up "guess what Carl got for me?"
"Oh my god! you're definitely going to give me a tour, like now."
"Anything you want Mrs. Jenkins" I smile willing to try my new bike anytime soon.
"There's no way you're going to ride that thing and especially not at this hour."
"C'mon mom, Carl paid a fortune for it, it's not fair to let it lay around," I say pouting.
"Mom, she can handle it, she was taking classes and you know how she can nail it." at this point, Carl has joined us.
The good thing, no matter how strict and overprotective my mom can be towards me, she can never say no to Carl. he's the apple of her eyes.
"Fine but not today."
I jump at my mom and give her a big hug, "thank you, thank you.." I repeat over and over.
"Joe, I'll come to take you tomorrow after school but you have to check it right now, it's beyond gorgeous."
Joelle stands up and so does Martin, they were both excited to check it out. Carl also got me two custom made helmets which made everything more amazing.