Chapter 1 – Olivia Clark

Waking up to the sun shining through my window is probably the most aesthetic thing that has happened this summer. I take a few minutes to wake up and get myself out of bed. I don’t know why, but something is making me feel stressed, like my brain knows something that I don’t. I can’t quite figure out what it is, but I won’t stress any further. As I grab my box of cigarettes and search for my lighter, I remember that Dan and I wanted to meet up today. I open the door to my porch and settle down on the chair and take a deep breath. The fresh morning air is somehow so comforting to me today that it suddenly relieves all the stress and tension that has built up in my body the last five minutes. Lighting my cigarette is probably the second most aesthetically pleasing thing happening this summer. Getting up early with the sun, sitting on my porch and lighting my cigarette. I know that smoking is really not good for me but God it’s comforting. I put out my cigarette and head back inside and get ready. I hear my phone vibrating, but only God knows where it is. I’ll just ignore it for now. Jesus it must be important, because it’s still vibrating. As I search my room for my phone like the fucking police that’s looking for drugs, I get this weird feeling again. It feels like something is wrong, but I really have no idea what it is. I see Dan’s name on my lock screen, pick up and put him on speaker as I continue getting ready. “What do you want?” I ask in an annoyed tone. “Calm down, sunshine. It’s just me.” I groan after hearing that. “I just wanted to make sure you’re up and won’t forget that we’re meeting today. We gotta celebrate girl, you just moved from France to California.”, he says like it’s the best thing I’ve ever accomplished, pretty ironic if I do say so myself. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on taking me out today…”, just the thought of finally being in California is so fucking awesome. I’ve always dreamed of this, and now it’s finally happening. “Don’t act like you won’t like it. We both know you’re just here because of the hot guys.”, Dan says. “Whatever. We’ll see about that as soon as you’re drunkenly clinging onto a girl in the club, and I’ll have to drag you back home”, I say. I just hear him snorting and muttering something inaudible. “Just get ready. I’ll pick you up in ten, sunshine.” I hang up the phone and find myself smiling at the stupid nickname he gave me. After ten minutes I hear a car pulling into the driveway and I quickly run to the door waiting for him to come up to the door. Just before he’s able to knock on my door I yank it open and scare him. As he starts to yell at me and telling me what a huge idiot I am, I begin to laugh. “Wow. I had no idea you were that easy to scare”, I say in the most mocking tone ever. “I kind of regret telling you to move here, now that I think about it.” “I love you too, Dan.” I quickly grab my purse from the counter and head back to the front door. We walk to his car and just as I start to admire his beautiful silver Camaro, I notice a huge dent with a couple of scratches on it. “Jesus Christ, what happened to your baby?”, I’m actually worried, because I know that his Camaro is really important for him. “Total horror. Some stupid idiot tried to overtake me on the freeway and rammed into me this morning.” After he said the words this morning I remember that weird feeling I had when I woke up.