The Boyfriend Project

Chapter 1

"Chelsi, time for school!" Mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs. "You don't want to be late on your first day." 

I didn't care if I was late or not. I didn't feel like dealing with friends, asking what happened between Aaron and me. He and I broke up a few days before school was to start. I sat down at my vanity, wiping the stray tears off my cheeks. I caught a glimpse of the dark, puffy circles under my eyes from crying the past two days. Senior year was supposed to be the greatest year of my high school career, not the worst. I hurried up and finished getting ready for school. I threw my hair up in a messy bun and managed to keep from crying long enough to put my makeup on. Now, I just had to keep from smearing it. 

"Morning," I mumbled, walking into the kitchen and placing my book bag in a chair. 

"Morning." Mom said, pouring me a glass of orange juice. "Chelsi, try and have a good first day today." 

"No guarantees. But I will try." I took the glass of juice and sat down in my chair at the table. Mom knew I needed some cheering up and made my favorite breakfast of muffins and fruit. I sat there, trying to enjoy my breakfast, dreading what lay ahead for me. 

"Morning, everyone!" My sister said rather loudly, walking into the kitchen. "Oh! Muffins." She grabbed a muffin. 

Her cheerfulness was not welcomed at the moment. So then, I began tossing around the idea of dropping her off five blocks from the school, so I wouldn't have to listen to her babble all the way there. A giggle escaped my lips, and I glanced over my shoulder to see if either of them had heard me. Unfortunately, my lie-making skills were lacking, and being grounded wasn't high on my list of priorities. 

"Sam, are you ready to leave in a few minutes? I want to make sure I get there before asshole does." I said, watching her tear off tiny pieces of her muffin.  

"Chelsi! Language." Mom said. 

"Sorry. I want to make sure I get there before shithead. Is that better?" I turned in my seat, raising an eyebrow. 

Mom stood there, tilting her head at me with her disapproving "Mom look." You know, the one where they are disappointed in you but won't come out and say it. I had a feeling she agreed with me but wouldn't admit it. 

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let me put my stuff in the sink," she said, getting up from the table. 

                                                                               ****

I pulled into the school parking lot, scanning for Aaron's car, which happened to be nowhere around. I no more got the car parked, and Sam was out of the car, heading over to her friends. 

"Hey, Chelsi. Sorry, I didn't text you back last night. Dad wanted to have "family time" and told us to stay off our phones for it. You know how he is about quality time." Blakely said, getting out of her car. Blakely Tate has been one of my best friends since grade school. Her father was a cardiovascular surgeon who didn't get much time with her and her siblings. So, when he managed to get a day off, he didn't like any of them on their phones. 

"It's okay. I was dwelling in self-pity last night. So, maybe it was a good thing you couldn't text or call me. Have you heard if Avery is back from the Bahamas?" I asked, getting out of my car. "I tried texting her last night too, but as usual, got no reply." 

Avery Watson was our other best friend. Unfortunately, she had a tendency to be self-absorbed and not return our texts the majority of the time, then got mad when she didn't know what we were talking about at the moment. We'd have to remind her often that she would know what we were talking about if she'd texted us back.