Chapter One: Light Green Eyes

The cranky teacher sits in front of me as he looks over my horrible grades in this class. Ever since my parents died in a car accident my grades have gone downhill. He takes his glasses off as his eyes scan the bright computer screen. The old chair squeaks every time he moves. It's the end of the school day, tomorrow is they last day of school which I am happy about. I have good grades in all of my other classes but this one. My old black heavy book bag slides off my shoulder as I wait impatiently for this slow snail called Mr.Andrews, my math teacher. Everybody that knows me knows I'm not a patient person, so this waiting is literally killing me.

"Sage, I know that your parents passed away a few months back but that is no excuse for your grades to be like this." He scolded me as his eyes scanned the computer screen, my mouth drops.

"AN EXUSE?! Mr.Andrews, my parents died and I couldn't do anything about it! Emotionally I'm crumbling down day by day. A death of a loved one is not controlled by somebody. So don't tell me that my parents death is an excuse for my grades to go down!" I shout at him, he doesn't know what's going on in my life. Death of both of my parents and living with a brother that doesn't care about me or that our parents died. My brother is a disgusting human being, all he cares about is one night stands, alcohol and party's. I live in Florida, well the small town side of it. Its a nice place when it rains. The humidity is unbearable, there is no such thing as winter here. Which is stupid since I love the cold weather. My father was that way also, always having us travel to cold places.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me Sage! Don't you walk out of this room!" He shouts, after the first sentence that came out of his stupid mouth I was walking to leave this stupid classroom.

"Watch me moron!" I shout back.
I push the thick brown door to leave. My shoes touch the concrete as I head towards the school parking lot. To be completely honest I suck at math. I'm fine with everything else except math. The parking lot empty only holding a few cars and my black truck. It was my fathers truck but he gave it to me when I turned sixteen. The truck is my baby, if there is a little scratch on it will freak out. The car doors unlock once I press the button on the keys.

"Sage! Wait!" Somebody shouts from behind me, I look over to find Ben running up towards me. My eyes immediately roll, why you might ask? Ben has been trying to get me on a date for the past two years. He won't take no for an answer. Ben is wearing a light blue shirt with khakis and some nice running shoes. Once he is near me he bends over and put his hands on his knees trying to catch his breathe. How far did he run?

"Please, tomorrow night at seven?" He asks me after catching his breathe. My eyes roll again, see what I'm saying he doesn't take no as an answer.

"Ben. No is no, why don't you understand that?" I complain, here is a little thing about Ben. He will ask out every girl in the school to go on a date until they all say yes. I won't lie he is good looking but his personality sucks. He's pretty much a player, he just doesn't take them to his house after.

"Please Sage." He pleads, there is seriously something wrong with him.

"No I already have enough drama in my life. I don't need more in it." My voice comes out stern and annoyed as I open the car door. My book bag swings over to the passenger seat as Ben stands beside the car door. I slam the door shut in his face as a small glare comes from my eyes.

"Come on! Really!" He shouts once the engine turned on, I flip him the bird. He has a shocked expression as I leave the parking lot. Trees surround the small town road that I drive on. You would think I would move to Orlando or some city big like that. But I love the woods and small towns, my mother was the same way. So, we all decided to stay in the same small town my mother and father grew up in. Some cars pass by me here and there but not a lot of people live here. My brother well he's never home, so the house belongs to me. Kind of.

My phone rings beside me, I slide the phone icon to answer the call as I drive.

"Hey Sage..." my brother slurs his words. What does this moron want?

"What Jasper?" My voice snaps annoyed at him and his presence.

"Can you pick up some of my friends?" He asks, I groan in annoyance. Another trip to make ugh. I just want to go home, eat and sleep.

"Who?" I ask him as I turn onto another road that's surrounded by trees.

"Cole and Scott." He answers, Cole and Scott are close friends, they both graduated when my brother did last year. That's how they all met, from school.

"What's in it for me?" I ask him, I ain't just going to do something for him without a price.

"Forty bucks."

"We'll be over in twenty." I immediately answered. I'm not going to pass up free money that's for sure. I'm going to buy a few books with that money. I've been over to Cole and Scotts house to pick them up more times then I can count. They drink and stuff but they're not as bad as my brother. I think of them as a brother I've never had. One that actually cares.

*

*

"How's my little sis doing?" Scott asked as he ruffled my hair. I glared at him while putting my light brown hair into a high pony tail. We're stopped at a red light heading towards my house.

"Could be better," I answer honestly. Scott and Cole nod their heads understanding what I meant. The light turned green as I turned onto a road that has a small grocery store and other places next to it that leads me to my house. My truck shakes as I drive over the dirt and rocks that is on the so called 'road'.

"I'll probably go to the grocery store later tonight. Will y'all need anything except beer?" I ask them, both of them think for a bit before shaking their heads no.

"You're a Mom, you know that Sage?" Cole says with a grin.

"Well somebody has to be responsible around here." A little groan escapes my lips while I said that.

"Ready for school to be out?" Scott asks trying to start a conversation.

"Can't wait to get out of that hell hole. You know it's exactly like the arena in Catching Fire. The arena is divided into a clock, with a new threat every hour. That's pretty much the definition of school." I stated, it got very quite after that. My eyes look over at the two boys after it got really quite, they're looking at me like I have three heads. A sigh escapes my lips, they have no idea what I'm talking about. School will be ending in a month, finally.

"Apparently you're not in the fandom." I whisper to myself as I pull into the old two story house I call home. The home has a light yellow color paint with plants crawling up the walls of it. The wooden porch holds a white wooden rocking chair my mother would sit on and read for hours. Roses grow beside the home as some have already grown behind the house. She's always had a green thumb. Scott and Cole left the truck to head towards the house. I just sit in the car for a few minutes trying to soak up this moment. My father and I were close but I was a Momma's girl. Will never deny it, I'm proud to be her girl.

"You coming in?!" Scott shouts out of the front door, another loud groan escapes my lips as I grab my book bag. This is why I soak up the relaxing moments because then I have to face reality. The truck beeps alerting me it's locked as I head up towards the house.

A sound of branches breaking from the forest that is surrounding my house has me looking over at the direction of the noise. A pair of light green eyes stare at me, for some odd reason these eyes don't scare me but instead the calm me. I shake my head. Probably just imaging or something. As I walk inside of the house I felt those eyes lingering on me, watching my every move.
Probably just an animal. When I walked into the house my brother is watching a football game while sipping his life away with a cold beer. Wish I could do that, life is hard but like I said before someone had to be responsible around here. Scott and Cole are sitting on the couch with him, Cole watching the game while Scott texts some girl.

"Pay up." I order my brother as I stick my hand out waiting for the cash to appear in my hand. He groans as he hands me two twenty dollar bills, knowing him they're probably fake so I put them up to a light to make sure they're real. I look very close, bingo. For the first time in forever they're actually real.

"You're learning for once in your life," I said with a smile while ruffling his dark brown hair he got from our father. He just rolls his eyes while taking another sip of his beer.

"Keep rolling your eyes, you might find a brain back there." I stated while walking up the stairs to go to my room. A loud annoyed groan comes from downstairs. Because of that a small smile creeps its way onto my face for once he didn't actually talk back.

My eyes scan my messy room, clothes scattered everywhere as my unmade bed is next to my desk that holds school work and books. My body relaxes as the comforting sheets surround me as I lay in the bed.

My phone light turns on as I put on some music. Music is another way I escape reality. There are three ways to escape reality which consist of reading, listening to music and playing my ukulele. The bookshelf near my messy desk holds tons of books I've read to many times to count. My mother would give me books as a present, most kids would hate it but I loved it.

My eyes focus on a picture of my whole family that lays on my desk. It was Christmas of my fourth grade year. My fingers wrap around the picture frame, as I stare at my family we all looked so happy. Just smiling like there was no care in the world. I'm playing my ukulele as my whole family watched with a smile. The picture has me looking up at my parents with a smile on my face when I finished the song, my brother is beside me with a small smile on his face. I haven't played the instrument after their death. My father loved the sound that it makes, he always encouraged me to play it whenever I could but ever since then I haven't touched it since. Sometimes his voice try's to persuade me to play it.

I look over at the brown ukulele that sits in the corner of my room, His encouraging words slowly enter my mind. My parents loving smile slips into my mind as well as my blue eyes stare at the instrument. Slowly I turn off my music and walk towards the instrument. My fathers words pushes me closer and closer until I have the instrument in my grasp. My fingers grazing the string that play the beautiful melodies. Hesitantly my fingers strung the strings, the graceful sound fills my head with more memories. My fingers strung again and again until I'm playing the music of the song my father loved to hear me sing. I sit of the soft comforter of my messy bed.

"I don't know my name
I don't play by the rules of the game
So you say I'm just trying
Just trying
So I heard you are my sister's friend
You get along quite nicely
You ask me why I cut my hair
And changed myself completely
I am lost...
Trying to get found
In an ocean of people
Please don't ask me any questions
You won't get a valid answer
I'll just say that
I don't know my name
I don't play by the rules of the game
So you say I'm just trying
Just trying
I went from bland and popular to joining the marching band
I made the closest friends I'll ever have in my lifetime." I sing, tears slowly trail down my face but I keep singing. Pictures and memories of my parents is drowning my thoughts as I sing. I can taste my salty tears but my voice still sings.

"I am lost...
Trying to get found
In an ocean of people
I now know my name!
I don't play by the rules of the game
So you say, I'm not trying
But I'm trying
To find my way."

I pour out all my emotions as I sing, fingers stop stringing the ukulele at the end of the songs. A loud sob comes from where my door is, my eyes are watery as a small sob escapes my lips. I look over to where the loud sob came from, there I see Jasper with tears tracking down his face like mine. He runs over to me, his bulky arms wrap around me as he picks me up. My arms wrap around him, Jasper is standing at his full height with me in his arms. Since he is so tall my feet aren't touching the floor. His loving brotherly hug has me sobbing more.

We both cry in each other's arms. We both cry about the death of our loving parents. We both cry about how a part of our hearts are gone. We both cry about how they're time to leave was when the crash happened and how those flames of fire swallowed our parents leading them to die together. My eyes slowly open as I peer over Jasper's shoulder. Out of the window the woods holds those light greens eyes that stare at me.