Chapter 1

“ Makayla!” an angry voice from downstairs called. “We are going to be late if you don’t get down here right now!”

Makayla Dawson brushed through her tangled, dirty- blonde hair and then threw the brush on the floor in frustration.

“I’m coming! Give me a sec!” she responded.

She leaned in close to the mirror and began pulling at her eyelashes, trying to get the clumps out of her mascara, which she had only applied to one eye.

She moved on to her foundation. This was the first time she had ever put it on, and today it was very streaky and fake looking. She rubbed at it, trying to even it out.

She finally sighed and gave up.

“Nothing is going to help. I am going to look awful my first day of my Junior year!”

She stared back at her reflection. Her straight hair was doing the usual. Nothing. Her dull gray eyes stared back at her, filled with tears. She hated the reflection she saw. She turned sideways and looked back at the mirror. She was thin, and reasonably tall, but her chest was flat. And in high school, that’s all people cared about.

As she descended the stairs, she could hear her sister Meredith’s voice.

“ Come on, Mak!”

“I’m on my way.”

She rounded the corner and her sister burst into laughter.

“What happened to you?”

“Shut up.”

Meredith Dawson, Makayla’s “twin” sister was beautiful. She was very tall and had long, strawberry blonde hair. Her skin was fair, and she had a perfect figure. Her eyes were bright green and her teeth were straight and white. She was popular at school and very smart and very talented.

Makayla had always believed that her parents lied to her and that she and Meredith weren’t really twins. She had always thought that Meredith belonged to them, and that they had just found Makayla somewhere. Her parents were both very attractive people. It wasn’t that Makayla was unattractive. She just wasn’t beautiful like the rest of her family.

They sat in the car, on the way to school and rode in total silence.

“Are you excited?” Meredith asked.

“Yea, kinda.I mean, I am hoping for a better year.” Makayla said unenthusiastically.

“Maybe if you’ll have a better attitude, you’ll have a better year.”

“Maybe.”

“So, I wonder what Jake Carson is going to look like this year.” Meredith said smiling.

“Oh, I, Uh, I… I dunno.”  Makayla stuttered.

Meredith looked at her and raised her eyebrow. “Do you still have a thing for him?”

“No, no of course not.” Makayla could feel her face turning red so she pretended to be very interested in something outside the window.

“Awww, Mak, sweetie.” Meredith began. “You know Jake is out of your league. He would never go for someone like you. Guys like Jake go for girls like… well, girls like me.” She pursed her freshly glossed lips together and smiled at her reflection in the rearview mirror.

Makayla continued staring out the window and pretended not to be paying attention. A single tear slid down her cheek.

  Finally, they arrived at Shady Oaks High School. The parking lot was full of excited teenagers, all looking their best. Meredith jumped out of the car immediately and then looked back in at Makayla.

“Are you coming? Or are you just going to sit in here all day?”

Makayla nodded. “I’m coming. Just go on.”

Meredith shrugged, and said chipperly, “ Ok!”  She turned and walked toward the school, strutting all the way there. She was met in the courtyard by a group of equally beautiful girls. They all shrieked and hugged and continued walking into the school.

Makayla stared at her feet for a minute, trying to convince them to move and get out of the car. Finally, she climbed out and began slinking toward the school.

On her way, she heard the loud roar of a pickup truck behind her. The music was playing loudly and the bass was bumping. People in the courtyard of the school began cheering.

“Ok, I gotta see who this is.” She said rolling her eyes.

She turned around and waited for the door to open. The person in the car sat there until the song ended, and then opened the door and hopped out. It was Jake Carson.

Makayla’s heart stopped. Jake through his arms in the air and everyone cheered again.

“Hey Jake! Get up here man!”  Makayla recognized the voice as Blake Jamison. Jake’s best friend. Everyone used to kid them about their names rhyming. In elementary school it was cool. Now, if you mentioned it, you were thought uncool.

Not that it mattered for Makayla. She was already “uncool.”

As Jake made his way toward the school, Makayla froze where she was. She suddenly couldn’t move. Her heart was pounding hard and her knees were shaking. Then she realized, Jake was coming toward her!

Closer and closer he came. She became short of breath. Closer and closer. Almost there. He reached her and stopped.

“Excuse me.” He said raising an eyebrow. “I need to get by.”

Makayla suddenly realized that the only reason he had come her way, was the she was standing right in his path between the parking lot and the school. Her heart fell.

“Oh, sorry.” She said, her face turning red.

She moved one step to the right, and Jake walked by, not saying anything else.

Why did she like him? He was a jerk to her. What always made her go back to him, no matter how hard she tried to move on to someone else?

She shook her head, and continued on her way, to the front doors of Hell.