Chapter 1

It was just another Tuesday. Gina Smith was walking down the road to the local performing arts center after school. The snow that had fallen that weekend was making it hard, though. Oh well. Such things were typical in the small, Vermont town of Baxterville during January.
Gina was your average, fifteen-year-old girl. She had waist-length, wavy, midnight black hair and ice blue eyes. She was 5’4 and was of slight build. Her one true love was acting. No matter what anyone would say, she was an actress at heart. She was kind, if given a chance. However, if made fun of without cause, her tongue became harsh and biting. She lived in a small house just down the street from the PAC, as it was known.
She groaned softly as she heard footsteps coming up behind her. There was only one other person that lived as close to the PAC as she did. His name was Matt Collins. He was another fifteen-year-old that was pretty average. He had short, curled sunshine blond hair and warm, chocolate brown eyes. He was about 5’6 and of a more average build. He also loved acting, but his method was much different than Gina’s. He was always saying that she couldn’t act and couldn’t sing, which hurt her a lot. To almost everyone else, he was pretty nice. He lived a few houses down from Gina, though he would usually have his mom drive him and his sister, Shannon, to their class.
He and Gina hadn’t gotten along since they met at the end of elementary school. He had just moved there, but Gina screamed at him for running into her in the lunchroom, knocking her food off the tray and all over the both of them, as well as the floor. He really was sorry, but didn’t see why he should be the one to apologize, since she screamed at him. She felt bad, but felt she shouldn’t have to apologize, since he was the one that ran into her.
“What are you doing here?” She turned her head and glared at the boy as he walked up next to her.
“Hey! Calm down, I come in peace!” He snickered as he fell into step with her.
“Well? Speak!” She tilted her head upward.
“Fine. Shannon’s sick, so my mom stayed with her instead of driving me. I, therefore, had to walk-”
“Brilliant deduction, Sherlock!” Gina interrupted sarcastically.
“If I might finish! I saw you walking and thought to ask you how you thought you did at the auditions on Saturday.” Matt rolled his eyes as he finished the cut-off sentence.
“Since when does it matter to the infallible Matt Collins what anyone thinks of their own performances? I know what you think, and that’s that I sucked! You just want to rub what you think in my face!” Gina, in disgust, ran off down the street, her class bag bouncing at her hip.
Matt just shook his head at her. He really didn’t think the worst of the girl, despite what their history implied. When it came to acting and singing, she was pretty good, to be honest. He just thought that she could do better. But she never cared about his opinion, because he would always say the same thing, in her mind.
As he watched her run away, he saw disaster about to strike. Gina wasn’t known as the most graceful of the girls at their school. He saw her stumble as her feet came out from under her and she came crashing down on the sidewalk. It all seemed to happen in slow motion.
When she hit the ground and skidded a bit, that’s when it all came back into real time. He sprinted down the street and knelt down next to her, to check what damage had been done. Her face had hit the sidewalk, which looked as if it had been a really painful landing. That was the only visible damage she had, but her jeans and winter coat could’ve possibility hid other wounds.
He cautiously picked her up by her underarms into a sitting position, since she was too out of it to do so herself. He proceeded to pick her up until she was standing up. She suddenly snapped out of it. Whether it was from pain, the idea that she had to support herself, or the little fact that Matt was holding her up.
“What are you doing?” she whispered angrily. She was about to pull away, but stumbled a bit and cried out. Matt reached out and caught her again.
“Calm down, I’m just going to get you to the PAC so that we can get you cleaned up. You hit the cement pretty hard, you know.” He softened a bit, moving his arm around her waist to help her. He gently guided her the rest of the way to the PAC.