Chapter 1 – Hell on Earth

"Time to say goodbye to all good things on Earth, Tris," I said, grumbling under my breath.

At that moment, I was leaning against the bumper of my car as my best friend and I stared up at the dark and looming building in front of us. Waiting for us inside were thick textbooks, hellish teachers, and our last school year of worrying about good grades for college or university.

Shifting his weight against the bumper beside me, Tristan O'Donnell seemed to have no worries about entering our senior year at Premiere Guild high school. In fact, he seemed to be looking forward to the workloads that they were about to lay in front of us... Hell, what was I talking about? I've known him for over ten years, and each year he just seemed to get smarter and smarter. For the past three years, Tristan held our class' second highest GPA and yet, he wasn't classified as one of the school's nerds.

Let me clarify one thing. Tristan O'Donnell has it all. He has the boyish good looks, top grades, the money, and the perfect girlfriend whom I in fact, envy. You would think that a guy who was athletically built, had tousled deep blonde hair with light blue eyes would be some ignorant jock. But the truth was that he wasn't. Sure, he played on the peppiest sports like football and soccer, but he would never be like the jocks. He was just too down to Earth. He, was just Tristan.

Or maybe I'm just biased because I'm his best friend. You can make your own call.

"Honestly, Hales. It's not going to be as bad as you're making it out to be," Tristan said with a small smile as he turned his head to look over at my reaction. "And besides, aren't you glad we're going to be getting out of this hell-hole in nine months? After that, we're free to roam the world."

Scrunching my face up into a look of disgust, I shook my head. "Yeah, that's easy for you to say. You already have an early admittance to the college of your preference, and might I add, a trust fund with your name on it to help you get out of Drysdale." I twisted my gaze away from his blue eyes and glared at the school. "I, on the other hand, have to bring up my marks from a C average just so I can get into my college."

The college I was referring to was the ultimate college. The college of all colleges- McMahan's College of Music. That's right, a music college. Alright, so maybe it's not the ultimate college for most people, but it was for me. Right from the moment I picked up that brochure, I knew that it was the place for me. Singing was my life, and I knew I had to get in to that college no matter what lengths I had to go to. But for me to actually get in to that school, I had to audition and have a B average. Now, auditioning I had no problem with. I had no crazy case of stage-fright, nor did I have a bad voice (I hope.). And on the plus side, I've done all the grade levels for piano, theory, and harmony. I was all set. The problem was getting and keeping a B average.

You see, I'm not the brightest person in the Lisanti family. Most creative? Yes. Smartest? No.

Exasperated, Tristan repeated what he told me all summer, "Hailey, I told you already. If you need help, I'm here. I'm your best friend for Pete's sake. I don't see why you won't let me tutor you."

Of course he didn't. But I saw the major flaw in this plan. The flaw? Him.

For years I've liked Tristan. If I took up his offer and let him tutor me, I was pretty sure that instead of focusing on math or science I'd be trying to wipe that dreamy look off my face.

So why didn't I just tell him up front about this dilemma? Oh, just because he was deeply and madly in love with his steady girlfriend of about 4 months.

Ariel Rafton.

No matter how much I despised her guts, I couldn't just drop a bomb like that on Tristan. I could just picture it now…

"Tristan, I'm totally in love with you."

"Who in the what now?"

Yeah, totally romantic.

"…Hailey? Hailey Isabella Lisanti?"

A hard tapping against my forehead brought me away from my thoughts as Tristan's handsome face whirred left and right in front of mine. "Hey, anyone home in there?" He continued his tapping against my forehead until I began to shake my head furiously.

"Tristan! Quit it!" I jerked away from his finger and instinctively brought my hand up to my forehead to rub the tender spot where he felt the need to jab the brains out of. No wonder why I lacked good grades.

Tristan jumped back with a playful smirk on his face while recoiling his hand. "Hey, I was just trying to bring you back from the dead. You just went to la-la land for about two minutes. What's up with you?"

Oh nothing, just daydreaming about us being together. Fool. "Nothing, God. I think the school's just getting to me or so-…" He never got to hear what I was about to say next because I was cut off by a high-pitched voice.

"TRISSY POO!"

We both turned our heads in the direction of the shrill voice- though, with different reactions. Tristan absolutely brightened as he heard his pet name and I simply gagged behind his back.

Completely brushing me off, his best friend for ten years, he did a hop-skip towards the petite, auburn-haired girl. "Hey, Aerie!" He swooped down towards her for a kiss and I took that moment to look away.

I scowled under my breath as they finished exchanging their "greetings" before coming my way.

Enveloped in Tristan's arms, Ariel stood in front of me with a brilliant smile on her face. "Hey Hailey, how're you?"

Now that you're here, I'm just about ready to kill myself. "Oh you know me, I'm just dandy. And you?"

"Great, great. I'm glad to just get back into the groove, y'know?"

"That makes one of us," I said blandly. Neither Tristan nor Ariel seemed to notice how I lacked much enthusiasm. Whenever they were together the world just seemed to disappear. And for me, the world just comes out from beneath my feet and leaves me falling into a dark chasm I like to call, "The-Chasm-to-Get-Away-from-the-Red-Headed-Spawn-of-Satan".

Maybe that's why I hate Ariel so much. When she was with Tristan, I felt like I was anything but important. Or maybe I just didn't like her fake, dyed copper hair or preppy clothing style. Don't get me wrong, Ariel's a nice girl… But there was just something about her that made me loath her in every possible way.

Still coddling each other, I glanced at my watch and went to make a clean getaway. "Oh, look at the time. I should get to home form. Places to go, people to see. Catch up with you guys later."

And with that, I was almost sprinting towards the school.
Mumbling under my breath, I entered my home room class with five minutes to spare. It was Calculus so I did a once over of the room and began to shuffle my feet towards a seat in the second last row. From this vantage point, I knew Mr. Kapalatski wouldn't be able to see that I was taking naps in his class.

The classroom was filling quickly with students exchanging stories about their summer holidays when a tall, familiar figure took a seat in front of me. "You're here awfully early for once, Hales."

"And you're sitting too far back from the black board, don't you think geekoid?" I retorted at Tristan's younger brother.

Lucas O'Donnell was the youngest of the family but was also one of the smartest. A year younger than both Tristan and I, Lucas had skipped a grade and was in the same boat as us. Senior year.

Shrugging his shoulders, he put his elbows onto my desk and replied, "But unlike you, I don't need to be at the front of the room to get good grades. I think I'm fine sitting here all year and bugging you."

"Well, at least I'll get most of the attention deflected off me since you're sitting in front of me so I guess I'll have to keep you here."

Instead of replying, Lucas simply smiled showing a set of straight, pearly whites. He would never live up to Tristan's good looks and amiable attitude, but Lucas had his own attributes that set him apart from his brother. For one, he had a careless attitude about him that made him seem so wild and reckless. Really, he was just a sixteen year old boy who was trying to make his mark in the world that would cast him away from Tristan's shadow. I admired him for that. After so many years of hanging out with the O'Donnell brothers, Lucas became like another brother to me.

Lucas, to say the least, was a dare devil. He tested his parent's patience daily and always had something up his sleeves. Despite all of his teenage rebellion, he was a smart kid. He topped Tristan's GPA, and most of the time he didn't try.

"Anyway Luc, how was psychobabble geek camp? Learn more about Einstein and Newton?" I winked.

"Oh well, nothing I didn't already know. Met a few girls, but they weren't very pretty. I have to say, two weeks at brain camp got pretty lonely. I wasted two weeks when I could have hung out with you. I missed you, babe." He took my hand in his and smoothed the pad of his thumb across the back of my hand.

Rolling my eyes, I pulled back my hands and gave him a friendly shove. That was the way things were between us. We were always joking around and trying to make each other feel uncomfortable.

As Mr. Kapalatski entered the room, Lucas turned around in his seat to face the front. But before he did, he said, "I only speak the truth. But whatever. Even if you don't believe it, I love you anyway, Hales."

Pity those words are coming from the mouth of the wrong O'Donnell brother.

Author's Note: Alright, the first chapter's complete! I'm pretty satisfied with it so far. I hope you guys enjoy it and review.