Chapter One: Like Any Other Day

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I smacked the snooze button with my hand and pulled the covers over my head.  Just a couple more minutes of sleep…

“Jeff! Get your lazy butt out of bed!” Mom called through the door. 

That was one of the annoying things about living on a ranch; my parents were always up at the crack of dawn so my chances of sleeping in were nil.  Not that I really minded living on a ranch or even in our small town of Appaloosa Plains. I had no intention of ever leaving, except for college.

“Come on Mom! Just five more minutes!” I pleaded with her.

“Jefferson Allen Hobble, either you get up or I’ll make you.” I knew she was serious. 

One time my older brother Charlie decided to call her bluff and she came in with a bucket of cold water and dumped it on him.  He and I used to share this room but since he was four years older than me, he had long ago moved out.  He and his wife still lived on the ranch, since he helped dad with the running of our horse ranch, but it wasn’t even close to being the same.

“All right! I’m up! I’ll be downstairs in a minute.” I got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. As I showered I thought about how this was like any other day. 

I didn’t really care that it was the first day of my senior year. I never knew why people got so excited about such things. I mean, sure, it was nice to see your friends that you didn’t see much during the summer, but it was school. Besides being on the debate team and student council, I could have cared less about high school. I had my eyes set on a bigger prize and high school was just a stepping block I had to climb to get to my ultimate goal. 

I finished showering, changed and headed downstairs for breakfast.  That was a benefit of living on a ranch, since Mom was up so early, she usually cooked breakfast for everyone. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plate of pancakes.

As I sat down at the dining room table, Charlie started talking to me.

“Hey dude! Trying to sleep in late on the first day of your senior year? You can’t tell me you’re not excited about that?!”

My siblings always seemed surprised that I was so laid back about things. Yes, I could not be excited. “You know me, not an exciting type of guy.”

“Charlie, leave him alone.” Kate tried to get Charlie off my back.

Kate, Charlie and Bridge, Charlie’s twin and my older sister, had grown up together and been friends all their life.  Sometime during their senior year, Kate and Charlie started dating and soon after high school got married.  I watched as Kate put their son, Charles in his high chair to eat.  It was weird to me to be an uncle and only be a senior in high school; almost as weird as being a brother to a five year old sister. I looked back and forth between my little sister and my nephew.

They were basically going to grow up like bother and sister but they were really aunt and nephew. Crazy.

Just then I heard the front door open. “Hello? Good Morning!”

I had heard that voice almost every day of my life. It was the voice of my best friend Star.  Star lived next door and was Kate’s sister. Just like Charlie, Kate, and Bridge, Star and I were born the same year and had been friends since either of us could remember.  She walked into the dining room and mom told her to help herself to some breakfast. This was the normal morning routine for our house; wake up, get ready, sit down for breakfast, Star comes over, we all eat breakfast together and then we would either hangout, help on the ranch or go over to her mom’s house to help her with household stuff. Star’s mom, Honey, and her dad John had gotten divorced a couple years prior so if Miss Honey needed any work done to her house, our family usually helped.  I was actually surprised that Miss Honey wasn’t with Star since she usually ate breakfast with us.

“Where’s your mom?” I asked her as she sat down to eat.

“Oh she was emotional this morning with it being the beginning of my senior year. Something about how one child was grown and out of the house and her baby now has one foot out the door. You know how she is, over emotional sometimes.”  That was one reason Star and I got a long so well. She didn’t over complicate things with her emotions.

“Oh dear! I should go over there and see if she’s okay.” Mom exclaimed. “Chuck, can you make sure Scarlett gets on the bus okay?”

“Sure, sweetheart.” He stood up and walked over to give her a kiss.

Most of us groaned.  I have to admit though, it was nice to see that after 21 years of marriage, Mom and Dad still loved each other.  I watched as Mom walked towards the front door and then left to go next door.

“Hey, earth to Jeff!” My Dad called to me. “Don’t you think you all should be heading out the door to school?”

“I guess, you about ready Star?”

“Yep. Let’s get’er done.”

We walked into the kitchen and cleaned our plated before leaving.

“Later guys!” I called back to everyone as we left.

Star didn’t have a car so I offered to drive us to school.  I have to admit that I had a pretty sweet ride.

Mom and Dad had surprised me on my sixteenth birthday with it.  As we drove down the streets of Appaloosa I looked over at Star. 

Her hair was blowing in the wind and her cheeks were slightly flushed.  I had always thought Star was pretty but up until a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have even entertained the idea of dating her; she was like a sister to me.  Then there was the summer that things changed.

Three summers ago, the summer before our freshman year, my feelings for her became stronger.  Before that, it wasn’t a huge deal since I’ve always been able to keep my emotions in check. But the night that Scarlett was born brought my feelings for Star to the surface.  That night we weren’t sure if Mom was going to live. There had been some complications during childbirth.  As us kids waited for news in the waiting room, Star had tried to comfort me. 

Ever since that night, my feelings for Star had changed from brotherly love to something else. I knew she didn’t feel the same way though so I kept my feelings buried, like I did about most things. It was odd, the one person who I told how I felt, was the person I couldn’t share my feelings with.

We arrived at the school and started walking up to the building.  And that’s when the comments started.

“Hey look! It’s Jeff and Star; maybe they’ve finally started dating since they arrived together.” I looked over at Star and she cringed.

I called over to the people “Yeah, cause that’s exactly what happened last year when we rode to school together…” That got them to stop pestering us. 

I always tried to downplay it so no one would suspect that underneath, I really did have feelings for her, especially since the idea seemed to not be a pleasant idea to Star.

We walked into the building and headed over to the locker area; our normal hanging spot before school. Peter was already waiting for us. 

I had met Peter in middle school and he and I became friends while being on the debate team together.  We both enjoyed being on student council and I usually ended up being president and him vice president.

“Hey guys! Ready to start our senior year?”  Peter and I got along but we were definitely opposites. He was a much more spirited kind of guy.

“I suppose. Just means there’s one less year between us and graduation.”

“Oh come on, Jeff! Get a little excited!” He said while punching me in the arm.

We stood there talking for a minute when I heard a musical voice behind me,

 “Well, Jefferson Hobble, I’m so glad I ran into you. . . “ I knew who it was before even turning around. It was Rosamund Carter.

 ****Star****

Oh yay. It’s Rosamund! I thought sarcastically to myself.

She was always trying to flirt with Jeff. Half the girls in the school tried to flirt with him, but he never seemed to notice. Rosamund was always particularly annoying about her flirting though. No shame in flaunting herself. Doesn’t she realize how desperate it makes her look?

“Oh hey Rosamund. How was your summer?” I heard Jeff ask.

Why do that Jeff! Now she’s going to stand here and talk to us.  It was just part of what Jeff did; like he was always running for office. Always being nice to everyone.

“Oh you know the usual, laid out by the pool in my bikini while sipping on some iced tea. I tried to call you a couple of times to see if you wanted to come over and swim.” 

Yeah, swim, I’m sure that’s what you had in mind.

“I was real busy this summer working on the ranch between that and helping Star’s mom, Star and I didn’t have much time for anything else.” At the sound of him saying my name Rosamund finally turned to acknowledge me.

“Oh, hi Star! I didn’t see you standing there. Of course where else would you be besides standing next to Jeff.” She always sounded. . .jealous;  like she resented me somehow.  I usually tried to brush it off.

“Hi Rosamund. Nice to see you.” I replied civilly.

“Jefferson, what class do you have first?”

She was always calling him Jefferson too. No one called him that. I always envisioned taking my hand and hitting her between the eyes to beat it into her. “It’s Jeff! Not Jefferson!” I wanted to scream at her. I never did it, but it was fun to imagine.

“I’ve got English.” He replied.

“Well, how about that! So do I! Want to walk together?” Oh puke! If she lays it on any thicker I’m going to have to find a toilet.

“Sure. Guess we should head that way since it’s almost time for class. Later guys.” I watched them turn and walk toward their class. As they were walking I saw Rosamund slip her arm through Jeff’s and laugh at something he said. Something I was sure wasn’t as funny as she was pretending it was but that’s what Rosamund was, a pretender.

I looked over at Peter and he was staring after them. “Hellllloooo Peter! Are you there?”

He snapped out of it. “Yeah, man she’s so pretty.”

“Who, Rosemund?” He nodded.  I scolfed.

“Better get going to class Peter, don’t want to be late on your first day.”

“You’re always so good to us, Star. Always looking out for us. Thanks!”

With that Peter closed his locker and ran to his first class. Yep, always looking out for you guys. Something told me I’d be doing that later with Jeff. Since he seemed so oblivious to Miss Pretender, I needed to warn him about her.