Your Brother and I

Chapter 1

Aggressively, I grabbed everything that is neatly packed in my bags, and throw them to the floor as if they are useless items. I am just about to finish bag one when a hand comes down and stops all of my movements.

"Cordelia!" My mother's high voice shouts, evoking a flinch to come from my very tense body.

"Lia." I corrected while staring down at my bag. Tears streamed down my face as my mother grabbed ahold of me and lifted me into a non-slouched standing position. "Will- you please! Stop unpacking your belongings?"

"Why are you doing this?" I ask crying harder. "Why are you getting rid of me? I'm such a good daughter. I bring no trouble to you and my father. I make decent grades and I clean up after myself. Why! Why send me away?" I ask as my voice becomes nothing but a soft whisper.

"Cordelia you simply have no friends! Your f..."

"By choice! I yell out cutting her off. I have no friends by choice. I chose to be alone. I work better alone. I feel better alone. I AM better alone. Why can't you see that?"

"There will be no further discussion. You will stop raising your voice at me and you will do as I say. Finish packing. Your aunt Kayleigh will be here momentarily to pick you up. Do you understand?"

I nod my head slowly and listen to the pattern of my mothers heels clicking against the wooden floor as she walks away.

Why does she have to be so controlling? I am perfectly fine how I am and where I am. I don't need to go to a snobby rich kid boarding school. I won't blend in there at all! My being friendless is a choice, however, she does not believe me. Since her only daughter, named after the sea, refuses to follow in her footsteps she's sending her off! While I am gone, she will most likely produce a new child and force them into following in their footsteps. She or he will be the new famous family swimmer while I drop off the face of the earth.

I felt completely hopeless as I repacked my bag and made my way down the stairs and towards my mother and father. Both of which ar standing by the doorway smiling at me. Just as I get close to the doorbell rings singling that I am about to be shipped away like some bad meat.

"Hi Aunt Kayleigh." I say as an exact replica of my mom enters the house.The only difference is the fact that aunt Kayleigh wears more of a casual look while my mom on the other hand will never be caught without wearing a dress, skirt, or suit.

"Hi Sea monster!" she squeals before pulling me into her warm embrace."I have something for you." she says as she hands me a purple bag with blue glitter on it. Smiling to myself I take out the tissue paper before pulling out what seems to be a purple hoodie. After unfolding it I read the words labeled Amethyst Academy. Home of the purple dragons. "Thanks Aunt Kay." I say before putting the hoodie back in the bag. 

"Well." Aunt Kayleigh says as she grabs a hold of my bags. "I will go put these in the car. Say goodbye to your parents and meet me out there." She walks away and I turn to look at my dad. 

He pulls me into one of his famous bear hugs before kissing my forehead and rubbing my back. "I will miss you so much raindrop." Most fathers call their daughters sweetheart or sunshine. However since my family has some odd obsession with water, I am called raindrop.

"Bye mom." I say giving her a faint hug before rushing out the door. I am still mad at her. She doesn't deserve my love.

Currently it is the end of October. As I am in the car with my Aunt I can't help but stare at all the fallen leaves and halloween decorations as we pass by during the sunrise. Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays. I hate being frightened so I usually just stay in my room and watch movies that have nothing to do with horror or halloween.

"So." Aunt Kayleigh says breaking me out of my deep daze of an autumn abyss. "Yes?" I say turning my attention towards her. "I hear that this whole move is due to a lack of friends." I shake my head sighing at her before repeating what I've said to my mother so many times before. "I choose to be friendless. Many people are not very trustworthy and I rather stay out of the teenage drama." Aunt Kayleigh nods. "Well can you promise me something? Can you promisee to at least try to make friends, if not for me, then for your mom."

"I'll try." I say as I avert my gaze elsewhere for the rest of the 6 hour drive. A medieval castle prison is what I was met with when Aunt Kayleigh decided to park. Though however old the outside of the school looked, the inside was a completely different story. Modern technology looks as if it has touched every inch of this school and though it was pretty cool, it was kind of intimidating. 

"Aunt Kayleigh, where is the front office?" I ask after getting bored of looking at the many paintings hung along the tall walls. "Hold on a second Sea Monster. I'll take you there in a second." She says before continuing her conversation that has been going on for quit some time now. 

I shrug shoulders before walking down the ridiculously long hallway with way too many turns if you ask me. "Excuse me." I say as someone walks pass me. "Do you know where I can find the front office?" "Sorry! Late for class the person says before rushing off. "Excuse me?" I say to another person but this one doesn't even pay me any mind as she sprints towards God knows where. 

Great. I'm lost. Why the hell did I leave aunt Kayleigh?

"I can direct you towards the office." A husky voice startles me and causes the hairs on my neck to stand up. I turn around and I am met with the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen in my life. They where so blue. A blue that other shades would be jealous of. An aquatic blue that shined like a crystal dancing in the light. His eyes perfectly contrasted his olive skin, that was accompanied by such harsh eyebrows that made him seem either angry or in a deep thought. And his hair, his hair was a mess of wavy dark brown curls that didn't know which direction it wanted to point towards.

"Holy." I mummer before snapping myself out of my daze. "Would you?" I ask smiling at him. He comes closer to me and that is when I'm hit with the delightful scent of his cologne and mint gum. 

"Are you new?" He asks as he grabs a strand of my dark hair and twists it around his index finger.

"I um... Yeah, that noticeable?" I breath out trying to catch my breath. "Your cute doe like eyes give it all away sweetheart." "I- I um... I'm not making you late for class am I?" I ask needing to change the subject. "Yes, but it's alright. I'm a teachers pet. I'll get away with it." "You're a teacher's pet?" I gap out shockingly before I could stop myself. Damn. "Don't trust me do you?" he smirks. "No." I say honestly. "Player or trouble maker?" he questions. God why is he so close to me, I can barely breath. "I think you could possibly be both." I say before blowing my hair out of my face. "Hmm." he hums while backing up a bit."Two rights, one left and you're there." He says as he starts walking backwards down the hallway. "Maybe I'll see you around, sweetheart." He calls out before turning around and walking away completely.

What just happened? I try to figure it out as I make my way to the front office. Surprisingly, my aunt has beat me there.

"Ah, I knew you would fine your way to me." She says before bringing me into the office and greeting everyone in there. She takes me towards an odd black machine and places me in front of it. The machine makes three clicks before a green light almost blinds me. As soon as I would finally get my vision back the machine would do it again. After the third time . Aunt Kayleigh then nods in approval. "Your face is your key ok?" She takes me towards what I am assuming to be... a uniform storage? In there I am bombarded with two ladies who measure my top, bottom, and feet. When they return they hand me a grey formal shirt with the name of the school embroidered in purple; a purple and grey paid skirt small, light blue lines creating the plaid pattern; a blue sweater with the school name embroidered in purple; with really ugly grey shoes that made me want to scream. When they are done they leave me with my aunt who packs my uniform in a bag before handing it to me. "And this also has your school laptop in it, so be gentle with it." She says before taking me out of the office area. "You're in room 302. I'll meet you there with the rest of your stuff later. Have fun."

It feels as if I have been wondering around these hall my whole life, and that is why I came to the realization that the dorms are in a whole differing building. Once I finally arrive in front of my door, I am met with a green light that scans my face. I hear a buzz and the door automatically opens revealing three girls that I definitely did not know.

"Um... wrong room?" I begin to back away as the three girls stared at me.

"No no! Are you Lia?" The girl with brown eyes and light brown hair asked me.

"Um yeah." I say as I continue to back out of the room. 

"This is the correct room." The girl smiles at me. "We're your new roommates." She says causing me to stop in my tracks. Roommates? Oh, sweat mermaid of the sea, help me.

 "Oh." I say as I slowly walk back into the room and place my bags down.  

"I'm Faith." The girl says coming up to me and pulling me into a hug. What's with the people in this school and being so close? I'm starting to feel like a siamese twin.

"I'm Winter." Says the girl with the beach wave blonde hair accompanied by emerald eyes and a button nose.

"And that stick in the mud over there." Faith points. "Is Jade." I turn towards the girl with black hair accompanied by rose gold tips. "I am not a stick in the mud." Jade says rolling her eyes and jumping off of the top left top bunk of the quadrupled bedding situation. "You'll like me the best." she says shaking my hand. 

"These other two are absolutely nuts." I smile at her and the take in all of the girls in front of me. All three are very pretty, and each of their styles varied to a point where none of them looked like they could possible have anything in common. Faith was dressed the comfiest. Tights and an oversized t-shirt that hung off her shoulders. Winter dressed like a mystical tree huger and it fit her and her personality so perfectly. As for Jade, she was the perfect mixture of edgy and girly.

"By the way, your bed is on the bottom of mine." Jade announces as she points to the bed directly under hers. Now that I am ok with everything that is going on around me, I finally decide to take in the room that I will be staying in for the next few months. The room is a decent size containing 4 beds; two on the bottom and two on top Each bed is vertically lined against the right wall. All connected with a small white stair way in-between the middle. The floors are wooden but it is accompanied by a big purple fuzzy rug, pillows and bean bags that I assume they all agreed on. The walls are a light grey color and they are decorated with beautiful paintings and artwork that I am assuming belongs to these girls. There is a small tv on the wall accompanied by l-e-d lights that change every three seconds. Each of us had a desk which were aliened in different parts of the room. I like it.

"If you need help with anything these two weirdos will be happy to help you." Jade smiles "I on the other hand am going to the pool to get some swim practice in."

"Oh can I come? My parents are begging me to try out for the team."

"Oh yeah of course!" Jade says as she walks over to a little door the reveals to be a closet. She grabs a swimsuit before rushing into the bathroom and leaving me with the other two girls.

"You look really familiar." Faith says bug eyeing. 

"That's odd." I say while shifting on my feet. "I doubt we've met before. I-" I am cut off by a surprising loud snap coming from Winter's freshly manicured fingers. "Your David and Kimberly's daughter! Cordelia Faith."

"Oh my gosh! You're the daughter of those two swimmers that fell in love." Faith gasps causing me to laugh a little. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Why aren't you training?" Faith asked. I shift nervously on my feet before answering "I mean I love swimming but if it turns into something I have to train really hard for I'll end up hating it. Like cheerleading. I love it but if I ever did it as a profession, that passion would be lost."

"That's understandable. Are you trying out for the cheer team as well?"

"Yes." I say smiling. "The office said the coaches agreed. All I have to do is try out in front of the teams . and see if I get accepted or not."

"Oh awesome I'm on the team so this is gonna be really fun."

"Alright let's roll guys." Jade says as she walks out of the bathroom. All four of us follow her out the building and toward the massive indoor swimming pool. Sometimes I really forget how expensive this school is. "Wow" I say as Jade dives into the pool.

"Pretty awesome right?" Winter says as she takes off her shoes and sits at the edge of the pool. There she lets her feet sink into the water. Taking off our shoes as well, faith and I both follow Winter's lead and sit down as well.

"So tell me about the school." I say as I watch Jade glide gracefully though the water.

"What do you want to know?" Faith asks while moving her feet in a back in forth formation.

"Who should I stay away from?" There is no way that I would want to get myself in bad situations, especially at a brand new school.

"Oddly enough, everyone is pretty friendly. Just don't go anywhere near Eric Ryder." Faith says as she makes yet another bug eyed expression. What's up with her and doing that?

"Eric Ryder." I say aloud wanting to feel the name on my tongue.

"He's bad news. Most teachers give him the benefit of the doubt but for the rest of us.. we stay away.

"Far far away." Winter says while staring deeply into the pool water.

I was about to change the subject but Winter grabbed Faith's full attention before I could do so. I didn't mind though. Today was a tiering day and I kind of like just sitting there and listening.

I was in my own world until I heard footsteps behind me. No one else was in this pool room with us so I got curious and turned around. When I did, I was met face to face with Ocean Eyes, the peculiar guy from earlier. "Oh hey!" I say as he squats down next to me.

"Hi doe eyes." He whispers causing me to shiver a little. Is it cold in here? "I never got the chance to ask you your name."

"Lia." I say daring to look into his eyes once more. I swear they glimmered. I can't make this nonsense up. What human being has eyes that captivating. What the hell. 

He smiles at me and we sit there in silence just staring at each other before he decides to get up and walk away.

"Wait! What's your name?" I call out after him.

"Eric." he says. "Eric Ryder."