*Monroe's POV*
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Groaning into my pillow, I throw my arm out and smack the top of my alarm clock to stop the horrid sound. 5:00 am. I have been waking up this same time every day for over a year now, but for some reason, my body has still not adapted.
I turn my head to look at the two giant fur balls huddled up right beside me. I bought a king-sized bed so all three of us would have enough space to sprawl out, however Kobe and Bear still insist on being as close to me as they can possibly get. I give a quick pat to each of their heads and then drag myself from under the covers.
As I throw on my sports bra and leggings, neither dog makes any effort to wake up. They hate mornings even more than I do. My room sits on the back corner of the house with both outside walls entirely made of windows, just like the rest of the house. My bed is in the middle of the wall opposite the eastern facing window so that I would get a clear view of the sunrise, you know, in case I ever decide to stay in bed long enough to watch it from here.
I pad out into the hallway where another door to a guest bedroom sits across the hall, another guest bedroom to its left and then a bathroom directly to the right of my room. Stepping into the main living area, I pop into the kitchen to my left and fill up my water bottle at the island sink. I look out in front of me, past the living room and at the uninterrupted view of the forest in front of me. When I had the house built, my only requests were high ceilings and windows instead of walls. The feeling of being trapped in my own home was not one I wished to experience ever again. Besides, nature was infinitely more beautiful than any decoration I could put on a wall.
I glide past the living room and dining room and down the stairs to the basement. The house had been built on a slope so the back wall was on the east side and was, once again, entirely windows and the front was dug into the hill. I walked past the entertainment area (which consisted of a sitting area complete with a flat screen, pool table, dart board and a bar) and into my favourite room of the house.
My gym has a treadmill, squat rack, many sets of dumbbells and kettlebells and of course matts, punching bags and various other fighting equipment, all facing the window. I laced up my shoes and started up a playlist on the sound system.
Hopping on the treadmill, I took a deep breath and started up the machine. As my legs find a familiar rhythm, I gaze out at the sun beginning to peak out from above the treeline. Today is the day I finally get my life back on track after being forced to delay finishing high school by a year in order to deal with the fallout from my father’s death.
After all the shit he put me through, I’m glad to finally put it all behind me in a new state and new school where nobody knows my name and my family history. A place where people won’t automatically look at me with pity clearly written all over their faces. That was probably the worst part of the whole thing; everyone walking on eggshells around me for 6 years of my life. It was as though everyone was expecting that with one wrong move or sentence I was going to end up the same way as my mother.
When the news of my court battle for emancipation broke, followed by my eventual win and then my father’s demise, I basically became a leper. All of my so-called friends stopped speaking to me because their rich daddies didn’t want them to ruin their families’ reputations by getting caught up in the biggest scandal in Manhattan.
I stayed there just long enough to sell off my father’s company, which I inherited as his only living family member, and to have this house built on the other side of the country; just outside of Half Moon Bay, California. Here, I get to reinvent myself, without all of the baggage. I changed my last name to my mother’s maiden name and deleted all traces of myself from social media. Monroe Carver died along with her father and, according to the students at Half Moon Bay High, Monroe Thorn is just a nobody transfer student from New York.
*Monroe's POV*After the treadmill ticks into the 6th mile, the sun has completely risen and I decide it's time to get ready. I head upstairs to my room for a shower. Stripping off my clothes and stepping into the white marble shower, I turn on the water with the golden faucets and let the stream from the rainfall shower head wash away the sweat that clings to me. Just as I am towel drying my hair, my phone pings.Tommy: Have a good first day kiddo :)I smile and reply: Thanks, I will <3Tommy owns an MMA gym with his best friends Ryan and Dylan and they practically raised me when I started going there after my mother died. I spent almost all of my waking hours outside of school with t
*Monroe's POV*Walking to my bike, I wiggle my hands into the leather gloves and buckle on my helmet. Swinging my leg over the bike, a smile plays at the corners of my mouth. God I love this bike. I walk it out of the garage, closing the door behind me. Once I’m out of the driveway and onto the winding paved road that leads towards the city center, I speed up and revel in the adrenaline rush as I take the bends and curves of the roads faster than I probably should. After about 10 minutes I turn onto the main road and slow down to match traffic. As I drive through suburbia, I examine all of the nice family homes with manicured lawns and think of what a nice change of pace it is from Manhattan.Finally, I pull up to the school parking lot and find a spot near the far corner. I pull off my helmet and lock it to the bike and then throw my gloves and keys into the small zippered pocket at the
*Cade's POV*“Can you believe we start senior year tomorrow?” Xander, my best friend, says as he hands me another beer. He and I have been best friends since we were little. We grew up neighbours at the trailer park and have been inseparable ever since.“What the fuck man? Why do you have to keep reminding us? No more talk about school tonight. This is our last party of the summer so we are damn well gonna enjoy it.”Brett nods and Jason says, “Personally, I plan to start by scoping out the fine buffet of pussy in front of me.”I nod in approval and look over to the bonfire in the middle of the beach where most of the girls in Half Moon Bay are drunkenly dancing to the music in bikinis that don’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. The four of us get up
*Cade's POV*“CADE GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW, YOU’RE GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL”FUCK. I sit up and yell back, “5 MINUTES MOM!” I roll myself out of bed and throw on the first pair of jeans I can find with a random black t-shirt and head down the stairs. Mom hands me a plate with toast on it and a cup of coffee. I give her a kiss on the cheek as I grab them from here and then take a seat on one of the stools at the island next to my 6 year-old twin sisters, Hanna and Lily.“Hi Cade!” They say at the same time and look up at me with adoration in their eyes.“Hi cuties,” I say before shoving the toast into my mouth.My mom had them after she got married to my Step-loser
*Cade's POV*It turns out, my first period is Chemistry with Xander. We head there a bit early to find a bench near the back of the classroom. If I get stuck with some dork, or worse yet some chick that’s gonna spend all semester trying to sleep with me, I’m gonna fucking lose it. Thankfully, there’s still an empty one near the far back corner. As soon as we sit down the warning bell rings and more people start to file in. A couple minutes later I see her walk in. My eyes follow her instinctively. Now that she’s closer I can see that I was right; her face is equally as attractive as her body. I begin picturing fisting my hand in her hair and kissing those full pouty lips. She’s no longer wearing the leather jacket and I can see tattoos emerging from the top of her shirt. I look to her
*Monroe's POV*Of COURSE this teacher would ask me to come introduce myself. Why do they have to do that? It’s possible that my theatrical bow was a bit ostentatious but I don’t give a fuck. He should have gotten the hint. When the lesson finally begins, I hear Charlie whisper to me, “That was so cool.” I look at her and she blushes a little so I give her an encouraging smile and say, “He deserved it.”The teacher starts explaining the curriculum for the year and gives us the grading breakdown; typical first day stuff and then gives us the last 10 minutes of class to “get acquainted with our lab partners.”I can feel the nervousness coming off of Charlie so I figure I should start the conversation.
*Cade's POV*After seeing how Monroe served Grant's head on a platter for everyone to see in the cafeteria at lunch, I was even more interested in her. But I know that as soon as she starts chasing me like they always do, I’ll lose interest. So unfortunate.After sitting through a very boring accounting class, I make my way to philosophy and while I’m scanning the class for an empty seat, my eyes stop automatically on Monroe. We make brief eye contact and I smirk when I see the empty seat next to her. As a walk over, I see her eyes roll and she starts doodling in her book. I keep watching her as she doodles, noticing the intricate vines laced with thorns running through the delicately designed flowers on her shoulder. She looks over at me, and I catch the hard set of her jaw, but seeing her face t
*Monroe's POV*I have to admit, kicking everyone’s asses at volleyball was quite satisfying. I’m generally pretty good at sports but I was on the varsity volleyball team all through my private school years. It had been a while, since I took a year off of school, so I was concerned I would be rusty. I wasn’t.I quickly shower and change, thankful that there is no line for the showers since none of the other girls need it. By the time I finish, I walk out of the changeroom to find Charlie waiting for me by my locker. She says, “So, um I was thinking we should probably exchange numbers for, you know, homework purposes or whatever.”I smile at her and say, “Yeah, I mean homework purposes but also friend purposes.” I hand her my phone and she types in her number and I send