REWIND
All choices made will either result in a reward, or a consequence. The choices I made happened to lead to a consequence, my consequence. My life is very complicated. It’s confusing, deceitful, intolerable, and unfair, but that’s what makes it such a great story. Lucky for you, I’m willing to retell it. Sit tight, because you are about to encounter something that has never hit you before. Sit tight, because I am going to rewind time. My name is Nicole Sullivan and this is my story.
PROLOGUE
He lifted the gun; hand on the trigger. Like the speed of light, the bullet would shoot out of the gun. It should only take a second for the bullet to reach its target, which was I. With a sick piercing crack, there was a scream, mine? I looked down, saw a puddle of blood, and then collapsed.
5 MONTHS EARLIER…
1
“Nikki! Nikki!” Wake up, or you’re going to be late.”
“Fine I’m up!”
Getting up in the morning was the hardest part for me to do. Especially right after holiday break in Reno, Nevada.
I hopped of my bed yawning and stretching where I drew the curtains. Ugh! Only in Reno, will it be sunny outside this early in the morning. I trotted to the bathroom mumbling something about how tired I was, and about suing the school district for making kids wake up this early in the morning. Deciding that a cool shower would wake me up, I turned on the water and jumped in. I was right; the water woke me up and relaxed me.
When I got out, I dragged through my wet, brown hair with my green brush. I tried brushing my teeth, without spilling toothpaste on my favorite pair of jeans (not easy!). I packed my book bag, filling it with my books, binders, and pens. I threw on a blue and white striped shirt, followed by a pair of socks and tennis shoes. At last, I was ready.
Sprinting down the staircase, I realized how late I really was. I knew the bus would be here at the stop soon, so I grabbed a granola bar and scarfed it down. It wasn’t a hot cooked meal, but it was something.
“Well, well, well, look who decided to finally roll out of bed,” said a familiar voice.
I hadn’t noticed that I wasn’t alone until I heard Kellie’s voice. Kellie was my foster mom. She adopted me when I was four years old, and I’ve been with her ever since. Although she’s not my real mom, I consider Kellie to be. She helps me with my homework, listens to my fifteen-year-old sophomore drama, and we argue about the typical mother and daughter stuff. I even recall Kellie having the sex talk with me (not the highlight of our relationship). Kellie was a doctor, a pediatrician to be exact, so I wasn’t entirely surprised to see her up this early.
“Good morning Kellie,” I said, “And what are you talking about? I always get up on time?”
“Yeah, ok,” she said rolling her hazel eyes while trying to tame her curly blond hair. “Do you need a ride to school sweety?”
“Umm… no thanks Kellie, I’ll just take the bus,” I answered. Kellie’s driving was annoying. She was so cautious. I was already irritated because of school, and I didn’t want another reason to be upset.
“Okay, well I’m off. You’d better get going honey. You still have to pick up Sydney, and you know it takes her a while to get ready.” I considered that statement for a moment and decided that Kellie was right.
“See you later Kellie,” I called over my shoulder while jogging out the door. Luckily, I was only going around the corner to Sydney’s house.
Sydney Miles is a whole different story. She’s the type of person who doesn’t crawl out of bed until two p.m. (and that’s when they’re forced to). She’s an absolute genius in every subject, but that’s probably from all the after school detention she receives. The one who always says her mind, and takes nothing back. Sydney has been my best friend since I was adopted and I don’t know what I would do without her.
I rounded the corner and thought I was going to have a heart attack. Sydney was on her porch waiting for me.
“Syd, what are you doing out here do early?” I asked shocked.
“What are you talking about Nikki? The bus should be on its way here now.” She was putting her red hair in a ponytail. Sydney’s mom, Ms. Jackie, was the total opposite of my mom at driving. I’m talking about speeding through yellow lights, and soaring through red lights. She has more tickets, than any other person I know. Even with a seat belt, and a helmet on, Sydney always felt like her life was at risk. So we decided that riding the bus would be easier, and safer for both of us.
“See look, here comes the bus now.” Sydney said pointing down the street to where a big faded yellow bus started to turn to get us.
“Good morning Mr. Raymond,” Sydney and I called while walking down the aisle to our seat.
“Morning Nicole, Sydney,” he grunted. “You two are actually on time today, huh. Have you guys been following my motto?” Mr. Raymond went by some old motto, ‘Being early is being on time, being on time is being late, and being late is unacceptable.’ He’d repeat it every time Sydney and I missed the bus, which was often.
“So,” Sydney hedged. “Are you excited to see Blake?”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen him all break.” I said coolly. I played with the strap on my bag so that my red face wouldn’t give my away.
Blake Shaun Hail is my boyfriend. We started going out at the beginning of our freshman year, and our relationship had actually survived the summer. Blake is someone I can only describe in so many words. He can have me laughing in one minute, and then ‘awwwwing’ in the next. We send about a million text messages everyday, and can talk on the phone for hours without realizing it. He’s more than just a boyfriend. He’s my boyfriend. As soon as we pulled up to Haylen High school I turned toward the window searching for him.
“He probably got you something,” said Sydney interrupting my search. “He always does.” I turned in my seat, to find her staring at me.
“Well I hope not. I didn’t get to buy him anything.”
“Blake would buy you the whole world if he could,” Sydney said grinning at me. “Just wait, I bet you’re going to get something good.”
My eyes went back to scanning the grounds until I found what I was looking for, when I saw him. He was just getting out of his Rolls Royce. His black hair that now crept over his electric blues eyes made him look determined and excited. He was wearing a crimson shirt that really did his muscles justice. Blake looked flawless. An exuberant smile spread across his face when he saw that my bus had arrived. Blake turned back and started talking to someone in the driver’s seat, who I assumed was his father. After closing the door, he walked over to the side of the building, as he did every morning, and waited for me. As the bus door opened, I pushed and shoved through the seats racing to get out.
“Hey Blake,” Sydney asked as we walked over to where he was standing.
“What’s up Sydney?” he asked, “Hi Nikki.” He turned to me and smiled. I swore my heart had started singing.
“Hey Blake, how was your break?” I said as my heart finished its solo.
Blake started playing with his hands. “It was good. I had a lot of fun at my mom’s house.” He was lying. Whenever he played with his hands or fingers, he wasn’t telling the truth. I also knew this because he hated his mom. His parents were divorced. Ever since she left his dad for some other guy, Blake held a grudge. I told him that he should try and forgive his mom, and give her another chance. But Blake was stubborn; he didn’t let things go easily.
“I bought something for you,” Blake said reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a white box and handed it to me.
“You really didn’t have to,” I said slowly. Hesitantly, I opened the small box. With a gasp, I carefully took out a silver charm bracelet with diamond pieces accented on it. My mouth fell open to the beauty of it.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” I stuttered.
“Umm, how about a thank you?” he teased. But trust me, this was no joke.
“Thank you so much, this is gorgeous!” I ran and give him a hug.
He smiled brightly. “Your welcome. There’s a jewelry store right next to my mom’s house, and I decided that this would be the perfect gift for you.”
“This must’ve been expensive,” I questioned looking at the diamond more closely.
Shrugging, he answered, “It’s nothing, I had no budget.”
Of course the bracelet wasn’t expensive to him. Blake’s dad, Luther Hail, was one of the wealthiest men on the west coast. Luther owned of the most prominent law firms in the country. Top Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Colombia, and other college graduates go there every year to work for him. And we know how much lawyers get paid… Now think of how much the owner of a very famous law firm would get paid… So of course the bracelet wasn’t expensive to him.
“Here, let me help you put it on,” Blake offered taking the bracelet from my hands. I stuck out my wrist. Blake carefully latched the two sides of the bracelet together. Still holding my wrist, Blake kissed my hand gently. “Perfect,” he complimented while taking a step back and looking at me.
“That’s pretty,” Sydney said in an I-told-you-he-would-buy-you-something-amazing voice. She had walked off after saying hi to Blake to give us some privacy. I went red thinking about our earlier conversation on the bus.
“Oh, I almost forgot! I have your gift too.” I reached into my book bag to get his gift.
“Hey, wait a minute you told me you didn’t buy him anything!” Sydney exclaimed.
“Yeah, well I lied. You would have told him if I had told you. I love you to death Sydney, but you have a big mouth.” I smiled at her, and handed Blake his gift. His face was priceless.
“Nikki, no way! You couldn’t have! You did not get me tickets to the concert Sins. You know they’re my favorite band. How did you get theses? I thought it was sold out?”
“It was, until Kellie made a couple of phone calls. It just so happens that Kellie’s ex boyfriend, is their manager.” I smirked proudly.
“Huh, there are two tickets here?” Blake said, his eyebrows rising.
“Yeah, there is. I got you an extra one so can take someone with you.” I hinted.
“I think I have someone in mind,” he said grinning slyly at me.
I smiled widely back. “Really, who?”
“I should bring that girl that used to be in my technology class, Erica.”
There was no more smile on my face. “Who’s Erica?”
“My new date.” Blake said simply. I turned on my heel and started to walk towards the school.
“Nikki, wait up! You know I’m just playing.”
I kept my pace. “Do I Blake? Do I?” I shouted over my shoulder. Suddenly, two arms snaked around my waist and made me stop.
“Yes, you do,” Blake said turning my body towards him. “I just said that to see how you react. You know, like a test?”
“And did I pass the test?”
Blake grinned. “Oh yeah, you passed. I love it when you get jealous.” He took my hand. “Now will you go to the Sins concert with me?”
“Huh, I don’t know. Maybe you’ll have more fun with Erica.”
“Nikki, c’mon. You know I don’t want to take Erica. Please go with me?” I could say no to his eyes. Nor did I want to.
“Well… Ok,” I answered while my smile moved back on to my face.
“Ok, sorry to break up your little love fest, but you do realize that we have about… three minutes until the bell rings? I refuse to get a detention on the first day back,” Sydney stated.
“Oh crap, I’m all the way up the stairs!” Blake groaned.
“Well then you better hurry up,” I said to him.
“No, correction: We better hurry up. Our first period is in the back of the school Nikki!” Sydney reminded me.
“Shoot, we got to go. Bye Blake!” I gave him a quick peck on the lips before taking off towards the back of the building with Sydney at my side.
“Bye Nikki, bye Sydney. See you guys at lunch,” Blake called while running in the opposite direction. I looked back and saw Blake sprinting to the front of the building. There goes my boyfriend I thought to myself. Star quarter back for the football team, and star player on the basketball team. The guy that every girl in the school wants yet can’t have.
Sydney and I ignored Mr. Jones’s glare as we reached the classroom right before the bell rang. Breathing heavy, I took my seat, and opened my English book to page 494.
We were all sitting at lunch, when Sydney caught me off guard. “What are you doing for your birthday?” she asked while biting into a piece of pizza.
I completely forgot my birthday. It was this weekend, January 10th. “Umm, I don’t know what I’m doing, it kind of slipped my mind.”
The pizza fell from Sydney’s hands onto the tray. “You forgot your own birthday!” she shrieked.
“Yeah, I guess I did.” I searched through my brain trying to make sudden plans. “Maybe this weekend we could go to the movies or something?”
“This isn’t just a regular old weekend Nikki, it’s your sixteenth birthday!”
“Okay, how about a sleepover?” I suggested again. Sydney shook her head disappointingly at my lack of ideas.
“We should have a party,” said Blake. He was so quiet through this whole conversation stuffing his face with food, that I barely noticed him.
“Hmm, a party,” Sydney considered.
“Yeah, we could have it at my house.”
“That’s a great idea Blake,” she said patting his head.
Blake grinned. “Thanks, my moments come. Oh it should be a basketball theme!”
Sydney and I stared at him for a second. “Yeah, and your moments go,” Sydney muttered. I disguised my laughing as a cough.
“What about food, and decorations, and a date?” The questions spilled out of my mouth like a waterfall.
“Sydney will take care of the decorations, I’ll get the food, and you will be my date,” Blake said smiling slyly.
“No you idiot, I meant the date of the party,” I said throwing a pretzel at him. He opened his mouth and caught it.
“Quarterback baby, quarterback,” he whispered while flexing his muscles and swallowing the pretzel. I rolled my eyes and smiled.
“If we work fast enough, I think we could pull this off by this Saturday,” Sydney said. “Blake do you think you can take care of the food?”
“Of course I can,” he said smirking. Sydney and I looked at each other.
“Yeah, we’ll just make a list for you just in case.” Sydney said. A certain thought occurred to me.
“Umm guys, what about Kellie?” I questioned.
“That’s your job Nikki,” Sydney said. I imagined what Kellie would say when I told her I had plans this weekend, to have a party. I cringed.
“I don’t know. Kellie’s kind of strict when it comes to parties. She’s as serious as her driving.” Sydney burst out laughing.
“Nikki, Kellie can’t stop you from celebrating your own birthday,” Blake said.
“Yeah, maybe you’re right, I’ll ask her,” I replied feeling better.
“If the parties going to be Saturday, then that means I have to start make the invitations immediately,” Sydney crooned in a tone of horror.
“You can do that later, we have to get to Spanish before Ms. Harp freaks,” Blake said standing up.
Sydney and I stood up too. “Blake you don’t have Spanish next, it’s math. You know, with Sydney and I?”
“No, I go to Spanish,” Blake, insisted.
“Blake, are you okay?” Sydney asked. We stared at each other completely confused.
“Oh-oh yeah, math with Mr. Green,” Blake answered smiling again.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay Blake?” I asked still worried.
“Yeah, totally.” I could tell my face didn’t look convinced because Blake took my hand and said, “I’m fine, really. I just got some stuff on my mind that’s all.” Sydney just shrugged and started walking. I followed her still hand in hand with Blake. Hmm… I thought. What’s Blake thinking about that would make him forget his schedule, a schedule that we’ve been following for about five months? As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t think about that right now? I had much bigger things to worry about, like my party for example.
Asking my Kellie for permission wasn’t as easy as I thought. I just needed to tell her everything that she’d want to hear. We had just finished eating dinner. I was washing the dishes when I finally told Kellie what I had planned for my birthday.
“A party? I don’t know Nikki,” she said disapprovingly.
“Kellie, this isn’t just a party,” I stated. “It’s my sixteenth birthday party. I’m practically a woman!”
“There will be no sixteen year old woman in my house,” Kellie snapped at me. “And no sixteen year old of mine is having a party.” Her tone rang with conclusion.
I had to say something to change her mind. “But Kellie, it’s not like we’ll be unsupervised, Mr. Hail will be there.”
“Luther will be there?” she repeated. “Nikki where is this party?”
“It’s at Blake’s house, and it’s Saturday, and everyone I know will be there, and it would really suck if the birthday girl wasn’t at her own party.” There goes that waterfall again.
“Hmm, well,” Kellie pursed her lips in deliberation. “Oh all right, but I have to talk to Mr. Hail about this.”
“Fine Kellie, whatever you want,” I agreed while running to give her a big hug. The dishwater that was on my hands splashed us. While laughing, Kellie picked up the dishtowel, and helped me finish the dishes.
When the dishes were done, I went upstairs to get ready for bed. I can’t believe I’m having a party I thought to myself while brushing my teeth. Everything had happened to fast. One moment, I’m complaining because I have to get up for school when it’s still dark, and the next moment, I’m throwing a party. Unbelievable.
I went into my room and changed into my pajamas. I had gotten into bed, when I realized that my charm bracelet was still on. As I took it off, I held it in my hands. I remember while talking to Kellie that she was eying the bracelet, but said nothing. She probably knew it was from Blake. Whenever he came back from somewhere he’d always get me something. In the past, Kellie would ask me where I got the presents from, and I would tell her. As more presents would appear, Kellie would just stop asking where they came from, because she would already know the answer.
I never wanted presents from Blake, but he was just so hard headed. Whenever I tried to give it back, he’d refuse and say ‘It’s nothing,’ or ‘I had no budget.’ Yeah, sounds familiar right? He just spoils me too much.
Yawning, I placed the charm bracelet on my dresser. After turning off the lights, I laid my head onto my pillow and let my dreams take the place of reality for a while.
Throughout the week, things were pretty hectic. Everyday after school, Blake and Sydney were at Blake’s house setting up for the party. Until then I was not permitted to his house; Blake said that it would ruin the ‘surprise’. Every free minute of the day, Sydney was either handing out invitations or pasting flyer's up about the party. I knew I’d regret it, but on my way to class on Thursday, I asked her how many invites she had already given out.
“I don’t know, I stopped counting after about sixty-two.” She sounded impatient as I interrupted her from passing out another one. My mouth fell open.
“Sixty-two? Sixty-two invites! Sydney what’s wrong with you? Do I even know that man people?” I could feel the blood rushing to my face. I was shouting; People in the hallway turned at looked at us, but I really didn’t care. “We can’t have sixty-two people at Mr. Hail’s house, right?” I spun on my heel to face Blake. “Tell her!”
“Oh come on Nikki there’s nothing wrong with, (my eyes narrowed), Ok! Ok! Sydney she’s right, I don’t know if my dad will allow all those people.”
Sydney glared at Blake with pure loathing in her green eyes. Blake, acting like he dropped something, started looking at the floor.
“Fine, I’ll just take the invites back then,” she snapped while grabbing an invite out of Derrick Fargo’s hand. He stopped suddenly and stared bewildered at Sydney.
“No, you don’t have to take them back, just don’t hand out anymore okay?” I took the invitation from Sydney and returned it back to Derrick. He smiled at me and walked away. After a moment or two, Sydney finally agreed, and Blake was glaring after Derrick. Ahh Derrick Fargo, my old crush. He was cute, but not as cute as Blake. When Blake and I were just friends, I told him how I used to like Derrick. Derrick never got the hint, and as time past, my feelings for him faded, and Blake and I started dating. Derrick said that he was going to ask me out, and called Blake a woman-stealer. Since then, Blake and Derrick weren’t exactly the best of friends.
I said goodbye to Sydney, who stalked off to gym, still obviously upset about the whole invitations thing. I started walking in the opposite direction. Blake followed behind me. He put his hand around my waist, and walked me to my Art class.
As school ended, and the bus dropped me off, my head was pounding. Who knew planning a party could be so exhausting? I went straight to my room, dumped my book bag, and laid in me bed. Within minutes, I was knocked out for the rest of the night.
