Perspective - the beginning of my novel....maybe?

Just some writing I have been doing for fun, not sure if I will make it into a novel or not yet. I am not the best with grammar and spelling so I would love your feedback! But be gentle with me people!

Preface

Shiloh and Reese were both born on December 13th, 1995. Throughout the early years of their lives, both girls experienced a great deal of pain when their parents got divorced. They girls were 10 when their parents had officially broken up. Their mother, whom they only see once a year, now lives in New York. They twins live with their father in Virginia currently. Though both girls are often quiet, their minds are not. The twins look alike, and sometimes think alike as well, but more often than not, both girls have their own unique views on life. There perspectives and opinions differ greatly. As they approach their nineteenth birthday, they will decide what they want to do with their lives, and embark into adulthood. Their experiences shape who they are and who they will become. Their differences will help one another to become a more rounded and complete person.

Chapter 1 – Shiloh

I keep telling myself I should like, always put on a happy face around my friends. I mean, aren’t the popular kids always the ones who seem to have no problems? As fun as it is to complain about my life to other people, pretending like everything is way more exciting and fun than it actually is can get you far in life. At least socially, anyway. That’s a key to social success, and I always try to tell my sister that but she just doesn’t seem to understand. High school is almost over for us, a week left, and she still refuses to put any effort into her social life. Not that it is really that important to be popular, but I think it helps to have friends that people will respect. It makes life easier. Reese just prefers the hard way, I guess. “Shi, are you okay?” said Sydney, one of my best friends throughout my four years at Highland High School. My arm flew from my water bottle to where Sydney was tapping me on the shoulder. “Sorry, yeah,” I said as we both turned our attention back to our lunches. I had been so detached from reality lately. The conversations I really cared about were in my head, not at this lunch table.

My table talked about the latest trends and drama going around the school. Specifically, gossiping about a senior boy named Justin who was apparently dating a freshman girl. As I looked around the table, all their talk just felt so pointless. I was tired of pretending to care about what the new drama was, and I was tired of putting so much effort in to my group of friends just to stay at the top of the social pyramid. It would all be over in a week, anyway. I glanced over at the table in the corner where Reese and her few friends were sitting. I could not help but worry about what would happen to us after high school. College had always been on my todo list after high school, but Reese never seemed excited about it. She wanted to “see the world” and “live in the moment.”

What good is seeing the world when you don’t even have the education to understand what it all means. Like culture, and stuff. That’s what college was for, but Reese doesn’t even have a plan for college. She told our Dad two months ago that she has decided to move out and go live with mom after graduation. Dad was furious with Mom and Reese for planning this behind his back, but I think he just doesn’t approve of Reese’s choice to skip college altogether. A part of me is kind of jealous of Reese. Even if I had decided I didn’t want to go to college, I don’t think I would have had the guts to actually not go. Thinking about living in New York City with Mom does sound a lot more fun than heading off for another four years of lectures and studying.

I munched on my carrot and thought about my options while the rest of the group went on gossiping and pretending not to notice my lack of interest in the conversation. The girls at the table were my true friends, but the amount of pretending and effort it required to be the most social girl in school was beginning to get to heavy for me. I had never thought about not going to college until now. I was already accepted to a good university that had a perfect nursing program. Leaving home and being on my own was all I had ever thought about doing after high school. I had always thought the reason I would be leaving home would be to go to college, I had never considered being on my own for other reasons right out of high school. If I did skip college, I would have some serious growing up to do if I was going to make it on my own. Going to college would mean a solid foundation for me to build a career on, and practically the rest of my life on, too. College was important, but so was my sister. Where she was, I wanted to be, too. We hardly ever had the same opinions on things, but being without her was hard to imagine. Suddenly, I had a choice to make. I realized options that I had never considered before, and I knew whatever choice I made would affect the rest of my life.

Chapter 2 – Reese

Driving home from school felt longer today compared to other days. Shiloh hadn’t said a word the whole ride, when usually I can’t get her to shut up if I tried. When I got home, I went to the room to finish packing. Even though I still had almost a full week left of school, packing made me feel excited. New York City was the most exciting city in America. How could I pass up an opportunity to live there? Especially when my other option was college. Every day when I walked into school, a part of me died. Thinking about the hours upon hours I have wasted in school made me feel physically sick. The world was huge, and it was just waiting for me to live my life to the fullest, and take every single thing it has to offer.

Education was not for learning like most people believe it to be. Education was for grades. Doing whatever you can to pass your classes, without actually learning anything. I wanted the world to be my teacher. The education system is unfair, and full of pressures that I will never have to experience again. Society tells us that if we don’t go to college, our whole life is over. What a joke. Life has only begun once we leave college, or, like me, skip the experience altogether. I had already planned out my first few weeks in New York. At first, I figured I would want to live with my mom only until I found a more permanent place for me to live, but thinking about being stuck in one place won’t help me accomplish my goal of learning through life experience. I will leave New York after the few months, and go where ever the wind takes me.

Life was full of opportunities, I just had to find them. The thought of what was ahead thrilled me, even though I knew there would be harder times. The only thing this perfect life plan was missing was my sister. I brushed out my long brown hair and thought about what it would be like to have my sister along with me for a life full of adventure. I should invite her. How would she know that I even want her to come if I didn’t mention it to her? I will ask her tomorrow, or at least planting the idea in her head before it was too late, and we end up going separate ways and creating out our lives.

The wind picked up outside and through the window I could see all the leaves swirling into tiny tornados above the dead grass in the front yard. The little swirls of red and yellow leaves reminded me of a campfire and calmed my mind from all of the worry that huddled inside of me for a few minutes. If Shiloh agreed to come with me to New York, I would feel guilty. Guilty for talking away her dream of college, and “education.” That wouldn’t be fair of me to do, I couldn’t just take that away from her. Maybe I shouldn’t ask her to come with me. After all, she probably hasn’t even considered the idea of giving up college or she would have told me.

I heard my dad come home, and I finally looked away from the leafy tornados in the front yard. “Shiloh? Reese? Did you know one of you left the car door wide open? How long have you girls been home? Someone needs to go close it!” my Dad hollered as he slammed the front door open. I knew it must have been me that left the door open. I was the last one inside because of all the homework I had to carry inside. My plan was to take a second trip back outside and grab the rest of my stuff and shut the door…oops. I walked down the hallway of brown shiny hardwood floors, so clear I could almost see my reflection. Our maid, Lucinda was dusting the picture frames of my sister and I hanging on the walls of the hallway that lead toward the kitchen. I hurried out past her to the garage to shut the car door before my father became even more upset.

My father had a tendency to get angry over the littlest things. I had a lot of respect for him, he raised Shiloh and I alone without any help. I know it hurt him that I wanted to leave to live with Mom. Even though I knew my choice would cause issues with my father, I figured that going for what I wanted was never going to make everyone else happy. There was no way to make everyone agree with all of my life choices, and that was okay. If Dad saw things differently, he had a right to his own opinion. His own, wrong, opinion.

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