Extraordinary, chapter 1

Chapter One:

You can hear the waves crashing down on the shore. The breeze blowing into your face and through your hair. The silence of the night. That's what I liked most about living here on the coast, right along the beach. It was humid out, but the breeze of the ocean made me shiver a little. I sat on blue and red, plaid blanket, just on the shore where the waves rise up from the bay and wash up right under my heels and tickle my toes.
Oh, my toes...
They ached with pain. I looked at them in disgust. They were all bruised and almost bloody, bandages on each big toe. And you wonder why they are so beaten up? Had someone been stepping on them this evening?
No. I'm a ballerina. I looked at my ballet shoes, dried blood was soaking through the front. I was still in my pink leotard, with a pair of jeans on. I quietly got up, blew out the candles that I lit and sat on their blue plates. I picked up my things and stuffed them into the brown sack that I carry around. I walked over to my horse, Thunder.
Thunder was one of the horses that my family owns up at the ranch, behind the woods. I lifted myself up on Thunder and pull the ropes so that he would take me home.
About five years ago, my grandmother died of a heart attack. I never met the woman. She used to send me Christmas cards every year and I'd send Thank You cards back to her, but I never actually knew her. She lived up here in Wales. She owned this horse ranch and all this land. But when she died, my mother, my father, my brother and I moved up here to take care of my grandfather. My grandpa is still alive but he hardly comes out of his room. So I've been living here since the seventh grade. Tristan, my brother, is a year younger than I. My mother is poet, and a very spiritual person. And my father works at home; he works for a consulting agency. I hardly see any of my family, even though they're all at home everyday. My mother is usually in her study, writing, or she's out in the "mediation room", which is really just an empty room that we had no use for until she thought up that idea. My brother is usually up in his room, talking on the phone to his many girls friends and guy friends. My father is usually working in his study. And my grandpa is up in his room, basically always sleeping. And I, well I just do my own thing. I go out riding, or I'm at the studio, hanging with my ballerina friends, or I'm out with Clare, my best friend, or I'm out with Billie Joe, my boyfriend.
Billie Joe is the sweetest person that I've ever met. Actually, I met him in the seventh grade, when I first moved here. He was my friend for about four months and then he asked me out on New Year's Eve. He's in a band called Sweet Children. I think that they're gonna make it big. Probably the biggest punk band since the Sex Pistols. He's the lead singer and guitarist. His friend Mike is the bassist and his other friend, John (or Al), is the drummer. Billie Joe is the kind of guy that goes out of his way to make you feel good about yourself. He's smart, sensitive, kind and loving. He's in touch with every part of himself and is very daring. And his eyes make you melt. Sure, you could say we were in love. Everyday, we'd walk along the beach, just talking. He'd come watch me practice at the studio and I'd come to watch him practice in his basement. We'd go out riding together in the woods and smile at each other. So yeah, you could say that we were in love.
Today is my last day of summer vacation. Scary, right? I'm finally going into my senior year. And then, next year, I'll be thinking "I'm finally going to college"! I didn't do much this summer. I just kind of hung out with close friends and my family, and of course, Billie Joe.
As I walked through the woods, I felt so secure there. I've been living here for five years. I remember that I used to climb these trees, like everyday in the summer, because everybody else was out, doing their own thing in the house. I remember, in like the eighth grade, I climbed this big Weeping Willow Tree with Billie Joe and that was the first time he kissed me. We laugh about it now; the sloppiness. It was a true first-timers' kiss. And then like the second after we pulled away, it started to rain, and I almost slipped off the tree, but Billie Joe caught me. And then he almost slipped. So yeah... It wasn't the ideal kiss that I've been dreaming about since I was five, but it was something that I'll always remember.
Living here has been like a dream. It's so beautiful here. And hey, I live on a horse ranch: it can't get any better. I used to live down in Berkeley, California. It's nice down there, right on the bay, but I'm convinced that the bay over here is much better. Ha.
As I approached the barn, I got down off of Thunder and lead him into his stable. We had five other horses besides Thunder. Beauty, a tall and strong, white horse, was the eldest girl. Her only daughter is Jasmin. Leon is Thunder's brother and Jasmin's father. Leon and Thunder are very big and tall, and strong black horses. Almost like the one that King Arthur road. Guenevere was another girl, a beautiful tan colored horse. And her son, and Thunder's son, is Storm. (Guenevere was said to be the wife of King Arthur while Arthur was ruling his Pendragon inheritance, the Middle Kingdom. ) They're all such beautiful creatures. And I love them all. Heck, I'm the only one that spends any time with them. Everybody else is just so busy all the time. So I took up taking care of them. My grandpa will, once in while, come down from his room and feed them or go riding on Beauty. Beauty was my grandma's pride and joy. She loved going out riding with Beauty, or so I'm told.
After I put Thunder back in his cube, I walked over to the house. The front porch light was on, so I turned it off. My family just doesn't know how to conserve energy. I opened the front door and walked into the foyer. The leaf green colored walls glowed from the tv playing in the living room. The withered wooden staircase spiraled up to the second floor. I walked into the living room. My mother was asleep on our white couch, so I turned off the tv for her. I looked around. The house was fairly clean. I could tell that the fireplace was put out not long ago. The mantle held pictures of the family, from when my mother was younger and our family pictures. The mantle extended up to the ceiling, surrounded with blood red walls. I could hear the back door in the kitchen, opening and then slamming shut. I walked into there and closed the door all the way, resisting the now heavier blowing wind that was brushing against the house. The kitchen was the brightest room in the house. It had yellow walls and many, many lights hanging over the top of the cupboards. The counter and kitchen table had vases filled with red, orange and yellow gladiolas. The pink curtains blew over the sink from the window.
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and limped my way to the back staircase. I made my way up and walked down the white hallway to my room. I opened the door to find my cat, Jackle, lying on my bed. He was a small black cat and spent most of his time in my room, sleeping. Kind of like my grandpa. I walked over to my bed and picked up Jackle and sat him in my lap. I heard a knock at my window. Startled, I shot my head back to see what it was. Just Billie Joe. I could see his huge smile through the darkness of the night and glare on the glass. His big green eyes gleaming at me. I walked over, still holding Jackle, and opened the window for him. He climbed in and took Jackle from my arms and gave me a kiss on the cheek, not the least bit sloppy.
"Hello my honeysuckle." he greeted.
"Honeysuckle?" I questioned.
"It's a type of flower." he said, kissing me on the cheek again. "I didn't want to use the front door because I thought I might wake someone up." he said, pointing to the window.
"Good, 'cause everyone's asleep. Plus, that's your excuse to use my window every time, day or night." I laughed. He sat down on my bed while I went into my closet to get dressed in a black, tight tank top and a pair of Billie Joe's boxers that I somewhat stole from him, but he's knows it. I came out and saw Billie Joe lying my bed, with Jackle at his feet, and his vibrant green eyes closed, ready for sleep. "Billie... Don't sleep! You can't sleep in my bed."
"Leave me alone, of course I can. I've had a very tiring day!"
"Billie Joe, you work at pizza place." I mocked.
"Flipping pizzas is hard work, I'll have you know. And plus, I wasn't working today, I was practicing! And where do you work?" he commented back. (We fight like an old couple. )
"I spend all day on my very tippy-toes trying to move around and basically bruising myself. I'd say that it's hard work. You can't do it!"
"No... But still. And oh my grief," he said, staring at my feet. "Look at your toes. They're all bloody." he motioned me to join him on the bed. He sat up, me on his lap, and he rubbed my toes, massaging my heals, and smoothing out rough spots. I loved it when he did that.
How casual of him just to change the tension from arguing to caring about my feet. But that was the way he always won my charm. And I loved him for that too! Billie Joe and I have a special relationship. We're always together, we can always relate to the other, we always know how the other is feeling.
Billie Joe laid me down on my bed and sat at the other end, putting astringent on my bloody toenails that he got from the bathroom outside my room. He lightly blew on the blisters as the astringent burned through my skin, and he wrapped my toes in fresh bandages. Jackle jumped up on the bed and started sniffing the astringent that was sitting, on the floor, next to Billie Joe.
"Oh, Jackle, don't sniff that!" Billie Joe commanded at Jackle, pulling him away. "We only sniff glue, remember that."
"Billie Joe, don't teach him things." I said, watching at Jackle jump up onto my dresser.
"I remember the first time that I saw you," Billie Joe said. "You were holding Jackle. At the school. Remember?" Of course I remembered. It was the first day of the seventh grade. Billie Joe was wondering around the school, cutting class like he usually did back then. I was being shown around the school by the principal and the guidance consoler with my parents. I was carrying Jackle, he was just a baby back then and I didn't want to leave him at home where he could easily get lost, and the principal was kind enough to let him in. I was being shown all of my classes. As my parents were talking on and on with the principal and consoler, I wondered out to the gymnasium. I saw that a teenage boy was in there, just kind of dicking around. The mystery boy stopped, kind of shocked, when I entered the huge room. He was stopped by a big blue banner, with gold embroidered letters, that read:

CHAPTON JUNIOR HIGH AND HIGH SCHOOL
CHAMPION TRACK TEAM
SINCE 1987

His big, vibrant, green, stoner eyes, glaring at me from the far. Then he smiled at me.
"I'm sorry, I was just wondering around, I didn't mean to intrude." I apologized, even though I knew that he was just skipping class. I took off my big, black lensed sunglasses and hung them on the top of my head, my hair getting tangled in the small plastic pieces that support your nose. I folded my hands together just beneath my brown, sway jacket that I found in a chest full of my grandmother's things earlier that day. I was wearing the jacket over a light blue shirt and a pair of dark rinsed jeans and just a pair of normal tennis shoes. My long black hair almost reached my lower back, back then.
Billie Joe motioned toward me with a sheer streak of confidence. "Hi, I'm Billie Joe. New here?"
He held his hand out and I shook it.
"Yeah. I'm Delila." I answered.
Now that he was closer to me, I could see his face more clearly, his eyes still sticking out from everything else. He had electric black hair, a killer complexion, and he was wearing a black concert T-shirt and a pair of black, dress-down jeans. He had a chain around his neck and a couple of earings in his ear, and even a nose ring. He smiled at me a very bright smile, still holding onto my hand.
The distant echo of my parents and the principal were coming closer into hearing range. I heard Billie Joe mumble "oh shit" under his breath. "Look, I'll see you in class, okay?" he said, and he ran out the opposite gym doors as I nodded. I turned my body to face the doors and in no time I could see the adults' faces. My father nodded to me and asked if I liked the school so far?
"Yeah, it's really nice." I answered.
"That good!" my father said, smiling at me, his arm around my mother's neck and his eyes searching the ceiling. His brawny grin and white teeth showing.
Next, I was shown to my third period class. Miss Hoffer, I believe her name was. It was just standard Math. I was left there by my parents and the principal, my mother took Jackle home. I was introduced by Miss Hoffer to the class and I took a seat in the farthest left row, the second last seat.
Miss Hoffer asked the students if anyone would show me to the rest of my classes today and a familiar voice answered, "I will!"
It was the boy from the gym, Billie Joe. He had just came in through the door, his hand raised and his chest strongly gasping for air, probably running to get to class. I could hear a smirk coming from a woman's voice somewhere in the classroom. I looked around and saw a blonde haired girl, in a pink tank top and pink pants, watching me. Her face was overdone with makeup and her hair was perfectly curly and almost frizzy, the kind of 80's look. I just rolled my eyes over at the girl and she turned back around. The teacher thanked Billie Joe and he walked down the aisle, and perked his lips at the girl. The girl made a gaging noise to another on her other side and she turned her body so that I could no longer see her face. Billie Joe took the seat behind me and the teacher continued her lesson.
I felt a hard tap on my shoulder, made by a pencil I suppose, and I turned around to Billie Joe.
"Hey, um... Listen, don't tell anyone I was skipping." I nodded. "Oh and these are my friends: Mike," he said pointing to the blonde man in front of me. Mike smiled and turned his attention back to his doodling. "John and Tre," he said, pointing me to look right, and there sat another blonde haired boy, whom I assumed was Tre, and another with a very slim face and light brown hair. All of them had blue eyes, which kind of made Billie Joe stand out. And I liked that he stood out from the rest.

I smiled at Billie Joe, as he put the last bandage on my little toe. He still had the same boyish gleam in his eyes and smiled like he did five years ago. How could I forget the first time that we saw each other?