Chapter 1

Author's note:Wow, the first chapter of The Core. I'm so excited that I can't wait for the next. It was really fun writing this and I hope you think the same about reading it. I'm so glad  you decided to go on an adventure with Melanie.

Without  further delay... 

   Mel's POV

The loud yell of my obnoxious brother woke me up, I quickly got up from bed and landed with a thump on the floor pulling my duvet and pillows with me, it was a normal occurrence that I had already gotten used to. He derived some sort of manic pleasure in screaming my name for no reason especially when I'm asleep. God knows what goes on in that little head of his, or if its puberty pushing him to be so annoying and loud, I know I was definitely not like that when I was his age.

   It took a while for my brain to adjust to the blinding sunlight seeping into the room from my window, knowing mom she had already come into my room to lift the curtains up, thinking that would wake me up, she was wrong. I loved sleep more than anything, maybe not anything but you get my point.

As I got up, I tried making my bed, emphasis on the word tried, it took a lot of patience and I was never patient. It was better than leaving it unmade, and having to hear mom tell me about how irresponsible it was, and how I shouldn't let irresponsibility take over my essence yeah my mom was deep like that . I jogged downstairs to find out why my brother tried to deafen the entire neighborhood, when I spotted Stephanie,a not so friendly friend,and knew why already.No one liked Stephanie, she was too loud,and loved gossip more than anything. She could never stop talking, and it was beyond irritating. She was blabbing animatedly to my mom in the kitchen who was desperately looking for a way out. Mom was too nice, if I was in her shoes, I'd probably have stopped her from coming to my house one way or the other. Stephanie was alright, she just didn't know when to shut up, which meant she was always a pain in the ass most of the time and she loved secrets more than anything,She wanted to know everything about everybody.Most times I ignored her, but since that was hard to do I started to avoid her even if it wasn't remotely possible since she lived across the street from mine. Grabbing an apple from the kitchen counter I turned to face her, she was looking cute and ready for the beach.

"oh no, the beach, that's why she's here she wants to drag me along to the beach with her",I mumbled silently, face palming, this wasn't the first time she makes plans to involve me in something and doesn't inform me first. During winter break last year, she signed us up for ice skiing in the mountains for a fund raiser, I still have nightmares about that tree I bumped into with full force that gave me a severe concussion, long story short, worst Christmas ever. There was no way in hell I was going anywhere today especially not to the beach with Stephanie.

Steph looked at me weirdly and I raised an eyebrow in return.

"Why aren't you ready yet", she asked me taking in my appearance which kinda made me self conscious because let's face it I looked like a hobo who got attacked by a bear in a cactus farm whenever I woke up.

"Dressed for what,"I asked trying to feign ignorance, but to be honest I didn't know if it worked until she said "the beach, duh, didn't you receive my text last night?".

I tried looking around for my phone cos I couldn't remember the last time I saw it until Cedric ,the obnoxious little brother I was talking about earlier came  with it in his hands, waving it in the air with a smug expression on his face.

There was no need to ask cos I know he saw the text and he replied, there was also no need to guess his reply as it was sitting in front of me looking confused. Sometimes I wish I was an only child. I felt bad for badmouthing Steph in my mind about the ice skiing accident,even if it was in my mind.

Running back upstairs to my room to avoid anymore awkward situations, I tried to think of an excuse to get out of going to the beach but all of them led to Steph staying to hang out with me at home and my parents strangling me afterwards. It was one of the rarest weekends they stayed home all day. Since I had no other choice than to tag along I wasn't going to suffer it alone, I called Tyler, my best friend since I was five. He would make it bearable for me and I didn't have to be all alone when Steph ditches me eventually, trust me it happens all the time.

I told him to come over asap that it was an emergency and to bring his swimming suit cos someone's life depended on it, which was partially true, and ended the call,  knowing how dramatic and caring he was he'll be here in 15 tops which gave me some time to freshen up. I kept glancing at the door to quickly cover up the moment Steph barges into my room or else I'd have to listen to her rant to me  about how thankful she was for being so endowed in all the right places and asking me what it was like having really small boobs, both being entirely true. Pulling my straight coffee brown hair into a low ponytail and tucking loose strands behind my ear, I took a quick glance at my mirror and nodded in approval at my reflection, my forest green eyes twinkling with excitement, I was wearing black shorts with a really cute pink crop top with 'fantasy world' written with glitter. I grabbed my sunglasses, hat and swim suit I had put in my backpack.

   I  jogged downstairs to find my dad walking in with Joey, my baby brother from their usual walk to the park. He was the cutest baby in the entire world, he giggled when his eyes landed on me. I really hope he wouldn't turn out to be the devil's incarnate that Cedric was someday.

I kissed both their cheeks and yelled a good bye so mom would hear wherever she was, I couldn't care less if Cedric heard or not, he was just an annoying little brat that had put me in this situation.

By the time Steph and I were just about walking through the front door, Tyler was already in the porch about to open the door. The moment he spotted Stephanie, he turned around to leave when I grabbed him giving him a silent plea with my eyes as she was already beside me. "There is no way I'm going anywhere with her, not now not ever", Ty quickly whispered to me, anger evident in his grey eyes.

I knew I was being selfish but I couldn't spend a whole day with her all by myself or I'd go crazy. I tried explaining this to him with my eyes mustering up the best puppy dog eyes I could muster until he sighed heavily and I knew I had finally won.

          The ride to the beach was everything awkward could be defined as, I felt the tension between them even with Ty at the back seat. It started way back in our freshman year, it was our first semester in high school when Steph told the whole school that she had seen Ty naked in the shower, of course no one believed her until she brought out the picture as proof, it went viral within minutes. Tyler had to call in sick for almost two weeks as he couldn't face anyone not even me. I don't blame him though, I probably would have moved away at all cost to start a new school.

    The beach was pretty packed by the time we got there with people scattered in little groups of either friends or family, beach balls and kids were everywhere, it wasn't much of a surprise though,  the hotter it got the more packed it'd become. Our little town, Milestone, got pretty hot in the summer.

   I was enjoying the beach so far, relaxing under an umbrella, a cold drink in hand enjoying a book I was reading. I hadn't embarrassed myself so far until my biggest crush, Adrian Smith strolled in with his squad looking gorgeous as always and I almost choked,it caught his attention and he turned to look at me which made me even choke the more,I quickly shoved the book in my face to turn his attention away. His squad mostly consisted of two of his best friends each with a blonde bimbo whose names I never remembered. Not to be stereotypical, but most blondes in my school were dumber than Patrick from Spongebob, most except one, Melanie Reynolds, unfortunately we bore the same name and she hated my guts as if I asked to be named Melanie. She was the definition of beauty and brains, she excelled in academics, was the lead cheerleader and still managed to make everyone's lives miserable. She was clinging on to Adrian's arm like her life depended on it,  her waist length blonde hair flying in the wind, with Tiffany her best friend trailing  behind her.

I sighed, turning to face my book when my eyes caught a restaurant, seeing the restaurant made me hungry, so I turned to face Tyler who was struggling to get sunblock on his back.

"Let's go grab something to eat", I said pointing to the restaurant I had just spotted. He nodded and got up, putting on his shirt, I joined him and we walked side by side dodging balls and kids running around. Luckily Steph was no where to be seen, my guess was she had gone to Melanie's group to try and get their attention. I knew she'd ditch us sooner or later.

As we entered the restaurant, it was packed,meaning they sold good food. We sat at a table closest to the window that had a nice view of the ocean, we both ordered Mac and cheese and after a while it was brought smelling absolutely delicious. I dug in as my tommy growled in response to the heavenly aroma. Tyler looked at me with an amused smile on his face, I shrugged in return and went back to my food. The bell above the entrance jingled and Adrian walked in with his friends, not surprisingly Stephanie waltzed in with them blabbing to one of the guys I assumed was Seth, Adrian's best friend. Sometimes I wonder why I let her come close, she was always moving from group to group looking for the latest gossip. Adrian's eyes landed on mine for a second and a small smile tugged at his lips for a sec until Melanie dragged him to a table shooting me her meanest glare. He kept glancing at me and I kept receiving dirty glares from Melanie who desperately tried to keep his eyes on her. I had to turn around a few times to be sure it was me he was looking at and not someone behind me. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed Ty's arm and dragged him out of the restaurant despite his silent protests and the fact that I didn't even let him finish his food but not before leaving our bill on the table and a huge tip as as I couldn't wait for change. 

"Crazy woman", he mumbled as he walked towards a stall to buy bottled water.

"I'll drink some water too", I yelled. He turned around and gave me the finger which only made me yell even louder, I guess my brother was rubbing off on me. I walked back to our spot, and sat down with a huge sigh thinking of how Adrian's looks had erupted a volcano of butterflies in my stomach, as much as it felt good having the hottest guy stare at me, I knew it only fueled the hatred Melanie had towards me which made me extremely uncomfortable. There's no telling what that girl could do. Releasing another huge sigh, I looked around and spotted two little girls burying their father in the sand while laughing like maniacs.  I smiled appreciating the little things in life when Tyler approached me holding out the water he had gotten me.

"Someone's in a good mood seeing as she nearly cut off my arm and separated me from the food I was enjoying", he exclaimed.

"Oh don't be such a little girl about it, it was an emergency", I replied.

"The same emergency that needs my swim suit? ", he mumbled.

"Yeah, sorry about that, you know that Steph is a handful and I didn't want to be alone with her", I urged.

He rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement and went back to the sand castle he started earlier. "Wanna join me", he asked,his full concentration on the barely finished castle before him. Dropping my book, I joined him and was starting a wall or what I think was a wall when my stomach grumbled. I sighed in frustration when it growled even louder this time, just as I was about to get up, Tyler's stomach did the same thing, we looked at each other and burst out laughing, we were laughing so hard that we didn't know we were rolling on the floor with everyone probably looking at us like we belonged in a mental asylum. It wasn't till our stomach growled again, that we realised that if we didn't  get to the restrooms asap, we would end up on the news this evening "now to other matters two teens made a fool out of themselves at the beach by defecating in the sand". That would mean public shame for the rest of our lives. Thankfully I spotted a bunch of those public restrooms  that used to be in parks earlier. I sprinted with Tyler hot on my heels towards the direction I had spotted them but surprisingly we weren't the only ones running in that direction. I was too occupied with running that I didn't have time to look back to see who it was. I needed to get there first and not have to wait a turn.

Luckily we got there in time before any damage like us going in our clothes could be done. There were 6 stalls all together, without hesitation, I entered  one of them and sighed in relief. I couldn't believe I had just developed diarrhoea out of thin air. It was even weirder that Tyler did the same too at the same time. When I was done with my business, I grabbed the toilet paper railing to get toilet paper.

Before I knew it,I fell straight into the floor of the stall and into a dark hole with dangerous speed thanking the stars that I had cleaned up and flushed and wouldn't die with a dirty rump,how embarrassing would that be. After what felt like ages, I landed with a thump on what I assume to be the ground praying I hadn't sprained my  ankles and that I wasn't in the sewers even though the horrific smell said otherwise. I tried to find my balance as I stood up regretting why I had come to the beach when I heard loud screams probably louder than mine from above, it looked like someone or something had fallen through the same hole, the more I listened after moving out of the way, that is, it sounded like it wasn't just one person, it had to be more.

  Author's note:Sorry for another author's note. I just want to say if you have any ideas or complaints feel free to let me know in the comments section. Also I know some people love saying hateful things and I'd appreciate your comment but I'd just ignore you, so feel free.

                                       ❤️ Gee.