1 A very long day.

"Wake up or else you’ll be late for school again AND I’m not talking with Mr Peterson!"

Waking up to her dad’s shouting about school was definitely NOT a good start for the day.

"HAILIE!"

"IM UP!"

Getting up from the bed shouted in response and made her way to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, pale skin, blue eyes and very unnecessary long black-coloured hair. She wasn’t anything special. An ordinary girl with ordinary features. But one thing for sure was not ordinary about her.

"if you don’t get down here in 10 minutes you’re gonna be in trouble young lady!"

And that turned on her speed-mode. She showered, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a red hoodie, and about 15 minutes later she was hopping on the front seat in her dad’s cruise.

"Finally, you let go of your bed ha?"

Her dad said with a smile.

"if you let me go with my own car you don’t have to wake me up ONE HOUR earlier and shout at me to hurry up every goddamn morning!"

"Language young lady! I can't let you go on your own because we found out that some of the people in the “ peace” gang are students at your school."

"They didn’t hurt me before, they won't hurt me now."

"you don’t know that. Plus you’re the sheriff's daughter, and now that they know it at school-"

"which was your fault thank you for that."

"Hey! I was worried and had to pick you up to see, to see her."

And after mentioning her they both went silent. The weight of the memory was too much to handle. Hailie started thinking about the times when everything was fine. When she would never let them fight. When her father would laugh more. When she was there.

"I'm, I'm just worried about you. I'm your father-"

"and also the sheriff."

"yes but not for you.

"If you're not the sheriff for me, then let me live my own life!"

"what else do you want me to do? it's not like I'm grounding you or something."

"you are not? you don't let me go anywhere alone, you don't let me drive, I'm seventeen and you still come with me to my school!"

"that's because I want to protect you!"

"how? by reminding everyone you're a police? because it won't stop them in any shape or form."

"Are they hurting you?"

"no, dad! why don't you listen? all I'm saying is that this method is not helping. and you're embarrassing me!"

"I'm embarrassing you? me being worried about you is embarrassing?"

"No, but the stuff you do is. you drive me to school like a twelve-year-old, you check me every hour of the day, you look people's backgrounds for god's sake!"

"I just want to know who you are friends with!"

"Oh? and the barista from Starbucks is my friend?"

"You go there every day!"

"Yes because I can't eat breakfast because you insist on driving me to school, and for some reason, you're always late and I have to RUN!"

"Why me driving you to school is a big deal?"

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR THE PAST THIRTY MINUTES!" Hailie shouted. she was furious, all of this mentoring for a group of kids who like to play with fireworks? it was ridiculous!

"I can't lose you too." her dad said with a low voice. Hailie's heart broke into pieces. her father looked shattered.

"You won't lose me. I can take care of myself. I promise. besides, this group of kids won't even bother coming close to me, don't worry." Hailie said in a calming voice as she looked at her father.

"Okay, I'm sorry."Her dad responded.

"It's okay dad. I'm sorry for shouting at you."

it was silent for a moment. Hailie was deep in her thoughts.

"We’re here."

She was snapped out of her thoughts by her dad’s voice.

"thank you for the ride."

"You can take your car from tomorrow." Her dad said while looking straight forward.

Hailie smiled. it worked, it'll always work.

"Thank you!"

And with that, she started walking toward the school.

She was mentally going through her schedule when she heard Jackson.

"Hey, Ardito! Aren't you a little too big to be driven around?"

she sighed and tried to ignore him. but he grabbed her wrist.

"Don't you know you should stop when I call your name?"

Hailie pushed his hand off of her wrist and said: "Why? Are you president or someone important? no Jackass you are not. so don't waste my time." she started to walk away without looking at him.

"Didn't your mama teach you to look at people when you are talking to them?" he dramatically gasped and continued:" oh no your mama died years before she could teach you anything." he started laughing. His friend copying him and laughing right after him.

Hailie turned around quickly and looked into Jackson's eyes.

"And what is your excuse to be an asshole, Jackson? You have this perfect family and a lovely mother. she will be really disappointed if she knew you are nothing but an ass." Hailie said with a calm but challenging voice.

Jackson frowned."That's non of your business Ardito."

"Oh is that so? Then maybe you want to start minding your own business as well. or I'll tell your mother what an asshole you are, next time I came to your house for teaching you how to solve your math problems."

Jackson turned around with a red face and Hailie started to walk away as well.

Today was going to be a very long day …

"Hey H, are you coming to the…hey is everything alright?"

Hailie heard right after the second period. She turned her head to see her best friend Sadie looking at her with worried eyes.

"Hey blondie, yeah I’m fine, today is really exhausting. What were you saying again?"

Sadie’s eyes glowed and started talking with excitement: "ohh ok, you see Walter and I are going to the race tonight and Walter is bringing one of his friends, I was wondering if you wanted to come ?"

Hailie was going to say no because her father would NOT be happy with her doing illegal stuff, but she couldn’t say no to Sadie’s big brown puppy eyes. So instead of being a good girl and rejecting the offer, she rolled her eyes and said:" well I think someone should be there to save your cute blonde ass from boredom right?"

Sadie laughed and took her hand:" Thanks babes, now come on you don’t want to be late to MR.harrison’s class do you ?"

Hailie laughed and nodded.