Save Me from Suburbia

By Christina Glazier

Jeanie is trapped in what appears to be a perfect life in a perfect town. She doesn't know what is missing until a strange car driven by a strange boy suddenly drives by. But he doesn't fit the plan within the perfect town, and the residents will stop at nothing to erase him. With new ideas and experiences opened up to her, can she set the foundation for the future life she wants while the new guy, Jones, battles his own demons? Or will the town take both of them down?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365439186

Book preview

Save Me from Suburbia

Save Me from Suburbia

Copyright © 2016 by Christina Glazier

The following is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to person, or incidents are coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be scanned, reproduced, or transmitted in any form, digital or printed, without request of the author’s permission.

ISBN: 978-1-365-43918-6

Chapter 1

Jeanie turned her alarm clock off to start her day just like every other day.  It was the same old routine that had lasted so long she could sleep walk through it all. The alarm clock goes off and she heads to the bathroom. After that she places herself in front of her makeup station and then stares into the mirror. This is where she always gets ready for school by doing her hair and makeup.

She lived in a town where everything was proper. A place for everything, and everything in its place. You grew up, got married to start a family, raised the family in a nice house, and then grow old. That was how it went. No one questioned it. No one strayed from it.  It was just expected of you.

She stopped to take a good look at herself. There was no smile that adorned her pretty and thin face, only a serious face that was staring back at her. It was the perfect life she had. Everything always seemed in place. She lived in the family house with the picket white fence and the family dog. A person from a broken home would have been jealous of this life, if anyone in this town ever had known what it meant to come from a broken home. But she still stared at herself with a strange uncontent. Deep down inside she was unhappy even if she wasn’t sure exactly why.

She brushed her dirty blonde hair out and put the same makeup on she had put on every day. She glanced at the makeup on her counter that she never used. It just happened to come as a set with the ones she did use. Such pretty shades, it was such a shame they never got worn. She considered putting them on today to break the routine, but her parents would consider the colors too flashy. She would be forced to wash them off and then be lectured on doing drugs and being too flashy. The idea of a color defining what, and who you are, just seemed flat out silly to her. How could a color say you are too flashy for your own good?  Who decided what color was normal and what color was inappropriate? They were just colors, like any other color on the color wheel. Just because your shadow reflected purple light more than tan somehow it magically transformed a girl into a hussy was beyond Jeanie. Maybe someday she would be brave and say screw what everyone thought and challenge these silly rules with a happy smile on her face. The thought of it seemed to light some sort of fire behind her eyes.  She finally smiled. Then she put the final stray hairs into her pony tail and headed out of the room and down the stairs. It wasn’t going to be today, but maybe soon.

Her mother as always was in the kitchen, posed in front of the stove. She had Jeanie’s glass of orange juice and Jeanie grabbed it from her hand while sitting in her chair at the table in one swoop. It had become too routine. She always grabbed the newspaper in front of her and would open it up.  She then would hold it in front of her face pretending that current events were incredibly interesting to her. She had never read more than ten articles in her whole life. She would just scan headlines and pictures, and then gaze up over the paper as her brother would be coming down the stairs into the kitchen.

Good morning everyone, she would always say from behind the newspaper pretending to be cheerful. She always wondered if everyone was playing the role as perfect family member like she did. Were they pretending too while they were unhappy inside, even though they always had a smile on their face? Was she really the only one?

Her brother ran over to their mom who was still at her station but had refilled her hand with another glass of orange juice. He snatched the drink and then went to the chair on the other side of the table.

If anyone was genuine in this family it was him. He seemed simple in his young age. He never failed to get excited over food and was wagging his imaginary tail over anything as a puppy would.

Lovely weather today is it not? their mom said as she grabbed the pan of pancakes on the stove behind her. Jeanie was sure she said it only to make conversation with them.

Sure is! her brother answered back with a lot of energy. There was no mistaking that his answer was not faked.

He was more eager to get the pancakes and had already grabbed the fork and knife for each hand. Mom dropped a few on his plate straight from the pan. She started to make her way to Jeanie while Dad appeared on to the scene right on cue. This was also the cue to set the paper down and let her dad ruffle through it.

Hey look, she said as she quickly glanced at the very first story she saw before she set the paper down on the table, those darn plant people want to strike again. And then she laid the paper down in front of Dad across the table from her.

Dad shook his head. Always greedy, no one is ever happy with what they have. It’s sad. But I know I taught you two better than that. He picked up his fork as mom had already made her way around the table with the food and motioned to her and her brother. You get what you put into life so only ask for what you truly deserve and have earned.

Right! her brother chimed in with a mouthful of pancakes. Jeanie just nodded mechanically. She sighed internally to herself as she glanced over her pancakes. She wasn’t interested in the food nor her father’s preaching but if she didn’t eat now she would regret it. She must have ended up looking over her plate for a while for her mother to put her hand on her shoulder and say, You better eat something before Dianna gets here.

And she couldn’t get here soon enough she thought to herself. Again she nodded, took a big bite and gave a reassuring sound of satisfaction to her mother. She looked up at her mother and made her face form a smile. When her mother smiled back and walked away, the smile instantly faded while she took a few more bites and stared out the window to find anything to occupy her mind but what was happening in the kitchen. The playful squirrels were running to and fro. There were little birds that stopped to peck at the ground. Everything outside was way more interesting than anything that ever went on in her house. She would still give a nod or a yeah to attempt to show interest in the scene in front of her. But while her father went on with his banters and Mom and her brother chimed in, she was too busy imagining squirrels and birds as characters in some untold story in her head.

The gray squirrel was Sam who has a squirrel family with squirrel Tina. They were friends with the sparrows that just stopped on a tree branch to chirp its findings of loot to its squirrel buddies. Then the two squirrels run off together to locate the loot that Mr. Bird had informed them of. Sam starts to dig while Tina shuttles of the tree to thank Mr. Bird. But suddenly the story playing out in her mind gets interrupted as all the animals run startled off.

She looked over to the road to see a flashy bright red car speed by. She blinked. Her heart almost froze for a second and when she opened her eyes she could see the car as it passed by her view. But she would still see this red and black sports car going down the road. It was a new car! One she had never seen before pass by! Who could possibly be the driver?! No one she knew would have bought a car that looked like that. She hadn’t even seen a car of that kind or build before. Her adrenaline rushed at the evidence of maybe something new in this town. It couldn’t be a person just passing through the town as there would have been no reason to be on her road. The highway was a few miles north and her road was heading east to mainly the rest of the housing area and small businesses till the road dead ends at the river. Oh what a mystery on who could have been in that car! She could just think up of all kinds of fantasies that her imagination played with.

But her stories would have to wait a little bit. She had just seen Dianna’s car pull around the corner and in her drive way. She sprang up and kissed her mother on the forehead. She said her usual goodbyes and rushed out the door. Usually the rush was the eagerness to just leave the house behind her. But this time she couldn’t wait to tell Dianna of the mystery car.

Dianna was the same age as her and their two parents were good friends with each other. So naturally Jeanie’s parents trusted Dianna to hang out with her more than any other person. It was arranged that Dianna should always pick Jeanie up to and from school for the reassurance she would be in a safe hands. Jeanie’s father believed that teenagers should not be allowed the freedom and responsibilities of having a driver’s license. Nothing good can come of it was his motto. Jeanie was not allowed to be able to drive till eighteen at the earliest which she hoped was the case as she had a year to go. But both her parents did not want to be inconvenienced with their schedules of taking her to her mandatory places so they allowed Dianna to do the deed.

She flew as fast as she could to her car and flopped in the passenger seat.  She couldn’t even wait to close the door before she blurted out, Did you see that car?!

Dianna of course knew exactly which car she was referring to. She was sure everyone who saw it knew, since a car like that stood out like a sore thumb. Yeah. It did look like a nifty car, she said agreeing with her. But her voice lacked the same excitement Jeanie felt. Why wouldn’t she be excited over such a fancy car that is never seen in a place like this? Jeanie almost took offense to it.

Who do you think it could possibly belong to? Jeanie said dreamingly. Dianna still didn’t seem to be able to share her same excitement as she just shrugged it all off casually.

I don’t know anyone who would have a car like that, Jeanie continued. She sat back in her seat and put her seatbelt on and smiled dreamily. I wonder if it’s a new person. She sighed as Dianna started to back out of the drive.  Oh can you just imagine what kind of person would drive a car like that?

I don’t know, maybe someone who wants to cause trouble. You know your dad got ahold of me?

Ugh! Jeanie rolled her eyes. Dianna was almost like a third parent. They were still friends for the fact that she would still cover for her like a friend her age should be doing, but she also was her parents’ third eyes over her. If things went horribly wrong both her parents would know every detail because of Dianna. She also seemed to be a buzz kill when it came to exciting things like this new car that just appeared in town.

You got a B in math.

And? Why can’t she go back to imagining who the mystery driver is? Why would she even say the driver seems like a person who would cause trouble? Because the person has a different looking car than everyone else in town? Why did no one else get excited over these things like she did? It was these things that made her feel segregated from the rest of everyone else.

Look I can’t keep covering for you if you are only going to get a B. He knows something is not right and it’s not fair to make me lie for you.

Why did you say that you think the driver of the car is a trouble maker?

Are you even listening to me? Your father is going to have both of our heads! If you want me to keep lying for you, you need to get an A in math. Otherwise I will have to tell him the truth. Better yet, I will force you to show up for tutoring to avoid the whole mess in the first place.

Okay fine, better yet I promise I will show up so you don’t have to physically force me to. Even though it was meant half-jokingly, Jeanie let out a deep sigh and just stared out her window. Again it was more interesting than what was going on in front of her. I had one bad test okay? That’s all.

And you know what the worst part of it is? Dianna asked sternly.  The two girls rode in silence for a brief moment. Jeanie didn’t care to talk to her anymore. But unlike her parents Dianna actually expected a real answer from her before she continued.

I don’t know, Jeanie responded in a bored manner to break the silence.  Tell me, what the worst part is. She honestly didn’t care but she knew she was going to hear it regardless.  Wonder where that driver with the fancy car went to.

I don’t even know how to tell him the truth because I don’t know what it is! Where do you go? What do you even do? Is it drugs?

I would love to tell you… Jeanie had no real intention on ever telling her. She knew one day she would give