Imperfect Moments

AN: So this is the story that came in 1st place in my poll, and I decided to post the first chapter today. I have plenty of plans for this fic - how could I not with one of my fave pairings? - so I hope you'll stick around for it :)

Chapter ONE – The Girl Who Wished For More

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Running a hand through tangled blonde hair, a teenager of no more than seventeen years-old rose unwillingly from her comfortable bed to the typical scenario in her household. There was a sudden crash (that would be her younger sister), a scolding from her parents (typical), and then a bark (from the dog - who else?).

Though she was used to this, she still rolled her eyes, dragging her tired body over to her dresser and sitting down. She shuddered at her reflection in the mirror; as far as she was concerned, she looked like a zombie in the morning. The most popular girl in school or not, she was sure that she wouldn’t have been able to pull off this look had she stepped out of the house with this new style.

A shrill shout up the stairs a moment later forced her to shudder once again. “Maria, are you up yet? You better be! I’m not dragging your ass out of bed, again I should say, just because you’re too lazy to get up for work!”

Maria, the girl in question, let out a weak sigh. “Relax, I’m already up!” She yelled through her open door and tried with all her might not to let the frustration flow in her tone. “I’ll be down after my shower.”

And by the looks of things, she needed one.

She re-appeared from her bathroom a good twenty minutes later, and slipped into a cute ensemble of a white mini-skirt and pale blue camisole. The outfit was revealing but not enough to deem herself a slut. She tried not to let people hold that impression of her.

Twisting her hair back into a messy bun, Maria finally allowed a smile to grace her features. “There. Much better.”

After adjusting her name-tag – MARIA, it read in clear bold letters – the teenager headed for the stairs, and skipped two at a time to get to the kitchen at a faster pace. She was not surprised to find her sister sitting at the table with a gossip magazine in her hand, and her parents bickering over something that was probably irrelevant.

“Alright. I’m going to be gone in about...” Pausing, she checked her watch. “Five minutes. I’ll grab something to eat at work or at lunch, and I’ll be back at about two. Okay?”

It wasn’t at all interesting to go through the schedule every morning but her parents were rather strict when it came to their daughter apparently.

“Sure sweetie.” Her mother smiled softly, wrapping her hands around a mug of coffee. “Make sure to call if you’re having any trouble.”

“Or if some guy hassles you,” said her father purposely, making a hand-in-fist motion soon after.

Maria merely rolled her eyes at their attitude, but nodded all the same. She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl before heading towards the door, making sure to sling the backpack waiting for her over her shoulder.

“Off to work. See ya later guys!” She called cheerfully. Giggling at the excitement of her dog, she opened the door. “Sorry Penny, I have to go to work. Maybe Morgan will take you for a walk later – you never know, that miracle might just happen.”

The sarcasm dripped in her younger sister’s voice from the next room. “You know that suggestion is almost as ridiculous as the fact you’re talking to a dog.”

Her eyes narrowed and she was prepared with a retort, but felt as though Morgan didn’t deserve the effort. Instead she slipped out of the front door and right into the driver’s seat of her blue Beetle convertible. As soon as she was out of the driveway, the radio was turned on and she pushed play to start off a specially-made selection of her favourite tunes.

The bubbly teenager smiled as she began to sing along to the first. If she was to put up with work on a Saturday morning, why couldn’t she at least be happy before the stress started to build up?

Though, of course, she didn’t find anything wrong with her job. It didn’t interest her but it didn’t completely bore her. Working in a grocery store was even fun sometimes – she liked to study the customers, imagine what their story was, that kind of thing. But it was quite clear that she was only in it for the money. Though rich, it didn’t mean she just got everything handed to her.

“...I’m just a girl! Take a good look at me.” She was singing as she drove into the parking lot of the place where she worked.

Gordon’s Groceries was the most popular market for people to go and shop, and because of this, Maria was pushed into accepting an extra shift this morning so they weren’t too short-staffed. This was unfortunate but at least the money was promising.

With No Doubt’s upbeat lyrics in her mind, Maria hummed to herself, and locked her car before stepping into the place. It was busy by the looks of things; all the more reason for her to slip into depression. There were a few friendly faces around though so it wasn’t all bad.

It wasn’t until ten minutes later, when she was behind the check-out kiosk, that the boredom really kicked in. It would have been about now, if she hadn’t been called to work, that she would be at home, eagerly awaiting her boyfriend to come and pick her up for the carnival in town.

The carnival that she loved so much...that only come for two weekends once a year...

“Uh...Maria, are you okay?”

A little startled, she turned to find a fellow GG worker, a perky blonde by the name of Kelly, staring back at her.

“Oh yes. I’m fine thanks, why do you ask?”

“No reason...except you’re grinding your pencil so hard into the desk that I wonder if you’re trying to break it.”

“Oh.” She looked down to find that it was true. Immediately she stopped. “Sorry, I’m just a little annoyed over something.”

Kelly took it upon herself to step around the kiosk and face her. Wiping a few blonde strands from her face, she began to say, “How could you possibly be annoyed at anything? You’ve got the most amazing life and let’s start with that hot boyfriend of yours...”

But the popular girl merely rolled her eyes, pushing her to the side to get her out of her space. It was starting to annoy her how everyone said he was perfect...hot...to die for...and it was worse for them to start their talk on her so-called amazing life with comments on her boyfriend.

So perhaps he was all three, but she didn’t need to be reminded of how she didn’t deserve him.

“Well whatever. At least you’re lucky enough to get out of here early – and hey, with that cute boyfriend of yours, maybe you guys could check out the carnival in town!”

“Yeah...perhaps tomorrow.”

Luckily, Kelly left at that point, leaving her to gaze out of the window again and breathe out a weary sigh. This so-called amazing life was becoming more predictable by the day. For once, why couldn’t something happen to shake up her dreary time and change things around?

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“...I’ll hold the pain...RELEASE ME!”

Visibly disturbed, Jeff Hardy cast a look in his brother’s direction as they pulled into the driveway of what he presumed to be their new house. Though this was their new life, he didn’t care – nor had he before – to have the first look at the place. His concern was on the guy turning off the ignition in the car.

“Was that supposed to be some kind of code for ‘Welcome to this shithole’ or something? ‘Cause I could really do without it.” The sarcasm in his tone was not hard to miss.

Matt, the older of the two, merely rolled his eyes, opening his door. “No, it wasn’t. You just can’t beat a good session of Pearl Jam, that’s all.”

“Yeah but I kinda like it better when the singing is coming from someone who can hold a tune.”

“I’m gonna ignore that one.”

“Ignore it all you like. It doesn’t change the fact that you can’t sing.”

All Jeff got in response to that was the car door slamming in his face.

He sighed as he leaned back in his seat, not feeling particularly eager to step out of the car. If he did, it would only prove that he wasn’t back home – that he wasn’t where he belonged. This was everything he expected, everything he was afraid of settling into.

A knock on his window startled him. Then Matt leaned forward, his muffled voice saying, “Are you getting out or what? Come on, let’s check out the place.”

“Yeah...in a minute.”

He ignored the eye-roll in his direction, and instead closed his eyes, leaning back comfortably in his seat.

There was no way he would be able to make this situation work. Despite the reason he and his brother had been “sent” here, Jeff was not one to fit in so easily. This could easily be decided with one glance at his choice of style.

It was so unlike anybody else’s here; teenagers here were perfect playboy bunnies and obnoxious handsome jerks. Was there a factory that made and packaged them around here? They were all the same.

And his style was more...well, grungy, one might say. His hair colour changed on a regular basis, and though he was careful of where he bought his clothes, he didn’t care if they didn’t match. Why care about what anyone else thought when it was only his opinion that mattered?

“Jeff...”

“Alright, I’m coming!” He finally accepted the case, and stepped out of the car. “Ah, so this is the dump we have to live in.”

Matt sighed. “Jeffrey, I know you’re upset about having to move but—”

“Well Matthew,” rolling his eyes, the teenager leaned against the car. “What the hell else do you expect from me? I still say that we could have stayed at home. I mean, does Dad really think we’d be better off here than at home?”

“He just wants us to have a good future – especially for you starting your senior year – and I agree with him.”

“Cut the crap, Matt. Do me a favour and don’t act like the perfect older brother who understands more than I do. You know as well as I do that we’re only here because Dad is ill and he doesn’t want us to see him in such a bad state. And in fact, he sent us here because he doesn’t want us to take care of him anymore.”

“He wants us to have a good future.” Matt stated once again, a weak sigh passing his lips. “We don’t have a choice in the matter. Now help me get the boxes out of the car and then we’ll take a look inside the house.”

As they got to it, Jeff couldn’t help but to stop every few moments and look around the neighbourhood. Was this really where they would be staying for a year? It was so...not where he wanted to be, to put it lightly.

He was already missing his friends, his old school, his home.

“Oh yeah...” sighed Matt, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. A smirk dragged his lips upwards as he watched a couple of girls pass by. “I’ve gotta find me a girlfriend...oh, and a job too...but definitely a girlfriend.”

The younger could only roll his eyes again. This was pathetic, just pathetic.

And five minutes later, as he glanced out of the window of his new bedroom, his opinion hadn’t changed all that much.

The words on his map: Welcome to Los Angeles, California.

The words in his mind: Welcome to Shithole, Crapville.

Jeff doubted this would do any good for his future. The girls weren’t attractive to him, the guys looked like jerks, it all seemed so fake here – in his opinion, this was the furthest place he could be from home.

He collapsed across his bed and stared up at the ceiling as he muttered sourly, “Let the good times begin.”

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So there is the very first chapter of my new Jeria fic. It’s just a little insight into the characters, but you’ll find out more about them as the story continues.

I hope it’s as successful as my others. Please review – because really what’s the fun in just adding to faves/alerts when ya can review too? :P