Mated by Chance

2. Mama Mia

     It was a good thing I had actually graduated earlier and had just been allowed to stay on campus and participate in school activities until the end of the year.  While I was here, I worked in the school bookstore. I had also been given the honor to take a college course in design that was definitely going to make my freshman year a breeze. 

    "Keri!" I turned to see my best friend Blake smiling down at me. Blake was handsome and I'll admit when I first arrived two years ago, even I had a crush on him. I mean who wouldn't? He had dark brown hair, with dark facial features, he had lips that were the right size and a pastel pink color. His skin was a nice golden brown color, and it smiled in the sun. It seemed he was immune to acne or wrinkles.  His hair was tasseled messily over his head in its natural curly state but he had it cut lower on the sides. He was a flirt by nature but he was the one guy I knew who wasn't a player simply because he could be. He was my best friend and the fact that he could relate with me about everything made us all the more closer.

"I heard from a certain design major that you are leaving us three weeks earlier than expected." I looked up at him allowing my guilt to show.  When I graduated in January, I promised Blake that I'd stay until summer vacation and we would go to Malibu together and get so drunk we wouldn't remember how to shift.

"I'm sorry. Cali called me last night and she sounds like she misses me." I explained shrugging.

"You're a great big sister." He said smiling down at me as he wrapped his arm around me. I sometimes felt safe and warm in his arms, as if they were a blanket of warmth...this was one of those times. I smiled up at him as I began to pour out more of my goodbye thoughts,

"Besides you can come visit when school lets out.  We have amazing history in my town for you to use that camera on." He was a photographer. He loved his camera more than his hair and that was saying a lot. The kid was the most vain person I'd ever met. 

He beamed like a kid on Christmas. "I actually forgot about that." He admitted. "I'll go talk to my mom about it.  She'll be happy to learn I'm not going to be drinking my heart out while I'm still underage." I laughed. It was true. His mom was so overprotective of him. Not that he cared. It was so sweet. His mom thought he was still a baby and even though he was 18 and legally able to make his own decisions he loved to get his mom's approval for everything he does.  And he always does.

I smiled when he ran off into the sun, smiling again as I stayed behind, left feeling like a two ton weight had been lifted. I love when goodbyes turned into "See you laters".

 I stopped by the cafeteria, bought a fruit bowl and I walked to my design class to tell Rachel I'd be leaving this Friday. Rachel was my design teacher but we were also good friends. She too had the gift. She was 24 and she was kooky, blunt but a hell of a  force to be reckoned with. Did I mention she was the most dramatic person I had ever met? I walked into the art building and headed straight for the design lab. She was in there lecturing freshmen on the difference between Photoshop to make posters and Photoshop to make your butt look like Kim Kardashian's when it really looked like Bruce Jenner's.

"My favorite pupil!" She called to me after she told the students what to do.

"Rach," I greeted leaning on her desk.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Her silly grin quickly turned into a sly smile as she walked toward me. 

"I'm leaving the academy on Friday." I said smiling. Her face wore a mask of shock but was soon replaced with a sword of boredom.

"Let me guess, Cali?" She asked in a tone that did not hide her disapproval at all. I nodded knowing she was going to lecture me about the responsibilities I owed myself and how Cali was a young woman who needed to learn how to let me have fun and stand on her own two feet. She was right, however I didn't need the reminder every single time I brought up my sister. At the end of the day she was MY little sister. 

"She needs me. I have to go." I explained bluntly.

"She says that every time she misses you and you always go down there thinking things are gonna be hectic when in reality she just needs to know how to insert a tampon and she's too afraid to ask your mom."

"It was once and my mom would've told my dad and it would've been a huge sex lecture. She really did need me." I laughed.

"Or the time she called you down for an "emergency" at school?"

"I thought that was an emergency." I defended my sister.

"Some boy had broken up with her after she kissed some guy in the supply closet." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Look, before I left I told her nothing would change...that no matter what I'd still be there for her."

"Yeah emotionally!" She scoffed. "Your sister is playing you like a fiddle."

"I'm sure there's something this time. She sounded...desperate and alone." I argued feeling defensive, I was getting annoyed that she was still speaking about my sister, wrong or not, I would always defend her over anyone else. 

"Look I'm just saying"-

"I get it." I snapped. I took a breath, "Look, I know my sister." I ended not liking the conversation. Yeah sometimes Cali over exaggerated the truth because she knew it would get me to rush home, but this time was different. I could feel it. She needed me and I'd be there on Friday. Whether she expected me or not. 

"Well let's at least have a going away party for you. On Thursday?" She offered with a small smile. I smiled widely at her and nodded. Her parties meant liquor and alcohol and of course those combination meant I'd be shitfaced.

"Hell yeah." my voice rang through the room gaining the attention to a few of my classmates who I did hang out with from time to time. I smiled deciding, I actually would miss this place. For a person like me who never really felt like they belonged, I felt like me here. I felt at home.