Estrella

Chapter One: "Whoa, what shampoo do you use?"

With a final push, a baby girl was brought into the world. My baby girl. It was the single most happy day of my life. I've never had many of those.

My baby, Elenora Hart, was the best thing that ever happened to me, even if it came about in an ugly way. I wouldn't trade her for anything this cruel world had to offer.

The next few years were bumpy, with us moving around constantly to find jobs that would allow Elle to stay with me. Not many people would hire a sixteen year old girl with a new born. I couldn't afford a baby sitter, and public school wasn't free until pre-k.

Nevertheless, we were happy. I made sure Elle had everything she could need, even if it meant myself missing a few meals here and there.

It's currently three years after Elle was born, and I decided to try my luck in New York City, mainly because it was one of the only bus tickets I could afford from where I previously had a job in upstate New York.

I packed our bags, one small one for each of us, Elle's being larger than mine, and boarded the rickety old bus with a grouchy looking driver.

I smiled at her only to receive a glare. I felt bad for her. Who knew how long she had been driving without a break, let alone who wants to drive a bus? I decided to give her something to make her day better. The only problem was that I had nothing of value to give.

I decided on just giving her a five dollar bill. Lord knows how much I needed it, but this lady might've needed it more. I'm a firm believer that the kindness you put out is the kindness you receive.

Kind of.

When our stop, one of the busy streets of New York City was called, I took Elle's hand and our bags and walked up to the door, the bill in hand. "Thank you so much. This is for you," I said handing her the bill with a big smile, "I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day." I finished only for her to roll her eyes and snatch the bill. That's okay though. I read a quote somewhere a long time ago that I remind myself of in times like these. "They are what we all would be under the circumstances."

"Look Elle, isn't it pretty?" I asked her, motioning to the huge city around us.

"That man looks funny." She said instead of answering the question, talking about the obviously high dude dancing and talking to himself.

When he started shouting profanities, I flinched and quickly walked away with Elle in toll.

When we were far enough away that we couldn't hear him anymore, I bent down to zip up her favorite pink jacket.

"Mama I'm hungry," she whined, but it was valid because we hadn't eaten in hours. "I know baby, we just got to go find the apartment then we can get some ramen. Yummy right?"

I'm so glad she's not a picky kid and will eat whatever because no matter how much I worked, we were always struggling to make ends meet. Yet, I tried my best to make sure she never missed a meal. Me on the other hand...

I pulled up the directions to the apartment I rented online on my extremely outdated phone and we walked.

We had to stop again because the wind kept blowing both of our identical dark red hair into our faces, so I put both of our hair into ponytails. By the time we made it to the run down apartment, I was cold, and so was Elle.

She made sure I knew on the way here because she made me carry her because I was "warm".

I opened the main door and walked up three flights of stairs because the elevator was out of order. I was not looking forward to climbing that everyday.

We opened the door to our apartment, and I let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't much, only one room with a bed, couch, tv, and kitchen/dining area in it and a bathroom, but it was warm and clean, which I was more than greatful for.

"YAY!" Elle screamed, running around the room and jumping on the bed.

"Be quiet you little maniac, someone's going to think your dying!" I said, smiling as she continued to giggle.

"You know what? Who wants to go get ice cream?!"

"ME! I DO!," she yelled again, bouncing up and down again. She looked so adorable, with her red hair going everywhere and a lopsided grin on her face. I knew we really shouldn't go get ice cream, even if it was only from a convinience store, but she looked so happy and to be honest I really wanted chocolate.

"Well come on then silly!" I giggled at my mini me as she grabbed my hand and dragged me down the stairs. For a todler, she was pretty smart and had a good memory.

Once outside again, I took the lead as she insisted on a piggy back ride, and we hurried through the cold to the nearest store.

We bought a pint of chocolate ice cream (we both have a unhealthy chocolate addiction) and a package of ramen. It actually pained me to see the money gone but it was to late now. As we walked out of the store, I was talking to Elle and wasn't paying attention to where I was going and bumped into someone. Scratch that, I bumped into a mountain. The most muscular, handsome man I've ever laid eyes on stood there, glaring down at us.

"Oops," I giggled glancing down at Elle who was looking at the man, "We didn't see you there. Well... have a good day!" I said and attempted to walk around him.

Key word is attempted. He grabbed my wrist a pulled me towards him so that we were now so close I could feel his breath on my head. I slowly looked up to ask him if he needed anything, but almost gasped when I looked into his grey eyes.

They were so unique, I've never seen a color like that in my whole nineteen years of living. And his hair, lordy. It was a dark black color, that looked so soft, before I realized it, I was touching his hair and asking, "Whoa, what shampoo do you use?"

A tug on my hand brought me back to the real world and I glanced down at Elle and back up at the man, now embarrassed as a flush covered my freckle covered cheeks.

Here he was probably mad I ran into him, and I invaded his personal space and touched his hair.

This is why I let Elle do the talking.

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Again, first few chapters are a little rough but it gets better.
Thanks for reading,
Ann