The Choice

1 - The Boy From the Neighborhood

Ever since I turned eighteen, I've been thinking a lot about falling in love. Did it happen like in the movies I watched? Girl meets boy. Boy sees girl and it's first love at first sight? And how did it feel? Would I feel butterflies in the pit of my stomach? Would I be obsessed with his voice, his touch, his smell? Would I fall rapidly and desperately for the boy I've only known for a couple of weeks? Would it wreck me? Leave me brokenhearted? I hope the latter. How does one fall in love? By accident? On purpose? I don't know, but I want to fall in love. I ache for the stories I read to become my reality. I ache so badly that I now feel it in my entire body. Love.

"Aria, are you ready to go?"

I look up from my journal and nod at Lila who is standing at my door carrying a clipboard in her hands. She's been my family's personal assistant since I was twelve. She is the youngest one who works for my family, and sadly one of two of my only friends. Being homeschooled didn't really give me a chance to meet people. Neither did being an only child.

"Your bags are already packed in the car. You will have approximately twenty minutes to eat your breakfast before we leave," she says before she closes my door and exits my room. I put my journal in my small handbag and make my way downstairs.

Like most days, the table is filled with plenty of food. Eggs, turkey bacon, fruits and pancakes rest on the breakfast table.

"Good Morning sweetheart," my dad greets me at the breakfast table as he reads the newspaper.

"Morning, daddy," I say kissing him on his cheek.
I sit at the table and my mom joins soon after.
We exchange greetings.

I blame not getting the chance to fall in love on my mom. She is the biggest love-block. She kept me homeschooled so I wouldn't be distracted, and busy with piano, violin, STEM, and tennis so I wouldn't have time to get into trouble. I think she was just scared that I'd get pregnant young and drop out of school like my aunt Kassidy, to who no one in the family speaks.

"Wow, slow down Ari. The food isn't going anywhere," my mom says in response to me stuffing my face.

"Why the rush babygirl?" My dad asks.

"Sorry, I'm just really excited to go to the beach house," I say.

My family and I go to the beach house every summer, except for last year. We didn't go because my grandmother got sick. Going to the beach house is the most fun I have throughout the year. The beaches are beautiful, the fairs are entertaining and my best friend Maddie lives nearby, so she visits often.

"Great, glad to hear. Oh and guess who will be accompanying us in the houses nearby?" My mom asks excitedly.

"Who?" I respond

"You remember Leonard, don't you? His father Joseph plays golf with your father on Sundays."

I nod, not fully understanding why I would be excited to see him. He is one of the boys who live in my neighbourhood. I've known him since I was little. We had many play dates when we were younger, and apparently, we were best friends. I remember him being such a nice kid. One time when we were forced to have a play date with Jordan Myers from next door. Jordan pulled my hair so hard that it made me cry. He then pushed me down because I was acting like a baby. Leonard pushed him so hard that he was the one crying like a baby. This wasn't the only time Leonard stood up for me. He was a nice kid till maybe about ten.

We grew up and hardly spoke. He went to the rich prep school that almost all the kids in the suburbs attended and I was home-schooled. The older he got, the more rebellious he became. He would steal from his parents and he got into a lot of trouble in and out of school, mostly in. The amount of money his dad had to give to the school to get him out of trouble is ridiculous. The only reason he never got expelled was because his dad practically paid to maintain the whole school. When the school needed a tech upgrade, it was his dad who bought the new laptops and iPads for the entire school. He probably bribed some of the teachers for marks. I wouldn't be surprised. He's also a man whore. He messed around with a few girls at the pool club, a few more from the school and a couple more in our neighbourhood. He acts like a spoiled snob who thinks he can get whatever he wants because his dad is wealthy and powerful. My dad is also wealthy and powerful in the community and I've never acted in such a disgraceful manner. Maddie filled me in on all the gossip since I was actually never around to witness any of it. She used to attend the prep school. She graduated last year then she moved near my beach house.