Coldfall, NY

How Come I've Never Met You, Then?

"Remember to smile and be nice today, amorcita," my mom smiled warmly, placing a hand on my cheek, "have a wonderful day, I love you!" She called as I stepped out of the car.

"Love you too, mama," I waved, slamming the door of our old minivan- which still had its Florida license plates, a blatant reminder: I'm new here.

I shakily pulled myself up the concrete stairs, face to face with the doors of my new hell: Coldfall Regional High School. As I stepped through the entryway, I looked around at the light blue walls; the fluorescent lighting combined with my anxiety was giving me a headache. I tried to slow my breathing and heartrate as my eyes fell on a digital clock that hung from the ceiling: 7:48. That was 7 minutes to kill before I'd have to start walking to my first class... but wasn't I supposed to meet-

"Hello, there! You must be Lauren Ja-Jauregui?" A spritely girl around my age appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She was really short, but I knew only sophomores shadowed new freshmen, so she had to be older than me. She had long brown hair, olive skin, and chestnut eyes. She must've only been around five feet tall.

"Yeah, that's me. And you're Ally Hernandez?" I raised an eyebrow, fiddling with my fingers out of anxiety, hoping I'd at least gotten her name right.

"Yup! You can call me Ally Brooke... or Ally, it's all good," she offered a welcoming smile and gestured to the room around us, "this is the lobby, and that's the main office." She started her tour, walking a few feet forward, but I didn't follow, "well, come on, class is gonna start! You have English with Morrison first, so we have to go to the second floor."

Walking down the hallways with Ally, I felt a certain atmosphere that was quite different from Miami. For one thing, its hallways were enclosed and packed with people, unlike the open-air hallways I was used to in Miami. But besides the physical differences, it just seemed a little more tense, as if the whole school was on edge about something that I didn't know about.

It didn't seem too bad at first glance, though, in fact, it was probably better to start fresh in high school. Only problem was that for every decent situation life handed me, it threw me three shitty ones to go along. Life always fucked up when things started to be good.

It's not that I come from a bad household, in fact, it's quite the opposite. My mother, Clara, is an award-winning teacher. She's won Florida state and national teacher of the year. Unfortunately, this left me and my siblings alone with my father for most of the time while she traveled the country for conferences.

My dad was my best friend; he'd taught me how to play guitar, sing, and even took me to local auditions for singing competitions. We were basically inseparable. After serving 2 deployments in Afghanistan, however, it's like my father left, and never came back. Now, he suffers from PTSD and alcoholism, which leaves my brother, sister, and I, constantly on edge. He isn't abusive, in fact, when he's sober, he's still the man we knew and loved. But sobriety is once in a blue moon for my father. Sometimes he'll disappear for a day, and sometimes it'll be a week, but whenever my mom isn't home, I'm the one taking care of my siblings.

Taylor and Chris, or as I call them, my nuggets, are the only two beings who keep me going in life. Don't get me wrong- I love my parents, but without my siblings, I probably would've been long gone by now. My younger brother, Chris, was my three-month-early third birthday gift. Or at least he was in my opinion. I remember holding him in my arms and feeling like such a grown adult. He was always there to play with me, and now that we're older, he's the best to talk to- though only in sixth grade, Chris is wise beyond his years.

Taylor, my littlest nugget, is the dream younger sister that every girl wants as a child. She was born when I was five, and she quickly became my world. I took it upon myself to teach her all the sisterly things about life, even when I was too young to figure life out for myself. Taylor and I would take dance together, play dolls, dress up, and house. But now that she doesn't wanna do that shit anymore, we share music, and clothes, and see movies. I wouldn't have it any other way, but it sucks that they didn't get to know real dad as long as I did.