(Book One) Do you ever feel as if your life has yet to begin? I've been alive for almost seventeen years now and absolutely nothing has ever happened to me. Not until I met a girl who kick-started my life. She introduced me to love, sex, scandal, ex...
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At first, I'm in shock. No one has ever offered me drugs before. In my head, I always thought this moment would come in some crowded dark party room or behind the bleachers with a bunch of cool kids. D.A.R.E is to blame for this over-dramatization. I couldn't have predicted it would be casually offered to me out of...politeness?
I look at the little orange pill in her hand. I'm tempted to take it as a souvenir. Something to show the grandkids. Look kids, this is the first time I was ever offered drugs. Isn't it cool? Although, if my mother found it she'd absolutely kill me. And giving her the excuse of I wanted it for keepsies, wouldn't go over well either. Parents never understood and with my luck, she'd demand to know where I got it. And I did not want to deal.
I shake my head. "No, thanks."
"Okay." Aurora shrugs and puts the pill back in the bottle.
I look back down and continue to read the textbook and she continues to research. But she is more distracted and starts to text. I thought the point of the pill was meant to keep her focused.
"What's with the old phone?" I tear my eyes from the textbook and look at her clunker cellphone. "If you don't mind me asking," I add, I don't want to sound rude or judgy.
"Hmm?" She looks up and sees me staring at her phone.
"Oh." She laughs. "Let's just say I don't have the best track record of keeping phones alive. My parents won't buy me a new one every time I lose it or break it."
She holds it up for me to see. It's one of those old cellphones that slides open and you type on an actual qwerty keyboard. No touch screen, the thing barely had a screen at all. It definitely didn't have Snapchat or Googling capabilities.
"I've had this one for almost 2 months now." She tosses the phone up in the air and it falls hard to the ground. I wince a little out of habit. She picks it off the floor and shows it to me. "See practically indestructible."
Just then her mom walks in and starts speaking a foreign language. The woman is short and stout, with reddish dark brown hair and the same olive skin and eye color as Aurora. I recognize the language as French, which surprises me. I didn't know Aurora was bilingual.
The only bit of French I know is what I learned in school; almost nothing. Though I don't have to be fluent to catch the parental tiff occurring. Aurora's voice is raised and she keeps rolling her eyes and scoffing as she talks. Her mom points around to the piles of mess around the room and her tone is stern. Aurora says what I think is my name. Her mom smiles and waves at me then leaves closing the door behind her.
Aurora looks at me. "She is telling me to clean my room. Which is dumb because we're studying." Her voice is still thick with annoyance and has a slight whine to it. "She also wants to know if you want dinner and if you are staying over tonight. I told her yes for both."
