CHAPTER ONE

"Raynaaaaaaaa! Get out of that bed this instant young lady!", Mom called out.

No sound.

"Raynaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! I said get out of that bed this instant!", Mom yelled once more.

Oh crud. It's Monday today. When was Saturday? Ohhhhhhh....

"Rayn__"

"I'm coming mom!", I shout-replied back to her.

Shit.

I hate Mondays so much, like, why the heck does it have to be such a painful contrast to Saturday?

It's not like I have a choice anyway, I've got to go to school. According to my parents, without it I can't be a somebody and I want to be one, so I get my lazy self off bed and go to the bathroom. I do justice to my body [you perv, that's not what I meant], put my uniform on and I race down the stairs for breakfast.

"Always late you this teen of mine! What can I do with you?", Mom said drily.

"Good morning to you too dearest mother!", I replied enthusiastically.

"Just hurry and eat your food. You're running late for school. Typical Rayna", she said ,rolling her eyes.

Anyway, I do so and head to the door.

"Bye mom! See you after school!", I called out to Mom.

"See you too Ray", she replied .

When I stepped out, I met Maeve at the doorstep. She looked like she was about to press the door bell.

"There you are! Let's get going!", she said , all smiley and all.

Shit, I loved this girl standing in front of me so much. She's my best friend of more than five years now.

When I lost Darlene, it felt like my world was crashing. I began to wonder where her soul was. I began to wonder whether she was actually a good kid, whether she was with Jesus in heaven. The reality of eternity hit me right there, for a few days anyway, that wherever she was, she was going to be there, forever.

Shit was freaking me out. Anyway, I know how badly I cried when Mom delivered the news to me, a week after she was buried. I thought that was wicked of her, and sometimes when I remember it, I still do. I wanted to say my final goodbyes. I wanted to tell her how amazing a person she was.

She had two younger ones; Evans and Clinton.

Her mom just gave birth , bringing the number of the boys to three [Darlene was the only girl, and the first child as well], I wanted to tell her that she meant a lot to me, and to take care of herself. I wanted to do all that but apparently, Mom thought it was best I didn't attend, seeing that I was just nine years old, but still.

"Rayna, don't break your head or beat yourself up about it, okay?", Mom said , looking at me pitifully.

"What are you talking about Mom?", nine-year-old me innocently asked.

"Darlene's gone. She's dead dear. I'm so sorry.."

No words.

........

Still no words.

Then I struggled to ask; "What killed Darlene? I thought the surgery was successful Mom! What happened Mom?"

There it was. I began to cry.

I wasn't going to see Darlene anymore.

We weren't going to play together anymore.

No more games together.

No more amazing play dates.

No more best friend hand shakes. She is gone.

Mom told me to take it easy on myself, but of course I didn't. I cried my eyes out of course. How could I not? Darlene was gone, I didn't even have the chance to tell her goodbye ..and my mom wanted me to "take it easy". People are really funny though. Seriously.

I missed her so much.

I moved here to Pennsylvania, U.S.A from Belgravia, London. Apparently a fresh breath of air would do the whole family some good. That's why I have an accent.

Darlene's death happened to be a bigger driving force. It made my parents finally decide to make the move to Pennsylvania. So here we are people!

That was five years ago. Back to the present.....

The tear finally dropped.

"Hey, why are you crying ? Ryan's at it again right? What'd he do this time? Talk to me Ray!", Maeve inquired worriedly.

Ryan is what I name all my bad dreams. Such a cute name for a bad thing? Yeah, I'm weird like that.

I lunged myself towards her and hugged her like that was the last time I was going to see her. After Darlene died and we moved here, she was the first best thing to happen to me. There's her other half too [ I mean to say that she's just one of my best people in the world, excluding family of course.

What am I saying? WE'RE FAMILY!!

But I encountered Maeve first though so we're bound to seem the way we are. I can't even say that I prefer her to Chris. Heck! They both mean the world to me.

"Hey girl, what's up? Are you okay?", Maeve asked softly.

"I love you Mae. Thank you for everything", I told her, still teary-eyed.

"I'm the best, I know, and hey, I love you too. Now let's go to school. Mrs. Brown's punishments suck", she fake shuddered.

And with that we headed off to school.

Oh school...