1 The Day My Life Changed

Amaira was standing there all alone on the beach, staring at the horizon as a breeze blew past causing a shiver to escape her. She had been shivering the entire night before with her thin blanket barely protecting her from the cold. Then she had to get up early at 5 in the morning to take the trash out and it had been a wonder that she had been able to hold on to the trash long enough, with the winds as strong as they were. She had been busy doing different chores around the house and had worked up quite a sweat, but now she was starting to feel cold again. The waves were high, with the high tide coming in, reminding her that she had to serve lunch to her parents. She set out back to her house a little distance away, thankful that it was the weekend and she had already completed all her homework. She always did that, complete her homework the first chance she got so that she would get some time to herself on the weekends.

She opened the door to her house quietly hoping her mother would not wake up. She knew her father would be up already, having to go to the office even on Saturday. Her mother on the other hand, did not have work on the weekends and liked to sleep in. Not that she didn't on the weekdays- that was the advantage of being able to decide your own timings. She quickly got to work setting up the lunch she had made on the table. She liked to finish her work early allowing her 15 minutes before it was time for lunch.

Once she had lunch on the table, she went upstairs to wake her mother, quietly entering her dark room and approaching her unmoving form. She shook her lightly, speaking in a soft tone, "Wake up mother, I have set up lunch downstairs."

Her mother let out a slight groan and turned around facing the opposite way. Amaira sighed, shaking her again and repeating the same thing, "Mother wake up, I have lunch set up downstairs."

Her mother groaned again and fluttered her eyes, getting up slowly and saying, "I will be downstairs in a minute, let me at least brush my teeth."

Amaira nodded and headed downstairs, already thinking about the chores she had to do after lunch. She didn't have many chores today and might be able to get them done soon enough, then go meet her friends. They provided a welcome respite from home and allowed her to relax at least a bit.

By evening time, she was done and headed into town to meet her friends. They would always meet at the ice-cream place on weekends and Amaira would join them whenever she could. It didn't take her long to reach the place as it was only a 15-minute walk from home and she often spent it listening to music. She loved listening to music a lot and she had a big collection of CDs back in her room. Her mother didn't know about these as she rarely entered her room.

"Amaira!", she heard someone calling her from ahead and looked up. It was her friend Emma, who was standing at the door of the ice-cream place. She looked happy to see Amaira as she always was. Emma was who she would consider to be her best friend, at least when it comes to school. She was one of the few people Amaira actually liked. It wasn't that she did not have many friends, she did, except that most of them were studies related. By this she meant that most of her friends were people who she hung out with sometimes and then all they would talk about was studies. At least with Emma she had music to talk about since they had a few music choices in common.

"Did you hear the latest song that 4-Drums release?", Emma burst out with this question as soon as Amaira caught up with her.

"No, what's it called?", She answered while entering the shop with Emma. They saw their friends at the back of the shop and headed towards them.

"It's called Love Forever, and it is so amazing. Like you won't believe it Amaira, he sounds really amazing in this one!"

"Oh, Amaira I can't believe you're here, find some time in your busy schedule for us?". She heard a snide comment coming from amongst her group of friends, but she already knew who said it. Natalie, a girl who had it out for Amaira for some reason and made sure to let her know every time it was possible. She didn't really like her much, however since she was friends with most of her friends, Amaira stood to bear her.

She replied with a simple, "Yes" and moved on to say hello to all of her friends. They all greeted her back enthusiastically and asked if she wanted to get something. She went to the counter along with Emma, placed their orders and came back.

She sat down and everyone started talking about this science project they had due in a month at school. Amaira didn't care much about it, she knew she would be able to get it done easily, but she liked how it didn't require much effort to participate in the conversation. She liked how mundane the conversation was, how she didn't need to reveal anything about her to these people in order to gain their friendship. They didn't trust each other with their secrets; however, they did have each other's backs and Amaira liked that. It was at least a form of support, something she really lacked at home.

She stayed there with her friends for a few hours till it started to get dark and decided to leave in order to prepare dinner in time. On her way back to her house, she didn't think much and was walking without any purpose when she suddenly ran into someone, or rather they ran into her.

"What the fuc---"

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