Raina Ivanova

Vermont, 1988

I, Raina Ivanova, hurried out from the bus and ran into the school. I was late, again.

And I wasn't too eager to hear it from Mrs. Furlong. The most stringent teacher I've ever met. She wanted her students to be punctual, have good manners, and show respect for the school authority. Well, yes, it was necessary.

But Mrs. Furlong preached this on the next level, and she bullied many students for mistakes by humiliating them in front of the rest of the class.

I opened my locker and threw in my bag before grabbing the books I needed for class. A quick glance at the clock in the hallway made me nervous about the fact that I would enter the classroom twenty minutes late.

"Ms. Ivanova, I'm glad you decided to join us. What's todays excuse for beeing late? We are all eager to hear it!" Mrs. Furlong uttered coldly with a smile as she stretched out her arms towards the class.

I bit my lip, cursing myself for forgetting to make an excuse before I walked into the room.

"Well?" Mrs. Furlong asked again, "We're waiting!" She continued, and I sighed.

"I don't have an excuse for you today, Mrs. Furlong. I overslept after staying up late, studying for your class. Your assignments are very engaging to do!" I replied, and Mrs. Furlong nailed me down with her gaze.

"Fine, you may take your seat," She continued,

"Thank you," I mumbled back and found it quickly in the back of the room.

"That was smooth, a compliment yet a tell-off!" Julia whispers and giggled as I sat down next to her.

"Thank God for that. I was running out of excuses!" I mumbled back and opened up my book.

Later that day.

"Are you excited about Mark's party tonight?" Julia asked while puting on lipstick while she glanced in the mirror before her.

Julia was gorgeous with long dark hair and golden eyes.

She had a cute button nose with soft facial features.

She was short, yet she had legs like a model. The guys at school was obsessed with her, and she loved it.

"Yeah. It could be fun!" I mumbled back as I glanced at her in the mirror. Julia rolled her eyes. "Could you be less excited?" She sighed, and I sighed too.

"You know that Thomas is probably gonne be there since he is friends with Mark,"

"Oh, come on. Get over it. He's a loser. And he was crazy for cheating on you?" Julia shouted angrily and turned my way, "Look at you. You are one hell of an angel with your long, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. Look at those lips, that straight nose." I shook my head. "Stop. You know I can't stand my nose. It takes up my whole face." I uttered anxiously while I let a finger stroke my nose bridge.

Julia smacked me over my arm. "It's perfect on you, Raina; Wear it with pride." Julia smiled and I sighed again and nodded.

We left the bathroom as the clock rang out for the day and then went to gathered our bags from our lockers.

"Are we getting ready at my house, or you'rs tonight?" Julia asked, "Your house, please? You know how my dad gets!" I groaned, and she began to laugh.

"Oh come on, your dad is the sweetest!" I rolled my eyes, "He's trying too hard!"

"Hey, at least he's trying?" Julia replied while shrudding her shoulders. We hurried down the stairs before the entrance.

"Hey, ladies! Would you like a free ride home?" Karl shouted as he leaned next to his car on the parking lot. Julia frowned.

"Nothings free with you, Karl,"

"Hey! I'm just trying to be nice." Karl replies and fired off a smile.

I began to chuckle.

"Oh, right. How nice of you to trip me in the cafeteria the other day?" I said with a sarcastic tone, and Julia flipped her hair and continued, "Yeah, and when you accidentally smacked me with the ball in gym the day before that. Such a gentleman, Karl. Why don't you go and blow yourself up!" Julia smiled through her teeth, and then dragged me along to the bus.

"He's such an idiot!" Julia stated and leaned next to the bus stop sign.

"Yeah, but everyone knows he got the hots for you! He just torments me to get your attention!" I answered, and Julia laughed.

"I'm sorry, honey. But if that's the case, he sucks at it, so hard. What happened to ask a girl out for a movie, or ice cream? When did boys get this stupid?"

"They never got stupid; they have always been like this," I murmured as I thought of Thomas. The stupid boy who had broken my heart after he made out with another girl at a party; in front of me, and everyone at school.

"Forget about Thomas. He's not worth it!" Julia said like she could read my mind, and then lit a cigarette. "Since when do you smoke?" I asked and sprained my nose.

"Since John is going to be at the party tonight, and he likes rebels!"

Julia took a puff of the cigarette, and I burst into laughter when she started coughing.

"Wow. It burns!" Julia cried, coughing for her dear life. "You always do these things. You turn into the girl that you think the guys want. Stop this. Your perfect!" I said after wiping my tears from laughing too hard.

"You're right. John should be honored I even look his way."

" Yes, that's the spirit!" I cheered, but Julia didn't have it.

"It applies to you too, you know?" She said, and I rolled my eyes. "Fine!"

We said goodbye at my stop, and I let myself into the house since my dad hadn't come home yet. We lived in a smaller town house with two bedrooms and an open livingroom/kitchen area. It was nice, newly renovated before we moved in a few years ago.

The exterior was gray with white windows and a blue door. It was only one floor, but I liked that since I spent so much time alone, and the idea of having a second floor freaked me out.

With one quick glanced in the fridge I noticed that dad had forgotten to grocery shop, again. I sighed and decided to order a pizza instead.

"Hello, Mario, is Rain..." "Bonjour, Raina. The usual?" Mario caught me off mid sentence, and I felt my cheek blushing, "Yes, please," responded, and I heard Mario laughing before I hung up the phone.

I guess it says something about your eating habits when the pizza guy knows you a little to well.

My dad was a good man, but he wasn't really fit to be a father, to be frank. My mum left us when I was 10. She needed to find herself. That was eight years ago, and I rarely hear from her now days.

My dad has never really gotten over it. We where both left heartbroken when we realized that she wasn't coming back.

Dad tried his best, but he slowly became more distant when his law firm started growing, and soon the closest I had to a parent was my nanny, Ana. She was in my life until I turned 13, and then my father decided that I was old enough to take care of myself.

Maybe I was, but I wasn't old enough to be left all alone. If Julia and I hadn't found each other freshman year, I honestly don't know where I would be. My social circle has always been small, and my former best friend Gaby and I had a fallout when her family moved away right before high school.

The pizza was delivered and I ate in a hurry before sneaking into dad's liquor storage.

My dad had a lot of alcohol, mostly whisky and vodka bottles. I started drinking 3 years ago at 15, and back then I used to pour out vodka in a bottle and then fill it up with water so my dad wouldn't notice it. But I became more bold over the years and snagged a full bottle now and then.

I packed my bag with two outfits to choose from and then left for Julias.

I decided to go on foot since she only lives half a mile away, and I needed the fresh air.

Normally I would take my bike, but the chain had been broken for some time, and my dad hadn't fix it for me yet.

The clock was nearly 7 at night, and the sun had already gone down. We lived in Burlington city, with a population around 38000 thousand people. It was a pretty big city known for its arts scenes, museums and educational opportunities.

I have lived here for the past 7 seven years.

Julia moved here freshman year from Massachusetts with her family.