Chapter1

#Chapter1

Boston was deadly boring compared to Los Angeles, but I would never admit that out loud as that would give too much credit to Los Angeles, the city of opportunity and blah blah blah...

Opportunities for everyone except me, Bravo!

When I was 18 I had this stupid idea in my head that I could become a professional actress because the praises of my acting group and a guy who wrote the script for a shitty movie that never came out went to my head. I thought I was the best without comparison, so I ran away to Los Angeles in search of a dream that my parents did not support... What a fool and idiot I was.

I had never lived in the real world on my own, I always had my parents and my brother for anything I needed but being alone in a city I did not know with no more money than my savings for a month and nothing else, well, I wanted to come home crying

The thing is that I managed to be out for a year and the best I could manage was to go out on an online shopping site wearing a onesize, idiotic but I bought two of those. When I finally opened my eyes and decided that if I stayed here I would just be a waitress with a shattered dream for the rest of my life, I went home. My mother almost had a heart attack when she saw that my normally dark brown hair was practically white and I had a ring in my nose, my dad didn't care much.

So here I was, Brooklyn Tate, a failed girl with no education, no money, and plenty of free time.

Mom talked me into filling out some college applications I didn't want to go to and then yelled at me to get out of that self pity hole I was getting myself into, I was still young and had a whole life ahead of me, her words, not mine. But a week or so later I took our dog Zeus for a walk even though Dad made me take the dog out of the house.

I put on a random white shirt and faded jeans with my usual convers, I took Zeus's leash and after a whistle my huge furry friend with brown and black fur ran towards me throwing me on the ground. Zeus was an adult German Shepherd and had had him for as long as I can remember.

/"Let's go for a walk, mate./" The dog stood still as he hooked his bib straps that looked like they were about to snap and then he practically ran me out of the house. We crossed a couple of streets until we found the main avenue and then we walked a few more minutes until we reached the nearest park, everything was quite quiet, nothing more than a couple of elderly people exercising, some children playing and other people walking their dogs for a walk

I sat on a nearby bench and began to think about my life, or what it had become these last two weeks. I didn't feel like doing anything, it was as if a whirlwind of despair had settled in my chest sweeping away all my dreams and leaving a huge black hole of nothing, because that summed up everything. In nothing. Maybe I was going through a bout of depression and that might explain why I felt so empty and upset with myself. Self-punishment, I guess.

/"Stay still,/" I told Zeus as he started pulling the leash to the side, he probably only saw a squirrel or a cat. /"Zeus, stay still!/"

I cursed when the dog started running even though I was holding on to the leash with all my might (which wasn't much). Then I heard a sound like fabric tearing and the dog ran out as if there was a fire while I fell face to the ground, I got up as best I could and ran in the same direction as Zeus who in the blink of an eye had crossed the street. halfway across the park and had thrown herself into the lap of a green-haired girl who was sitting on a bench, I bit back a scream and ran to try to get the dog off her.

/"OMG! I'm sorry, I'm sorry...’’ the girl let out a soft laugh and caressed the hairy head of Zeus who seemed to have met his soulmate, that honestly offended me ‘’He doesn't usually behave like that, I don't know what happened to him.’’

/"Okay, he scared me a little but he seems very friendly./" I smiled politely at her still trying to pull Zeus away from her. The girl was very interesting to see as she had green hair, skin as white as porcelain and a piercing in her eyebrow, as well as some tattoos that peeked out from the edge of her skirt, although the outfit of the 60s colored The pastel contrasted with her tattoos. /"Do I know you from somewhere?/"

/"Well, I don't think so/" I said, frowning and concentrating on her face, maybe we've seen each other around. Then she put her hands to her mouth and let out a shriek, I flinched away.

/"Brook? Brooklyn Tate? My God, it's you!’’ She obviously knew me but I was still trying to place her, until I fell into her eyes and a whole movie of sleepovers, pranks and summer camps danced in my head.

/"Charlotte Breen? God, if it's you!’’ She jumped out of her seat and hugs were doled out as shrieks made everyone turn in our direction. /"How come you're here? You moved in like a thousand years ago.’’

/"I came back last year, I even went to your house but your mother said you weren't in town. My God! I haven't seen you in so long, we have so many things to talk about. Your hair is white!’’

/"Yeah,/" I laughed, /"and yours is green which is a huge surprise because the last time I saw you it was reddish brown./"

/"And yours was light brown! Wow, we've made some changes, haven't we?’’ A metal melody began to come out of Charlotte's bag, she growled a curse and rummaged through her things until she found her phone, she muttered a few /"uh-huh/" and hung up the call ‘’It was from work, I must go for coffee since I'm the the only one that has not arrived.’’

/"Do you want some help?/" Charlotte's face lit up and we both quickly walked to a nearby coffee shop. Having Charlotte was like going back in time, when we were both twelve and usually only a wall separated us between our houses. Charlotte was my only true friend and my soul ached when her mom packed her things and took her to Pittsburgh we tried the texting thing for a year or so and then just like all long distance relationships we both stopped talk after a while.

/"Hey Char,/" I called as they walked with coffees in hand. /"Where do you work?/"

/"At a tattoo parlor, of course./" She smiled slightly. /"There, at Inked. /"