Chapter 1:

The sound of a blaring foghorn startles me from my sleepy solitude. With my heart pumping furiously, I slowly sit up, cursing my phone as it screams for me to get up. I groan inwardly, checking the time. 6:30 am, school starts at 7:45. It’s a 7-minute commute. I could go back to sleep, or I could get up and try to make myself half decent for the first day of my senior year. The last first day of high school ever. Excited is an overstatement. I groan as I sit up, moving to the side of my bed to get ready.

My door burst open, banging hard against the wall, giving me a heart attack as I plummet off the side of my bed. I screech and slowly rub my head, looking up at my laughing cousin. 

“Mia! You’re such a moron!” I say, standing up, furious. “You could have killed me,”

“Oh hush! You’re being dramatic and that’s my thing.” Mia says, winking her perfectly lined eye at me. 

“Are you seriously already ready?” I ask, stunned. She furrows her brows at me.

“Uh yeah! It’s a new school for me! I need to make an appearance.”

She flips her hair, flaunting her perfect features. Mia came to live with us at the end of junior year when my aunt decided that vacations with her new husband sounded more appealing than being a parent to her one and only child. Not going to lie, as selfish as it sounds, I was insanely excited about her leaving and Mia coming to live with us, though Mia was destroyed. I roll my eyes at her and I walk to my closet to grab a pair of ripped jeans and a t-shirt.

“Your eyes look uneven,” I lie, trying to keep a straight face.

Mia’s face drops as she runs to the bathroom we share and curses me from the counter.

“You little liar!” I burst out laughing as she comes out fake angry.

“Stop! It’s not funny! I just want to look good on my first day. I’m nervous.” She admits. I smile at her as I walk over, taking hold of her shoulders.

“Mia, you should tone it down. You are too damn beautiful to be a normal human. You’re going to draw too much attention to me.” Mia snorts and shakes her head at me.

“I don’t know why you hate attention so much,” 

“I just don’t like it” I shrug as I reach for my socks and sit on the end of my bed. 

“Oh right, well with that explanation, how could I not understand?” she rolls her eyes and walks to the door, stopping to look at me. “Can I please do a little makeup on you?” She pleads, pushing out her lower lip in a pout.

And I sigh heavily, pretending to be dramatic. 

“Fine.” I can see her eyes light up and the excitement bubbling like she could burst, so I quickly put my hand up staying her building squeal “MINIMAL! Like eyeliner and mascara kind of minimal. Got it?”

She covers her mouth and quietly nods in agreement as she turns and skips to her room, where I can hear a squeal and frantic grabbing of things. I’m not sure what circle of hell I just unleashed, but I’m fairly certain she blacked out when I said yes and didn’t listen to the minimal makeup I was reiterating. She emerges from her room with a bag of makeup and I raise a questioning brow at her.

“Uh. Minimal!” I say yet again. She just nods as she completely ignores me. 

“Ok, so I was thinking of a natural look.” She is talking to herself and not me and I kind of just stand there hoping she realizes we only have 5 minutes before we have to leave.

“Mia, we have 5 minutes to get in the car, otherwise we will be late.” That snaps her attention back to me and she groans, annoyed.

“Ok fine! Just mascara and eyeliner, and maybe a little blush, and obviously lip gloss.”

Ugh. I knew this was a stupid idea. Mia moves swiftly, swiping and lightly brushing as she does her best to make me look presentable. I tap my foot impatiently as she finally pulls away. I open my eyes and she is smiling brightly at me. 

“Just some clear gloss.” She reassures me. “To not overwhelm you.”

She grabs a small vial and hands it to me to put on and use throughout the day. I quickly dab a small amount on my lips and rub them together. Jumping up, I grab my bag and Mia’s hand and drag her down the stairs just as my mother enters the front room with two breakfast burritos to go. 

“Love you both! Have a great day!” She says dropping a kiss on our heads as she ushered us to the door. 

“Bye, mom!” I say quickly

“See ya, Aunt Grace!”

My mom stands at the open door holding a coffee mug close to her chest as we pull out of the driveway with me at the helm. I can see the emotion in my mother’s eyes and I know she is thinking about her babies being all grown up. She always talks about how much we have grown into such beautiful women. 

We pull up to the old 2 story brick building. The front steps of the school are bustling with freshmen being dropped off by mom and dad, shyly walking up the steps looking for anyone who might be a friend. I can’t help but smile watching. The innocence of it all, these kids have no idea what they are in for. As we drive to the student parking lot, I watch the upperclassman as they stand next to their cars or the front doors high five-ing, fist-bumping, and hugging. 

Here we go, the final year of pretenses and people I will probably never see again. We pull into the last spot towards the front of the parking lot and I breathe deep before I open the door and hop out, surveying the lay of the land one more time. I groan in annoyance at the thought of an entire year and look over at Mia.

Mia stands next to the car, checking her reflection and her outfit. She is running her hands through her hair, rubbing gloss on, and tugging on her skirt to make sure it’s just the right length. She is having a minor panic attack as she breathes heavily and shakes out her hands. I walk over to her with a small smile and force her to look at me.

“Mia! Breath, you got this. You are the most beautiful person inside and out and I will love you! Seriously, maybe you will be popular and you can make people leave me alone!” I say truthfully. Mia takes a deep breath and nods, smiling. 

“Ok. I can do this. I can do this.” We stroll to the doors and she stops once more, looking right at me. “Are you sure I can do this?”  

I beam at her. “Of course silly, you just got to have a little bit of Faith.”