Chapter 1. Crash

“Late, so late, I am going to be so late!” I thought as I hastily put my waist length dark hair in a messy bun and rushed around my closet sized living space to get ready for my morning class at the college.

I gave a prayer of thanks I had Maria in my life, my best friend, whose dad was in real estate and had found me a flat so near the college and which I could actually afford.

Amazing, how clean clothes just seemed to vanish when you were in a hurry, I thought as I made my way around the room picking up piles of dirty clothes to find something worth wearing.

I’d forgotten to do laundry again this weekend and this was the result. Monday morning and nothing to wear that looked remotely clean enough.

I finally found something that looked presentable but it wasn’t college wear, it was short and summery. The dress was meant for a sunny day at the beach or a picnic, none of which I had time for in my life. It was also tight which was why I’d just thrown it at the back of the closet.

I was never in the mood to wear anything short and tight after I was done with my shift at the bar I worked at. The owner made everyone wear uniforms so short and tight, it should’ve been illegal.

I was a Latino of mixed ancestry, meaning I was half white. This meant that while I wasn’t built like an a****n Goddess, I wasn’t exactly lacking in curves.

I caught my reflection in the mirror on the closet and the dress looked so strange on me. It had been a while since I’d worn anything like this. I was slim and I’d never had any issues with my body image but recently I’d been wearing looser clothing. I didn’t like showing off my figure anymore.

It was because my body had landed me a job, the waitressing job at the nearby restaurant. The owner wanted attractive girls gracing his establishment which sounded creepy but had worked to my advantage when I had been desperate for a job. I had to deal with inappropriate behavior sometimes but the tips were great too so I couldn’t complain much.

Every coin has two sides, if one side gives you an advantage, the other will be disadvantageous, my grandma had used to say before she had died and left me at the mercy of this cruel world.

My parents had already left me, my dad had walked out on us when I had been just two and my mom had died soon afterwards, from a heart attack, it had said on the medical report but grandma used to say that her daughter had died of a broken heart.

I put on a long jacket on top of the dress just to make it look a bit more decent but the zip was broken and I couldn’t close it.

Trouble always came in multiples, I thought as I looked at my cell phone. The battery was dead and I couldn’t even call Maria to tell her I might get late and to save me a seat.

I hastily swept my books into my bag pack and picked up my sneakers in my hands intending to just run barefoot until I reached the street.

I locked the door behind me and berated myself for staying up so late last night. Again. I never learned.

The funny thing was that I had been studying. I never got time over the week to study anything and so it had become a habit to cram during the weekend and I really needed good grades to keep the scholarship I had.

It was a vicious circle. I needed to study to keep the scholarship and I needed the scholarship to study.

Life had given me no breaks.

I hurried down the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding a child with his ice cream while I tried to run and put on my sneakers at the same time.

God knew I must look crazy.

Thankfully I was just a few blocks away and I knew I could make it if I ran. I caught a look at my watch but obviously I’d forgotten that as well.

God, could this day get any worse?

I breathed out a sigh of relief as I spotted the college building. I was positive I wasn’t really late, I’d made good time.

I made a final run across the street, tripped and suddenly,

 I was flying across the street.

I didn’t know what happened

I landed hard on the hard asphalt right in the middle of the road.

Horrified I looked to my left and my breath caught as I saw a car aiming straight at me. I closed my eyes, my life flashing before my eyes; sure I was going to die this second.

There was a loud screech of wheels but I didn’t open my eyes, certain of my all too imminent death.

 A few seconds passed and I released the breath I hadn’t know I was holding. I slowly opened my eyes and heard a door slamming along with a curse.

A pair of legs came into my view and I followed them up, up along their length to the man in question standing over me with a frown on his face.

Boy, was he tall and clad in a business suit that fit him to the extent that it must have been stitched on him, I vaguely thought as I took in the sight of him, shocked at the suddenness of my near accident and then a man right out of the pages of a men’s magazine shouting down at me.

I shook my head clearing away the fog.

His face looked hewn out of granite and his eyes, an unusual grey glittered with anger down at me. 

“What the fuck were you thinking? Do you have a death wish?” he growled. 

I shook my head at his words, abruptly coming back to my senses.