Chapter One

Next day, I woke up with a raging headache but somehow I managed to dress myself and head down for breakfast. I make my way to the dining table and aunt Sara pours me some juice and I drink it slowly. Halfway through breakfast, she asks me about my birthday plans and who to invite.

" So, how are we gonna celebrate it this time?"

" Uhh. I cannot think right now with this stupid headache, besides, we have a lot of time left. Surely we will plan something."

" It is just a week ahead ! We do not have much time left. I want it to be perfect for you. You are finally gonna turn 18! I want it to be your best birthday." She squeals, clearly more excited than me.

" Okay fine. But can we discuss it later? I do not have energy right now. My brain is about to burst." I groan, dropping my head on the table.

" Do you need aspirin or something?"

" I am fine. Maybe it is because of hunger."

" I don't understand why you stress a lot. Everything is going fine. Are you taking your medications? Are the nightmares happening again? Is it boys? You know you can talk to me about anything."

" Calm down . I am fine and, yes, I take meds. No, I do not get those nightmares anymore. They stopped after starting meds and you don't need to worry about me. I will be fine. I can take care of myself and if there was anything else, I would definitely tell you."

" Okay . I just want the best for you", she comes and kisses me on my cheek after giving me a tight hug. I hear a car horn outside, so assuming it's Jer , I head outside. I get in his car and jer drives me to school.

" So how are you ?" He asks.

" I am fine. I just had a headache but now I am alright."

" Glad to hear it. I want to ask you something."

" Okay. Hit me."

"So, tomorrow there is going to be a party at my place. Would you like to go with me? That's not a question , you are coming since you are my plus one . And before you answer it, let me tell you that it is alright if you do not want to go."

" Back up mister, what party?"

" You know basically a charity gala that my dad hosts and you are invited because my dad likes you more than me and if you are there he won't notice me drinking or how I am ruining his name." He says, rolling his eyes.

" Jer, listen. I would love to go but you know after the accident , I avoid events? Just give me some time to think about it. Okay?"

" Ana. It has been months since the accident. You need to stop blaming yourself for the death of your parents. You deserve to have some fun after all that you have been through and I will be there with you all the time. I will be your chaperone. You know how my family likes you and they are all gonna be there? Please ana. " He looks at me full of hope.

" I will have to ask aunt Sara first. If she agrees, then I will go . Okay?"

" You are a life saver my friend. Thank you and I am sure she is gonna say yes. She is like the coolest person."

"We will see."

We reached school and I headed inside, took some books from my locker and entered history class.

After getting seated, I took my sketch book out and started thinking about what to sketch. After the accident , I have started sketching a lot more . Even the therapist thinks that it is good for me to portray my feelings and it acts as a coping mechanism. I do not have any art classes or anything, but I feel like I can connect with them. Usually I sketch whatever I feel like, but right now I cannot think of anything to sketch.

I start doodling and my pencil falls down and rolls toward the door. I get up to pick it up. I stand up and my head gets in contact with something hard. I looked up and I saw a pair of blue eyes staring at me. Andrew looks the same but he is sporting a frown today and is looking at his shirt. I look down and see that I spilled his coffee on him.OOPS!

" I am so sorry. I didn't mean that. I was just picking up my pencil and that happened. I am so sorry."

" See where you are headed, okay?"

" I said I am sorry. Alright. No need to be rude and I already apologised." I frowned at the man and my temper was already rising a little high. Who does he think he is? Dickhead.

He just nods and says, "Could you give me some space?"

"Huh?"

"You are standing too close." He made a disgusted face and I had enough of his bullshit. He cannot just waltz in and think he is the king. If he wants a fight, he will have a fucking war.

" Excuse me ? What's the matter with you?! All I have EVER done for you is be kind. But NO, you are just so rude that you don't even reply. If you have a problem with me, why don't you just tell me? I won't even be near you. I don't know who you think you are, but that is not how you react to someone who's been nothing but good to you. You need to get your fucking head out of your ass and realise what a jerk you are. And this time, it was a bit of my fault and I apologised for it, but, you still have to be arrogant about it and then make a fucking disgusted face. Can't you just act like a normal human? ...Wait - you can't because you aren't one and -" he cuts me off before I can finish myself.

" I am sorry, " he mutters and passes me and sits down on the seat beside mine .

I don't even get to reply when the professor enters. So I have no other choice but to sit down too.

During class I felt his eyes on me. I try my best to ignore it. After the class, I met Jer in the cafeteria to tell him about the scene, but he already knew. It seems that when there is a fight instead of minding their own business, kids make fucking videos that end up getting viral.

" When you said that line about getting his head out of his ass, I fucking cracked in the class and the professor gave me the stink eye", jer says, still laughing about it. I pass him a look to shut him down and he mutters about how no one talks to him. We sit at our table and some girls and guys ogle us but we ignore them.

" So you understand why I burst out on him ,right? I mean he thinks he can get away with doing whatever he wishes." I say, and he nods.

"Hey, what do you say about shopping for a party?" He asked me.

"I haven't said yes yet."

"You are coming," He says, and goes to dump his tray.

The bell rings indicating fitness class. We are gonna play volleyball today, so I am not at all excited. I don't do sports at all. I take my clothes from my locker and change.

We are divided into teams and I only hit a few times. All of a sudden I felt dizzy as I did yesterday. I swayed for a bit and Jerah yelled my name, telling me to hit the ball coming towards me. I hit the ball across the net and the ball bursts midway into the air. Everything falls silent and everybody is looking at me. I don't even see Jer approaching me until he takes my face in his hands.

" Holy shit . Are you alright?! What was that?"

" I don't know . I felt dizzy again and then I hit the ball and it burst midway. I don't know how that happened. I mean it couldn't have been because of me, right? " I shrug," I know I am not weak athletically, but I am also not that strong to crack the ball open just by hitting it."

"Yes. Of course. I mean, no offense, but you don't even know how to play volleyball. It must have been because of the volume of the ball or something science-related."

I feel something dripping from my nose and place my hand to touch it and see that I have a nosebleed. I yell at Jer and show my hands and point at my face with a stricken look and when he sees me he takes me to the bathroom.

I pull some tissues out and hold them to my nose to stop the nosebleeds. Jer and the fitness teachers barge in. They try to calm me down and ask if it is regular for me to have nosebleeds or that today was the first time. I answer her questions and after a while the bleeding slows down, so I take a tissue and head out of the bathroom feeling overwhelmed.

I stand outside on the ground and sit down crosslegged. I see Andrew standing a few feet away, watching me. He comes towards me and I stand up.

" Hey." He says.

" Hi." I say, not looking up.

" Are you alright?" He sits besideme, following my stance.

"Yes. It was just a nosebleed."

" Okay."

" Listen , earlier I didn't know what came over me. I -I just yelled at you and I am not like that. Trust me. I am sorry. Really sorry." I say, feeling a little guilty about my outburst at him. He is new here and doesn't know anyone. That might be the reason for him not talking to anyone or for the weird ignorant treatment he's given to everyone. And he also never smiles and I have never heard him laugh except the one time when I gave a burning remark to Sam.

" It's no worry." He shrugs but keeps looking at me.

I feel the blood dripping from my nose again, so I replace the tissue.

" I- I umm, I should go." He says.

He doesn't wait for my answer and leaves.

" Yeah. Of course. Go." I mutter to myself and kick the pebble away and start picking at the grass.

Jer comes with my backpack and my clothes from my locker in one hand and pulls me up with another flawlessly. If he weren't my best friend and I didn't consider him like a brother, I would totally be into him. He has got the looks , charm and never disrespects anyone. I must have been staring at him, lost in my thoughts for so long because he clears his throat.

" What do you think you are doing?" I asked, gesturing to my stuff in his hands.

" Taking you home, duh!" He says and shrugs like it's a normal thing. See, why I said it? He is the perfect best friend.

" I am fine. It stopped. No need to go home," I said.

" You are going . No excuses." He gives me a look that says 'shut up or I will carry you myself ', but I ignore it.

" I can't miss my classes anymore and I don't have permission to go early either. I don't want to bunk."

" I asked the principal and he is okay with it and you won't be missing much as only one class is left, so there, I solved your problem. Besides, we also have to go shopping later, so you need to rest before, and you don't get to bail at the last minute and if you still don't agree, I will pick you up and throw you in my car."

" Okay. Lead the way." I reluctantly say.

He takes his car out and I get in and he drives.

" I don't know what I would do without you, Jer." I say, looking at him.

" You would be miserable," He deadpans.

" Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

" Thank you for today. I know I panicked in the restroom and- seriously, I owe you."

" Well, you are welcome, and you can repay me by coming to the gala and shopping for your dress with me."

" Okay."

As soon as we reach my house, he pulls over.

" So, at what time shall I pick you up?" He asks.

" Probably six."

" Okay then, see you. Take care Annie."

" Okay. Bye."

I kissed his cheek and headed inside. I quickly headed upstairs and shut the door. Not wanting to interact with my aunt. God bless her soul. She is a great guardian, but she worries about the smallest things and I don't want her to worry about it. I lay on my bed and fall asleep within minutes.

*_*

I wake up and the first thing I see is the clock indicating the time, 5:35. Shit! I forgot to ask my aunt about the gala and I had to go shopping too. I quickly got up to get ready and went downstairs.

" AUNT SARA! I need to ask you something." I opened the door without knocking and saw her working.

" Ana. What did I say about knocking?" she raises her perfect blonde brows.

" Sorry, but it is not like you are indecent." I shrug.

" What if I was? What if I had someone over and we were going at it and you walked in on us?" she gives me a curious look.

" First of all, EWW! Second of all, you never have anyone over you, no matter how much I want you to date. Third, it is an emergency." I say, and she looks up, serious all of a sudden.

" What is it?"

" Can I go to the gala?"