Okay, I'm starting on a new story! The review-box is awfully empty, please fill it with your opinions! Tell me if I should continue with this story or not!
Isabella's POV
I must be crazy for real who's doing this. But hey, mom always told me to follow my heart, so now I'm doing it! And it might be my only chance for a better life.
My name is Isabella Garcia Shapiro, and I'm 16 years old. I live in Texas, USA. My dad died in a terrible accident when I was 5 years old, and last year my mom died in cancer. I've been living with my best friend Gretchen and her family for the past 3 months since I have no family left.
My education has always been incredibly important for me and my future and I'm a top student with straight A:s, but if I don't graduate I won't be able to have a real job, and if I had kept on working I would have got a scholarship to college. In my town, we only have a boarding-school which I went to and my mother paid for, but now that she's gone and the year is over, I didn't know what to do with school anymore, I don't have the money to keep going to the school for my last year.
But yesterday, I made a decision, a decision that will, hopefully, save me and my future, but it requires some… changes. Let me tell you what happened.
(Flashback)
"There, my last essay for the year is done!" I say as I put my computer down and sit down in the couch. Gretchen smiles at me.
"That's great, Isa! You can't expect something else than an A, I guess!" I smile sadly.
"Well, no. But as it looks for the time being, it won't matter. If I don't finish my last year I won't be able to graduate high school and now, if I'm going to live on an orphanage in South Dakota… how will I end up?" the tears burn behind my eyelids and I put my head in my hands.
Gretchen hugs me tight. "I don't know Isabella. I'm so sorry my family can't help you either." I look up at her and smile. I'm really trying the best I can not to cry, but it's pretty hard when you know that soon, you'll have to move to an orphanage.
"Gretchen, you guys have helped me more than enough, letting me live here for the past three months. I'm so grateful to have you as a friend, and David too." David, Gretchen's twin, is my other best friend. He, together with me is the best student on our school and for his last year, he's searched to other better boarding-schools in the country to get even further.
I searched to them too late to get a scholarship since I had no idea my mom was going to die until it was too late, so now I'm lost.
Suddenly, the door opens and David steps in with two letters in his hand and a smile on his face. "I've gotten two scholarships for two different schools! I just don't know which one I should take." Me and Gretchen stand up from the couch and hug him.
"Congratulations David! I'm so proud of you!" I exclaim. He smiles at me and we all sit down in the couch to check his scholarships out.
"Okay, this one is to a school in California and I'm thinking of that one because it's not so far from here. The second one is to a school in New York in a place called Tristate-area! They're both all-boys schools and great schools too, but I'm not sure which one to attend. What do you guys think?" asks David.
I put my chin in my hand, thinking. "Hmm… maybe you should go for the school in California, I mean it's always good to be close to your home, right? Besides, if they're both equally good, it's best to pick the closest one." David thinks for a while, then he smiles.
"You're right, Isabella! I'll pick California!" he's about to rip the other letter apart, but I stop him.
"No, don't rip it! Show it to your parents, they'll be proud of you who got into two schools! And all-boys schools as well, they sound so fancy! Then you can just throw it away." He chuckles.
"Hahah yeah, you're probably right." He takes the letters into the kitchen and I look at Gretchen.
"Aren't you proud? Your brother has been accepted to two of the best boarding-schools in the country!" she smiles a weak smile.
"Yeah, but now I'm going to be completely alone. You're moving to an orphanage in South Dakota tomorrow and after the summer, David's heading to a High School in California!" my smile is replaced by a frown. I didn't think of the trouble this has caused Gretchen. Of course, we have other friends, but we were her best friends. It will be so sad to leave her.
"You're right, but that will happen for all three of us! We will all be ripped apart tomorrow… not that that was any comfort, sorry… but let's face fact, everything has to end." She nods, a few tears escaping her eyes.
I hug her close, and we stay like that for the following hour, crying. It must have looked ridiculous, but hey, can't two best friends grieve without getting judged? Just kidding, this is serious.
At dinner, it was very talkactive at David's, Erica's and Harold's side of the table, of course! How could your parents be quiet when you've just been accepted to two top-schools? But Gretchen and I ate in silence, knowing that we only had two more days with each other. And even worse- I'm moving to an orphanage.
I thank them for the dinner and go up to my current room. I lie down on the bed and curl up to a ball, looking up at the ceiling. Soon, I fall asleep.
7 hours later
I wake up in the middle of the night, looking at the clock. 3am. After a while, I take out an album from when I was little. I stop on one picture, a family-portrait from when I was 5. A couple of weeks before dad died.
We looked so happy. Well, we were so happy back then, with not a single problem in the world. I remember my dad clearly. His big, kind, brown eyes and his arms which I always felt welcome in. His smile ever so bright, even after a long, hard day just because he got to see his family again.
He was a great man, with a great job and a great life. I remember all those times when I said I wanted to be like him and how I was going to fight for it. I look down at my feet. Who am I to fight now? What am I supposed to do?
I keep looking at the portrait, continuing to my mom. My wonderful mom. It's only been 4 months since she left me, all alone. I'm still so lost without her. But I'm recovering fast, I think.
My mom was the most kind-hearted woman on Earth and she would do anything to protect me and see me happy. I remember the proud look on her face every time a brought home an A from school. She always said to me I was going to be something big one day and that I was a very talented girl, completely free to form my own destiny.
And I remember her last words to me as well, a few hours before she died. "I want you to know that I will never ever leave your side, darling. Keep fighting every day for what you want and don't you ever give up. Don't let anyone bring you down, you're worth so much more. And most important, don't let people tell you how to live your life or what's right and wrong. Follow your heart, it always says what's right for you. So if your heart is telling you to do something, then do it. Even if it's crazy, you can't live life without craziness! I love you so, so incredibly much and I can't tell you how awfully sorry I am for leaving you, all alone in this world. It wasn't planned. I bet dad's worried sick about me though, I have to leave soon, and I promise to say hi from you. He too would be so proud of the woman you've become today. I will always love you sweetie, someday you'll have to come and visit us. But please don't let it be soon, your life has only begun. Isabella, you are my everything."
We laid in her hospital-bed her last hours, spending her last time on Earth together. The silence was bliss. Then she left me with those words.
I put the album aside and look at the wall. My dad died so sudden, we didn't get to say goodbye. But I know that he too wanted the same thing as mom- that I would fight for what I wanted. And I want a real life, an education, a ticket to that real life. And my parents were right, I have to fight for it and do what I want to do.
But now, I also got to do what I have to do.
I stand up from my bed and look at my two big bags, packed with all my things from mom's house I could bring, such as clothes, money, memories and that kind of stuff. I take a deep breath and grab the bags, quietly rolling them out in the hallway.
I look back into my room, smiling. Then I move onto Gretchen's door. I creak it open and look at Gretchen sleeping in her bed. I bite my lip, trying not to let out a sob as tears stream down my face, knowing that I won't get to say real goodbye to her. "Goodbye." I whisper to her. I do the same with David, then I lift my bags down the stairs and out of the door.
I write a letter to them about how grateful I am for them letting me stay in their house and goodbye to Gretchen and David properly, then that I left early to the orphanage. I can' let them know the truth, I would seem so selfish.
Then I leave the house forever, but before I do, I walk up to the garbage and open it, searching for my ticket to a new life. I pick it up and look at it, considering what I'm doing. My heart is telling me that this is the very right thing to do, it feels right. So now, I'm going to listen to my mom's advice and do it.
(Back to presence)
I smile happily, full of excitement as I look out on the airport from the bus, then down on the envelope in my hand, or with other words, the ticket to the better life. In my hand, I'm holding the scholarship David threw away- the scholarship to the all-boys school Evian High in New York. And I'm attending in the end of the summer. From now on, I guess my name has to be Isaac Garcia Shapiro.
What do you guys think? Is it a good plot to start with? The story won't be as sad as the first chapter, of course. Fill the review-box with comments, I want it full! Favorite, follow and I'll see you soon! 33
