Chapter One
Loss
"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."
-Albert Einstein
My father was gone. It was him dying that changed everything in my life. It all happened so fast that I barely knew how to act. My father's funeral, relatives I didn't even know coming and leaving, being sent away to live with relatives I barely knew. But somehow, for some reason, I knew my dad was still watching me, protecting me.
Every story my father had told me when I was little I remembered distinctly. My favorite was of a little girl and her guardian angel, who taught her and protected her. Even though I am sixteen, I can't help but wish that someday, my father will send me a guardian angel. Someone wise, an ethereal being to guide and protect me. I knew it was a foolish thought, but I couldn't help but hope.
"Someday, when I am gone, I'll send you an angel," my father had said, holding my small six-year-old body in his strong arms. I would smile up at him as he sang to me, his voice warm and comforting. Since I had never known my mother, my father was my life. And now he was gone.
I ran a brush through my tangled dark curls once again before yanking my hair into a ponytail. I had never really cared about being pretty. In fact, it enraged me when people complimented my on my looks, something I couldn't even control. But I had changed so much since my father's death. My once full face was slightly thin, my complexion paler than it had been once. My hair seemed even darker because of my pallor and my curls even curlier. I bit my lip and looked away from the mirror, remembering with a pang how my father had always compared me to the mysterious beauty who was my mother.
"Christi? You're going to miss the bus if you don't hurry," said my aunt gently, standing in my doorway. My aunt Lily and uncle Ben were actually my father's aunt and uncle, making them my great-aunt and great-uncle. They were my closest living relations and I had been sent from Paris to live with them in a smaller town in New York. So many things had changed.
"I'm coming," I said softly, my voice not above a whisper. Ever since my father's death, my once strong and pure voice had died as if it had left me with my father. He had taken it with him, it seemed, and it was gone.
Lily nodded sleepily. My aunt and uncle were getting on in their years and spent much of their time sleeping or reading in the study that served as a library. They didn't pay much attention to me.
Slowly, I gathered my backpack and jacket, since the weather was getting cooler and crisper each day I lived here. I slid on my tennis-shoes, dreading the day ahead of me. It was my first day at Forest Hills Highschool. I knew high-school, the kids, the groups, the cliches, the trends. I didn't care anymore.
Soon enough, I was standing at the corner, waiting for the bus to come. Little did I know that the bus held my ticket to life, to the future. I didn't know what was in store for me. I had no clue that one person could change my life forever.