I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of.

~Michel de Montaigne

Fighting Who I Am

Dear Katherine,

This isn't what I wanted for you. It never was what I had planned. I guess life never really works out the way that you expect it to. Life has a way of making your plans change. It's strange how the things I've been hunting are the things that saved your life. What you are is a secret. It will be our secret. We never had secrets together. I'll take this to the grave with me. I love you. I love you so much I really honestly do. I just want you to know that I don't hate you. You may not understand why I did this but maybe someday you will. I hope you forgive me. I don't want you to hate me. I don't hate you. You may think that I do but I don't. I love you so much. Destroy this letter. I know you may not want to but you should. Your father and I are so proud of you. We always have been proud of you. We will continue to be proud of you. No matter what you decide to do with your life. Make the right decisions. Always remember who you are and where came from. Don't let anyone make you change. You have the power to do whatever you want. Always do the right things in life. Don't make bad decisions. I love you. I always will love you and that will never change. I am very sorry that I can't be around anymore. I will deeply miss you. Maybe I will see you again I can't be sure though. I wish I could be though. Good luck with your life. Continue to make us proud. All you have to do is make yourself happy and I will be happy for you.

Love,

Mother

Chapter 1

B

eep. Beep. Beep.

I rolled over in my bed and looked at the clock. 6:30am. I was so going to be late. This was not good. She was so going to kill me for being late again. I was so tired even though I had gotten a lot of sleep last night. I was only going to lie down for a few more minutes. I had time. It's not like she was ever on time. She always showed up late. I didn't have to worry about being lazy because she always is. Or usually she is.

"Did a tornado happen or something? I mean really. What happened in here?" a voice asked.

Like I said usually she's lazy.

"Funny. Real funny," I said as I rolled my eyes at her.

She tried to be funny but she usually wasn't funny. More like annoying than anything. That was Keira. She was annoyingly funny sometimes. It was one of the many well only things I loved about her. I'm joking. There's a lot to like about her. Like. Well she you know. She can be, um nice.

I could sit here and tell you a lot of things about her like how she eats only eggs for breakfast and how she hates certain colors but I am not going to waste my time with telling you stuff that is useless.

I will only tell you important stuff that you need to know about Keira. Keira is very kind hearted and she is special. She's been my best friend for a very long time. We have a lot of secrets together. We know things that lots of people don't know about us. Oh she also likes to break into my house. Well she says that it's not breaking into my house but I think it is. Well I guess it's not technically breaking into my house since she has a key. I kind of told her not to use it unless it's an emergency. She uses it more than she should. She uses it even when it is not an emergency. She uses it pretty much all the time. It's kind of annoying, but I guess that's what I get for having a friend like her. It's my own fault for giving her the key to my house. The only person I can blame is me.
"So Kat do you like my hair?" Keira said as she twirled her hair for me.

Instead of her golden brown locks she had black hair with strips of fuchsia. It looked wonderful.

"Your hair is gorgeous," I said. "I'm jealous. I really am."

I was jealous and I wasn't lying. She never had to spend hours perfecting her hair. Her hair was just naturally gorgeous.

"Do you really?" She asked me. She knew that I loved it. I never lied to her and she knows that.

"Now we just have to do something with your hair," She said as she touched my awful hair.

Compared to Keira's hair I looked like a poodle and not a pretty poodle. An ugly poodle. Well maybe not ugly, but not all that cute. My hair is poofy dirty blonde.

"Thankfully I have a solution to this problem," She said.

Oh no. No no no. No. Those are the worst words to EVER hear ever. The last time I heard those words well there is a lot of things I could tell you about the last time I heard those words but I'll give you only one incident who knows you may be able hear about more. Well one time she decided to dye my hair and I got stuck with yellow hair. Yellow and not a pretty yellow either. Actually I don't think any yellow would look good in hair. It was supposed to be brown. Don't ask me how she got yellow but she did. Sometimes if you look close enough you can still see yellow.

She knew that I was hesitating. If I didn't answer her soon she was going to either force me into it or beg me to death. Neither were good ideas.

"Oh please let me just do it ," She said. Oh no. No. Don't.

This was how it was going down. Fine. I won't give in. I'm stronger than her. I can't let her win this. There is no way in hell I am letting her do this to me.

Puppy dog face. She's using the puppy dog face. I cannot believe she is using the puppy dog face. It's my one weakness she has against me. You know what? It doesn't matter. I won't say yes. I can't. I don't have to say yes to her. I don't have to let her win.

It was a stare down. Who was going to break first? Me or her. I could hear the clock in the kitchen ticking. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

"Wait a minute," I said. "What about the mansion?" I asked. She must have forgotten that we were supposed to go to the mansion.

Try to get out of that. Ha!

"Oh Layla and Dylan are doing it. I thought it was time that Dylan got some experience and I mean you know that Layla totally has a crush on Dylan. I thought that since she has a crush on Dylan that they should do it together. "She said. She won.

Keira 1 Katherine 0

Red. It's red. I can't believe this. It is red. Red I tell you. My hair is red. I just I can't believe this. It's unreal.

"So what do you think?" Keira asked.

I could tell she was anxious for my answer. I was still trying to get over my hair and she wanted my answer. I think she thought I was upset about it. I wasn't. I was happy about it. I really was.

"I so totally love it. It is gorgeous. Thank you Keira. This means a lot to me that you would to this for me. And it's not yellow." I said laughing.

Keira smiled at me and I knew she was happy. I was happy also. This was a good moment.

"Well I tried very hard for me not to turn your hair yellow. I didn't really think that you would appreciate it that much. I mean last time I did it you weren't very happy. I got better at dying hair." Keira said very pleased of herself.

We both smiled at each other. This is what I love about Keira. She really helps me forget about everything even if it is only for a few minutes.

"Friends for life." Keira said.

"Friends for life." I replied.

We really would be friends for life. We both knew it. It wasn't something that was ever going to change. Nothing and I mean NOTHING would change this. It is a sacred bond between us.