Enjoy :)

This September turned out to be even busier than Lily expected. The first month back to school is always the toughest for both students and teachers alike. As a teacher's assistant to Kindergarten Class she never expected this month's lessons plan to be so hefty. Guess she should have taken her best friend Maya's word when she told her is rather strict and a hard ass. Especially with the classroom rules, schedule, and plans. Still in the end it wasn't the worst and Lily still loves her new position.

She's been applying for quite sometime now for one of the assistant positions in the public schools system with few results and outcomes. Until they called her in for an interview in mid-August and hired her for one of the teacher's assistant positions at the local elementary school in one of their Kindergarten Classrooms.

"Friday is here at last!" She groans as she packs up her bag to leave for home.

It's been one hell of a week. Not even a month into the new school year and already three tests have been distributed to the students. It's times like this she feels bad for them. She can help the students with just about anything...except for the tests of course. As Lily approaches her bike she hears someone calling her.

"Hey, Lily wait up!" It's Maya, running to her spot.

Unlike Lily, Maya is quite tall for a woman. At 5ft 11in tall she towers over Lily's petite stature of 4ft 11in tall. During their high school years this earned Maya the lovely nickname of 'Legs' since that is what she is, all legs.

"By any chance are you free tonight to go grab some coffee down at the Corner Cafe'?" Maya asked.

Lily thought about it, 'hmmm, why the hell not.' "Sure it's been quite a while since we had enough free time to go out."

"Awesome Lils, there's just so much we need to catch up on. What time is good for you?" Maya asked.

Lily gives her a smile, "We can go now if you want. Seeing as it's just down the street. I'll just leave the bike here and walk on down with you."

It was rather quiet in the Cafe', not many customers this time of day. That's fine considering Lily never did like big crowds. They went to the counter and ordered their coffees and found a nice small booth by the window to sit at. Summer was stubborn and still lingering strongly in the air. Lily sat, and was absentmindedly stirring her iced coffee with the straw while gazing out the window.

"You seem like you have a lot on your mind. So you first, what's the latest with you?" Her friend said.

She sighed. "Not much has really been happening as of late. Besides work I've been finding myself repeating daily routines like exercising, painting, reading, and bicycling. As for my social life; can't say there is much of one outside of work."

Maya gave her a reproachful look. "You really need to get out more and No, riding your bike around town or down to the beach doesn't count. You need to expand your horizons and start talking to other people. Better yet, are there any men that have caught your interests? Meet any at work or the gym? You don't want to end up like Ms. Bowman down your street do you? Sixty-three years old, alone, with several dogs and cats."

She teased, but instantly regretted it when she caught Lily's hurt look. "Shit Lils I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I know the concept has always been a challenge for you and your reluctance to try at a relationship."

She steers her bright blue eyes to the window again. "It's fine Maya, I know your just looking out for me. You always have since we were kids. I also know you have been noticing my negative attitude towards such commitment along with the bitterness and loneliness I feel when I see many people I know who are in a serious relationship, engaged, married, or popping out kids. Just need to remind myself I'm still only thirty years old and not some old lady who lost her chance at marriage and a family."

It certainly doesn't help that Maya herself is engaged and her wedding is the following June. Best part about that to Lily's dismay, is she chose her to be her maid of honor. She just needs to remember to be happy for her life long friend. Some days are harder than others though to contain her slight jealousy towards her. Especially since Eric was an all around great guy with a great job in engineering, handsome, and a knock out personality to boot on top of it all.

"It's also a little hard to imagine because you are beautiful, hilarious, and hardworking. Let's not forget your great with kids. Doubt they'd hire you for the job if you weren't." Maya told her.

"See the problem is is the guys that are attracted to me I know for a fact are creeps or assholes. Plus, the ones I do like never seem to like me back for some reason or another...I'm not saying this to pull out the pity card, but that's just how it's been nowadays." Lily replied.

Maya gave her a warm smile. "Don't give up. I know there is someone out there that will see how amazing you are and appreciate you for it."

Halfway through her coffee she pauses. "Thanks, but it's not just that. I also just feel like I'm lacking excitement in life. Perhaps that's something I should strive for first before I settle for any possible future relationships."

Maya quirks an eyebrow. "Or perhaps you will find excitement with an interesting man along the way."

Lily snorts and runs her fingers through her dark brown hair. "I wouldn't hold my breath on it."

Eventually the conversation shifted to another topic Maya wanted to bring up. The best date for the dress fitting and choosing which is the best restaurant for the rehearsal dinner since Maya and Eric are having trouble choosing between two places they both like. Their chat ended up lasting for nearly two and a half hours before they called it quits. Maya walked back to the school with Lily to retrieve her bike before going their separate ways. They gave each other a parting hug then Maya walked to her parked car.

Lily proceeded on the fifteen minute ride back home to her apartment. She knew she needed to take out her dog Mia for her evening walk once she got in. Mia is her forty pound pitbull rescue who sees herself as a five pound lap dog. It wasn't long after she adopted her that she found out Mia was quite special. Lily sometimes had bad panic attacks during the night and Mia was quick to sense them and jump up on the bed to comfort her human through the attacks. Which Lily was always grateful for. She couldn't stop thinking about Maya's and her conversation.

Maybe she did need to get out more. Though she couldn't help but feel like she needed to work on her trust issues first. Even though it was nearly ten years ago, she still has a hard time letting go of the betrayal and traumatic experience that fucking bastard put her through. She wouldn't have been the emotionally scarred mess she was today if it weren't for him. Maya's right though, she needs to stop reliving the past and start thinking about here and now and where it will bring her.

The irony in all this, is she didn't realize she rode right through a red light. And is about to be a potential hood ornament to the 2020 navy colored explorer barreling down the road towards her. She didn't notice it was almost upon her until it was a mere ten feet away and closing. This shouldn't be too surprising since this road has a sharp turn to it.

There was also poor viewing conditions due to the overgrown trees on the bend of the road. This made it tricky to spot oncoming cars and even trickier for motorists to spot pedestrians and cyclists. Before she could feel the contact of the car an odd iridescent light surrounded her and she felt a sensation of being sucked up off the ground. From there, her vision went black.

That's it for the first chapter. I feel I should have explained a little more about my OC but I didn't want to make the chapter too long and really drag it on. If I can I will add a little more about her as the story goes on in future chapters. As for Lily's physical appearance I dropped hints during this chapter but will add them here for those who missed them. As stated Lily is rather petite, standing at only 4ft 11in tall...so she's just shy of 5ft tall. She has a slim but slightly muscular build due to her love of exercising. Lastly, she has blue eyes and long dark brown hair. Like it or Hate It. Leave a review.