Nineteen year old, Amy Gellar, sat towards the back of the the large classroom, not paying much attention to the information the tall, broad shouldered, and Caucasian professor before her was presenting. He had a light haired mustache, wore a black Armani knock-off suit with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, and a matching black beret.
The young girl leaned her cheek on her small but feminine hand, her large brown eyes averting downward, a weary sigh escaped her full and strawberry glossed lips. She set the pen she had been holding down on her open notebook. Her hand came up to tuck a few loose strands of her straight shoulder length auburn hair behind her ear. Her short and tanned legs were crossed over each other. She was slightly slumped down in her theater-style folding chair, almost ready to fall asleep. Usually, she was a huge film buff, but when it came to her History of American Cinema class, she wished it had been more like Film Appreciation. She'd rather pass the time watching movies than listening to a boring lecture for two and a half hours.
She couldn't even concentrate on the material being presented. There was too much on her mind and it was all giving her a migraine.
"Hey girl. Are you okay?"
Amy turned her head in the direction of the whisper, coming face to face with her best friend, Courtney Price. She wished she was born as beautiful and alluring as her. She had wavy, shoulder length chesnut brown hair, piercing brown eyes, full and pouty lips, and a toned but voluptuous upper body. She could have been a model if that's what she had been majoring in. It made Amy feel inferior, but she liked Courtney for her personality, not her appearance. She scowled, but nodded her head, keeping her tone of voice down to the same tone as her, "yeah, I guess I just got a lot on my mind lately."
Courtney's brows furrowed, closing her notebook up and giving her friend her undivided attention. "Like what?"
Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, her eyes falling back down on her notebook. Taking her pen back into her hand, she began doodling along the left margin. "I don't know. Just stuff. It's complicated." She sighed woefully.
"What do you mean? Come on chica, we tell each other everything."
She stole a glance at the professor who looked none too pleased to see that the two of them were attempting to hold a conversation right in the middle of his lecture. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about this now. Not here anyway."
Courtney looked from Amy to the professor and then back to Amy, an irritable sigh escaped her. "I guess not, but you better tell me after class. You've been acting weird this whole week. You're going to drive me crazy if you keep looking down in the dumps like that."
She nodded her head gently. "Okay." She chewed on her lower lip apprehensively, keeping her gaze fixated on the piece of paper she had been drawing random faces on. Each one of the faces showed a different emotion, but none of them had smiles on them.
Their class ended fourty minutes later and the numerous rows of students began packing up their things and filing out of the room. Both Amy and Courtney were more than relieved that they could head home. It was their only class that Friday, and they had the rest of the afternoon to spend it as they saw fit.
Amy stuffed her hot pink notebook into her lavender Jansport backpack and flung the strap over her right shoulder, shuffling down the length of the aisle until she reached the sloping walkway. Courtney followed behind her, linked her arm with hers and walked alongside her out of the room, "so, are you going to tell me now?"
A deep sigh escaped her, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground at her feet. "I don't really know how to explain it. Ever since we moved to Florida, things have been really stressful. It's nothing like California was."
She exhaled sharply, looking over at her companion. "Are you still stressing over the move? Your mom's boyfriend is an idiot. The only reason he wanted to move here is because he wanted a fresh start in finding employment. How pathetic is that? He could have easily found a job in southern California. Besides, it's a bigger state."
Amy swallowed the lump in her throat before she pushed through the plexi glass door and stepped out into the bright afternoon sunlight that beat down on the Miami university campus. "Well, he's a better father than my..." Her voice trailed off, stopping herself from going any further. Her bottom lip trembled as tears began welling up in her eyes. She held her emotions at bay.
Courtney's brows furrowed inquisitively when her friend stopped talking, turning her head to see the tears in her eyes. A deep scowl stretched across her face. The moment Amy stopped walking, so did she. Turning towards her, she scrutinized the sorrow on her face. "Hey. What's wrong girl? Did I...did I say something wrong?"
Her eyes fell down to her feet, shaking her head. "No. That's not it. I..." Her head continued to shake vigorously. "I don't know if I can explain it. I know I keep saying that, but if you knew..." She took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart.
She stared at her in bafflement. "Knew what? Come on, you can tell me. I'm not going to blab it to the whole world or anyone else in this school. It'll feel so much better just to get it out. Tell me."
Amy pursed her lips. A single tear trickled down her cheek but she quickly brushed it away. "I don't know who my father is anymore," her voice broke with emotion. "I found out...I was adopted."
Courtney blinked back her astonishment. Her jaw hung open in shock. "What? I thought..." Her voice trailed off, not knowing how to formulate a sentence.
She gently nodded her head. "So did I." She sighed deeply, her voice still shaking with the immense emotion still bottled up inside of her. "About two months ago, when we were still in California, I got so fed up with my dad calling me up on the phone every weekend begging me to let him back into my life, so I went and tried to see if he was really my father. I was already pissed at my mom because she agreed with the move, so I requested to find out if they were both my parents. I didn't really know why I was doing it. I was mad. I wasn't thinking. So...when we finally moved out here, I forgot all about it, but this investigator guy didn't forget about me." A few more tears rolled down her cheeks, taking another breath to calm her anxiety.
Her friend listened intently, the astonishment on her face growing the more she heard. She crossed her arms comfortably over her chest. "And...what happened?"
"I...got a call on Monday. The same man I talked to back in California. He told me that he tried to send a letter to our old address but it came back to him, so he got a hold of our phone number here in Florida. He told me...my parents weren't my real parents. He told me I was adopted...and that he had the names of my real, biological parents." She sighed deeply, wiping another tear from her eye and finally raising her watery eyes to look up at Courtney. "He was going to tell me their names over the phone, but I didn't let him. I was in so much shock, I swear I almost fainted. So he told me he would mail me the birth certificate and everything. I had enough courage to give him my address, and...I got the letter in the mail yesterday."
Courtney slowly nodded her head. "And? What did it say?"
She bit down on her bottom lip, sniffling deeply as she continued to wipe away the tears. She shook her head, "I haven't opened it yet. I'm scared." There was an awkward silence between the two girls. Amy was trying mercilessly to get her next words out until finally, she pushed the lump down in her throat, and spoke softly. "They live here...in Florida."
Courtney eyes widened, trying to find her own voice. "This is just a coincidence, right? It has to be. Are you sure he said Florida?"
She gently nodded. "Y-yeah. I'm sure." She turned on her heels and trudged towards a nearby bench. Lowering her meek figure down on it, she let her backpack slip off her shoulder and fall to the ground before she covered her face with her hands and put her head in her lap. "I don't know what to do."
Courtney followed and sat down beside her, wrapping her arm around her shoulders in an effort to comfort her. "It's ok." She sighed deeply. "Damn, I can't imagine what you must be going through right now. If this was happening to me...I wouldn't know what to do either. Hey, come on girl, everything is going to be all right. I mean, it's not like you have to go out and search for them. If it's stressing you out that much, just ignore it."
She shook her head, wiping the stray tears from her eyes and looking back at her friend. "I can't just ignore it! It's going to drive me crazy if I try and ignore it. I never thought...it was just a spur of the moment when I did it. Now that I've found out about it, my whole life has changed." She put her head in her hands as it began to throb. "God, why did this have to happen now? Why here? God, I wish this could be a dream. A horrible dream."
Courtney allowed her to lean her head on her shoulder, a weary sigh escaping her. "Me too. I don't know what to tell you girl. You could either try and ignore it and move on with your life...or you could confront it and find out who your real parents are. What's the worst that could happen? It's not like your parents are going to find out if you don't drop any hints to them. Besides, you have your own car. If you wanted to go and find them, you could do it without them finding out. Shit, you're almost an adult. It's your own decision. If you want, I could even go along with you."
Amy nodded her head gently, pursing her lips to hold back the emotion she still felt. "I guess. I guess I'll try and get up enough courage to open that letter...when I get home. It's not like I have to do anything anyway."
Courtney nodded in approval. "It's worth a shot. Hey, come on, let's go get some ice cream. It'll take your mind off of everything."
She exhaled sharply. "Okay." Together, the two girls rose to their feet and headed towards the parking lot just a short ways down from the Liberal Arts building. Courtney linked arms with her as they strolled alongside each other. Amy exuded a weary groan, her eyes falling to her two-inch heeled boots as they carried her down the pavement. "Why do I deal with this shit?"