After getting off the airplane and out of the airport, I met my "family".
"Aurora?" The woman called, a tear dripping down her cheek. It felt odd to be called anything other than Melanie, or Mel. She ran over to me and enveloped me in a hug. I'll admit, I didn't reciprocate.
She then pulled back a little, studying my features. "Oh, you look so much like your father!" She said, smiling. I smiled back, feeling her enthusiasm fill me up.
"Ace, Adonis, get over here!" She called over to a boy and a man. Adonis? I assumed that was the name of my brother, considering my name was Aurora. Aurora and Adonis. A bit pretentious if you ask me.
Ace held his hand out, a kind smile across his face. I quickly shook it, his grip warm and firm. My brother mostly looked kind of nervous.
"So, you're Aurora." He announced, his hands in his pockets. I slowly nodded, my lips tight.
"I guess." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "And you're Adonis?"
"Yeah. I would tell you that you can call me by my nickname, but I don't have one."
"Do I have a nickname?" I asked, glancing around. It was weird to think that I might have been talked about for years without ever knowing.
"Hmm." Ace said, deep in thought. "Well, when your mother named you, she always wanted to call you Aurie."
I nodded, and bit my lip slightly. "I like Aurie." I admitted. It sounded less elegant and graceful than Aurora, which was more fitting for me.
Annabelle seemed at a loss for words, like she didn't know what to say.
"I bet you're hungry." She said, grabbing my arm. "Why don't we get something to eat?"
"Alright." I said, feeling my stomach rumble. "Is there a McDonalds here?"
She looked at me like I was crazy. "Yes, but we don't eat stuff like that. It's unhealthy."
I glanced over at Ace, feeling a bit confused. He nodded, although didn't look particularly happy about it. Adonis looked like he wanted McDonalds really badly.
"Can we make an exception?" I asked. "Besides clam chowder, it's my favorite food."
Annabelle looked scandalized. "Sure..."
She led me to the car, although the McDonalds in town was about two minutes away. I ordered a plain McChicken like usual, and both Adonis and Ace got quarter pounders. Annabelle didn't get anything, claiming she wasn't hungry.
"Are you excited for school?" She asked, watching me eat.
I finished my bite if sandwich and replied,
"I'm not sure. I've always liked school, but I've always been to the same school."
"Are you sporty?" Adonis asked, his mouth full.
"Adonis, don't talk with your mouth full!" Annabelle huffed.
I chuckled. "Not really. I'm more into books, video games, and movies."
"You're fucked then."
"Language, son." Ace warned, a small smile on his face.
"I'm serious." Adonis said, looking at me. "The people there will rip you apart. Especially the cheerleaders and basketball team."
"Are you sporty?" I asked curiously. He looked like it, but the way he spoke of these people suggested he wasn't.
"Quarterback." He said proudly.
"Isn't that a bit hypocritical?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe a bit." He shrugged. "But I said the basketball team was full of assholes, not the football team."
"I'm sure."
"Really Aurie." He said seriously. "The football team isn't as full of assholes because the coach tells us that if he hears one incident of bullying, we're kicked off. On the basketball team, the coach doesn't give a shit as long as his team's winning."
I kept that in mind as I ate. Annabelle and Ace asked me a few questions, like what my interests were, and my grades and such.
"A four-point-oh?" Ace asked, finally finished with his sandwich.
"Yep. Since the sixth grade."
"Wow. I wish Adonis would work that hard."
"Hey!" He objected, looking up from his cellphone.
"It's not that hard. You just have to pay attention, study, and do all of your homework."
"Great." Adonis sighed, putting his phone away. "I got the goody goody for a sister."
"Great." I mocked. "I got the dumb jock for a brother." He laughed, and I was happy he didn't take it the wrong way.
After Adonis finished, we went home. On the way home, we passed the high school. It was small and quaint, like the rest of this small town.
Our house was big, a bit bigger than the rest of the houses in this neighborhood.
"How do we have so much money?" I asked, eying the neighbors house.
"I'm a hairdresser for the Carver's, the richest people in town, and your father is a psychiatrist." Annabelle explained, pulling out her key. It was gold, with little diamonds encrusted into it. "So together we make a lot of money."
"I want to be a psychiatrist." I said, smiling at Ace. He smiled back.
"It must be a genetic thing." He said, proudly. I then noticed how much Adonis and Ace looked alike, with their dark brown hair that matched mine, and their light blue eyes. Annabelle had the citrine eyes, and gold hair to match.
Annabelle showed me my room and told me to upack and come downstairs for "family night".
The room had a yellow theme, one that was a bit bright. I wasn't the type to complain though, and I was lucky to have a room at all. There were a few poetry books lying around, along with some Steinback.
I packed my few belongings, reluctant to put my book down. There were so many theories jumping around in my head as to why my mother had kidnapped me. Hopefully she could answer these questions when I saw her again.
Downstairs, Annabelle and Ace were sitting on the loveseat together, while Adonis was sprawled across the couch by himself. Once he saw me he straightened out, giving me room. I flounced myself next to him, sinking into the memory foam.
"I was thinking we could watch that new documentary that just came out." Annabelle suggested. "That one about the mermaids?"
Ace looked fine with that, but Adonis looked like he was about to fall asleep.
"What about a scary movie?" I asked. Adonis immediately brightened up, nodding vigorously.
"We don't own any." She said thankfully, obviously relieved. Unfortunately for her, I brought some.
"I brought The Shining and A Nightmare on Elms Street." I said, standing up. Adonis cheered, hooting, "Shining!"
Ace shrugged and Annabelle looked defeated.
"Fine." She muttered. "Bring out The Shining."
About an hour into the movie, I realized why they didn't own any horror movies.
"Poor little boy!" Annabelle exclaimed, clutching onto Ace's arm. I was afraid that she would cut off his circulation, because his arm was turning purple.
"Mom, calm down." Adonis said, focused on the movie. Apparently he hadn't seen the movie before, because he wanted to pay attention to everything. He had shushed everybody multiple times, and groaned if we wouldn't listen to his pleas. I figured he was a bit of a movie fanatic, like me.
Much to Adonis' pleasure, Annabelle left the room after a few more minutes.
"Don't stay up too late." She warned us, hands on her hips. "You have school tomorrow."
I didn't have any idea how I was related to these people.
"Wake up!" Annabelle yelled, shaking my shoulders. My eyes jerked open, and I looked at the clock that was installed into my wall. It was six-thirty.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
"No." She frowned, sitting at the edge of my bed. "Should I have woken you up earlier?"
"Uh, no." I said, shaking my head. "Waking me up at about seven-thirty should suffice."
"But school starts at eight-fifteen! And we drop Adonis- and you- off at a quarter till."
"It only takes me about fifteen minutes to get ready." I said, shrugging. She looked terrified.
"Alright then." She said, getting up. "I'll uh, I'll leave you to it."
I put on my K-Billy's Super Sounds of the Seventies shirt, along with my regular black skinny jeans and sneakers. I brushed my hair and examined it, wondering if I should style it for my first day at my new school.
Nah. No matter what I did with it, my hair was always a mess. Scavenging through my stuff, I found a few hair ties and attempted to put my hair in a ponytail. My hair was so thick that it usually broke most of the ties, but I got a bit of luck today.
When I was finished getting ready, everybody else in the family was just getting ready to eat breakfast.
"I was wondering if I could just walk to the school." I proposed, picking up my backpack. Ace, who was pouring a bowl of cereal, glanced over at Annabelle.
"I don't see why not." Annabelle said, taking a bite of her banana. In the short time I'd been here, I had noticed how healthy she was. It was a little extreme, but she definitely looked great for however old she was.
"Is it okay if I go now?"
"Now? It's only seven?" Ace asked. He had set down his cereal, and turned his attention to me.
"Yeah. I kind of want to get a feel for the school. Plus, I have to find out my schedule and find out where my classes are. I've learned that it's always better to be familiar with your surroundings."
"You can go." Annabelle said, completely cutting Ace of. Instead of being annoyed, he looked a bit impressed.
"Will you guys be here when school ends?" I asked, checking inside my backpack to make sure I had everything.
"No. I have an appointment at two and at four today, and your father works until six." Annabelle announced. "The door will probably be locked, so you can head down to the library with Adonis."
"Just don't cramp my style!" Adonis yelled from upstairs. I rolled my eyes and gave Ace and Annabelle a quick smile before walking out the door.
Instead of going right to school, I walked to the nearest gas station, Jon's Pit Stop. I bought a Mountain Dew and a Butterfinger, my nutritional breakfast. Tearing the Butterfinger out of it's wrapper, I made my way back in the direction of the school.
By the time I reached the school again it was seven-thirty, and I had finished my "breakfast". Apparently everyone knew about my situation, because when I got there, everyone was staring at me. I vaguely remembered that the school only had about four hundred students. It seemed that at least half were already here.
I found my way to the office without asking, not wanting to bother anybody. I wasn't really the shy type, but I was more of an observer than a conversation starter.
The office lady was really nice and gave me my schedule right away, explaining that it was the same as my Michigan schedule, except they replaced Basic Psychology, with Gym. Apparently this was a really sporty school, like Adonis had told me, and Gym was required all four years. They also didn't teach Basic Psychology here, which made me a little disappointed considering it was my favorite class.
She also handed me a map, a lunch menu, and a list of rules. Reading the rules carefully, I was a little shocked to see how liberal the school was, with the dress code almost nonexistent and no profanity banning.
The school was mostly outside except for the gym. It was huge, taking up most of the space. I sat myself down at a tree next to my English class, wishing I had spent more time at the gas station.
Everyone was still staring at me, whispering. If my personality was like the characters in the stories I read, I would've stood up and confronted everybody. But, I wasn't. I was more of the observer/peace maker over the conversation starter/fight finisher.
At around seven-fifty, twenty-five minutes before the bell rang, I was approached.
"Hello there." A deep scratchy voice said. I looked up to see a guy my age standing in front of me, his hand extended. Against my better instinct, I grabbed his hand, letting him pull me up.
"I'm William. You're Aurora I presume?" He asked, a smile on his face. His presence screamed intimidating, but I was much more cautious of people at the moment, no doubt due to the situation I was in.
"Yes, but you can call me Aurie." I said, brushing at my knees. Everyone was still staring, but the crowd had gone silent.
"Aurie." He pondered. "I like it. It's a lot more feminine than Rory."
"Well, William is a very nice, very masculine name." I told him, hoping he would take it as a compliment.
"Thank you." He said happily. His eyebrows creased, but not necessarily in a bad way. "I can tell you're a polite girl. There's not a lot of those anymore, so it's a very desirable trait."
I gave him a warm smile, but the compliment didn't quite effect me the way I think he wanted it to.
Just as he was about to say something else, another guy showed up. He had a certain charm, one that immediately made him seem friendly. He seemed concerned, glancing at our faces.
"Hey Bill." He said showing off his southern accent. It added to his attractiveness, especially because it had a kind tone. He rested his hand on Bill's shoulder, and Bill looked annoyed.
"Hey Luke." He said, keeping his voice calm. He obviously wasn't the happiest camper right now, and things were getting uncomfortable. "You know it's rude to interrupt a conversation. Aurie here is real big on politeness."
Luke looked over at me and smiled. "I'm sorry to interrupt y'all's conversation. I just wanted to see what was goin' on."
"It's alright." I said. In fact, I was glad he interrupted. I wasn't sure how much time I wanted to be spending with Bill.
"I think I'm gonna head over to the math classroom." Bill said tightly, his eyes on Luke. He then rested his gaze on me, his face softening. "We can talk later."
Bill left, leaving Luke and I alone. Luke finally took his eyes off of Bill and put them on me.
"I really didn't mean to be rude." He said genuinely. "I just don't think it's safe for a girl like you to be hangin' out with a guy like him."
I frowned a little, confused by that last comment. "Why?" I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling defensive.
"No offense, but you're obviously really nice and polite." He said. "And Bill's kind if manipulative. I don't want anybody gettin' hurt here, let alone a nice, pretty girl."
I blushed a little at the pretty part, but then put on a blank face. "I appreciate it." I said, holding my hand out. "I don't think we properly met. I'm Aurora, but you can call me Aurie."
He smiled yet again, and I felt like that was sort of a natural thing for him. He clasped my hand, his grip warm. "I'm Luke. And you can call me... Well, you can call me Luke. I don't really have a nickname, but if I did I want you to know you'd be able to use it."
I laughed a little, picking up my backpack. A lot of people around us had stopped staring and started heading in different directions, so I assumed the bell was about to ring.
"So, what's your first class?" He asked.
"English. Yours?" I was hoping it was English, hoping I would know at least one person in my homeroom.
"English. Could I see your schedule?"
I nodded, pulling it out of my pocket. I handed it to him, feeling our fingertips brush. I had to admit, I was kind of attracted to him. It was odd, considering he seemed like the extroverted type, when I was the opposite.
After scanning my schedule his face lit up. "All the same classes." He said, beaming.
"Really?" I asked, feeling the coincidence was pretty large.
"Yup." He nodded, handing me back the paper. I shoved it back into my pocket, not caring if it was wrinkled.
"It may seem like a big coincidence," He said reading my mind. "But there's virtually only three schedules because the office people are lazy. There's the advanced schedule, the normal schedule, and the help schedule. You and I are in the advanced group, thankfully."
Just as he finished talking, the bell rang.
"We better get to class. Walter's pretty lenient, but he likes a good impression."
We walked into the classroom together, getting there before most people. Mr. Hendrickson, or Walter, assigned me a seat, welcoming me to the class.
"Luckily we only started reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest a week ago, and with your records I assume you'll catch up."
I nodded, keeping that fact that I had already read that before a secret.
I sat down at my seat, happy to put my backpack down. In all of the chaos this morning, I had forgotten to find my locker and put my stuff away.
Soon, I was joined by another girl. I was seated in the back, most of the row empty besides the girl sitting next to me. She had long brown hair and brown eyes, with a stern look on her face.
"So you're the girl who was kidnapped?" She said, bluntly. I nodded slowly, confused by the malice in her voice.
"I saw you talking to Luke this morning." Her voice was pitiful, like she felt sorry for me. "And I just want you to know, he thinks you're a charity case. Normally I wouldn't be so up front, but I feel like you've been through enough."
"Alright." I said, feeling overwhelmed. I had the overall sense that she was hiding something, and I wanted to know what.
"Lilly, she doesn't want to join the bitch army!" A boy called out, getting some laughter. "Leave the poor girl alone!"
She scoffed. "I would respond to that intelligently, but I feel like your monkey brain wouldn't be able to handle that, Nick."
"Monkey brain?" He laughed like that was the funniest joke he'd ever heard. "Said the girl cheating off of Clementine all last year."
Lilly rolled her eyes as the second bell rang.
"You can mess with Nick all you want." She told me. "You seem like the girl who'd only want sex, and that's Nick in a nutshell."
I looked over at her to see if she was serious, only to make myself upset. She was serious. It seemed rude to say something like that about someone, and Nick didn't seem like a bad guy. Sure, he seemed a bit insecure, but that didn't make him a bad person.
Whole Walter was lecturing the class about the dimension of characters, I felt my eyes wandering around the classroom. Not because Walter was boring or because I wasn't interested in this type of thing, but because I'd gotten this lecture before.
As my eyes wandered, they met Luke's. He also seemed bored, but when he saw me he became more interested. It was probably because I was new and seemed interesting because of my life at the moment. Or maybe he like my brother and wanted to see if I was anything like him.
Lilly caught me glancing and huffed, leaning back. Soon the lecture spun into something I hadn't heard before, and I became enveloped in the discussion. Walter had a way of speaking that was so optimistic and beautiful, so unlike most people today.
By the end of the class I had decided that he was undoubtedly my favorite teacher. Lilly walked past me with a glare, meeting up with another girl. They started whispering loudly, and I heard a little of the conversation.
"I tried to warn her Rebecca."
"Is she gonna be a problem?"
"If I don't deal with her? Yeah. But don't worry, I have a plan."
Alright, so let me address the Finding Carter issue. Yes, they have the same concept and it's in the walking dead category because the characters are incorporated into the storyline and currently there's no Finding Carter category. Someone mentioned the dad hugging thing, and I'll be honest: I haven't seen the show, so I have no idea what's happening or if I'm copying anything. My family's kind of going through a divorce so we're broke and only have Netflix. The only reason I know about the concept is because my friend told me the idea. Anyway, I don't know if I should keep Carver as a threat or not, so if you guys could point me in any type of direction, I'd be appreciative.
-Love Bella