Ch. 4 - Aria

It wasn't like she was a bad driver. She just happened to lose her sense of direction every now and then. It also didn't help that the mall had an underground parking lot, and navigating through the maze of concrete was nearly impossible. Every time she tried to navigate through the stupid lot, Aria could've sworn that she already saw that gray pillar twice.

"Hey. So, I met these guys—"

"Who?" Aria didn't let Mira finish the sentence.

"At that party, remember?"

"The family one?"

"Yeah." Mira continued, "So there's Nick and Adrian. Nick's cute and all, but he's got a girl."

"Damn."

"I know, right? Who would've guessed that the superstar athelete already has a girlfriend?" she said ever so sarcastically.

"So, what about the other guy?"

Mira replied, "Adrian? He's cute. He's got the whole green eyes and dark hair thing going for him, so he's nice to look at."

"Nice." Aria shook her head with a smile. "Did you talk to him?"

"How can I not?"

"I dunno. I mean, sometimes I feel like you'd get too shy or something."

She gave her a look while Aria finally found one of the ramps that led to the outside streets.

Finally the light!

"Hey, don't give me that face. I'm being honest."

"Well, I did talk to him." Mira sounded a little petulant. "And they're both cool."

"Like dateable cool or just cool?" She had to clarify.

"Ehhh, for me, it's a no. Just regular cool, you know?"

"That's tragic."

"You're telling me."

"I am." Aria then switched lanes as the car in front of them kept pressing their brake lights. "These idiots don't know how to drive, I swear."

"Jesus, you and your road rage."

"It's totally justified," Aria claimed as she kept an eye out for any more deviants.

"Uh huh," Mira said and then asked, "How did you pass your driver's test again?"

"With skill and agility."

"Haha, sure." Mira's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Not my fault you didn't see the stop sign," Aria bit back. "How many times did you have to retake it again?"

"Just two!"

Aria simply snickered while her friend tried to explain how her tests were somehow rigged.

As Aria drove to Mira's house, she loathed the fact that the crazy university students were back in town—them and all their bad driving skills. Then again, she'd probably be in a similar boat next year.

Once they arrived at Mira's place, Aria couldn't believe that summer was essentially over. Monday was the official start of the new academic year—her last year.

Although she was pretty excited for her senior year, she wasn't excited for the new wave of students. For some reason, every year after hers seemed to harbor less and less mature students. Maybe it was because she was getting older, but she didn't want to deal with freshman running through the halls as if it were a playground.

Plus, she wasn't mentally prepared to deal with the other kids at the school—for example the "rich‑rich" kids, the ones who cried about not getting the right car on their sixteenth birthday or not having the perfect party to celebrate with their friends. Although she couldn't imagine dealing with those kids now, she could understand why they were like that.

Her family wasn't exactly fantastically rich, but they were still able to live comfortably. However, things took a dramatic turn for the worse, and she ended up just like them. She was just like those kids who didn't understand the value of a dollar and would just swipe a card she didn't own without a care in the world.

She used to be just like them.

It had been a few years since then, but Aria still cringed whenever she thought about it. If she were honest, she could try and blame her behavior on the dramatic twists of life, but realistically speaking, it was a pretty horrible justification. It was her vice, her coping mechanism—a coping mechanism that kept her dad at work for long hours of the day to maintain her lifestyle, a vicious cycle really.

If her mother knew, Aria suspected that she would be yelling at her all the way from the afterlife.

Eventually, Aria made it back to her town house. It was empty as usual. Dinner was up to her again, although she did have a small glimmer of hope that her dad would have dinner with her before she started school again, not that it was a massive deal or anything.

As she made her way toward the kitchen, she found a note next to an ever familiar credit card perched on the countertop. She didn't even need to read the note to understand what it was for, and the feeling of guilt came back in full force.

Sorry, I can't be home tonight. Feel free to use the money for back-to-school shopping. Try to stay under two hundred dollars. Have a great senior year!

Love,

Dad

The temptation came as swiftly as her anger did. Aria hated how she even contemplated taking the card even after she just gave herself a ten-minute lecture on how she didn't want to be one of those kids again. And the fact that her dad clearly had to say to spend under two hundred dollars made her want to hit something.

She had to remind herself that it wouldn't be like that anymore. She was better than that.

Aria left the card on the countertop and quickly prepared herself something for dinner.

As she ate, she distracted herself with her phone in order to avoid that stupid piece of plastic on the counter.

It was an uneventful dinner, but at least she was full.

While she went upstairs to get ready for bed, she couldn't help but wonder where her life was heading. What kind of year would her senior year be like? What kind of people would she meet?

She then thought about what her purpose post–high school would be. This was after all her last year of being a kid. She didn't have any full-on responsibilities yet, but soon enough they would come.

In a lot of ways, she wished that she'd had a passion or a talent for something. Her dad was really smart and was a tech geek, who talked a lot about his Ivy League days. Her mom was a social butterfly and was able to make connections through her work, both of which were based on her doing something with communications—which simply made sense. Mira was a superstar athlete, and she'd probably get a full‑ride scholarship to her university of choice.

Then there was her. What was she good at, or at least skilled enough to make a living out of? Aria wasn't even sure herself.

As she fell on her bed after her nightly routine, she began to think of everything, anything, and nothing—from classes, to teachers, to jobs, to dances.

Eventually, her mind flitted off to relationships.

That's a bad idea.

High school romances were meant to stay in high school. If she and her boyfriend went beyond that, then what were the odds of that relationship lasting through university? Or through their careers? Or if they had to move? Not to mention the fact that people grow up at different paces.

It sounds like more of a pain than anything. Then again, would it be nice to have a relationship?

Yes.

Yes, it would be nice to finally experience a relationship. Maybe it wouldn't be ideal like how all the movies and television shows portrayed it, but the idea of something so wholesome, sweet, and heartwarming sounded like what Aria wanted to try out one day.

Then again, she was a little too picky to try with simply anyone. She didn't know exactly what she wanted, but she did know what she didn't want: to be with someone for the sake of being with someone. There wasn't anything special in that. She wanted someone who was worth it—someone she was willing to break her own heart for and someone she would never regret crying over, at least not too much.

But people who fit those certain "someones" were an ultra rare commodity.

* * *

Getting up in the early morning wasn't exactly her forte. However, the sun was out and was expecting her to be wide awake. Eventually, she groggily and semi-reluctantly got out of bed.

As she prepared for school, Aria decided to go with something casual despite the fact that she'd already bought some new clothes the week before. Besides, it wasn't like it was picture day or anything fancy like that.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Her dad seemed to have left for work earlier that morning, although he'd managed to make a small stack of fresh waffles for her. Despite them not being crunchy or piping hot, Aria appreciated the sentiment and quickly ate the soft treat.

After she finished her meal, she began her voyage to school. Their town house was within walking distance to the high school, which was nice because they only had one car. Plus, she could avoid the massive traffic jam when the school day ended.

Her classes were going by slowly as usual. It was the first day back, and all the teachers had to talk about the same academic expectations and syllabi. It was also the day where everyone had a chance to reconnect with each other.

Somewhere along the line, Aria realized that her schedule didn't align with Mira's or anyone else that she usually spoke to. Nevertheless, she found it strangely liberating. It forced her into a new and slightly uncomfortable situation, but it would help her grow as a person. It would also be an opportunity for her to get better at adjusting and expanding her social circle.

The day soon ended, and Aria was waiting for Mira in the library to wait out the traffic as usual. After one quick text later, there was a change of plans. Apparently, Mira was showing a few new kids the soccer field. So instead of waiting, Aria decided to meet them there too.

By the time she climbed the last bit of steps toward the soccer field, her breathing was already uneven, and she wondered who the hell would come up here during this time of the day. The sun was beating down on her back, and her backpack was already filled with a few books.

Whose bright idea to come up here again?

Oh right, her crazy best friend who wanted her to die of heat exhaustion.

With her average physical stamina and inability to deal with the summer heat, the combination zapped away any possibility of alertness she had in dodging the next flying object heading toward her at an alarming rate.