Since the Beginning

A Little Memory

{Astella's POV}
[7 years old]
"Aster!!!" He calls out. I panic. Where will I hide? I run into the playhouse. I wait. He stops calling out. I look around. I can't see him. And when I turn around, "BOO!" I jump, startled. He laughs. "Gotcha. Your turn." I smile. I get up. I start counting up to 30. "29, 30." I remove my hands from my eyes and look around. Now where could he be hiding. And then I see a red shirt up the slide. I run towards the bigger playground and race at the top of the stairs. I creep along. He hasn't seen me yet since his back is turned, and so I, jump. "BOO!!!" I yell. He jumps and laughs. "You got me." We both sit down and catch our breath. We've been running and playing for hours now.

"Aster?"
"Yeah?"
"We're friends right?"
"Duh.best friends. "
"Good."
"Why?"
"Cuz I never wanna lose you.
"Promise that we're friends?" He asks.
"Promise.
And with that, he hugs me and i hug him back.

"Stella? Come on we need to go." My mom calls out. Jonathan gets up and gives me hand. I grab it and pull myself up. We hurry down the stairs and join our moms. We all say goodbye and head home. "You two are gonna be close, huh?" My mom asks. I smile sweetly and nod. Closer than you think.

Rrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnngggggg. Ugh. My hand fumbles as it tries to turn off my alarm clock. I sit up and look at the clock. 6:30. Time for school. As I head to the bathroom, I remember my dream. Well, it's more of a memory really. I smile. "Thank You, Lord for my life. My family, and friends. I truly am blessed." I pray as I get into the bathroom. I shower then change into jeans and a light brown cotton long sleeves shirt. I put on my socks, get my jacket, take a double look in my bag, grab my phone, and head downstairs. My older brother, Gabe, is already done eating. "Better hurry so I can drop you off, Stell." He says. I nod and finish my cereal and bread quick. Off to another day of the last year of high school. My brother's in 3rd year college, so he can drive. I can drive too but, if he can drop me off, why not?

I brush my teeth, put on my brown knee high boots and get in the car. We stay silent listening to "Me without You" by Toby Mac. We finally reach my school. I give him a quick peck on the cheek. "Be yourself. Remember who you are and don't be ashamed." He says with a wink and a smile. I nod, give a thumbs up and walk up the stairs and through the front door. I so love my family.

I walk into first class. Someone waves to me and I smile. Jonathan and Reagan saved me a seat. I take the seat in between them. "How was your weekend?" Reagan asks. "Good. Same routines, but good." I say with a smile. "Good for you. Football practice gets harder and harder." Jon says with an exasperated sigh. Reagan and I laugh. "Duh. If you wanna be a good player, you gotta train hard." I say with a teasing smile. He laughs. Ms. Roberts comes in and announces the arrival of a new student. James Ryder. Reagan and I study him. Short brown hair, blue eyes, and a nice body build. Hmm. I look at Reagan and she gives me 'her look'. I roll my eyes. Here she goes again. She's gonna try hard to become friends with him.

"Reagan's gonna try again,huh?" Jon asks looking at me. I turn to look at him and nod.

Class begins.

After first period, we have 5 minutes spare time. We go to our lockers, get our books, and head to our next class. We have three classes before lunch, then three after.

While walking, I bump into someone. She turns around and smiles sweetly at me. I know her plastic smile. "Why hello, Astella." Sheila says. "Hello, Sheila." I try to keep my cool. Ever since freshman year, I never again liked Sheila. She was just so popular and pretty that she was so full of herself. It's sad and annoying. Just as I'm about to walk on, someone else bumps into me from behind causing me to drop my books. I turn around to see Luis. He gives me a fake sorry and I start to collect my books. I hurry to get to the next class. While walking away, I hear them laughing. I try to ignore it, but how can I?

I sit in my seat just as the bell rings. Jon looks at me with a questioned look and I mouth 'tell you later'. I look over at Reagan and see her talking to James. Amazing. I focus my attention back to the front of the room and see, Sheila walk in handing a paper to Mr. Harp. He nods and she walks towards us. And she sits- right behind me. "Hello, Astella. I transferred class and now we get to be together." She whispers. Ugh. Why does this happen to me? I wish my life was exciting. But not in this way.

A memory
"Mommy!" The little cries. "Hold on, sweetie." Ashley carries her baby and cuddles her. Someone yells. "I hate you. I hate you all." Ashley turns to look at someone else. With a sad expression written on her face. Gabe is sitting on the couch quietly with their dad. Another woman appears and tries to calm the other girl down. "Let's go." She tells the girl. The girl nods and leaves.

I rub my head. What was that? I don't remember anything about that memory and my head hurts. I try to focus on the lesson. I can't. I excuse myself to drink water. I even wash my face. But my head still hurts. I go back to class. Oh, well. Lord, please heal this headache, I pray.

I turn to look behind me and see Sheila scribbling on her notebook. Psh. I wonder how she gets good grades like that.

After class is over, we all get out. "Hi, Jonathan." Sheila says in her sweet voice as she approaches us. Jon, Reagan, James and I turn to look at her and Kathy. Jon smiles uneasily and waves while we watch. Kathy smiles at James. He smiles back with Reagan looking between them. We'll go now." Sheila says with a wink. Okay, weird.

We go on to next class. And the day goes on with no more weird things happening. Hopefully this week won't have anymore of that.