And You're Just What I Need...

Prologue

You know that girl walking down the hall that everyone hates. Not because she’s a bitch, not because she has practically taken over the school. But for the opposite reasons; she is the dream child. The kid every parent wants. She has the body, the mind, and the overall kindness to just take over the world. Nice to everybody, gets perfect scores, and has never done one bad thing in her life. Every child out there hates her and every parent wants her.

That’s me, Juliana Richards, the all around good girl.

After graduating from high school in 2009, my life took a turn for the worst. My parents got into a car crash the following week. Once that was done with, which most of it my brothers took care of, thank god, my friend sent me on a trip.

I was always told not to travel to another country by myself, but Dakota wouldn’t listen to me. She bought me a plane ticket and sent me on my way to no other thanItaly. There was, there is, no fighting with Dakota, so I just went. The whole past month caught up with me on the ride over there. Nothing like hours of sitting by yourself to think things through. It hit me that they were gone, that the two people who had full control over my decisions, my life, were gone, forever. Not that I was particularly happy about this, but at least something good came out of it.

That night,July 2nd, 2006, I did the one thing no one would say I would ever do. I had my first glass of wine. And my second, and third, and fourth, and, you get the picture. It’s not like I planned for this to happen, but who was going to stop me? Well I can tell you who. His name is Adam, Adam….that’s one of the problems, I don’t know his last name. I guess that night kind of got out of control. Okay, I say kind of and witnesses say totally. Either way, I got really drunk and sort of started getting involved with an unsafe group of guys.

Adam was my knight in shining armor. Literally, he was wearing armor from a play he had just been in (his little sisters). That night nothing happened, he took me to his house and let me stay there since I wasn’t in any position to tell him how to get to the hotel.

Here’s what I know about him: his name is Adam. He was born inMaine, and then his family moved back toItalywhen his grandmother got sick. His little sisters’ name is Katelyn. Oh, and at the time, he was nineteen. So I guess now he’d be about 23.

Now you must be wondering how I could, ya know, trust this guy. I was wondering the exact same thing at the time. But when you’re drunk, you’re thoughts are a little cah-razy. At least mine are. Luckily for me he didn’t try anything, just set me down in the bed and left me alone. In the morning he was up making breakfast and already had aspirin laying out for me.

This was the first time I fully, coherently met Adam. We quickly connected and I did another first, fell in love. I guess it actually took the full two months for me to fall in love, but in the end that’s what happened. He took me all overItalyand even intoFrancefor some time. Without him, the trip would have been boring. With him though, it was the best summer of my life.

But like all good things, it had to come to an end. School was waiting for me back home, as was work and family. The summer ended and I left. It was a summer of firsts and lasts. A month later I found out that I leftItalywith something very much his.

That’s how I ended up where I am now. Working at the same restaurant I was working at when I was fifteen, living in the same house I grew up in, and staying friends with the same group as always. Playing it safe, I realized, was the only way to live for me.

The summer of 2006 faded away with the rest of my memories. Everything from my first night, to the doctors appointments. At least that’s how it was. But earlier this morning Dakota sends me onto a plane after telling me she was engaged, forces me to come toMaineand has her fiancé’s best friend pick me up at the Airport.

All of this though, is background information, setting it up for the here and now. My story begins the second I walk into the lobby of the Knox County Regional Airport in Maine.