The Ecstatic Life Of Sofia

Chapter One: Santino

As the years passed she had mainly the same group of friends, the friend she considered herself most like Ana, they looked extremely alike, but for certain facial features and height. Her best frenemy Alana, whom she had once considered like a sister, but at this point found her slightly spoiled and insulting. And finally Cameron, Sofia could never quite figure out what their relationship was, there were times she considered him her bestfriend and others when she considered him her greatest enemy. Secretly, she thought Alana and Cameron despised her and how could she not, when constantly they insulted and laughed at her thinking she couldn't hear, or maybe they knew she could and wanted her to feel the way she did.

The worst part of these friends was that everytime she tried to break free of them or make new friends she lost them until they were the only one's she really had. Back in middle school some of her best friends had been two boys who were like brothers, Matt and Elliot. Both often fought and teased and hit eachother, but always ended up friends again. She had considered them some of her bestfriends but once highschool started Cameron pushed Elliot and his friends away and Matt simply stopped associating with her, however he and Elliot continued to be friends.

Finally, her senior year she met someone who truly changed her life, Santino. Santino arrived and took the school by storm, all the girls looked at him with want in their eyes. All except Sofia, for her not even the gorgeous Santino who played football and got along with her friends could win her heart. However, she laughed to see Ana and Alana drooling over him, though they'd never admit it, not even to themselves. Now don't get her wrong, Sofia found Santino extremely attractive but she didn't care much for his personality, he was the kind of person she tended to avoid. However, as time passed on she came to realize that Santino had given her his heart when they first met. Eventually, he asked her to date him.

At this point, she truly did not know what to do, because she had never been in a situation quite like this one. And she knew what her friends would tell her and she had no interest in hearing that so she instead fled to her favorite people in the world. This was a group of about 20 people who talked about one of her favorite TV shows, but overtime became true friends.

Sofia: Hey I need some advice.
Melody: What about?
Sofia: So there's this guy at school and he's cute and seems nice and wants to go out with me, but I don't know if I really like him, in fact I don't really think I can call him a close friend. What should I do?
Melody: You've seen all the times I've had boyfriend troubles and it's because I rushed into things, you yourself told me that.
Hannah: He sounds like he's playing with you if you aren't even really friends.
Melody: You told me to make sure I liked the guy I was going to date and to make sure I could see a future with him and that if I couldn't, then I shouldn't date him to avoid getting hurt.
Tim: If there's one thing I know it's that we feel a lot of the same things like we're strangers around our friends and we don't love ourselves enough. So let me tell you don't date someone you can't at least call a friend. Otherwise you'll end up hurt.
Sofia: Thanks for the advice. I think I knew that, thanks for reminding me.

Sofia knew that her mind had been made up from the moment Santino had asked her out. Sofia turned her phone off and laid down to rest for school.

The next day Sofia hurried out the door and to school. She arrived at the school in a bit of a daze and walked to the counselors office, where she had been summoned.

"Have a seat." the counselor motioned to a chair in front of his desk.

"Thanks." Sofia smiled and sat. "So, why exactly am I here?"

"Well, as you know universities often look at the senior and junior classes to find students to invite to apply for their schools."

"What are you trying to say?" Sofia asked nervously.

The counselor pulled out a paper from his drawer. "This is a list of colleges I have taken the privilege of sending your application to and who have expressed interest in you."

Sofia took the list and read it over. "There are Ivy Leagues on this list!"

The counselor smiled. "Yes, some are very interested in you attending their schools."

"Thank you so much." Sofia's eyes sparkled.

"It was no problem, now go to class before you're late." The counselor turned to his computer.

Sofia folded the paper and put it in her bag before she headed to her Literature class.

Later that day at lunch she made her way to her normal clique.

"Hi!" Ana yelled in her akwardly joking way.

"Hi." Sofia replied back. She then sat down in her usual spot and got on her phone beginning to text on her chat.

"Sofia." Santino smiled acknowledging her as he sat across from her.

Sofia knew what she had to do, but she grew stiff and her voice wouldn't come.

"Hi Santino." Alana arrived and sat down very close to him.

As they carried a conversation Sofia noticed Matt making his way over to them. For a moment when he grabbed her bag playfully she thought perhaps this would bring their friendship, lost so long ago, back. However, this hope died as he posed for pictures with it for one of his new friends, a girl Sofia was indifferent too. Sofia rolled her eyes and forced her attention to her phone.

"Hi So-fi-a" Matt drawled her name as he often had in the past.

"Hi." Sofia said with disinterest.

Matt sat down in the free chair next to Sofia on the side of the table. "What do you have in here?" he asked as he began to rummage through her bag.

Sofia appeared bored as she continued texting until Matt came to her red planner. "What's this?" he asked preparing to open it.

"Give me that!" Sofia snapped and snatched the planner from his hands.

"Okay, jeez!" He rolled his eyes and stood. "I'll see you around Sofia." He said and with that was off to his table.

"What a tool!" Santino conplained. "Who does he think he is coming up and looking through your bag?"

"Calm down Santino." Sofia said, having found her voice she decided this was the best time to talk to Santino.

"I don't understand why you defend him." Santino said.

"Matt and Sofia used to go out, didn't you know?" Alana gave a small, evil smile.

Santino looked taken aback, however Sofia wasted no time in retaliating. "Alana! You and Cameron, with your creepy fantasies must realize there never was or will be anything between Matt and I except friendship."

"Hey! I didn't say anything." Cameron glared.

Sofia ignored him too, absolutely fed up with everything and everyone. "Santino, I need to talk to you alone."

"Of course." He smiled and led her to a nearby hallway. "So, have you thought about my question?" He asked hopefully.

His hope filled Sofia with so much guilt that she had to turn away. "I have" she said with all the control she could, making her voice come out cold. "And I can't go out with you." She let out the tension in her shoulders causing her to slouch.

"Why not?" Santino asked.

"Look, I hardly know you Santino." She said turning to face him.

"Just give me a chance, Sofia." He grabbed her hands.

Sofia looked sad. "Don't do this..." she begged, her head bowed. "Please...."

Santino looked up. "You don't do this to me, don't turn me away before you've even given me a chance!" he implored her.

Tears burned behind her eyes. "Please." she whispered. Determination flooded into her soul and her face hardened. "The answer is no." She withdrew her hands from his grip and hurried back to the lunch room where she grabbed her bag and headed to the front doors. She stepped outside and headed to her car to drive to her favorite place.