Little Miss Valentine

Chapter I: Here Comes the Rain

Little Miss Valentine | Chapter 1 | Here Comes the Rain

"Here comes the rain again. Falling on my head like a memory, falling on my head like a new emotion." - Annie Lennox.

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Aja...

I stirred at the mention of my name, feeling myself fading in and out of sleep.

Aja...

I buried my head into the cushion of the polyester seat, dozing off to the sound of the windscreen wiper scraping against the rain-soaked glass.

Oh, come the fuck on- AJA!

With that, I groggily opened my eyes and bolted up in my seat, snapping back to reality. I rapidly blinked my watery eyes, adjusting myself to my surroundings and slowly waking up. My best friend Robbie was sitting in the driver's seat of her beloved Porsche Boxster, shaking her head at me for a moment and then turning her attention back to the wet road in front of her.

"Did you listen to a single word I said?" she asked. I sat and wondered whether I'd be easily able to fake it and act like I'd taken in any of what she'd told me. Hell, I was so out of it that I couldn't even remember what she was talking about in the first place.

The last words I could remember before I zoned out were "pizza", "thong", and "church" and I can't for the life of me think of a single context where any of those words could be said in the same sentence - I'm also a little afraid to ask.

"Did I mention how much I love your hair today?" I asked through a yawn, deciding my best bet would be to deflect her question entirely.

"Unbelievable." Robbie sighed, but then a wide smile broke out and she brushed her long black ponytail off her shoulder, sending it cascading down her back. "But thank you anyway."

I've known Robynne Perry long enough to know that all it takes to get on her good side is a compliment.

Robbie has been my best friend for around seven years now, and I can say in all honesty that she's the closest thing I've ever had to a sister. A few years back, my mother dropped me off at this kid's summer retreat in Somerset, which was just a mansion in the countryside where rich parents could dump their children for a month with no contact. Robbie was the first kid I met there and we ended up becoming very close very fast. I thought after the month was up I'd end up never seeing her again and we'd end up being one of those fleeting summer friendships, so imagine my shock when the break ended and I walked into my new class to find Robbie sitting at a desk alone, her schoolbag perched on the empty seat next to her as if she was saving it for me.

Ever since then, we've been joined at the hip with no sign of separating anytime soon. She knows me inside and out, from tip to toe, and it goes both ways. Not even gonna lie, we annoy the shit out of each other sometimes, but we're there for each other's highest highs and lowest lows. I don't even know what I'd do without Robbie in my life, even if we get on each other's tits now and again (not in the literal sense, ya nasty). At this point in our friendship, Robbie and I have mutually agreed that because we share so much with one another, if we ever fall out and our friendship ends for some ungodly reason - we'll simply have to kill each other. We know waaaay too much, so some stuff has to go to the grave.

"What do we have first period again?" I asked, trying to mentally and physically prepare myself for the first class of the day. Robbie and I are in the same house group, so a majority of the classes we have are thankfully spent together. Ivy Rose School is split into four different houses, almost like Hogwarts but without the magic or the transphobic creator.