Kiana jumped forward over to Mei, attempting to hug her, but the girl backed away a bit and talked in a quick, quiet tone, "It's a bad feeling.
Maybe if you tried it again, you'd feel it differently."
"Well... I guess I'll try again tomorrow then, "Kiana said, wondering if she would feel the same way.
As she turned away, Mei reached out with a hand and touched Kiana's arm.
With just the touch of skin on skin, Kiana's heart pounded faster and she felt dizzy.
"I'm happy for you," she said as they walked on to the car.
Kiana almost laughed when she heard her new mother scolding Mei.
She knew it had been a test, and she was still afraid."But don't scare her like that!
If you're going to move into my house, you need to find some other way of protecting her!"
Over the next few weeks, Kiana's mother continued to push her to get a job.
The two of them went over applications together.
When Kiana asked what her job would be, her mother just shook her head at her and smiled.
"Whatever you want to do.
You've had a busy time lately.
You'll just have to help out a bit around the house."
She put a hand on Kiana's shoulder.
"You'd better decide soon though, because we have to get things squared away for the nanny
before school starts."
Kiana stood alone at the bus stop as the buses passed by the neighborhood, never stopping to
pick up anyone else.
Each time, she felt a flash of anger, fear and sadness, but after a few seconds she would push the
feelings away, and hope that the next bus would eventually come.
She had packed up most of her belongings in a bag a few weeks earlier, but she kept her prom
dress and her collection of balls and frisbees she had won over the years.
Just as she was about to go to bed one night, she found herself looking at the bag once again.
This time, she decided to dress in the t - shirt and shorts she had slept in.
She pulled the dress over her head and down her arms, smoothing the wrinkles out before
putting it on over her head.
Kiana wondered if maybe it was a sign that things would start getting better.
Kiana smiled.
It was good to see her old friend again.
She looked around and saw that Mei's hair was a bit of a mess, as was her nose and her chin.
"Sorry about that," Kiana said as she quickly sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes.
She handed her a tissue and Mei gave her a kiss.
"You know what, you can borrow my makeup.
It's not your school's prom and I won't be around to fix it again."
Kiana nodded and took the bag of make - up she had gathered.
She noticed the mirror on the wall and opened it up.
Inside, there were eye shadows, powders and blush.
"Where are you going with this?"
Mei asked, as she opened her backpack.
She pulled out a pair of scissors and some colorful tape, which she proceeded to tape to the
dress.
"Are you going to make this into a dress?"
Mei asked with a grin.
"I've been thinking about that," Mei said, "It's almost like you're trying to make the world into
something it's not.
Or at least a place where you feel like it is."
Mei laughed, shaking her head.
"You haven't changed a bit.
I should have known you'd do this.
I knew it would be something like this."
She smiled.
"What do you mean?"
Kiana asked, stepping up beside her.
"You couldn't let your heart do the thinking, now could you?
You would have done something like this even if we were still friends.
I'm sure it won't be the last of your crazy projects."
"Why would it be?"
Mei asked.
"You're still me, Kiana.
I know that the person you are now won't come around for a long time.
But maybe this project of yours will me to stay after school to watch you and your sister dance and do yoga.
Remember how they used to make you wear those ugly brown leotards with the high cut legs?"
Mei nodded."I remember.I would cry when you had to put them on because they looked so painful."
"Well you got over it, and you were pretty good at yoga and dance.
You were never afraid to try anything and you had the patience of
it's short I know and I probably won't update this again lmao
