A Guide to Love (ONC 2023)

Chapter 7

Mila was getting worried. She hadn't gotten Kathleen's number yet, and it had already been 2 hours since she'd left. Scarletta was nowhere to be seen, and, yet again, she had forgotten to get her number. So, she was left wandering around, unsure of what she was doing, as people started leaving. Julius had left already, and she didn't really know anyone else.

"Is there a Mila Jordans around?"

Her head snapped up.

"Your chi-"

Sounds of smacking filled the air. "Sorry. This was a prank call! Oh! By the way, Scarletta's being hel-"

More sounds of fighting.

"Scarletta's with me. We're near the boba shop! Peace!"

Mila gave a sigh of relief-finally, some place to go.

Just then, the speaker came on with Scarletta's voice.

"OH!! Kath went somewhere already-she texted me that she got a ride with Aspen."

Mila smiled a little, of course Scarletta had gotten Kathleen's phone number. Scarletta's voice cut off, and that was when the lights went out.

*_*_*_*_*_

Scarletta had gotten pulled away with the crowd, and found herself at a nearby boba shop, where students were mingling. Kathleen, who had disappeared after saying that she had gone home early with her friend Aspen, wasn't responding to text messages, and she didn't have time to get Mila's phone number.

The Starbucks on the other side of the street was crowded enough that she hoped to find Mila there, but after heading across the street, she realized that one, the party was strictly just the three shops on this street, and two, Mila was probably still in the restaurant where it had all started before everything went out of hand.

Vivan was yelling into a microphone, singing Taylor Swift, while Isabella was in a heated discussion about the latest Avatar movie. Scarletta, deciding to try her luck, grabbed the boba she had gotten one hour ago, and headed over to the claw machine.

All her life, she had never gotten anything from the claw machine, or tried it before. After her father left, Scarletta's mom really couldn't afford doing things like claw machines. Scarletta had grown up with few clothing articles, even fewer toys, and friends.

Inserting a 5 dollar bill, she crouched down, clicking through the buttons, sure to angle perfectly above the stuffed animal.

"Boo."

Startling, Scarletta smashed the button, missing the stuffed animal. The person behind her laughed, and she glared over, finding it to be Vivan. "VI! You know I've never tried these before, I wanted to get it first try!"

Rolling her eyes, Vivan leaned against the claw machine. "Those things are rigged. Besides-"

Just then, a song came on the speaker, and her eyes brightened. "Bye Scar, time to show off my singing skills!" With that, she made a beeline towards the karaoke station again.

Rolling her eyes, Scarletta picks up her boba and takes her phone out, texting Kathleen.

Hey Kath, where are u? I dont see u around

Hitting send, she waits patiently for a response. Finally, her phone dings, and she picks it up again.

family emergency, aspen (friend) picked me up-kathleen

Furrowing her eyebrows, her fingers hovered over the keypad when suddenly, the lights went out in the building.

"I-" Vivan belts out.

"Look, there is actually no reason why sh-" Isabella pauses, looking up. "Guys...what happened to the power?"

*_*_*_*_*

"Thank you so much for helping out!" Kathleen opens the mirror and wipes off some of the mascara. If her aunt was okay, it wouldn't do well for her to see Kathleen like a panda.

Aspen smiled, looking in the rearview mirror. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"

Pausing, Kathleen dug out the mini trash bag in his front compartment. Dropping the blackened tissue in, she applies some lip balm. "Crap. Do you know if I have a jacket in here?"

Aspen shrugged. "I dunno. I probably have a jacket in the back seat, you can wear that if you want."

Twisting her body towards the back seat, she reached the jacket before she paused. "BRO!"

"WHAT!"

She rolled her eyes. "This is literally my oversized sweatshirt." She held up the gray sweatshirt with the words DON'T BOTHER ME.

"Ohh, no wonder it was so small!"

"Yeah, 'no wonder it was so small~'!"

Aspen glared at Kathleen. "All honesty, I seriously thought that that was my sweater."

Kathleen raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you did."

"HEY! It's comfortable, don't blame me!"

"EYES ON THE FRONT!!" Kathleen screeched, texting Scarletta back.

will be back later.

Ignoring her, Aspen glanced over yet again. "Who are you texting?"

"My friend. Scarletta."

Just then, she got another text message, this time from her aunt.

Kath, I'll be fine. If you're still going to come, make sure to go back. We paid money for you to get into Stanford! You're not going to ditch a day of school just to take care of me. 爱你

Quick to respond, Kathleen sent back a voice message instead. Aspen smiled and screeched "HEYYYYY AUNTIE!!"

"How many times do I have to tell you!! EYES ON THE ROAD!!"

Although relieved that her aunt was okay, Kathleen realized that her mother only ever contacted her when something urgent happened. She never asked about her day, and although her aunt was nagging, she felt more like family than her parents, who never asked about her, who never cared about her until they needed her, who never thought about her.

Aspen, noticing her change in attitude, asked her, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah!" Kathleen responded, even though she couldn't help but wonder if her parents really did care about her. "I'm fine!"