The Secret Lives of Soulmates

Part One

I'll never forget the day my best friend Staci came running through my door, screaming my name.

"Arin, Arin!" she yelled "We got it!" Staci means that she saved enough money working at the Williamson OneStop to take us to the annual Williamson County fair. When she slams the door behind her, I notice the excitement radiating through her. Her dark blonde hair is a tangled mess, but she doesn't seem to care. The thing about Staci is that she's the most carefree person you'll ever meet. She's also the complete and utter opposite of me. Staci has twenty-twenty vision, whereas I'm completely blind without my glasses. She has clear skin, and I'm covered in freckles. Staci's blonde; I'm brunette. She's outgoing and carefree, but I'm anxious and socially awkward.

However, Staci and I do have one thing in common: we only have each other because we're both weird. I'm too quiet and odd; Staci's too loud and obnoxious. All that matters is that we have each other.

Back to the whole fair thing. I know you're probably wondering, "Arin, what kind of seventeen and eighteen year old girls get excited to go to the fair?" To keep it simple-us. Williamson County, Illinois is an extremely poor place to live. When kids manage to scrounge up money, they don't waste it; they save it until something fun appears in Williamson.

For me and Staci, she saves every penny she earns at her gas station so that we can go to the fair every year. I always wish I could help her make money, but there's no way. My mother died when I was born, and my father's an alcoholic. He never brings home money. Instead, he blows his paychecks on cases of beer. Every week, Dad brings home eight dollars; the rest goes to his alcohol addiction. Since my dad has a bad reputation, I can't get a job. Even if I could, I wouldn't. I have to take care of my dad. I can't leave him alone for very long; he'll get himself killed.

So, Staci saves and saves until she has fifty bucks-the exact amount of money needed to pay for our tickets to the fair and gas for the drive. Staci has an old pickup truck that her dad gave her. That girl cherishes that truck with all of her heart. Her dad paid it off and gifted it to her on her sixteenth birthday; a gift of freedom just before he and her mother left for Chicago on a business trip. Little did Staci know, her parents wouldn't return. She didn't show her face for months. We didn't get to go to the fair that year.

Staci continues to drive that old, beat-up truck to remember her parents. However, she does everything else on her own, relying on no one. She works for herself and herself only. She bleached her own hair, which was originally light brown. A few months after her parents died, she bribed a man to illegally give her a septum piercing. Although I said Williamson's teenagers and kids are poor, that was Staci's money well spent.

"We got it! Oh my gosh, we got it, Arin!" she yelled once more. I hoped my father wouldn't stumble drunkenly downstairs, but it was bound to happen with Staci being her loud self.

"Who's here, Arin?" he yelled. Like usual, he staggered and slurred his words. Sure enough, when he came up to me, I smelled beer on his breath. "Sandy?" he asked

"Staci, Dad," I corrected. "It's Staci."

"Right, right." Without another word, he slowly made his way to our broken down couch. "Staci, Staci," muttered Dad under his breath. Staci looked at me concerned.

"Just ignore it, Stace," I said. "You know he's always like this." I walk into the living room where Dad's laundry basket sits. I wasn't able to wash my own clothes, so I pull out one of his semi-clean work t-shirts. I put it on, and only then did I realize there was a swear word written across it in bold, colorful letters. Staci snickers at me while I stare at myself in the mirror. I open my mouth, but before I can speak, she begins to talk.

"That doesn't make it right, Arin."

She's right. My dad shouldn't be living like this, but he's never sober enough to listen. With that being said, I sigh, smile, and follow Staci out to her truck.