Love and Banitsa

Chapter 2: Life May Be Better

I stepped off of the crowded bus and breathed in deeply. Then, I exhaled sharply. I hated the smell of gasoline and secondhand smoke. I hated everything about Chicago. From the fake homeless people on the side of the street to the half-disintegrated cigar that was rotting in that moldy sewer, there were disgusting things everywhere. 

The only thing I liked about Chicago were the schools. The schools in Chicago were some of the nicest I'd ever seen. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to go to any of these schools. I was simply too young. 

My twin sister, Valintina, on the other hand, loved Chicago. She loved the metropolitan life and the modern style of living. 

Valintina hated dad. Okay, she didn't hate our dad completely. She hated that dad was Bulgarian. She hated Bulgaria. She said that it was way too small for her "exquisite tastes", and she wanted to move to somewhere famous, like LA or Paris. She blamed dad that she'd never be famous. In her mind, Bulgarians couldn't be famous or successful. That was impossible, in her opinion. She loved all things aesthetic, trendy, and, in my opinion, stupid. She was very popular, pretty, and had a ton of friends. Even though everybody loved her, she completely missed the mark when it came to academics. She hated school work, extracurriculars, sports, or anything that was school related.

In other words, we were completely different.

I had no friends to help me with my misery. It was like that, until...

Smack!

Later that day, I had banged my locker shut, slamming it much harder than anticipated. Suddenly, a girl about my age, came up to me and said, "Hey." 

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. I wasn't in the mood for people. I walked down the filthy hallway, making sure to make my steps hard to follow so that the girl couldn't catch up with me. She did.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

"Yeah, I noticed," I said, annoyed.

"I'm Bea. What's your name?"

"Don't know, don't care," I said as I walked a little faster.

"Girl, don't talk to me like that. I'm tryin' to be nice. Come on. It's not like you have any friends anyway. I see you girl."  

I growled at her as she sauntered behind me. She looked surprised, but continued talking. Somehow, she knew everything about my moving situation. And my friend life. Suddenly, I spun around on my heel, abruptly stopping, almost making her run into me in the crowded hallway. 

"Look, I get you like sticking your nose into everyone's business," I said hotly," but that doesn't give you the right to do so anyway. You're right. I've never had a home. I don't have friends. But that doesn't give you the right to look into my family business in any way, shape or form!" I huffed and stopped for a few seconds, cooling myself down a bit. She tried to talk, but I interrupted her again. " How the heck did you know that anyway?" I asked.

"My older sister is friends with yours," she shrugged.

I rolled my eyes," Figures."

We stood in silence for a few minutes. 

"Sooooo, you wanna be friends?" Bea asked.

"Do I have a choice?" I returned, half-heartedly.

She smiled. 

"Nope. Come on! Lunch is next period. You can sit with me instead of reading that thick dictionary you usually read."

"It's not a dictionary."

"Dictionary, Lord of the Rings, same difference."

And that's how my first friendship and wildest ride of my life began. With a simple inability to read the front cover of a book. (I was reading War and Peace.)