Visions of Fate

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - VISIONS OF DANGER

"My best friend flew outside the state immediately she found out she had a step sister she never met," Abi was saying, while I struggled not to bash my head against the wall. "Can you imagine that? An entire sister, with the DNA and everything."

She turned to look at me, and I gave her my best surprised look. "Yeah, that's really shocking."

"I know, right?" She giggled. "Anyways after that my cousin's life never remained the same again-''

"Hold up, I thought it was your best friend?" I quirked a brow.

Abi blinked at me, "What did I say?"

"You just said it was your cousin," I replied.

Abi stared at me.

I stared at Abi.

Then she scowled at me. "Don't do that."

I couldn't help the giggle that spilled out of my mouth, "Do what? I was trying to-"

"Don't pretend you're such a smarty-pants and that you know everything in the world," she crossed her arms across her chest and mumbled the rest under her breath. I didn't have enough time to get offended because I was to busy reveling in how adorable she looked while annoyed.

As the giggles turned into a laugh, I swung my arms around her shoulder and walked with her the rest of the way home.

It was Monday, two days after Ethan's and Ava's gathering, and I still couldn't fathom words to make up my experience. To say I had fun, or was happy with how everything turned out would be a lie. Saying I regretted my decision and wished I had stayed at home would be an exaggeration.

Because the party wasn't fun, neither did it turn out to be boring. More like a mixture of both, if you'd ask me. Luckily, Ava had kept to herself and didn't bother me throughout the incredible buffet, with the room as big as my living and dining room combined, and the food more than everything I've ever eaten summed up together.

I had also met the rest of Ethan's relatives, including some of Ava's. They'd all seemed very welcoming and I immediately felt at ease when they all started relating to each other with less formality than in the garden. The buffet was filled with warm laughter, small jokes and decent conversations.

Grace Halls, an African-American with long braided hair and pearly white eyes, who I'd learned was Ethan's adopted sister kept me company through most of our breakfast. She'd sat next to me, and within just a few words of interaction, I felt the tension ease right off me, like an icecube under sunlight.

She'd talked about how her father had passed away when she was just seven from lung cancer, and as a result, her mother invested the rest of her life in hard drugs. At this rate, her mother had no money to spare to pay for Grace's school fees as she recently got fired from her job as a bartender. She began to work for men, and Grace didn't really understand her mother's job until she became older.

Her mother kept going for what she called, 'an outing' until she never came back one night. Grace had taken the matter to the cops, and when they in turn had found her mother's dead body in the middle of a car crash, they had taken her to an orphanage home where she stayed a couple of years before being adopted by Mr and Mrs Halls.

If I'd learned anything from Grace's story, it was that I should never be ashamed of my past. Rather, I should accept it, just like I accepted my present, with the new and improved me. With friends I can love and a boyfriend I can go out with. That was what mattered the most.

I still found myself inspired by her story as I got to school the next morning, where I'd discovered Ava had actually skipped school for the day. I almost screamed a joyful hallelujah, and released an unladylike laugh when her minions walked around school like stray dogs, searching for their owners. The scene was just too comic.