Teenage Memories.

The One with the Unexpected Chemistry.

She was absolutely certain that something was wrong with her. She didn't know exactly what it was, but she was on the verge of completely losing her mind; she realized it yesterday. After class, they had gone with Thresh to his tennis tournament. The afternoon was beautiful: the sun shining brightly, the sky a clear blue with not a single cloud in sight, and the weather was neither too hot nor too cold. Everything was perfect.

Thresh had won the game, advancing to the finals, which would be played the following week. His tennis friends had invited them to a party after the tournament, and, of course, they went. Glimmer was surrounded by handsome boys with lots of money, all asking for her number and trying to get her attention in some way. Any girl would have been happy to be in her position, but she couldn't help but feel empty. She ended up leaving the party before the clock struck eight in the evening.

That was the problem. She had had around ten different boyfriends, all worthy of appearing on the monthly cover of Vogue, but she had never been in love with any of them. The boys came and went; she did everything she could to feel something for them, but she always ended her relationships for the most trivial reasons—so as not to say that they simply bored her.

Glimmer was sure that it wasn't normal, but she couldn't find a decent explanation to justify her behavior. She had had an amazing childhood. Her father had always been wonderful to her. He had taught her that men should behave like gentlemen—with outstanding respect for her, and that she shouldn't accept anything less than what she already had. All her boyfriends had met her ridiculous standards, yet it still was never enough. Glimmer also had an excellent mother; her life was literally taken from one of those cliché movies, but even so, she still couldn't manage to be truly happy. Something was missing, but she couldn't understand what it was.

She had slept for about nine hours the previous night, and now she was awake an hour before her alarm went off. She got out of bed and almost stepped on Princess's tail, who had decided that sleeping on the floor was better than sleeping in the comfortable bed. Glimmer quietly left her room, carrying her towel in one hand. Princess followed her, her little steps echoing in the hallway. She did her best not to wake her parents—no one got up at five in the morning on a Thursday.

She spent about half an hour in the shower, not because she liked being under the water, but because she had to apply about six different skincare products. Since she had so much time, she decided to do her full beauty routine—she even washed her hair. When Glimmer got out, she dried herself with the towel and then applied her strawberry-scented body lotion; she liked sweet smells. She put on her pink robe, tied her damp hair up in a towel, and started her facial cleansing routine.

She left the bathroom when the clock read five-fifty, still with plenty of time to spare. As she stepped out, she ran into her father, who sleepily greeted her before heading down the stairs. She walked to her room and looked for her outfit for the day—something casual: wide-legged pastel pink pants, a loose white cardigan, and boots in the same color. Drying her hair was a complete hassle because it was very long, but it was the price she paid to feel pretty.

Glimmer had always wanted to dye her hair red, like Annie's, but she never had the courage to make such a drastic change. Her mother said she was dramatic, but for her, it was a huge deal. She admitted that her hair wasn't naturally that blonde—she had already dyed it before—but red was something completely different.

She picked up the books she would use that day, sprayed on some perfume, and went downstairs to have breakfast with her parents. Glimmer was happy to have them home, as lately, they had been traveling a lot due to conferences. Both were doctors, which made it ironic that two extremely smart people had a daughter who struggled to add two plus two in her head. Sometimes, Glimmer thought she was adopted, but then her father would say that everyone was smart in their own way.