Love Makes The Heart Beat

Chapter 2: Paris (Picture of Mikaila)

Sitting in first class on flight 357 to Paris, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to Zac. I was so gonna miss him. I could still smell his Burberry cologne as I hugged him tightly saying bye for now when he dropped me off at JFK airport before heading over to his parent's condo.

After that horrifying incident at school, Zac ran after me and gave me a ride home. He held me all night as I cried myself to sleep for the first time in a very long time. Like I said I managed to develop some sort of immunity to the teasing, but the humiliation of the cheeseburger and milkshake incident was getting the better of me.

He stayed over at my house for the entire three days trying to cheer me up. The movie marathon was fun, so was the entire day spent at the mall. The last day we had together we just spent hanging out, I went over his house and helped him pack then he came over my house and helped me pack.

It was going to be a 7 hour flight from NY to Paris. When I arrived to the airport I was greeted by my beautiful Aunt Elisha. She was jumping up and down like an excited child. We were always extremely close, she felt more like an older sister to me than my aunt.

"Hey precious, how was the flight?" She asked her hazel eyes wide and alert as she hugged and kissed me on the cheek.

"It was nice I listened to my Ipod the entire time, thanks for the first class ticket Aunt Elisha." I added while hugging and kissing her back.

She drove us over to her apartment in the heart of Paris. It was absolutely...positively...freakin amazing, and it just so happened to be a penthouse. She had a 3 bedroom loft style apartment. One bedroom was hers, the other was converted into her work area, and the last was the guest bedroom.

The entire apartment had black marble flooring that matched her kitchen tops. She had enormous windows that had the most amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. The way she had the apartment decorated with furniture matched her eccentric personality.

"Wow! This place is amazing." I breathed while staring down at the tiny people that looked like ants below.

"Thanks sweet pea, who knows maybe after college you can come out here to work for me...you know live over here with me." She suggested. "It get's a little lonely out here by myself."

"REALLY? You really mean that?" I whispered. She knocked the wind out of me with that thought. I was so excited I forgot to breathe.

"Of course I meant that silly. So how's high school life treating you?" She asked while preparing dinner after she helped me unpack my belongings.

I poured my heart out to my aunt telling her everything. I told her about Zac and how he was my one and only friend. About how I was being tortured and teased at school and the way it made me feel. She listened intently to each word I said never interrupting me once. When I finished speaking, she let me in on her thoughts.

"I'm so sorry sweet pea, I never knew all this was going on. Why didn't you ever tell me any of this, we speak once a week." She implored. "Kids can be so damn mean anymore. Don't worry I have a plan and you know what? It's gonna blow your socks off. When you return for your senior year, you'll be a completely different person inside and out! Those jerks will regret ever messing with you!"

She explained to me that my mother's side of the family was cursed with the 'fat' gene and that both her and my mother suffered from it at one point in their lives. She went through the bullying and teasing in middle school from being overweight, my mom's time was in elementary school. It was hard for me to believe because both her and my mother was so slender and petite. She said it took alot of hard work to keep her girlish figure.

She asked me if I was happy with my appearance. It didn't take me longer than a millisecond to answer NO. So she promised to do everything in her power to show me how to live a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising.