Like A Flower Blooming

Chapter 1

It was raining outside. Great way to start my day. I pulled on my jeans, my favorite T-shirt for good luck and my leather jacket. I pulled on a hat and laced up my old-fashioned boots that were in style right now. 

Mom and Dad were still in bed obviously even though it was 7am. Figures. Since I’m the third out of five, I’m not very important. My older brother, Joe is eighteen and is the quarterback and a GENIUS!!! Margaret, my older sister is sixteen, a soon-to-be famous actress since she got picked for a movie because she got the lead of her Simulation. 

Alex is my younger brother. He’s twelve, two years younger than me and is an amazing athlete. I can see another football star in the family. Emily, the youngest, is four. I’m the reason she hasn’t turned into a brat yet. Since she’s so adorable, I’ve been teaching her how to be modest and to think about others first. Since Mom and Dad are never around to do it, I scold her when she’s bad, comfort her when she’s upset, read her bedtime stories and help her with stuff.

Me, Arianna or Ari, is completely normal. Somehow, out of my dark-skinned, -haired, blah blah blah family, I got curly red hair, green eyes and ivory skin. I’d gotten the tiny room with the tiny bathroom on the attic, the coldest room in the house. There were plenty of other rooms where I could have stayed but my parents said that it was best if I had my own privacy. I pulled on my backpack and walked three flights of stairs downstairs.

I set the stove on and started making bacon and eggs. After 14 years of fending for myself, I’d learned a thing or two. I ate my breakfast and walked outside. There was no point in asking anyone for a ride. The answer was always the same.

I walked the five blocks to school, getting there much earlier than anyone else. I got out my sketchbook and started to sketch a random girl’s face. If there was one thing, I was good at, it was art. When I was done, I examined her. 

I’d let my hands go free and spaced out while I did it so the girl had brown, bouncy hair that hung to her elbows. Her eyes were showing excitement and her cheeks were flushed. She looked my age, fourteen. She was obviously smiling towards someone who I hadn’t drawn yet. This was the best one I’d ever drawn. 

“ Woah,” Ashley, my best friend, sat down next to me. She was everything I wanted to be: a talented singer, popular, straight blonde hair, blue eyes and tanned skin. We’d become friends last year when she’d seen one of my drawings and loved it. I was constently drawing her drawings to hang up in her room. 

“ You really need to get one of yours into a art contest. You’re so talented,” she said, looking at me. I shrugged. I really wasn’t that comfortable with people seeing my art. No one in my family except for Emily had seen them. Maybe it was because they never went into my room. 

“ Ari... What’s the point of having a gift if you don’t show anyone? Why do you draw at all then?” she asked. 

“ Because I love to draw. Anyway, I’m not as brave as you are. I’ll never be brave,” I whispered. 

“ Ari... Anyone can be brave. They just have to make the right decisions to be known as brave. If you keep hiding in that shell of yours, you’ll never be brave,” she said. I nodded to make her happy but knew that she was wrong. I wasn’t brave. Nothing or no one could change that. 

In class, I slid into my seat and started coloring in the girl’s face. I made her eyes dark blue, adding some light blue in the light and flicks of gray. I made her face tan and laugh lines around her eyes and lips. When the bell rang, I slid the photo and my coloring pencils away. Today, I was listening to what my teacher said in homeroom. 

“ Morning, students,” said Mrs. Breiner. The class mumbled a hello to her and I concentrated on her. 

“ Today is Simulation Day as all of you know. If you’d like to see your character, press your hand on the keypad on your desk,” she said. Our desks were pretty high-tech. If you put your hand on the keypad, a laptop would pop up or a copy of the class notes or other supplies. I pressed down my hand and a screen popped up. 

‘ Hello, Arianna Phillips. Would you like to see your character? Yes or No,’ read on the screen. I tapped the yes and looked bored at the name. 

Harry Potter. Would you like to use your own name? Yes or No. I read again. I went pale. I was going to play Harry Potter in one of the most famous tales of all time! I tapped yes and another word came up: Nickname? I tapped yes and typed in Ari. 

I looked up and saw Ashley. She smiled at me. I looked at the screen: Click yes if you are ready to enter the Character Customization. I tapped yes and closed my eyes like Breiner had told me to. I felt the floor disappear suddenly and for five seconds, I was flying. I felt the floor under my feet and opened my eyes.

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