New Beginnings

Chapter One

--Preface--

Normani and Lauren had it all planned out by the time they were 8 years old. They would be best friends through middle and high school, graduate with honors, and both attend the same school where they would be roommates all four years. Lauren would double major in English and Psychology and Normani would be a law student. They would both meet the loves of their lives in college and would be each other's maid of honor. They would be next-door neighbors and their children would grow up being best friends just like their mothers were.

But sometimes things don't go as planned.

--2001--

Living in a small town in Florida made it very easy for one to stand out, and standing out was not always a good thing. Normani had always stood out since she moved to town in kindergarten after her dad got laid off from his job at a large company in Tampa. The Hamilton's were forced to move from their nice suburban home to the small town of Kerrigan were Normani's father Derek worked long hours in a plastics factory. In a town of barely 400 anyone who was different stood out easily, and the Hamilton's were definitely different. Normani and her family were the only black family in the entire town, unless you counted the crazy homeless man who sat at the corner of the desolate downtown area drunk and begging for spare change. This made life very difficult for the Hamilton's especially for young Normani who was trying to adjust to kindergarten and making new friends.

On the first day of kindergarten Normani and her mom Andrea walked the halls of the school with all eyeballs glued to them. Andrea watched as mothers pulled their children closer to their sides as if the two were some rabid beasts that would attack them without warning. She had learned to ignore the clear racism she experienced growing up in the South, but Normani was unaware of what was going on. Did people think she had cooties? Why were the so afraid of her? As the two reached the classroom Normani clutched tight her lunch box as her mom approached the teacher to introduce her daughter who was new to the school. The teacher groaned in disgust and Andrea rolled her eyes as Ms. Ensley got the classroom's attention.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today," she said with a slight annoyance in her voice, "her name is Naomi and—"

"It's Normani actually." Andrea chirped bitterly, knowing Ms. Ensley said the wrong name on purpose.

"Right, Normani, anyways everyone be sure to introduce yourself, we don't want Normani feeling like a stranger." Ms. Ensley said giving a sharp eye to Andrea who was now hugging goodbye to her five-year-old daughter.

"Have fun princess, try to make new friends today, and know that your father and I love you and we are sorry we had to move you away from your friends." Andrea kissed her daughter on the forehead and left the classroom after a quick glare at the red headed teacher that said 'if you don't respect my daughter so help me I will kill you'.

"Why don't you go take a seat in the empty desk in the back there Niagara." Ms. Ensley instructed.

Normani started to correct her but decided against it and walked with a shy smile to the back of the room sitting next to a skinny boy with blonde hair and freckles and a dark brown haired girl with piercing green eyes.

Ms. Ensley began to speak and Normani was quickly tapped on the shoulder by the dark haired girl next to her, "Hi Normani, my name is Lauren, I really like your lunch box, want to share snacks later?"

And from that moment on they were best friends.

It was obvious to Normani that most of the kids avoided talking to her, she wasn't sure why, but Lauren never cared. They sat next to each other in class, they played princesses on the playground together, they ate lunch with each other, they were practically inseparable.

--2004--

"I want a big wedding," Normani started as she lay on her stomach next to Lauren flipping through a wedding magazine on her bed, "the kind you see in movies at a big cathedral with beautiful windows and a choir."

The two girls were planning out their lives in a giant scrapbook. They had already picked out the college they would go to and described the boys they would marry pasting together different body parts of their favorite male celebrities to create the ultimate husband. Today was the day they planned their weddings. For two best friends Lauren and Normani were very different. Normani wanted everything to be perfect, big and extraordinary, the best wedding anyone had ever seen. Lauren on the other hand liked simple, more relaxed, an outdoor wedding with a few friends and family members, nothing big.

"Oh come on Lauren surely you want there to be more than just me, your brother and your parents there!" Normani nagged, "what about your cousins? Your grandparents? Other friends?"

"What other friends do I need Normani? I have you!" Lauren giggled as she jumped on top of her friend and tickled her until she was purple. The girls continued laughing until something caught their attention. It sounded like screaming from outside the window, just as they were about to look outside to see what the commotion was a rock busted through the window leaving pieces of glass scattered about the room. The two girls screamed as Normani's father busted in the room to see if the girls were all right.

"Daddy what's happening?" Normani sobbed as her father picked her up and grabbed Lauren's hand pulling them into the bedroom in the back of the house.

"Sweetie, the police are coming soon and everything will be fine, there are just some...angry people...outside the house yelling things I don't want you to hear." Derek calmly told his daughter before turning to Lauren, "Mrs. Andrea is calling your mother, Lauren, they will come get you as soon as possible, I am so sorry you had to be here to see this." Derek rubbed Lauren's head and gave his daughter a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling both the trembling girls into a hug.

Laurens parents arrived shortly after the police and the young girl was still unsure of what was going on. She gave a quick hug to the dark skinned girl before leaving with her mom and dad not knowing it would be the last time she saw her best friend.

A/ N: So that was chapter one y'all! Like I said I've had this on my computer for months now and haven't done anything with it so please comment and let me know what you think, be brutally honest with me! If you have any suggestions or find any mistakes or anything like that just let me know. I'm probably gonna update like every other week or so because once I get busy I don't know how much time I will have to write, but I will try to be as consistent as possible with updates. Thanks! -Jauredramatic :)

P.S. I'm gonna try to get better at my word count per chapter I know this is pretty short the first few chapters might be that way but I will work on making them longer!