Juliet Summers

The Beginning

I am Juliet Summers. I always wished for a happy life, but things don't always work out the way you want them to. I learned that the hard way.

I was only just a few months old when my parents passed away. I was an only child too, so the only people that could take care of me were my aunt and uncle. My aunt was an alcoholic and my uncle was very violent. The first memory I have is when I was five years old. Barely going in to kindergarten.

I woke up to a slight shaking on my arm and looked at my clock next to my bed "7:00 am" it read. I had to share a room with with my cousin, Lena, the only person I could trust. She had soft, light brown hair running past her shoulders. Big, sweet, brown eyes, and her lips were always really soft when she kissed my cheek or forehead. When I looked at them closely as she spoke I could see they were beautifully shaped into a heart.  The only person who really loved me was Lena. "Wake up sleepy head. Time for school, you wouldn't want to miss your first day of school, Julie." I sat on the bed and rubbed my eyes, then stretched up my arms above my head. I heard yelling then screaming. I looked at Lena, she had her arms on the bed looking down at it. She was wearing a black crop top with a leather jacket on top of it, she had some ripped jeans on. I thought that wasn't really a look for a 15 year old. "It's all right just get dressed, I'll walk you to school." She said looking up at me with the sweetest smile. I put on the clothes she handed me. A pink shirt with flowers and pants.

As she brushed my hair she kept talking to me about how kindergarten was for her, trying her best to block out the screams coming from my aunts mouth, and the punches from my uncle onto the wall. I tried to listen to Lena but they were just too loud. She tried to finish as fast as she could to get out of the house. Once we were walking she told me, "Julie, don't let anyone ever think they're better than you, especially not any guy." She said as we walked away from the house. She was walking so fast that I had to almost run to be able to be on the same pace as her, especially since she was holding my hand and it hurt whenever we got too far apart.

Once we got to school she kneeled down so that she could look me right in the eye. " You get in there and show them what you've got, and remember what I told you Juliet. School is hard but just try your best and enjoy the time you have here, it all ends too soon." All I could do was nod my head yes. I was scared because all I had learned in preschool was my numbers and Lena said school was hard. I was a bit proud of myself though, why I could count to ten! "I love you" She said pulling me in to a hug.  "I love you too Lena" I replied.

We were in the classroom when she started talking to me. "Hi! I'm Liana, but my friends call me Lili, they say it's way easier to say and to remember. So, you can call me Lili since you're my friend right?" I was so confused. How could this girl talk with so much confidence when the teacher was talking about learning to count to 100!! I BARELY REMEMBERED WHAT CAME AFTER SEVEN! Lena told me to enjoy school so I said yes. I had just made a new friend. I was so happy!

When I came out of school Lena was waiting for me outside. I ran and jumped into her arms. She hugged me really tight. "How was school?" She asked, standing up and reaching for my hand. "It was great I made a new friend!"

"Really? What's her name?"

"Liana" I said, "but I call her Lili"

"That's great! How about some ice cream to celebrate!"

"Yay!" I only got ice cream when my aunt and uncle were fighting. Now that I think of it, I got ice cream pretty often. It always cheered me up. As soon as I got into the ice cream shop I grabbed a chair and pulled it to the cooler where they kept the ice cream and tried to decide what kind to get. Lena stood next to me smiling. A boy, about Lena's age walked up to us from behind the counter. He had messy blond hair under his "Joe's Ice Cream Parlor" paper hat, and he had big blue eyes, with such a tiny nose, and so many freckles, he looked weird. "Hey Jimmy. How's it going today?" Lena asked him.
"It's been pretty slow today but it's OK I got a big tip from a woman who ordered fifteen pounds of ice cream for a party." He answered "Is it going to be the usual Lena?"

"Yeah"

"No," I said before he scooped up the vanilla for my come, " I want chocolate today!"
"Chocolate? Oh something good happened. What are we celebrating?"

"Julie got a new friend at school today" Lena answered.

"That's great! In that case two scoops of chocolate ice cream, on the house." He said handing me my cone.

"Thank you Jimmy!" I said as I went to sit in our usual table. The table next to the window. Lena said that she loved looking out the window. She could look out and read the stories on people's faces. I was always very confused by this, why?, I couldn't see any words on their faces, let alone read them! I just liked this seat because it looked out into the clothes store with the most beautiful dress you had ever seen. It was really big though I would have to buy it when I  was 13 or something so that it could fit me. When Lena came to sit with her strawberry ice cream, we just sat there and watched people walk back and forward. In and out, we just enjoyed our ice cream and our company.