It was a hot blistering day in the midst of summer and I sat, feet up, as I sipped my cool iced tea. The summer sun was shining brightly outside but, nonetheless, I was sat inside. I had, had my fair share of the sun so you couldn't blame me for not wanting to wander out and come back in when sweat was dripping down the side of my forehead. My dark hair was tied up in a messy bun as I sat in a loose button down, tucked into my favorite pair of jean shorts, my sandal-clad feet propped up on my desk. This was where I wanted to be, surrounded by colors and hundreds of different worlds.
After Evan's Point, I had spent the rest of the summer cooped up in my room while everyone else continued it as planned. On most days, Myron would come and keep me company, insisting that it wasn't healthy for me to spend all day lying in bed. However, on the other days I would force him out saying that he shouldn't ruin his vacation because of me. He would always just reply saying that it was already ruined but after me giving him a stern look, he would go. And so the end of summer came rolling by and it was soon time to leave. Macy even proposed to her son that he stayed but he refused saying he couldn't bear to live each day there, knowing that Evan could be lurking around any corner. Myron then asked Macy to come with us, move to Tallahassee with him and bring her sister Jem, Allie's mom, along to. Macy graciously accepted and she and Jem snuck away with us without Evan finding out. They all lived happily together and I assumed they still were. Myron's adoptive family had accepted them easily, as did his younger sister, Fleur.
I had returned to my adoptive family in Tallahassee too and I confronted them about everything, taking out all my anger from Evan out on them. I knew I was wrong but then again, you couldn't blame me, my best friend – the only family I had left – had just died and my adoptive family had lied and kicked me around like a pebble on the side of the road for my entire life. My mother had been furious and so – much against my will – shipped me off to law school. I stayed there for a semester or two in complete and utter misery before I finally got the guts to stand up and quit. To be frank, I was pretty sure that my professor was thankful that I had seeing as my grades were lower than you could ever imagine.
It was then that I decided to get my plan in action – our back up plan. So here I was, four years later, sitting in my little old shop in a foreign country in Europe, selling my art work so that I could save up a stash of money and go sailing around the world before returning back here and continuing on to expand my shop.
This had been our back up plan but I had changed it to my plan A. And so far it sure was going well. I already had quite a sum of money saved up in my bank and it wouldn't be long until I would be flying in a plane to another country then sailing around the rest of the world. After all, business was booming and my art work was selling faster than I could even paint.
The bell to the door let out a shrilling ding, announcing someone had entered. I quickly brought my feet off my desk and stood up before shuffling around to the front of the shop.
"Hello," I greeted. "Welcome to Adelaide. How may I help you?"
A girl stood there, bright red hair tumbling down her back in smooth ringlets. She spun around and with a smile greeted me, her bright blue eyes boring into me. Her skin was tanned with specks of freckles covering her nose and cheeks. Her thin pink lips pulled into a smile, flashing her pearly whites.
"Hi, Avery right?" she asked. "I'm Fleur."
