The Glass Butterfly

8

*In chapter 2 there was a scene I didn't think really fit so I deleted it from there and put it here. I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm not crazy and did not put the same scene twice. You can go reread the revised version of chapter 2 but it's not very different from the original. Let me know if it makes sense. *

Jax hadn't acknowledged Aria once the rest of the day. Not to tell her if he would be coming by her house, nor had he waved back when she had given him a shy wave at the end of the day seeing him walk toward an expensive looking car in the school parking lot. She finally decided to take the hint that he didn't want anything to do with her.

Sadly Aria trudged away from the school building, and away from all the teenagers milling around the lawn gossiping about the latest celebrity rumors.

Some kid must have told Jax how weird she was. Today would have to be another lonely day of studying. Noah was always busy working after school on Mondays.

Head low Aria walked silently down the road to her house. As she stepped onto her front lawn a big purple leaf from one of the nearby trees floated softly down landing on her shoes. Suddenly gold spidery writing scrawled across the leaf. Aria gawked at it not understanding what it said. The language was unfamiliar, yet it tugged at something in the back of her brain as if she had seen it once. She bent down brushing her fingers against it trying to decipher the writing. At Aria's touch, the leaf along with the message crumbled away. She blinked, slightly confused and stood up walking to the blue front door of her house.

As always no one was home. Her mother had weird work hours and her father wouldn't be home until seven o'clock. Throwing her backpack onto the couch Aria went into the kitchen. Grabbing a tub of ice cream and a spoon Aria went back into the living room. She was about to turn the TV on when something glinting in the light caught her eye. Turning toward it, she saw it was only one of the silver photograph frames that had been left askew by her mother dusting the other day. It framed a picture of a laughing, mischievous-looking young woman. The girl's hair was choppy, dyed jet black, with lighter roots sporting here and there. It had been taken outside, the sunlight making her oddly bright blue eyes even more vibrant.

Her parents had told her many stories about this young woman, how she had just popped into their lives asking for a place to stay. Aria's parents, being so charmed by the girl, that they let the young woman stay until she suddenly disappeared leaving Aria's parents devastated and wanting more than ever a child of their own even after years of having come to terms that they would never be able to. The problem with the stories was that her parents could never quite remember the woman's name. When her father told Aria about the young woman's adventures her name would be Ashley, yet when her mother talked about her it would be Kathleen. This had been the cause many arguments between her parents always ending in them laughing and saying they were growing too old and forgetful. A few years after the nameless young woman had left, Aria's mother found baby Aria unclaimed and crying in the hospital she worked at. Her parents had known nothing about baby Aria, except for her name which was hand stitched with pink thread onto the blanket she was wrapped in. They told Aria this reminded them how much they had loved the mysterious nameless girl and wanted to take the opportunity to adopt baby Aria as their own before it was too late.

Aria squinted at the picture, she could swear that she had seen it glow. Her phone rang, blaring in the silence of the empty house, making her jump. Hastily she straightened the picture back into place and glanced at the caller ID of her cell phone. Her heart leaped when she saw the ID was unknown, maybe Jax was calling her to say he was coming after all.

"H-hello?" Aria answered, her voice trembling slightly with excitement and nervousness.

"Aria, it's me, Noah."

Aria's heart started to sink in disappointment, but she scolded herself for getting her hopes high again.

"Hey, what's up? Where's your phone? Your name didn't pop up when you called," Aria asked trying to sound casual.

"Oh, I left my phone at school. But guess what?" Noah asked sounding a little excited. Aria stuffed a few spoons full of pumpkin stracciatella ice cream in her mouth.

"They accepted me into the school!" Noah exclaimed loudly into the receiver. Perplexed Aria didn't answer.

Hesitantly as if sensing Aria's confusion Noah added, "You know the Astrolithology Private School for Boys?" Oh, he was talking about that one. Noah was very smart and always wanting to apply to fancy boarding schools, especially ones that taught about astronomy. Most of the time it was just talk, Noah would never willingly leave Aria, especially to go to some school called Astrolithology Private School for Boys.

Taking Aria's silence as permission to continue Noah said, "It's in New Mexico."

Aria choked, "New Mexico!?"

"Aw come on Aria don't get sad yet I'm leaving in a month," Noah paused there was some yelling and banging in the background, "We'll talk later my shift starts in ten," he hung up. 

Aria held back her tears, she should be happy for him. If Noah really wanted this she shouldn't be selfish. She could handle being on her own, no problem. Aria sighed it was getting late now, might as well start that tortures math homework.