A Twist Of Fate

Prologue

 

“If my love were an ocean,
there would be no more land.
If my love were a desert,
you would see only sand.
If my love were a star-
late at night, only light.
And if my love could grow wings,
I'd be soaring in flight.”

∼       Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why

It’s funny the things we do in life for our parents. Sometimes it seems that even though we choose our fate in a variety of different ways; from making friends to deciding what to study, it’s quite unusual that most of our life is made up of what our parents do; where we live, what kind of people we associate with, and how we view life. Even though Lily hadn’t realized it then, if her mother hadn’t forced her to go to the party then things in her life would have been a lot different.

Lily took a step outside, breathing in the clean air, sighing. Under the demand of her mother, she had come to yet another party. She had only been there for less than ten minutes, but the limited space inside and the constant smell of alcohol and other illegal substances inside was enough to urge Lily to leave. Monique’s party was the last place Lily would want to be on her Friday night, but being part of a family on the inside had its ups and downs.

A calmingly loud silence filled the air, and surprisingly; with the faint sound of music blaring out of the house, the streets were empty, not a person or light in clear sight. The wind carried the faint smell of smoke, and then, as if on cue, Lily heard a cough, then two, and then three.

Curious, Lily treaded over the garden where Monique's backyard was. Sitting, all alone, was a boy, whose hair was a dark shade of red, similar to Lily's highlights, smoking. He was wearing a black and white striped t-shirt, along with a pair of jeans and ripped converse. In his hand was a book Lily recognized. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher read the front cover. Lily automatically recognized it. She had bought it just a week ago at the book store and finished it shortly after. 

"Do you like it?" Lily asked suddenly, her curiosity getting the best of her. She never resisted a conversation about books, especially her favorites. The boy jumped and dropped his cigarette in surprise. No one had spoken to him yet, and he didn’t think anyone would, let alone ask him his opinion. He looked up, expecting it to be the hostess of the party, whom he called ‘pink chick’ for his own personal amusement.

But the boy was wrong, for once. Standing above him was a girl wearing a rolling stones t-shirt along with ripped jeans and converse similar to his own. Hers, however, seemed to be ripped on purpose, professionally looking. Her hair came down in ringlets, with streaks of red here and there, which framed her narrow face and made her brown eyes look bigger than they were.

Despite his surprise, the boy acted nonchalant, looking back down to finish reading. Although, he did say one thing, “Oh, thank god you’re not pink chick.”

Lily was more than confused, “Pink chick?” she asked, trying to figure out who he was talking about. The boy had a mysterious gist about him, and Lily, being her curious self, wanted to unravel as much as she could. He hadn’t even replied to her first question.

"Dominique or whatever her name was." The boy kept his eyes glued to the book, as though if he looked up something would be wrong. Lily was beginning to feel irritated. The least he could do was look at her.

"Oh, Monique, yeah, I don’t exactly like her either." Lily said, as she rolled her eyes and sat down next to mystery boy.

"Why are you here?” The boy said after a couple of seconds, looking at Lily for the first time. It took her a while to answer; she was taken aback by the sudden question.

"What do you mean? Doesn’t it show that I’m completely ecstatic to be at a party full of drunken idiots?” Lily replied, turning her body to look at the boy slightly.  

“No, I’m not talking about the party. I mean you being here. Choosing to sit next to me.”

Lily simply ignored the question, and smiled lightly, “I’m Lily.”  

"Matt." The boy said a surprised tinkle in his eyes, before taking out another cigarette. He had a deep voice that was slightly scorched, most likely from all the cigarettes he was taking.

Someone’s eyes could tell you more than they could every say. Not only their appearance, but what lay beneath. And that was why Lily was so enhanced by Matt’s eyes. When he turn his head slightly they shone under the moons light, but they were different. Not only the odd color of his eyes, which was a mixture of blue and green, not quite settling on one, but also the way there was something missing in Matt’s eyes. Not a glimmer of hope, only pits of black and a weird sensation of being lost.

Lily did not know what it was then, but she knew that she wanted to. He was so different and mysterious, and it was weird, but Lily had a desire to change the twinkle in his eyes.

Silence settled upon them, until Lily chose to break it. “So, mysterious Matt, why are you here? I wished I was clever enough to bring a book, but since you have one its sort of obvious that you weren’t planning on coming here to party.”

"You wouldn't want to know, you'd run away before I even finished." Matt replied, taking another puff of his cigarette.

"Believe me, I'd be the last person to judge."

And Lily was. But Matt didn’t know that. He contemplated the thought of telling her, this was his first and only shot at making a friend, but his secret would have to come out sooner or later.

The silence returned, and Lily started to fiddle with her bracelet. After taking a large swig of his cigarette, Matt finally broke the silence, but kept his eyes set forward.

"Monique's parents help me, they give me supplies to help me every month; sometimes clothes, other times money, for their charity group or something. This month, they've decided to give me money, but for their reputation or whatever they made their spoiled brat of a daughter take me to her party."

"Wait, help you?" Lily didn't quite understand yet, as she tried to put the pieces together.

Matt hoped and wished she’d understand just like that. But she didn’t. And he knew as soon as he put it out simply, she would be up and running. It was just too hard. He’d already told her part of his story, so why not just finish it. It would make no difference now.

"I'm an orphan." Matt said, before he stood up and crushed the cigarette under his foot.

 "So, do you like it?" Lily asked once again, dropping the previous subject, and Matt looked down at her, confused.

"The book, I mean." Lily clarified.

"You've read it?" Matt asked, surprised.

"I'm in the process of reading it. Jay Asher is awesome at writing, and Thirteen Reasons Why is the second book I read by him." Lily stated, “I like getting as many opinions on the books I read.” Lily admitted, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.

"You know Lily; I think I might like you." Matt said, and for the first time that night, a smile had appeared on his face.