Fate Does Listen

Part 1

Chapter 1

“Your turn Leanne.” Sarah says this. I turn to glare at her. I clench my teeth before saying, “Don’t call me that.” My real name is Leanne but I prefer to be called Lee.

“Fine Lee pick a card.” I gingerly pick up a ‘Would You Rather’ card from the pile. Its Sleepover Night for my group of friends, we do it every month. This month it is at my friend Gracie’s house. As almost rising Seniors, school officially ends Tuesday, you would think we would have found a game other than “Would You Rather” to play. As I glance at the card I read it aloud, “Would you rather go blind or go deaf?” I knit my eyebrows in confusion. We have been playing this very game for over 5 years how could I have never seen this card before?

            “That is a hard one.” Rikki says lying upside down on the couch.

“I would rather neither of them happen.” The 4 other girls in the room give me pointed glares. We had decided from day one that there was no picking “neither”, it was one of the other “Fine! I guess I would rather go deaf… I’m bored of this, guys… Let’s do something else.”

“Like what?” Sarah asks.

“Well since Lee chose to go deaf I think we better let her listen to some music and have a dance party one last time.” We all look at each other grinning. Soon Gracie’s basement is pumping with loud music and we are bouncing around having the time of our lives. At around 3:30 we get tired and decide to go to sleep.

*          *          *

“Thank you for letting us stay here Mrs. Conner!” I say as I leave Gracie’s house with Rikki following behind me. We did well today we only slept until 10:30 that is almost a record. Except for that time when Rikki’s brother burnt something at 6:30 in the morning and we all were woken up by the smoke detector

“No problem girls, it is always a pleasure. Come over any time.”

“I will because those pancakes are delicious!” Rikki shouts back. Mrs. Conner laughs as she shakes her head and shuts the door. “Do you want me to drive you home?” Rikki asks as she walks to her car. She drove me over last night because she had been over at my house before the party.

“Don’t worry I’ll walk. It’s a beautiful day.”

“Are you sure?” She inquires. I nod and begin my walk towards Starbucks since it is on my way home. I decide to take my time to look around. The sun was warm on my skin and I could hear the bird chirping even with all the cars passing by. I watched people running around and I enjoyed the fact that I was in no rush. This school year had been hard, I had taken 4 AP classes and 1 regular one along with chorus and dance in the afternoon. But looking back on junior year all I can feel is pride, I did it. Everyone said I was taking on too much but I refused to listen. That is why I made very little plans for the summer. Other than my 3 hour life guarding shift 5 days a week, I was totally free. There is so much that I want to do. I want to practice dance, learn the piano, watch endless amounts of YouTube videos, go to the pool, hang out with Rikki, Gracie, Sarah, and Stella, and so much more.

As I near Starbucks I notice a large clump of girls next to a big black fancy car. And when I say large clump of girls I don’t mean like 5 or 6, I mean like 25-30 girls and there are still more coming. Could there be someone famous here in Greenville? I mean Greenville isn’t unknown but it isn’t well-known either. I wonder who it could be? The clump is just 50 feet past Starbucks so I decide to go check it out. All of a sudden I here screams of happiness from the clump of girls. I speed up but before I can even comprehend what is happening a small group of girls come rushing past me and knock me to the ground. I shriek as my head hits the pavement and then all I see is black.