Found, Lost, and Found Again

My name is Claire, and this is my story of founding love, losing love and finding love again. 

It was spring of 2008 when I first found love. I was 16 then, innocent and pure. I thought love was all about getting weak in the knees ad butterflies in the stomach, oh boy, did I thought wrong.

"So I totally got my parent's permission for you to crash with us during spring break and they're looking forward to it, so be sure to pack up your bikini, sun block and ray-bans, we're gonna party at the beach all day and all night long! Whoohoo!" my best friend Jada(/Jay-dah/) said excitedly while pretending to hold up a bottle of beer and started swaying her hips to an unheard music.

I laughed at her. She may look like those pretty rich girls who act all sophisticated and mature but she's just like an ordinary high schooler who can't get enough of partying. "I have to thank your parents properly for their generosity."

My name is Claire, I'm a senior in high school, and with me is my best friend, Jada. There is a week to go before spring break, one week before I get shipped off to Ocean Beach with Jada's family. Oh, and am I excited. It is the first time that I would be going away for a vacation without my family, I guess being a senior has its benefits in contrast with the killer exams and college applications. I guess Mom and Pop thought they have to get used to me being away from them as I am going away for college soon, or maybe because they couldn't resist my best friend's charm when she, herself, asked their permission if I can go. Hahaha.

"Really, it was very nice of your parents to let me come with you on your yearly family vacation, I feel like an intruder." I said being shy as I realized I may be overstepping on their family bonding time. See, The McAllisters(Jada's family), goes on this trip every year. They are very family oriented, I like that about them, despite their busy schedules, they find time to catch up with one another's lives.

Jada's father is a CEO of his own company, her mother being the good wife of a renowned CEO has her hands full herself, doing charity events, showing up and organizing functions and everything a wife of a CEO does. Jada also has an older brother though I don't know much about him except that he is very much fond of her sister. He calls her via phone a couple of times every week, making small talk and all but since Jada is in the phase where her social life outside the family is much more important, she is not as wholeheartedly as her brother in keeping in touch with her.

"Oh shush, no such thing. They're even glad I was taking a friend with me, and even more glad that that friend is you," Jada retorted as she closed her locker with a bang. We then walked towards the west wing where our classroom for first period is located. "My parents are absolutely thrilled to meet my friend whom changed my evil ways completely." She rolled her eyes then laughed.

You see, Jada was labeled a troublemaker back at her old school, the one she attended during her freshman year. She was a drunken rebel, she would bitch slap , yeah, bitch-slap, all the girls she doesn't like whether they did something to her or not, she often got into cat fights and would be skipping classes most times of the day. She said it was peer pressure, guess the crowd at her school is rotten. That's why her parents decided to move Jada to a different school in a different neighborhood even if it meant for her to move in with her grandparents. Well, to make the long story short, I was the first friend she made in her new found life and we were inseparable ever since, despite our major differences.

Jada has long curly auburn hair and green jade-like eyes, explains her name, and I've got medium brown hair that I'm sporting short, the back part 3-inches shorter than the front part and dark brown eyes which is most of the time hidden behind my glasses. Jada stands at least 5 foot 5 while I, a merely 5 foot 3. She's got this perfect fair, creamy skin, when I have a faded scar or two from falls I had in childhood. Not just in looks we differ but also in our personality and interests. She's pretty honest and straightforward, what she doesn't like she says, what she likes she gets. She's very bold and opinionated and has a fun side to her, instantly making her popular at the school, whilst I keep to myself, has a few selected friends, I always say things that people wanna hear not because it was the truth, I strive to get what I want though not always do I succeed, I love animals and books and the sea. That's me, plain old Claire.