In Your Arms

Long, Black Hair

Atalia's POV:

I felt bad for leaving the school. It physically hurt to think about. On my first day back I had already skipped. I went in to Tara's apartment with the spare key she had left with Susan. I set my backpack on the carpet floor next to the couch and went over to the refrigerator. This time, she had put cans of soda and bottles of water in there for me. I chuckled to myself and read the small Post-it note:

Atalia, I know you're probably here alone if you're reading this. Take what you want, but the Jameson is off limits. It's Gaga's, lol. The balcony is where I go when I need to calm down, so you can go out there if you want. It's already set up for you. Just leave a little note on the back of this paper by the balcony door, and I won't come out there if you need privacy for a bit. I love you sis. See you soon, I hope. Xoxo

-Tara Savelo <3

I sighed and held the note in a clenched fist. The heart she drew looked like she was texting me or something. I grabbed a Sprite out of the refrigerator and shut the door back. I was curious to see what she meant by the balcony being "set up" for me, so I walked over to the door and twisted the doorknob after I set the note and my Sprite on the counter. The view is absolutely perfect. Tara had some My Little Pony blankets and a couple of pillows laid on the floor. There wasn't a table out there, and it seemed like Tara took it out only for this purpose. There was a CD player up against the wall near the door, and it was plugged in to an extension cord. I saw yet another Post-it note, so I read it.

I have some music in this thing that always makes me feel better! Hopefully it works on you like it does for me! Just press play! Xoxo

-Tara Savelo <3

I grinned and walked back inside to get my Sprite. After I grabbed it from the counter, I went back out on to the balcony and shut the door. She had a curtain over the glass door, which made me feel a bit relaxed knowing she won't immediately skip to the conclusion that I'm out here. I don't know. I bent down and sat on my knees to press play on the CD player. As soon as the music started playing, I smiled like an idiot. She had made this CD track on her computer.

I pulled the Post-it note off of the face of the CD player and looked at the back. It read:

1. Alligators and Horses

2. Under The Sea

3. Do What U Want

4. Bad Romance

5. Paparazzi

6. The Gummy Bear Song

7. Tara Savelo + Lady Gaga singing Firefly (because I know how much you like that song already... You listened to that on repeat last night after Dope, so don't act like you don't love this <3)

I laughed and thought to myself,

"Woah. I swear she's the most adorable human being on this Earth."

I smiled and pressed number 7 after I listened to the rest of Alligators and Horses. She was right, it did make me feel better. I took my phone out of my hoodie's front pocket, got off of my knees, and laid belly-down on the blanket. I had my elbows resting on the pillow while my hands held my head up.

Back to the view... It's somewhat quiet, and it overlooks some kind of giant community garden or something. The trees have flecks of pink, red, and white in them, and there are tons of different flowers. After seeing that part, the traffic became invisible. The sky was a bold, cerulean color. There were no clouds at all, and it was flawless. Truly flawless. The blue shade reminded me of what Tara had been describing my eyes as. It made me smile, and all I could remember is staring off in to the scene as I closed my eyes.