Aren't Meant To Be

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Anastasia's Pov

It was fall, and school had come around. I haven't seen any of my friends since the last day of school last year. It was odd saying I was a senior in high school. Our very last year at the place who shaped us all into who we are now. Goodbye childhood and freedom.

   Oh, my mom is happily dating Derek. He is tall, fit, and has hair darker than black almost. I have grown to like him and my mom together. Quite honestly, I haven't seen her this happy in so, so long.

   "What's up kiddo?" Derek asked me. All of us were having a pizza night at my house. I was 18 so Derek and my mom thought it was good if I had a chance to live on my own so I understand how to be self-sufficient after high school.

   "Nothing, just weird I am going into my last year of high school tomorrow. It feels like freshman year was just yesterday.'' Mom and Derek smiled at me,

   "You know, I was the same. Starting senior year is a bit alarming. But, as far as I know, you will make it through and we will be extremely proud to see whoever you are 10 months from now. Anastasia, you are going to feel bittersweet but..." He raised his glass of orange juice and made a toast,

   "To new beginnings."

   Laying back, I distracted my nervousness with the movie Derek chose. Harry Potter. Both he and my mom have read the books and now they are forcing me into the Harry Potter cult they have going on. I caught Derek reading one of the books to my mom next to the fireplace at their place once.

   "Poor Draco. He was never a bad you know? Just a misunderstood little guy." Oh my, what children they are crying over this movie.

   "Be right back."

   I went up to my room to get socks since it was cold. Rocks were being thrown at my window. "What the hell?" I whispered before looking out. What the hell indeed. It was Logan, Loren, Violet, and Nate. Opening my window I didn't say anything since I had no idea what they were doing here. None of them have talked to me all summer so there was nothing to be said.

   "Get down here, duh!" Loren shouted. As much as I did not want to, I did anyways.

   It was freezing. The cold spanked my face and my fingers were primarily frozen. "Heyyy." I waved awkwardly while dragging my words. "Since school is tomorrow, we wanted to come to see you so you can drive with us." Mentally, I rolled my eyes. They decided not to text me all summer. Not a word. At least I made effort to try to talk to them but I gave up after the first month.

   My arms were crossed, my head was tilted, and my face held an 'are you serious?' look. Seriously, are you serious?

   "What? We missed you girl!" Violet announced the rest of them nodded. Shrugging, we discussed what time they will pick me up and that we were going to Hope's Cafe after school. Just like the old times, but more uncomfortable.

   Not saying goodbye, I walked inside my house and saw Derek and my mom sleeping together on the couch, I put the blanket that was once on me, on them so they didn't get cold.

   ''Goodnight."

   My room is a completely different style than how it once was. It is sad to see myself grow out of the things that once brought me happiness and comfort. Like my posters, and art, and old letters from last year from certain people.

   Picking outfits wasn't always this hard.. was it? All day I have been trying to find an outfit that did not match all of the last years. I mean, it's my last year of basically everything fun for crying out loud. I have to at least try to make the most out of it.

After finally choosing, I went to bed and got woken up early in the morning by my mom and Derek flopping themselves on my bed.

I groaned and threw my pillow at them. "Go away." They looked at me and smirked. "But... Isn't it someones last first day of high school?"

Every part of my body jolted out of bed and into the bathroom to hurry up and shower.

"You have plenty of time Ana! Don't rush yourself." Derek said. It was only 6, I had hours. But why did it feel like the first last day, felt like the beginning and edge of something so bittersweet?

As always, I got ready in no time and was left with an hour and a half to spare. Violet and Loren should be here any minutes with the boys. Just like I said, they are here.

"Get in loser!" Loren called, which caused me to smile. "Hey guys." They all looked at me and smirked. "Let's get this party started shall we?" Loren amped up the radio and we all headed for Hope's Cafe.

"The regular. Thank you, Hope." All of us found a seat in the back where the window was to sit and wait for our food. We aren't eating here, we are apparently going to sit in the school fields.

"Thank you." Once we all got our food, we got back in the car and went to school. Going back on the grounds was nostalgic and kind of sad. Knowing it was the last first day just hit somewhere.

"Whoa."

Hadn't I realized they just changed the colors of the school, I wouldn't have even thought this was the same building from last year. The school is now mostly white, with dark colors to give it more, character? Maybe.

"Here we are." It was the field we all hung out at last year. The memories of this place are valuable. Really, it was sort of sad. All of us are and waited for school to begin.

"So, tell us about your summer, Miss Smith." Logan said causing everyone to look at my expectantly.

"Uh, I got my own house. My mom got an extremely kind boyfriend. And yeah, that is all." Nothing fun happened over summer as horrible as it sounded. But thanks to that, I found new hobbies like reading and writing.

"You got your own place? Ana that's amazing!" Loren and all of them congratulated me. I looked at them and said, "It's just for the meantime, I am only living in it till graduation day."

"Whoa- still hard to believe we only have a limited amount of time before we entirely abandon our childhoods." Nate seemed pretty unhappy about that. "Well, let's hope we all have the best year of our lives then!"

Violet slaps Nate's shoulder and hugs me. It was nice being in her arms again, all summer I kind of missed the feeling. Hopefully, this year is promising for not just me, but for all of us.

"Well, the bell just rang which means..?" Loren waited for us to say it.

"Hell." We all said in unison. For the first time in a long time, everything felt

Normal.

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