Under the Stars

1. One of a kind friendship

Chapter 1. One of a kind friendship

Mia's POV

*****

Opening a box of cookies, I flipped through the pages of the tenth book I started reading ever since the beginning of summer.

For most people, summer means the ability to go out with friends without having to worry about the fact that they have a lot of work that needs to be done by Monday. It means going to the beach and getting tanned, allowing them to look better for that party they are planning to go to.

I, Mia Everley, do not. Every year I long for the beginning of summer because it means that I could finally catch up with some leisure reading which I never have the time to do during the scholastic period. With daily homework and monthly tests, reading anything that is not school related is practically impossible.

Taking a bite of my chocolate chip and smarties cookie I set my eyes on the words printed on the page of my book, ready to immerse myself in a world different than mine, usually better and less lonely.

When you lack friends as much as I do, books tend to be your only friends, and so do the characters inside the pages which you find yourself growing fond of. Sometimes you treat them as your best friends, finding yourself giving them mental advice despite knowing that the future of the story does not rely on your input.

As I was about to leap into the world of Sophie and Agatha in the School for good and evil, a knock on my door brings me back to reality.

With a groan, I call out for the unexpected visitor to enter, revealing my mother who had returned back home from work just moments before.

"I knew I'd find you here," she said with a sigh.

Briefly, my mother is different than most parents. While other parents beg their children to not go out so much and to try and spend more time with them, my mother hates it whenever she finds me home on my own. She wants me to go out and enjoy my youth, even if my idea of enjoying youth is sitting on my bay window reading a good book.

"Here is where I like to be mom," I said, placing my bookmark in between the pages I was reading and setting the book down next to me as my mother takes a seat beside me.

"Mia, even your thirteen year old sister goes out more than you do," she said, sighing once again.

Chewing on her lip lightly, my mom stares at me for a couple of seconds, as if trying to choose her next words wisely.

"Your aunt called me. She said that there's going to be an end of summer beach bash today and your cousin is going. She thought it would be a good idea for you to tag along with her," my mom said, looking at me with a pleading look.

"I used to love beach bashes when I was your age. Plus, it might be a great way for you to make new friends. What do you say?" She asked, looking at me expectantly, slightly fearing that she might have crossed a line.

I let out a small sigh as I considered my mother's words. My cousin Sophie was probably my only friend from the entire school, and by friend I mean the only person who I felt most comfortable walking up to and making conversation with. I was in no way part of her rather sizable friend group, nor did she probably want me to be. To her, I was just her geeky cousin who enjoyed reading books outside of school more than she enjoyed going out.

With that being said, she was still always a shoulder for me to cry on when I needed to, and was always willing to listen to me if I ever needed someone to talk to.