What They Recovered | discontinued

Chapter One

picture of Sam Wilkinson above (played by himself lol)

    Unlike every other teenager in the world, I didn't want to get my college acceptance letters.

    I didn't like the chances I had of meeting her again. It would be too painful. Seeing her joking around with other people. Seeing her laughing and smiling because of someone else. Other people she's deemed her new friends. The ones she loves. The ones she'll never forget. Unlike how she forgot me.

    As soon as Ariana Brooks was well enough to leave the hospital and gone through rehab, her family packed up and left for Australia. Los Angeles was too painful. Knowing that her accident was caused by this city, it was too much. They left and went back home to Australia. Where she could be safe. She'd be attending a different performing arts school. 

Worst of all, Australia had Seth Hutchings. Ariana's first boyfriend. The boy her heart will always be in love with. The thought of her going back to Seth Hutchings hurt. Did he make her laugh more than I did? Did she smile more around him? Did her heart think of him more than me? Was he better than I was? 

    I hadn't wanted to come here, to the University of California at Los Angeles. When Ariana and I had dated, or fake dated, we had admitted to each other our dreams of attending UCLA. What if she was here too? I knew she was long gone, never to return into my life again. But there was still a sliver of a chance that she'd be there. That she had remembered her dream of UCLA. Unlike how she didn't remember me. 

    She is in Australia, I reminded myself. There were plenty of great colleges in Australia. I would know. I looked them up, considering the idea of attending one of them to run into her. It was foolish of me. Ariana Brooks would never leave her country for some country that nearly ruined her life.

    "Lighten up, Sam!" My best friend Cameron Dallas exclaims, interrupting my thoughts. He throws an arm around my shoulders. "We're here together, all of us."

    "I'm so glad we're going to the same colleges," Peyton Aspens says, resting her head on Luke's shoulder. Peyton and Luke are back together. What they had was real, and they admitted they still loved each other. 

    "To bad Ariana isn't gonna be there," Jai Luca blurts before he can stop himself. He cringes immediately. "Sorry," Jai adds, looking sympathetically at me.

    "It's fine," I said, smiling weakly.

    "We don't really talk anymore. I call her but she never picks up," Peyton said. She shrugged nonchalantly but her eyes showed how sad she was. That's how they always got when we mentioned Ariana. 

    For Peyton, it was awful. Ariana remembered her, sure, but that was it. Ariana simply remembered that Peyton was her friend. That was it. No remembrance of trust, memories, and love for Peyton Aspens. It was as if when Ariana woke up from her coma, Peyton was no longer her friend. The memories were gone, and it took their friendship with it.

   "We text once in a while," Cameron pipes in. He shrugs. Ariana and him were never really close, but at least she remembered all about him. She didn't remember me. And I thought we were close. Close enough for me to fall in love with her. 

    "She doesn't even remember me," I said. That effectively ended the conversation and we walked the UCLA campus grounds in silence.

A flash of light brown hair darts past us. We watch in confused silence as the girl's short blonde hair flies around before launching into the arms of another girl. Cameron's eyes were trained on how the hem of the light brown hair's dress was inching dangerously high as she ran. The other girl wrapped her arms around the light brown haired girl, probably her best friend. They shriek and give each other bear hugs. The girl she's hugging had long bronze hair. Her hair looked familiar. 

"Reunions are so cute!" Peyton coos. She pauses when her eyes land on the bronze haired girl. She opens her mouth to say something, but shuts it. 

We were all thinking the same thing. The bronze haired girl reminded us of Ariana Brooks. She wore the black skinny jeans Ariana always favored, the navy and white baseball tee, and her long, gorgeous bronze hair. But it couldn't be Ariana. No way.

A spark of hope flickered in me. But we hadn't seen the bronze haired girl's face yet. 

The spark flickered out immediately. I was crazy for still having feelings for the girl who didn't remember me. 

    Luke breaks the awkward moment. "We should get going. We don't want to miss the tour."

   I lead the way to the campus tour guide. I don't pay attention to anything at all. It goes in one ear and straight out the other. The only thing I'm paying close attention too? That we're suddenly very close to the girl and her friend. They were right behind us. I itched to turn around and stare at the bronze haired girl. To try to see if it was Ariana. But I knew it couldn't be. So I didn't turn around. 

    "Are you paying attention, Z?" The bronze haired girl asked. 

     I stiffen. It has to be her. I would recognize her voice anywhere. Her voice was more accented with the Australian tint, but I knew it was her. I spun around and my eyes studied her face. And it's her. We've been apart for so long, but in my heart, I know it's Ariana Brooks. My eyes search her beautiful face. Through all these years, she did the impossible. She became even more beautiful. Her brown eyes are warm, excited at the aspect of trying something new. But that defiant glimmer is still there. Her lips are curled into a small smile. I try not to think about how much I want to kiss them.

"Ariana?" I blurt.

Ariana Brooks furrows her eyebrows. "Who are you?" 

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ahh it's starting! the third and final book in the trilogy! (i need a name for the trilogy this is embarrassing)

for all of my old readers; i hope you like the rewritten version! to help with confusion, ariana's old love interest was nash, but i matured out of my 'nash phase' so to speak and i couldn't find the passion to write about him anymore. so i changed ariana's love interest to sam wilkinson. 

to all of my new readers; welcome! i hope you enjoyed the previous two books and enjoy the ending to ariana and sam's journey. 

regardless, i love you all. i hope you enjoy!

xoxo,

    MikailaxRyan