The Brightest Stars

Annabelle

"Hey!"

I can feel someone shaking me. I groan and open one eye. All I see is wavy blonde hair on my face.

I should've known.

My heavy eyes slowly close on their own.

"Hey! Wake up! Everyone's waiting for you!"

"I know. I know. I'll be there in a minute..." I grab the pillow and put it over my head. I can hear her get off my bed and walk outside.

Weird. She never gives up on any of her mischiefs.

I move the pillow a little to see if she's around. Maybe this is another prank of hers.

When the coast is clear, I pull the blanket over my head and try to fall asleep again. When I finally find sleep, I can hear footsteps coming into my room. I sigh and take off the blankets. I see no one.

Suddenly, Kristen and AJ get up from the floor and turn my bed over; making me fall hard to the ground.

"Ow!" I angrily say with the loud sound of their laughter.

"That was great," Kristen says, giving me a hand.

I sigh and shake my head. I slowly get up and say, "That's a nice way of saying good morning."

Kristen smirks with proud eyes. "Well, it's one of my best ways."

AJ steps up with his usual quiet smile; putting aside any reckless expression. "Good morning, Ana." As I return his smile, my eyes immediately land on his very new appearance.

His thick hair is in a floppy hairstyle now. I remember the day he decided to get this haircut. He asked the barber to part it to the side. I've got to admit. He did not look at all bad as his dark eyes combined with his dark hair.

"I'll be out in a minute. I'm just going to get ready," I say as I start picking up the pillows from the floor.

"Don't worry, Ana. We'll clean it up. You get ready," AJ says, touching my shoulder lightly.

"Thank you," I say with a small smile.

Kristen laughs as if it were a joke. "He's gonna clean it up. Not me."

I quickly get my clothes and enter the bathroom. As I'm brushing my teeth, I can hear my cousin talking with my friends. He's always liked them ever since I met Kristen and AJ.

Well, I met Kristen first. I still can't believe I ended up being her friend in the first place if it weren't for that shovel buried in the sand one day in preschool.

I found a shovel buried in the sand so I started using it. Then a kid came and started yelling at me because I took his shovel. I just cried while that boy yelled at me.

And out of nowhere, this girl with blonde hair stepped up from behind me and pushed the boy. I didn't even know her. I was surprised to see her defending a random stranger.

This blonde girl told him not to yell at me for something stupid like that. The boy got really angry and pushed the little blonde girl. She fell right next to me. Without even thinking twice, I kicked the boy's leg and he fell, too. Yet, his fall was a bit more painful because his face hit the concrete instead.

After that, the yard duty came and took us three to the principal's office. As I sat outside next to the boy with a bloody nose, he kept on telling me that I would pay for this. When the girl stepped out of the office, she heard the boy say this and told him that if he was gonna do anything to me, he would have to go through her first.

I was shocked. I mean, how could a girl out of nowhere just do that for me?

Once the boy went to the nurse's office, it was just me and the blonde girl. We were quiet for a moment until she turned to me and told me her name.

Kristen Newman.

She took out her hand for me to shake. With hesitation, I shook her hand and smiled. I told her my name and she smiled back.

"You better not take forever in there, Ana!" I jump as AJ's voice combines with the pounding on the door.

I quickly take this chance to open the door and throw a hairbrush in his face. Kristen laughs from my room. "You're such a loser, AJ!" Her voice echoes through the hallway along with my cousin's laughter.

AJ steps back in surprise, but quickly grabs the brush and starts aiming toward me. Before he throws the brush, I quickly close the door. I lean against the door in laughter as I hear the brush hit the door and do a soft thump on the floor.

"I guess you didn't get me this time, AJ!" I yell at the door.

"Next time, Ana! If I were you, I'd watch my back!"

AJ. I met him in kindergarten. I was walking around the field looking for ladybugs and he came up to me out of nowhere with a flower. I smiled and kept on going on with my business until Kristen showed up from behind AJ. She then told me that he was her brother. I looked at him for a long moment, surprised by the way they both looked so alike.

Kristen noticed my surprise, so she explained that AJ was her twin brother. I laughed at the thought of having a clone of yourself. Then I took AJ's flower with a smile and I put a ladybug in his hand.

Kristen enters the restroom as I finish brushing my teeth. She softly says, "Sup" as she sits on the edge of the bathtub. "We're finally going shopping after the Skyler incident!"

I roll my eyes at the memory. "It was more of a Kristen incident if you ask me."

Kristen stands up defensively. "It was her fault I accidentally poured my smoothie on the wrong person! How was I supposed to know that he was the owner of the smoothie place? Who would've known they were wearing the same shirt?!"

"You weren't supposed to pour a smoothie at anybody in the first place." Shaking my head and chuckling, I say, "Just because someone bumps into you while you're walking."

"But because of that bump, he made her spill smoothie all over her clothes! And did you see that smirk he did after looking at Skyler? He looked like a hungry wolf ready to eat her."

After a moment of silence bringing back the memory of furious faces around us, we burst out in laughter. We have our moment of wiping away tears and Kristen leaves the bathroom, demanding for me to take a shower quickly so we can pick up her sister.

Skyler is a year younger than us but she skipped a grade and is now graduating with us. She used to go to this private school for gifted people, but she decided to come to our school this year. The way she plays instruments made her stand out and go to a private school. With everything paid.

When I finally walk out of the bathroom and into my room, I'm surprised to see my room clean and neat. And I'm even more surprised to see Kristen folding and putting my clothes in their place.

"I thought you weren't gonna clean," I say as I start hanging my clothes in the closet.

"Well," Kristen says as she puts more clothes in my hand. "I wasn't, but AJ reminded me that I should be a good friend."

"In that case, I might as well keep you as a maid so you can do the rest of my chores." This makes Kristen roll her eyes at me.

Once we're done, we go downstairs and see that AJ and my cousin, Diego, are eating breakfast with my sister, Hannah. When Hannah sees me, she smiles warmly and says, "Good morning, kiddo. Did you sleep well?"

"I did until Kristen came and literally kicked me out of my own bed." I sit slowly in a chair across from my sister and let Kristen sit next to me.

I can see Kristen rolls her eyes as she sits down. "I was doing you a favor."

"Blah blah blah," I say as I dig into my plate.

We finish up eating, I kiss my sister goodbye, and start following AJ to the mall. It's always been like this. One last smile at my sister then follow AJ and Kristen.

It's always been them in the end...and I thank my brightest stars for trusting my gut about them.