Like A Blinding Light

BOOK 1: Chapter 5

Isabella

And Friday has finally come. Yes, today is the last day of Jay and Thea's 'Isabella-duties'. And we are gonna celebrate tonight. Noah picked me up from my last class to buy some food and booze for our little private party at his apartment.

Partying, huh-yes, well, in this aspect, we are still making baby steps. Right, I'm still not ready to go out to a real, big college party. But it doesn't mean that we can't get drunk. In fact, I'm planning to get really drunk tonight.

This wouldn't be the first time that we'd be drinking our asses off. I hadn't gone to parties in high school but I sure had drunk alcohol pretty madly all the same. We had been sneaking several bottles of wines and hard drinks from the Simmons' cellar since we were sixteen. But Katherine and Stephen, Thea and Noah's parents, had always found out about it every single time until they had finally told us that we could just ask for it. They said they were cool with it, despite the fact that we were still minors, as long as we did it inside our homes.

Noah had already gone to college by the time we started our drinking adventures, so except for a few times that he came home, it had only been me, Jay, and Thea. The three of us would spend our drinking sprees at either Jay's or Thea's and enjoy ourselves like any other crazy teenagers- dancing to blasting music, or karaoke-singing, or dressing up, or binge-watching movies, or playing games with a lot of noise that involved squealing, screaming, laughing, and what have you. We would end up sleeping (or passed out) beside one another. And the following morning, we would nurse together our hang-overs with mountains of greasy breakfast and several cups of coffee, and of course, pain relievers.

Jay and Thea, however, went to parties without me. I didn't want to keep them from experiencing fun times and making friends with other people our age- that included flirting with boys. I love being with my best friends. But I'd rather have time with myself reading or doing some artsy crafts than going to parties that would definitely just make me feel anxious.

While we were waiting for Jay and Thea, I went to my apartment to change to my yoga pants, tank top and an oversized hoodie. I had invited Natalie to come over but she had to go home after her last class this afternoon to attend to a family event in Oakland. Jay and Thea had finally met her and we had gone out to lunch together. And they really liked her as we all had pretty much similar interests in music, food, and films, among others. She has had easily fit in the group, and we've all had so much fun together the first time. I think Noah's going to like her, too.

The four of us will be going home to SF tomorrow. We haven't seen our parents for almost a month now. We came here two weeks before the classes had started. We said we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood and the campus itself. But if we'd be honest, the real reason was that the three of us were just too excited in the idea of living on our own. And now, we couldn't wait to be in the comfort of our homes again, and taste the homemade dishes our moms always loved to cook for us. We could use a good break from living the independent life, couldn't we?

My family has been living in the humongous property of the Simmons since I was a baby. My dad has been working for Thea's dad as his driver/bodyguard shortly after he had finished serving a stint in the military. Both SF locals, they went to the same high school together, but they only became friends when Dad started working for Uncle Stephen. Dad met Mom when Uncle Stephen was pursuing Aunt Katherine, who happened to be Mom's best friend.

Dad inherited their family house in downtown SF but my parents had lived there only until the year I was born. When the Simmons' recording company was getting more successful, Uncle Stephen and Dad's trips to different parts of the country had consequently started to become more frequent as well. So the Simmons' couple had offered the detached two-storey house inside their compound to our family. They had thought it would be convenient for everybody, especially for Aunt Katherine and my mom who had just given birth to their daughters. That's how Thea and I had practically grown up as sisters; and Noah as our protective big brother.