The Brightest Stars

Julia

It's been two years since I said goodbye to my parents on my graduation night. They didn't attend the ceremony. But I didn't care because I knew that on that night, it would be my grand escape.

Before I exited my mansion one last time, he threatened me that they would find me and kill anyone that would get in my path. I let them speak until I gave them one last smile and said, "We'll see who wins in the end..."

Those were my last words to my parents.

Now, I look into the mirror in my brother's apartment and smile at myself. I don't have to run away from mirrors anymore. Instead, I stand taller and breathe in.

The battle isn't over yet.

"Where are you going so pretty?" My brother stands at the doorframe of the bathroom and watches me fix my hair. I smile at him and say, "I have another school meeting to go to. This is for an actual grade. We have to practice to speak at this 'international business event' as if it were a real one."

"Oh. That sounds interesting. During the summer? Since when do you take summer classes?"

"Since when did you stop drinking?"

"When you arrived at my apartment." We share a laugh and he walks in to give me a small kiss on my forehead. "Can I go? I can look after you and at the same time flirt with all the girls in the international studies department."

I roll my eyes at the smirk he's giving me and push him aside so I can walk out of the bathroom. "I don't think that's a very good idea. You'd be distracting them."

"Even better," he says across the apartment and I chuckle with a shaking head. I'm glad my brother has changed a bit. He's still a little wild but ever since I've arrived, I've noticed him being more careful on getting himself together. It is his last year of college this Fall. He's ready to start his very first step towards bringing down my father's business.

I put on lip gloss and make my way to where he's sitting on the couch to give him a small kiss on his cheek. "I'll call you once I'm done with that event."

"Okay," he says as he turns off the TV and smiles at me. "No foolishness with Diego."

I laugh at this and my heart jumps at the thought that he will be waiting for me there. "Maybe you should come since he's been talking with a girl about your age. She will be graduating with us in this upcoming year."

"Why are you trying to hook me up with one of your smart friends?" Sebastian says in a teasing tone as he follows me out the door.

"What? But she failed her classes last year. That's why she didn't graduate in May. She's just like you!"

My brother's eyes grow wide at my remark and I laugh loudly as I enter my car. I can hear him yell at me as I pull down the window to wave goodbye at him, "I'm sorry we're not all as smart as you and your little boyfriend!"

I chuckle at my brother's words and I have to say that despite how much he bullies me, I know that my intelligence is an advantage I have to bring down my father. Diego and I have studied hard together and we're graduating a year early. I guess I could say that the summer classes did help a little, but I even attended classes with Luna's level. She, too, is quite a smart girl. She is so close to becoming a lawyer that she spends more time in her internship with other lawyers than at school.

None of it matters now. The past is in the past, and I focus on my goals as I park in the school's parking lot. I smile at fellow classmates who are just as well dressed as I am. Some wave at me or smile as I run inside.

The moment I step in our building, I admire how well they've designed the place as if it were a ballroom. The conference room has it's small round tables as if we were really in one of those important business parties I used to go to.

My eyes land on Diego who smiles at me. When our hands meet, our lips also meet and he softly says, "You look gorgeous, my love."

"Well," I say as I observe his suit and tie. "I knew you would come all handsome so I had to at least try dressing up." We share a chuckle and take a seat near the back of the room filled with white round tables.

We sit by each other and he takes two cups of champagne from a waiter passing by. "It's pretty cool, huh? I bet you used to go to these things every weekend."

"No," I say as I take a sip of my drink. "I spent more time with you and our friends than with my parents."

Diego gives me a small smile and kisses my cheek before talking with someone that just stopped by our table. I listen to their conversation, but my eyes stay on Diego. It's been almost a year since we've finally decided to officially call each other a couple. That night was when he took me out yet to another ice skating date. In December, it will be two years since that night.

And I can't wait for what God has for us in the years to come....

I've been attending to his church a lot. Sebastian isn't much about church, but he has attended a few times when I beg him to the point where he gets annoyed of my voice. The main reason why I go with Diego is because I feel this....peace I can't quite explain. Sebastian has felt it, too. I know it. It's like talking with God makes me feel safe for once. It makes me feel certain of my plans as well. I have Diego to thank for that.

Another fortress I've found in the last year was the United Force Facility....

My brother was the first to show me this place. I couldn't believe his stories of an underworld with secret soldiers that the government had made because of competition with other countries starting this. I didn't believe him. I thought he was drunk but the moment I stepped in this facility, I thought I was the drunk one.

Area 57 is what they call it. Now I watch Diego train in it as well when I told him about it. That's when we understood the many secrets in the past. We saw Xander, Luna, and even Skyler there. Ty had left soon after we became a part of Area 57. I haven't heard of him since. Then Skyler left just about a year after Ty left for his mission. I haven't heard from her since either.

Nayeli was there. I even saw several of Annabelle's family members around there, too. Her sisters. Zack's little brother.

"Hey!" My thoughts are interrupted by a girl with a pretty upturned nose. She wears a beautiful flowered dress and her dark blonde hair fits with her light skin.

Diego is the first to stand up to hug her. "Hey! You made it!" She must be the girl he talks about in his international studies class. I stand up and shake her hand. She gives me a smile that makes her dark blue eyes shine and her cheeks puff up.

"I thought you wouldn't come since you said that your major wasn't that important in this event."

The girl laughs a warm laugh and shakes her head. "I only said that because I was messing with you, but I can't fail this year. Plus. For us international studies, it's important to be here, too."

"Oh," I say gently as I smile at her. "You're an international maj--"

"Minor," she says. "I'm majoring in Language Studies."

I give her an impressed look and Diego nods with a smile. "I know right? She's about to be an international interpreter someday."

"Oh wow," I say with an impressed smile. We start to sit down at our table. "So what languages do you know?"

"Too many to count," the girl says with that pretty smile again. She reminds me of Kristen for some reason. The way she has this playful smile and a reckless shine in her blue eyes. My heart then suddenly turns heavy at the thought of my old friend....

"I'm sorry," Diego says as he puts a loving arm around my shoulders. "Love. This is my good friend, Grace."

We shake hands one more time as she says, "Grace Blakely. It's a pleasure to meet you. What's your name?"

I use the name I've changed into the moment I turned eighteen. I didn't feel much of a difference for I have had a secret identity all my life. The last thing to do now was change my name so my father doesn't find me too easily.

I give her a small smile and say, "My name is Blair Gonzalo."