Chapter 1: Introduction

Atacia's POV:

Hello everyone! I'm Atacia Montreal. 18 years old 1st year college. I'm a non-simple girl. You'll know why soon. I have a best friend. Her name is Cassie Santos. We're best friends since childhood.

“Atacia! Your mom is calling!” Cassie shouted. I’m up here in our room.

“Answer it! That might be important!” I shouted back at her. She went upstairs and was already at the door when she answered the call.

“Hi Mrs. Montreal! Atacia? She’s here. All right, just wait.” She said and passed me the phone.

“Hi mom! Why did you call?” I asked. I could hear her sobbing.

“A-Atacia, your sister is here at the hospital. She had an accident. You and Cassie should come here. Now.” Mom said between her sobs.

“W-what?! S-she had an accident?! Okay we’ll be right there.” I said and ended the call.

“Ate had an accident. We must go to the hospital. Mom’s already there.” I told Cassie. Her eyes widened and stood up straight.

A/N: In filipinos, Ate is used to address their older female sibling or to simply address someone older than them.

“She had a what?! Then let’s get dressed or else your mom might hit us for being slow!” said Cassie.

***

When we arrived at the hospital, we immediately searched for my sister’s room. The nurse said they transferred her into another room.

I inhaled deeply before knocking at the door.

When the door opened, I was shocked at my mom’s appearance. Her eyes are so red and puffy, even her face. That made me extremely worried.

“M-mom, how’s Ate? What did the doctor say?” I asked mom.

“Your sister is fine. She’s lucky and only got minor injuries.” She said.

“Auntie, what happened?” Cassie asked.

“Aleah’s van got into a car crash. The car that bumped them was really fast that the brake couldn’t slow it down.” Mom explained. She inhaled deeply because her voice is cracking.

“Is that so? How about you? How are you?” I asked.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” She answered.

I told them I just want to go out so I could freshen up. Cassie stayed in the room with mom. As I was walking, I collided with a man. I could’ve ignored it, but I got mad because the guy acted as if nothing happened! I couldn’t control myself, so I shouted at him.

“HEY MR! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO SAY SORRY?!” I shouted at him. He just turned to me and suddenly smirked that made me angrier. He’s irritating goodness! It’s a pity he’s handsome but has a bad attitude. How could someone be so handsome, but at the same time rude?! Ps!

When I returned to the room, my sister was awake. I talked and greeted her for a while before Cassie and I went home. I’m currently living with Cassie. I'm there first because the school we're going to be close to.

It was night when we arrived at their house. Aunt Heart and Uncle David are also there.  They're Cassie's parents.

"Oh, there you guys are. I heard what happened to your sister, Atacia. How is she?” Aunt Heart asked worriedly.

“She’s fine, auntie. She only sustained minor injuries. She was awake earlier.” I said. Both Aunt Heart and Uncle David sighed in relief.

"Thank God! I thought what happened to your sister was bad because when your mom called, she could hardly speak because she was crying. I just heard that she went alone, and your dad wasn't there because he’s in Palawan. He's in a business trip. " Uncle David said at length. Mom called him after our phone talk.

"Yes, Dad. She was alone when we arrived. If you could only see Aunt Malie's appearance. Her eyes were puffy, and her face was red.,” said Cassie.

"Oh, go ahead, we’ll talk about it some other time. You eat first and sleep early because tomorrow is the first day of school. You need to be early." Said Aunt Heart. We nodded and went to the kitchen to eat our dinner. 

"God I'm starving!" Cassie exclaimed. 

"Me too." I whispered and started to eat my food.

After we ate, Cassie and I went up to her room. There are two beds in her room, I don't know why, but it's good 'cause that's where I sleep every time I stay in their house. We took a bath before going to bed. 

"Hey Cass." I called her. She looked at me, raising her left eyebrow. "Did mom say anything or something about me?" I asked. She looked at me confused. 

"What do you mean something?" She asked. I looked up the ceiling and sighed. 

"I don't know. Something weird or anything weird I guess." I said. I could hear her bed creaked indication that she moved. Maybe to face me. 

"Nothing. Why?" Cassie asked. I sat on my bed and hugged my knees. 

"I-I just, I'm not sure why. It's just that I feel weird you know? Like I feel that I don't belong here, you know what I mean? It's just so weird." I explained. My life is so weird. Someone wanted to kill me, that time when I accidentaly almost kill someone, everything about me is so weird. Something's telling me that I don't belong here. She stood up and sat beside me. 

"That is because you need to sleep." She said and laughed. I shaked my head because of her laugh. 

"Seriously Cas?" I said and also started to laugh. 

"No seriously, maybe you just need to rest you know? Maybe you're tired or something. Or maybe you miss something or someone you know." She said and hugged me. "Just always remember, I'm always here for you. I will never leave you. You belong here with me, okay?" She comforted me. 

"Thanks?" I jokingly said and laughed. She threw me a pillow that made me stop laughing. 

"Hey! What was that for?!" I asked her and also threw her a pillow. 

"Since we we're kids until now you never gave a sensible asnwer to me." She said and hit me with her pillow. 

"What? I always let you copy my answers when we we're in fifth grade. How come that's not sensible?!" I asked and hit her with the pillow too. 

“Girls! I thought I told you go to sleep?” We stopped hitting each other when we heard Aunt Heart’s voice on the doorway.

"She started it.” We said and unison. We looked at each other before laughing. 

“How come you two grew without me noticing?” Aunt Heart said and entered the room. 

"Maybe because you're too busy getting young." Cassie asnwered so Aunt Heart hit her. But it's a gentle hit, like a joking hit.

"You girls are so naughty. Go to sleep now you need to be early for tomorrow." She said. We both nodded and lay down on our own beds. 

"Goodnight girls." Aunt heart said before turning off the lights. 

"Goodnight Aunt/Goodnight Mom." We said and closed our eyes. 

to be continued...