Chapter Two

Aurora and I make plans to study at five in the evening.

I'd woken up to find a text message from Katie canceling our plans. She'd come up with a lame excuse about feeling sick. But I knew the truth. And it stung. I didn't have to be a psychic to know why she'd canceled. Katie had disinvited me because she was angry with me. Angry I hadn't mentioned Aurora was my physics partner. And angry I was planning to study with her.

Kris and Katie probably still had plans to hang out, only I wasn't included anymore. I'm not proud to say it, but for a few minutes, I allowed myself wallow in self-pity. Eventually, I pull it together a send Aurora a text message. Aurora responded with an address and a time. She wanted to meet later which I agreed too. I had no other plans for the evening, in fact, I no longer had plans for the morning.

When four o'clock rolled around I was a complete mess and so was my room. I'd tried on every single outfit I'd owned. The bed, my desk, the floor was covered with discarded unsatisfactory clothing. None of them seemed good enough. I'd never been much of a fashionista. If it fit and it matched, I usually called it a day.

That evening was different. I'd wanted to burn all my clothes and buy new ones. But I couldn't do that...there wasn't enough time.

I paced around in my underwear, before finally deciding on a similar outfit I'd seen Aurora wear. After staring in the mirror, I eventually put on loose plaid button-up over my top. I hadn't wanted her to notice the similarity to her own style. Then I forced myself to leave the house before I could change my mind about my outfit.

I arrived outside her house fifteen minutes early. Of course, I did. I pulled up in front of her house and it's not at all what I'd been expecting. I'd heard her family had money. I was envisioning a giant classical mansion with a terrace, columns, four floors, and a giant green lawn.

Don't get me wrong, her house was awesome. It just hadn't been what I was expecting. It looked as if it had come off the pages of an architecture book; designed by one of the greats such as Frank Lloyd Wright. It was one-storied, modern, tasteful and built into the surrounding environment.

The roof was slanted and most of the walls made of glass. There were solar panels on the roof and in front of the two-door garage was a parked Tesla. You might be thinking—wow, this is a lot of detail you are giving about the front of the house, you must really be into architecture. I'm not. But you must understand I showed up fifteen minutes early. I couldn't go in.

I sit in the car looking at her house and waiting for the clock to hit five. At 4:55 pm, I lie and send her, "OMW! Be there in 5." text message—I know, don't get me started.

At exactly 5:00 pm, I send her the "here" text. I walk up to her house and knock on the door. Aurora opens the door. She's not looking at me but staring down at an old clunky cell. She is barefoot and wearing grey joggers, an old ratty t-shirt of a band I'm not cool enough to know.

Her hair is damp and piled on top of her head in a messy updo. She has so much hair, small strands of it escape the hair tie and they fall around her face and the back of her neck. She finally looks up and smiles at me, then shoves the clunker cell in her pocket.

"Come on in." She turns and walks away leaving the door wide open.

I walk in and close the door behind myself. Aurora is already down the hall and texting on her phone again. I follow close behind her. The back of her cut-off shirt has bits of black string dangling below the middle of her back. I fight the urge to grab them and snap them off for her.

Aurora casually calls back but doesn't look at me. "You could have come in earlier, BTW."

My stomach sinks. Oh Gawd! She knew I'd been sitting outside her house. Why did I send her that dumb text message? Now she thinks I'm a liar. The heat rises in my cheeks and I'm thankful she is not looking at me. I don't say anything, but quietly follow her down the hall.

My embarrassment only grows when I look out the glass walls. Although the car isn't directly in front of the house, I can see my mother's car from several different angles. It's a glass freaking house! Of course, she saw me! Is it possible to die from embarrassment?

Aurora puts her hand on the doorknob to what I assume is her bedroom. She gives me a reassuring smile. "It's all good, this house can be intimidating."

I try to relax.

"Yeah, a little," I say it as more of a sigh of relief than actual words.

It's not the house I find intimidating, but I take the out she has politely given me.

"It's...uh..." She starts to open her bedroom door then stops. She averts her gaze and rubs the back of her neck. "...a little messy."

I shrug. "You should see my room right now. I doubt yours is messier."

She nods then slowly opens the door the rest of the way.

I was wrong.

I walk in and survey the disaster zone. It's a decent sized room, not much bigger than mine. There is enough space for a queen-sized bed, a dresser, a computer desk, a bookcase, and possibly place a mat or two and do some yoga. Or you could do all these things if you could find the floor. Clothes and shoes are everywhere. On the bed, the desk, the floor. Every surface is covered. She has piles of science and math books that have fallen over.

The books spill over her desk and her bedside table. Every corner is occupied; sports equipment, a snowboard, skateboards, bicycle parts. And the walls! They are covered with pictures of her friends, postcards, concert posters, license plates from different countries. There is a large map of the world with pushpins sporadically marking locations.

"I was wrong." I don't mean to say it out loud. It slips out in my dismay.

The moment it leaves my lips I regret it. Aurora goes into panic mode, or at least her version of panic. She paces around her room and shifts the mess around. Then she starts to ramble.

"I just...I just need more space." She says in exasperation as if she has been terribly wronged. She starts to stack a pile of fallen over books. "It's too small. I've been trying to get my parents to give me my brother's room, but they won't give it to me."

She continues to collect clothes and shoves them into a clothes basket. It's already overflowing, and the clothes fall back onto the floor. She shove them back in but gives up after few failed attempts.

"They said I'd only make a bigger mess. It's not true." She whines. Aurora starts clearing the top of her bed and proceeds to shove items underneath it. "If I had a place to put my stuff..."

I can barely hold back my amusement. It's like I'm watching a cartoon. One where the main character is trying to hide the mess before their mom finds out. The character is running around and hiding his toys under the bed and rugs. Hiding the clothes in the toilet bowl and in the vases.

The laughter is bubbling up on the inside, it almost hurts. She shoves an assortment of gym bags into her closet and the door refuses to close. More stuff starts to spill out of the closet and onto the floor. She panics and reaches for them.

I start laughing. Not a casual "lol". This is a full-on LMFAO, ROFL, tears streaming down my face laughter. Can you blame me?

She peers up from the floor mid-closet-shove and starts to glare at me. The most gorgeous girl I've ever seen is shooting daggers at me. Her eyes are sharp enough to turn you into a puddle, and I'm laughing. A rational human being would have stopped. I have never claimed to be rational. Her glare makes me laugh harder and I'm in serious-serious danger of peeing myself.

"It's not FUNNY!" Aurora shouts in frustration.

She charges towards me. I believe she means to come over and nudge my shoulders to make me stop. But I'm not in complete control of my faculties. She pushes me, I stumble back, and of course, trip over a pile of shoes.

Either she grabs me when she notices I'm falling or I grab her to steady myself, but either way, we both go down. Don't worry no one dies or hits their head. It's not that kind of story. We both fall and have a relatively...soft landing. If you consider clothes, books, and shoes soft.

We are both on the floor laughing uncontrollably. She's next to me and almost on top of me. We are both holding our stomachs in laughter. My side starts to badly ache from the laughter, but I can't seem to control myself. Finally, after a few minutes, the giddiness passes. We both lay heaving on the ground and looking up at her ceiling. She has pasted little glow in the dark stars on it, and it reminds me of when I was little kid.

I look over at her and Aurora looks at me. I say breathlessly still trying to catch my breath. "I guess it's true what they say?"

She's as out of breath as I am, and her words come out as a breathy whisper.

"What?"

Her eyebrows crinkle up in confusion, and I note the change in her expression. Aurora has by far the most expressive face, of anyone I've ever met. I could see every fleeting feeling and thought that crosses her face as she was thinking it. It could all be seen in her face. If she was sad, she quite literally pouted.

When she was angry, she scrunched her face and furrowed her brows. If she was surprised, she raised her eyebrows. And if she was feeling sly, she might wiggle her eyebrows or raise one suggestively. I don't know if she is aware of how easy she is to read.

"The prettier the girl the messier the room."

Aurora continues to stare at me but doesn't say anything or move. Her face is mere inches from mine. I notice the scent from her hair and the pout of her lips. A familiar uncomfortable heat flushes my cheeks and I avert my gaze.

Behind her, I see something in the corner of my eye. I clear my throat and point.

"Is that a sandwich under your bed?"

She turns to look.

"Oh fuck, I was looking for that." She sits up and grabs the sandwich, then takes a big bite out of it. A bit of sauce drips on to her bottom lip and she slowly licks it off.

"Mmmhh, delicious."

My face contorts into all sorts of horror and disgust. She picks up a shirt off the ground and throws it at my face.

"Relax, girly. I made this sandwich right before you got here. Twenty-five minutes ago, when you actually arrived."

I knock the shirt off my face and sit up. I look at her horrified, and then I smile. I hold my hand out for a truce.

"Even?"

She shakes my hand. "Even Stevens."

"Wow! Really?" I look at her in mock shock. Yet, I'm seriously surprised by the ancient Disney sitcom reference. "You're such a dork."

Aurora laughs. "Takes one to know one."

She stands up and offers me a hand up. I take it and she helps me up to my feet. Then she flops down on her bed and grabs her laptop. I stand around unsure of where to stand or sit. She has an oversized round chair but it was busy holding her things. She pats the bed next to her.

"Sit. Look."

I obey and sit next to her. She has an article pulled up on electromagnetism. I read the abstract summary, but to be honest, it's too technical for me to understand.

"Let's do this." She points to the schematic. "We could rig it on some wood or a sheet of metal. Or perhaps a skateboard."

I look at the article and try to read through it. I'm not grasping it. It's like this in Physics class too. To her, everything seemed clear and obvious. Aurora assumes you are right beside her when you are completely lost and on a different planet. It's the only times I've ever seen her get irritated. I scan through the article and try to figure out what the heck she is talking about before she gets impatient. It's embarrassing when she has to spell things out for me like I'm five. And then I get it.

"You want us to make a hoverboard using electromagnetism?"

"Yes!" Aurora is nearly bouncing up and down on the bed. "It wouldn't have to be a sturdy. Maybe enough for one of us to balance or sit on it."

Aurora starts to rant as she tends to do when talking about science. She speaks more technical speak at me. I don't understand but I occasionally smile and nod my head.

She then gets up and hands me a giant brick of a book titled "Introduction to Electrodynamics" and tells me to take it home with me and read it. She'd already read it several times over. The most popular girl in school was assigning me homework...great. What had I gotten myself into?

I'm pretty sure everyone else in our class would be making some lame bottle rocket or volcano. No offense, if that is what you chose. It's a rational choice, quick, easy, and doesn't require hours of studying. But if it brought her this much excitement, I would go along with it. If anyone could pull this project off she could.

I begin reading the book she had so kindly assigned me, and she goes online to research. We are about an hour in when she gets up from the bed and reaches into a drawer to grab an orange prescription bottle. She opens it and takes a pill. I look at the label.

It has her name on it. Aurora shakes the open bottle at me. She sees me staring, I've never been subtle.

"It's Adderall. I have ADD." She confuses my stare of curiosity for want and holds a pill out for me to take. "Oh, sorry. Would you like one? It's thirty mg you'd have to break it in half."

TBC...Thanks for reading, Lovelies.

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