Chapter 1

Lost in the desert, the unbelievable thirst was scorching my throat again. Though just a dream this all seemed so real. This time to my surprise I was not alone there. A man whose face I could barely make out was there too. There was something familiar about him; it was as if I knew he was as dangerous as he looked. “Come my princess, come to me.” At the sound of his voice fear surged through my body. To say I was scared was an understatement, I was completely terrified. I wanted to scream for help but no sound came out of my mouth. I was helpless. And then suddenly a scream filled my head and………………..

I woke up startled. I couldn’t remember half of my dream and my head was killing me. I had a massive hangover, which was bound to happen considering how much I drank last night. In a small town like Healdsburg there wasn’t much to do for fun except for the crazy parties that the rich kids threw. My mom and I moved here when I was four. I don’t really remember my life before Healdsburg.

“Aria wake up.” Oh crap! Mom’s voice sounded pissed. She was not frustrated, she was angry and by that I mean blow-the-world type angry. I did my daily routine and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Mom didn’t even look at me. “I’m sorry Ma, really sorry.” I know it was a lame apology but this was my senior year and the party I went to was my first highschool party. I went there with my best friend Shane Zeklos. While she was popular, I was a geek but we were friends since we were in kindergarten. We bonded right away at the first meeting.

My mom was sort of overprotective. She didn’t even allow me the basic freedom that all the other kids of my age had. When I was little I couldn’t understand why she was overprotective and as I grew up, I didn’t care enough to know the reason of her protectiveness.

“Aria you couldn’t follow one rule that I made. Was it so difficult? You weren’t like this before, someone could’ve hurt you, and your behavior last night was absolutely irresponsible. You are grounded for a month and….” I stopped her in the middle saying, “I’ve been grounded my whole life so a month really doesn’t matter. I don’t know why you are so damn protective of me. I get it that there are dangerous people outside but I know how to avoid them and frankly mom I’m going to college next and you can’t expect me to remain with you forever. I know getting drunk was a huge mistake and it won’t happen again but at least allow me some godforsaken freedom.” I was so pissed that I ran back to my room and slammed the door.

I texted Shane that I was coming to her house. She immediately texted me back asking about my mom. She knew my mom was a tad bit paranoid when it came to me otherwise she was a great mother. Instead of texting her back, I got dressed in shorts and a light cotton shirt. Grabbing a pair of flip-flops and my wallet I ran downstairs but before I could open the door mom stopped me.

“Didn’t I tell you, you are grounded! So get your butt inside Aria.” She was still angry and so was I but instead of doing what she said, I ran out of the door, took my bike out and pedaled all the way to Shane’s house.

Shane’s house wasn’t far from where I lived. I locked my bike in her driveway and knocked the door, Mrs. Zeklos, Shane’s mom answered the door.”Shane has been waiting for you. I’m making breakfast, would you like some?”

“No but thanks for asking.” I found Shane in the backyard playing with bozo, her Labrador. “What did your mom say, I bet she is angry at you.”

”Angry doesn’t even begin to cover it. I’m not a kid anymore and she needs to understand this. Leave that and please tell me I wasn’t a drunken mess at the party last night.”

Shane laughs so hard that she has tears in her eyes. Still clutching her stomach she says, “You are such a lightweight, you were hilarious last night and you said things, you won’t be caught dead saying when you’re sober. Man, was it funny to watch you.”

I was mortified after hearing that. What in the everloving hell had I done last night, I couldn’t even remember it. The memories of last night were still fuzzy. I tried hard to remember and then it all came back as a horrible reality. Drunk me was definitely bold. If looks could kill, I would have been dead by now by the looks Elena the queen bitch’s cronies were giving me when I defended some freshman Elena was torturing. When I started attracting audience she tried to deny it and I pretty much called her bullshit in front of everyone.

“Why didn’t you stop me from committing social suicide?” I asked her.” I did try to stop you but you dragged me there. You are so freakishly strong when drunk and frankly I loved the whole chaos. Someone needed to stop Elena and I’m glad it was you.” I glared at her. She never understood why I always wanted to be invisible. It was not because I was scared of crowds but because I didn’t want to be part of the crowd. In school I was a labeled nerd. No one bothered me much and that was the way I liked it. Till last year Elena never knew I even existed but I changed that last night. The senior year was starting in a week and I have managed to become public enemy number one. My only hope was that Elena would forget that I called her shit in public and leave me alone. But we don’t always get what we want.

“Let’s go shopping.” Shane’s voice cut through my thoughts. I nodded at her. She grabbed her car keys and we drove to the mall in a town couple of miles ahead of Healdsburg.

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