[CONFIDENTIAL]

I awoke to a loud clutter in my room.

"Shit!"

"Mom?" I yelled towards where I thought the noise was coming from. I swung my legs over to one side of the bed, jogging towards the kitchen to see my mother trying to pick up tiny pieces of glass on the floor. "Mom, are you okay? Here, let me help."

"No! You'll just make a bigger mess, don't touch anything!" She screamed at me, her face red with anger. I studied her for a moment. Worry lines were etched permanently into her face; her hair was greying at the roots. She had been snappy and frustrated ever since the divorce.

"Caroline," my mother sighed loudly, breaking me out of my thoughts, "I can handle it. Go get ready for school."

I nodded, standing up and grabbing the broom and dustpan before heading to my bedroom.

"Hmm... what to wear, what to wear?" I searched through my closet, deciding on a pair of dark, knee-length jean shorts and a thin hoodie, since it was only March. I picked up my worn out sneakers and slipped them on over my already-socked feet, brushing through my long dark hair once and snatching my phone from its charger.

I crawled over my bed and looked at my dresser, grabbing my foundation and some mascara. I smeared the pale brown liquid on my face and touching up my eyes. I grabbed some lotion and rubbed it into my legs quickly when I noticed my legs were ashy.

"And... done!" I threw my backpack over my shoulder and walked out of my room, switching off my light and shutting the door behind me. "Bye mom, I'm off to class, love you!"

I heard my mom chuckle and turned around to see her sitting at the kitchen table.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just the fact that you seem to have forgotten that today is your nineteenth birthday."

My eyes widened and I stared at her. "Holy crap, I'm nineteen! Why didn't you remind me?"

She chuckled again, grinning wildly. "Well, I mean, you're only officially turning into an adult today," she scoffed mid-sentence and rolled her eyes sarcastically, "no big deal!"

I scoffed back loudly, smiling and spinning around to walk out. "Bye, mom!" I was out of the door and locking it from the outside in seconds.

I grabbed my other backpack strap that was hanging limply behind me and brought it over my other shoulder. My phone buzzed and I grabbed it out of my back pocket, grimacing at the fact that I already had 21 Facebook notifications of people on my wall saying, 'Happy Birthday!'

"I don't even like these people," I thought aloud.

I walked in silence for the next few minutes when I heard footsteps pounding against the pavement behind me. I turned around at the last minute, my eyes squeezed shut.

And then I was in the air, being held tight by muscular arms. I thought about screaming until I heard a deep voice yell, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARE-BEAR!" I grimaced at the nickname but smiled soon after.

"Thanks, Jake." I looked down at large brown eyes that I was used to staring into, "Say, could you put me down?" I laughed a little, nodding once when I was on steady ground again.

"You're so short on the ground," Jake laughed at me.

"Or maybe you're just freakishly tall." He stopped laughing at my retort.

Jake was my best friend. I had knowing since when I was in third grade and he was in second, when he would laugh at me for reading until I helped him study for a spelling test (And every other test after that.) which he actually passed.