Fragile Pathways

Chapter Three

Ari smiled, knowing this was true. She had been with them Thursday and Friday, and just those two days had worn her out. She had even kicked Erin and the twins out at only ten o’clock Friday to go to bed early. “I can see that,” she agreed.

“And on top of that, they’re your ride to school. And they live across from you.”

Frowning, she looked at her hands. Was she really going to have a hard time with the twins? The two boys that she was already so close to? They seemed to understand her so well, having also moved many miles from home, but what if they became over-bearing? What if she got tired of the two of them, and she had to suffer on a daily basis because of them? They would be together so much compared to her and anyone else and it had the potential to become a problem.

“Don’t worry,” Hannah tried to reassure her. “They’re amazing, just use weekends to your advantage. Breaks from them are few for you.”

Ari nodded her head, her hair falling in front of her face.

Six hours later, at ten, the girls pulled back into Ari’s drive way, smiling and laughing together. “I will see you on Monday, alright?”

They all nodded, watching as she walked up to her front door and entering. She turned to wave before stepping inside and closing the door.

The girls had gone to the movie theatre to see a new movie Hannah and Kristin had been wanting to see, and then they went to the local mall, walking around for three hours yet not buying anything but their food in the food court.

The three girls were all close, and Ari had no problem fitting into their group.

Erin was truly one of a kind, Ari thought. She was strong and could be defensive, but she was emotional. When the boy in the movie died, she was the one to cry, weeping for the character on screen. She had her own unique sense of humor, laughing at certain things, and not understanding others. And, while she was really brunette, it was obvious she was blonde at heart. On more than one occasion she had giggled off-handedly, paused, and started with a ‘wait, what?’

Hannah wasn’t like many others, either. She was head-strong and proud, yet she let other people in. She was one of the few girls Ari knew who tried to play off their sadness and pretend it hadn’t effected them too badly. During the movie, though her eyes watered slightly, she refused to let herself cry, and she held her self. She had a good heart, though, and a good sense of humor. She was incredibly smart, and was in all honors and AP classes, and she read a lot.

Kristin was more reserved than either of them, but when she was full of coffee, she was a completely different person. She was incredibly kind, apologetic, and quiet. She, along with the others, was a unique person. She didn’t like conformity; she liked to be her own person. She had a unique sense of humor, much like Erin, who found one thing positively hilarious, but the next wasn’t even an ounce of funny.

Overall, Ari loved her new friends. They were no Reese or Liza, but they were great. They were already growing on her, and she was almost glad her mom made her move here. Then the realization hit her that she was stuck here and her good mood disappeared.

Sunday passed slowly with nothing to do except mentally prepare herself for school the next day, and also text message all of her friends. Reese, Liza, Vanna, Theodore, and Delaney had all called her earlier that day, catching her up on what she was missing in London. It was nice to have heard them all, laughed with them all, and hear about them.

Monday morning came much too soon for Ari’s liking, and she woke herself at five-thirty, having showered the night before. After waking up and letting Regulus out, Ari wander to the kitchen, dropping two slices of bread into the toaster, taking out the butter, and also the strawberry jam. While she waited, she ran to her room, plugging in her flat iron and turning it on, then choosing her clothes for the day. She settled on a pair of gray jean-capri pants with a purple shirt with ‘love’ written across the front in an elegant script.