After being rejected by her brother's best friend when Anna and Arizona read her diary, Tailime just wanted to get through school like any other girl her age. Of course she would have made it, if not for the fact that fate had other plans and it dec...
She took her bag, and putting it on her shoulder, she adjusted the red knit beanie over her ginger hair, combed in a side ponytail. That vacation her hair had grown incredibly quickly. Her mother had strongly insisted on taking her to a spa and various beauty salons to improve her image.
She sighed remembering the painful facials and excessive makeovers. Her parents lived in Russia due to the high demand for her father's work in that country.
It hadn't been like this from the beginning. She, along with her brother and parents, had come to live with her grandfather Hedeon in the United States because of the company led by the Nazarova patriarch: BioIntellekt.
After two years, the headquarters in Moscow ended up having serious problems due to poor management by the manager on duty and her father had to return. They had been offered to take them with them, but both Kai and Tailime preferred to stay in the United States with their grandfather until they finished high school. Only for college would they decide whether to return to Russia or stay in the United States.
That's why every opportunity they had, be it vacations or holidays, Hedeon put them on a direct plane to Moscow.
Tailime opened the door to her locker to look at herself in the small mirror inside. Her fair skin remained the same, except for the slight pinkish tone she had on her cheeks due to the blush her mother had bought, along with a large beauty kit that she was sometimes afraid to touch.
Thanks to treatments at one of the two spas she had visited, her hair had grown beautiful and silky, or at least that was what the pamphlet they had given her upon entering promised. She looked at the loose curls that fell over her shoulder.
Tailime had never had her hair that long. She usually wore it short and scruffy, as the heat in Sacramento was sometimes uncontrollable. But she let it grow to make her mother happy, although in the end, she ended up liking it and decided to let it continue growing.
She started walking through one of the school hallways, towards the classrooms of her grade; where they would tell her which group and room she would have to be in for the rest of the year; when someone pushed her forward, almost slamming her into the lockers on the wall.
Tailime looked somewhat confused, but frowned as soon as she realized who it was.
She didn't need many clues to identify the person when she noticed the blond hair.
Alek Ivanov. Another one of her brother's group of friends that she'd have preferred never to meet. And it's not that they didn't got along. It was just—
Tailime had to shake her head as she noticed she was starting to blush.
Just when they had moved to Sacramento and entered middle school five years ago, both she and Kai ended up in different groups, making different friends. Kai still maintained the same circle of friends from that time, consisting of Luka, Serge, Arizona, Anna and.... Ivanov.
Alek was the typical high school star kid. Russian by birth, but raised in the United States. He was athletic, fond of swimming, with grades above the class, in addition to being quite attractive. Those dark golden hairs stood out even in a crowd, and Tailime had found that she could get lost in the intense blue of his eyes.
Yeah. Once upon a time, Alek had been Tailime's crush. It was shortly after Kai had been confident enough to bring all his friends over to the house that she met him. She had always secretly admired Alek, and although they didn't speak much because of the girl's shyness, he was kind, so to speak, to her, but they had never gone beyond a mundane conversation and greetings in the school hallways.
By mistake, Tailime wrote a diary, fantasizing that one day, Alek would notice her, and they would be happily ever after.
She felt a chill remembering that tragic event.
One day, at one of the many parties her brother threw, Anna Wright and Arizona Wagner ended up sneaking into her room, finding the freaking diary. Long story short, they told Alek everything. And although he never said anything to her, Tailime ended up understanding the rejection when Alek avoided her every time he found her face to face.
It was then that Tailime realized that Alek wasn't the guy she had idealized. Somewhat hurt and disappointed, she decided to give it the same importance that Ivanov gave to the matter: zero.
Finally she came to the board that displayed the list of the different eleventh grade groups. Several students were still up to the front, so not all the lists could be seen from the back. Tailime stood on tiptoe trying to see her name. Why didn't any of her teachers understand that with such small print no one was going to be able to see anything?
"Tai!"
A shout from the crowd made her look away.
Mia DiMarco and Emma Miller were on the other side of the hallway. Mia was waving at her to get her attention. She had long hair tied up in a ponytail, her clean and defined features made her one of the prettiest girls in school, adorning her face with chocolate eyes that contrasted with her long eyelashes. The two had been best friends since Tai had arrived in Sacramento and the Russian barely spoke English.
Emma was the nerdy girl of her generation, she wore huge glasses in front of her blue eyes, although what stood out most of all her physique was her colorful hair, which had been pink since the last school year. She always liked to change colors in stages. It was strange, but fun. After a few days of the new color, everyone got used to it.
Tai headed towards them, greeted with an effusive hug from Mia.
"How nice to see you again!" Mia told her excitedly.
"It was only a month and a half," Tai smiled, not knowing what to do with the display of affection.
"Sometimes I miss you, you know?" the girl reprimanded Tai, releasing her and seeing her face. Mia raised an eyebrow as she got a closer look at Tai. "Are you... Are you wearing—?"
"Mascara?" Emma asked when she noticed that little detail too.
"Oh," Tai responded, smiling sadly. "Yeah. My mama got a little excited this vacation and thought that with some makeup I would look a little prettier. Do I look bad?"
"No." Emma answered, still looking at her carefully.
"Are you insane?" Mia shouted with a smile, directing her gaze to Tai's right shoulder. "And your hair!"
"Yes," Tai sighed, looking at it too. "I think that's the only good thing about this vacation."
"Well, your mom didn't waste her time with you." Mia's smile was one of excitement. "You look cute, Tai."
"Thank you," Tai appreciated the gesture and looked at Emma. "Are we in the same group?"
"We don't know." Emma looked at the list surrounded by several students while crossing her arms. "We were waiting for you to see it together."
"Are we ready, musketeers?" Mia asked, starting to move the onlookers who no longer had anything to do there.
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