The Forbidden Fruit

Where it all Began

There it is. The same stupid alarm that goes off every single morning. I used to be a difficult kid to wake up, so mom suggested making my alarm something I'd look forward to. She said "Poker Face" would probably do the trick, since that's all I listened to back then. Even after everything that has happened, I just can't bring myself to change it.

I turn over to my phone and hit the stop button, making sure to take my time and soak in the last moments of the song. I jump out of bed and made my way to the bathroom down the hall. After I shut the door I glance at myself in the mirror, inspecting every inch of my face. The dark circles under my eyes seem to get worse and worse every time I look in this mirror. The curls on my head seem to be getting more frizzier by the day. I haven't been taking care of myself the way I used to. I open the faucet, cupping my hands underneath getting a pool of cold water. Splash. Like ice traveling throughout my body. I began brushing my teeth and wrapping up in the bathroom, dreading going downstairs to the kitchen. I hated going into the kitchen in the morning. Dad was always there making his cup of coffee sitting in silence and praying. Ever since the accident, he leaves an empty cup across from him. Saving a cup for my mom, I guess. I knew he was struggling to get through his days, but he would always pretend to be okay for me. 

Before I enter the kitchen I take a deep breath, getting ready to put on the best performance of my life.  "Good morning, dad! How'd you sleep last night?",  I said smiling from ear to ear. He quickly lifts up his face, also putting on the best performance of HIS life. "Good morning, sweetie. Not too bad, how about yourself?" he placed his cup down after taking a sip. " I couldn't really sleep, I've been super excited about starting junior year." Lie, I actually couldn't sleep because I was dreading today. Having to fake a smile for 8 hours was going to be mentally exhausting, I'm not even sure if I'm going to make it through the first 3 hours. " I'm glad you have something to look forward to, you just keep going, dear. Don't let nothing stop ya." , his voice cracking at the last words. As I glanced over at him, he was staring at the empty cup across from him. His eyes were filled with so much grief and sadness. I just couldn't handle it, I couldn't handle seeing him like this. I go into the fridge, grabbing the milk and laying it on the counter. I grab the captain crunch on top of the fridge and pour it into a bowl, followed by the milk. As I sit down, about to dig into my bowl, my dad glares at me waiting for me to say my prayer. I close my eyes, bowed my head and prayed. I get through half of my cereal, not being able to finish it. I get up dump the milk out and throw out the remaining cereal. " You know how I feel about wasting food in this house." he says almost slamming his cup down on the table. " I'm sorry dad, I just can't finish it. I'll clean the bowl after school promise." I grab my backpack and rushed out the door. 

The second my face hits the air outside, I took a deep breath in and let out a loud sigh. I walk to the bus stop, overthinking how the whole day will play out. Ever since mom passed, I've had this crippling anxiety in me. I overthink EVERY situation, even when they're very insignificant. "Come on, Nevaeh. You can do this, it's just school." I quietly whisper to myself.  As I'm thinking of every unlikely situation that could possible happen, my thoughts get interrupted by a car honking. I quickly glance to the right and see a car zooming down the street. It looked like a very old car, but not the ugly ones. I'm not a car girl but if I had to guess it was some kind of Ford. Probably older than me.  The car passes and goes flying down the road, before I knew it, it was gone.  The bus finally arrives. I get on the bus and continue overthinking the whole way there. 

It feels like I blinked and we were here. I gather my belongings and get off the bus. The bus drops me off about one block away from the school.  I plug in my headphones and try to calm my thoughts. I'm about half way up the block and out of nowhere I feel these arms wrap around my whole body. I could physically feel this person jumping up and down in excitement, meaning it could only be one person. "Hey, Iris!" I said almost squealing. Out of all of my friends, Iris is the one that made me feel the most sane. " I missed you so much! I cannot wait to see what this year brings us. " she wraps her arm around mine as she walks beside me. "Hold on, hold on. I'm getting one of those feelings again!" She says as she closes her eyes and tries to "focus" on whatever it is she's feeling. Iris has always said she was a witch or something. She gets these feelings sometimes. She can " sense" people's vibes or whatever. " We are going to have a year full of happiness, love, and maybe a little bit of danger." she says as she nudges me. "Yes, because we love danger." I said feeling my throat close up. I could tell by her face she did not mean any harm by what she said. I didn't mean to sound any kind of way either. It just seems like I'm constantly being reminded of the accident. She squeezes her eyes and clutches her hands. " Shit. I didn't mean to say that. I'm sorry." She said letting out a huge sigh. I chuckled and nudged her. " You're fine, I'm just being a loser. I'll get over it." 

We pull up to the front of the school and start walking towards the entrance. The front is filled with a bunch of freshman who seem to be very lost, communicating with each other. Laughing having fun with not a second thought in mind. I missed those days. " There is no such thing as "getting over it", just learning to live with it and holding onto those memories a little tighter." Iris says as she gives me a hug. I'm so grateful for her. " Okay, enough of the mush. Let's go find our lockers!" she grabs my hands and begins to drag me inside the school. We find our lockers and start putting our belongings in there. We look at our schedules and head to our first period class. "Ugh. I have Calculus first period. I swear the devil is working overtime today." Iris whines.  It looks like I have Physics first period." I said glaring down at my schedule. "Catch you after class?" Iris says as she goes the opposite direction. I smile and wave bye to her. 

I walk into Physics and take a seat all the way in the back. About 5 minutes go by everybody is sitting down and the teacher walks in. " Alright class, welcome back. My name is Mr. Henderson and I will be your Physics teacher this year." He continues to yap about what we will be learning about and all these other things I could careless about. I start to daydream about what my life would've been like if my mom was here. What would've happened if the other driver just decided to call an Uber instead of driving. What if that empty cup my dad had across from him this morning wasn't empty, and it was full. If she was there enjoying it with my dad. Sometimes I question my faith. We've always been a christian family, my mother always went to church. She always followed the bible. Why her? Out of all the evil, people in the world, why was she the one who had to suffer? As I start spiraling, the door opens and a boy walks in. As soon as he walked in the air felt heavy. "Well, good morning to you. Are you in the right class?" Mr. Henderson asked looking down at the list of names he has. " I believe I'm exactly where I need to be." he says looking around the classroom. His voice sent shivers up my spine, I felt all the hairs on my neck stand up. His voice sounded almost heavy. If the room wasn't quiet I'd think he hummed his sentence. Even though his voice filled the room, it was smooth like velvet. " Would you happen to be Lucas Morningstar?" Mr. Henderson said looking up from his list, lifting an eyebrow. " You would be correct." his eyes fell dead on me. My heart dropped all the way down to my stomach. His eyes were a dark honey color, it felt like they were looking into my soul. I felt completely see-through. He had dark golden waves that stopped above his ears. His hair wasn't long but long enough for the light to show some deep brown tones.  He just looked... beautiful, in a very unsettling way. Everything about him just felt daring.