Beautiful Secret (Part One)

Part Two

            “So over this summer I met this guy. We’ll call him… Drake. He totally had the hots for me, but I was like… no way. Not into you like that. Turns out he was working backstage at a concert for this AWESOME local band. Long story short…  I should have just pretended to like him to score free access back stage. I mean, it would have only been a few hours anyway.”

            Ignacia’s mouth hung open.

            “Are you kidding me?” she asked. “What does that have to do with you and who you are?”

            Falon shrugged.

            “I guess I make bad decisions sometimes?”

            Ignacia sighed.

            “Okay fine. Bad decision maker. I guess I can work with that.”

            Ignacia told her story next after she wrote down an idea for Falon’s picture. It was something about when she was younger. I guess she and her mother used to dance to some crazy music before she went to bed at night, and because of that, she’s grown to have a love for that kind of music. I forgot what it was. Something foreign I guess. It gave Ethan a great idea on what to do for hers though.

            Then there was me. What story would I tell? After Ethan told his, and after I wrote down my idea for the picture I’d draw, everyone turned to me. It was then that I realized I hadn’t been thinking of my own story.

            I could tell them about how my parents were both completely losers, and about how I moved out as soon as I got the chance and enough money. Seemed a little cliché to me though. I needed something more… unique, something no one else could possibly use. That’s when I thought hit me. Kiani.

            Would it be weird to tell them about Kiani? What twenty-one year old admitted to having a twelve year old “daughter” on her first day of a new semester with people she had never spoken to before? How would they even react?

            “Well… uhhh…I live on my own. I moved out just last year after I got enough money from working at the college. I moved out because my parents were… kind of useless.” Here I was… choosing the easy way out. “Oh yeah, and I have a non-biological daughter who lives with me. She’s twelve. I bet that makes me the most unique person in this room.” Now I had made it more interesting.

            Falon raised an eyebrow, Ignacia’s mouth fell open again, and Ethan dropped his pencil. All of them looked at me, confused.

            “How on Earth would you get a hold of a child? And why?” Ignacia asked.

            “I didn’t,” I told her. “I didn’t choose it.  She just kind of showed up one day and I took her in. I’d like to think this makes me a unique caring person. Think you can work with that, Falon?”

            She snapped out of a deep thought and nodded slowly.

            “Ugh… yeah. Yeah I guess I can work with that. Say… I have a ‘daughter’ too. She’s about the same age. How did you say you got her again?”

            I was shocked.

            “No way! Seriously? What are the odds?”

            Falon smiled.

            “Yeah, yeah. Shocking and all. Seriously though… how did you end up with her?”

            “I told you, she just kind of showed up.”

            Falon thought for a moment, twirling a finger through her long, raven black hair.

“Interesting….”

-

I talked to Falon after class on my way to work. She wasn’t all that bad, once you really got to know her. In fact, it turns out we were in sort of a similar situation, as hard as that was to believe.

“I guess I’m not so unique anymore then.”

She laughed.

“Sure you are. The only thing different is that I am too. We both are.”

“True.” I paused for a moment, unsure of what to say next. Then I was curious. “So what’s your girl’s name?’ I asked.

“Liora.”

“Pretty.”

“Yeah. Yours?”

“Kiani.

“Cool. What’s it like for you? I mean you said you live on your own and all. I live with my aunt. She’s accepting of Liora. She just doesn’t understand why no one else can take care of her.”

“It’s a little hard money wise,” I admitted. “Great otherwise though. Kiani is a good kid. Why can’t anyone else take Liora?”

Falon shrugged.

“Beats me. Liora just won’t have it. She’s kind of a brat sometimes. You got lucky.”

I smiled.

“I sure did.” We hit the doors to the part of the building I was working in and I turned to face Falon. “Well it was nice meeting you. This is all just too weird. Maybe we should get the two of them together sometime. Kiani’s worried she won’t make friends anyway, so this will give her a good start.”

Falon nodded.

“Yeah, sure. Sounds great. How about Friday after classes get out? I’m free then.”

“Sounds perfect,” I answered.

Falon smiled too now.

“It was nice meeting you too, Angie. Can’t wait for Friday.”

So I had officially made my first friend. If I could call her that. Maybe it was a little too early to tell. There was still the fact that Falon seemed a little more wild and outspoken than me. It would probably take a lot of work to get used to being around a girl like her.