Perfection
It was September and everything was supposed to be perfect. Key word supposed: merely thought to be such; imagined. As in not real because nothing is perfect. Sadly that was not good enough for Raven Yorkshire. She didn’t just want perfection she expected it.
The Black and White ball happens at the end of each summer to kick off the new school year and Raven as a very meticulous sophomore needed every little detail to be superb. She yearned for the perfect dress, shoes, hair, D.J, decorations, and yes food. All of these were vital details to making the ball the most spectacular dance North Arlington High has ever seen but the thing Raven wanted more that anything was for Liam Costello to go as her date. It would be the icing on the cake.
Raven had an older sister, two older brothers, and a younger sister. She wasn’t the oldest, she wasn’t the youngest, Raven didn’t even have the title of being the middle child. I guess you could call her forgotten. Raven’s dad is always focused on the older siblings with trying to help them get into college, while her mom is focused on the baby and yes we are talking about a 12-year-old girl, but since shes the youngest she will always be momma’s baby. Raven really doesn’t have anything that’s her own. She shares a room with her younger sister, a car with her brother, and gets all of her older sister’s clothes. Raven’s mom and dad aren’t really big on affection so to make up for the lack of love and support they just buy her whatever her little heart desires. She puts on an act and pretends to be Miss Popular but really inside she just looking for something to call her own and this year when student consul asked her to be the head of the plans for the Black and White Ball she finally had her something of own that she could make special and show it off to her parents and finally prove to them that she can do something as good as her siblings and that she is good enough.
Oh and did I mention this story isn’t about Raven its about me. I’m Arianna. I just moved into town with my little brother Luke and my Dad. My mom is a marine biologist and she rather spend time on her career than with her own family. Don’t get me wrong she sends a nice big check in the mail every month but that’s not really my idea of motherhood. Don’t worry I’m not going to sit around a cry about it. Nobody has the perfect life at least that’s what I thought.
On my first day of school Raven made me feel right at home… NOT! I walked in feeling all nervous and that other gushy crap about being the new girl and of course the first thing I do is face plant into the marble floor. Yeah I tripped over the trashcan. No but seriously there needs to be like some caution signs or maybe paint the bins like neon yellow so people like me don’t totally humiliate themselves. I had a killer headache. I really hoped it wasn’t a concussion. And there I was sitting on the ground with my books and papers scattered everywhere holding my head because it was throbbing by this point. Can you picture it? Yeah it was not a pretty sight. I think the worst part of it was that no one even noticed, they were all too consumed into what they were doing to see the girl lying on the floor with tears in her eyes. I sat there for what felt like ages just praying to God that I didn’t have a concussion. The belle rung and I still hadn’t collected my books off the floor yet. I just kept thinking to myself, what’s the point, why should I get up. It was true I really didn’t have a reason to get up and walk into a room full of strangers and have them all judge because I’m not keeping up with the latest trends. Literally all I was wearing was some jeans and my Dad’s college sweatshirt. See I was the rock of the family. My brother was only 5 when mom decided to leave and my Dad was wreck so it was up to me to hold this family together. I had to be strong but sitting in the school hallway crying was not apart of the plan. I’m never like this! I am usually very independent and self-supporting.
I didn’t realize when holding all your feelings inside that one little thing could make you break down and this was well my moment. The moment I let everything out. It had to stop. I was not having a mental breakdown about my life in the middle of the hallway on the first day of school. I wiped the tears from my eyes and took a deep breathe. I can do this I just kept telling myself there is no way I am giving up. That’s when he walked in. This tall brown hair, blue eyed boy came strolling down the hall. He must have been twenty minutes late. Was he skipping class. Wait like your one to judge I thought to myself. He saw me and stopped. He gave me a confused face and then a face of sympathy. He didn’t say anything he just held out hand.
