Falling For You

Chapter 1

It's funny how all my three older sisters found their happy endings in the first year of the unknown – college. Winter described it as another four years of torture. Autumn described it as the seasons of change. Summer described it as a new place of conquest. But I described it as the unknown. Partly because high school is a nostalgic land with some new things. But college is the real deal. It's the one way trip to reality. And never in my life had I ever faced reality head on. That's why it was the unknown. At the coming of age of 18, I didn't know what reality entailed for me.

I had always been content with the world that I had created around me by reading millions of fictional books. I never needed to expand my bubble to reality, until that faithful day. April 30, 2017. I still remember the date. It was one of those days, where the other spawns of my parents would annoy me.

I had been sitting on the quilt of my bed, with a novel in my hands. I had been eagerly reading the ink, trying to glimpse the climax, when my older sister Summer snatched the book out of my hands with a smirk on her face. Although she is the closest in age to me, I absolutely detest her. We're like two opposites actually.

While I am a brunette, she is graced with fair hair. While my social skills are horrendous (her words not mine), her's are impeccable. While my looks are average, she is practically a Barbie doll. While my drug is books, her drug is boys.

Anyway she took one glance at the book and threw it into one of the corners of my vast room. All the while I glared at her. She perched on the corner of my bed, her smirk twisting into a smile. At that point the warning bells in my head had gone off.

"So have you decided which college you are going to yet?" she asked casually, observing her perfectly manicured nails. The randomness of the question caught me off guard. Why would she ask me about my future? Something's fishy here.

"Yes, I'm going to go to Willowfalls College," I said sounding confident. However, as soon as those words left my mouth, her jaw dropped. Every part of her body froze as if someone pressed the pause button. As soon as her jaw dropped, I knew the look was coming.

My dear sister, Summer, is the pickiest member of our quaint, humble family. If you do something that is absolutely not to her liking, her whole body will freeze up and she will fix you with a glare, worthy of having you grovel at her feet. My sisters, mother, and I dubbed it as the look. However, over the years we have become immune to it.

Sighing to myself, I pushed myself off the bed and walked over to my fallen book. My fingers were just about to make contact with the book, when the door to my bedroom slammed open. In came my other sister, Autumn.

"Can't a girl get some peace?" I mumbled.

"You're going to stay here?!" Autumn bellowed. She put both hands on her hips and fixed me with a glare. Summer had snapped herself out of her frozen state, and was now staring wide eyed at Autumn.

My sister, Autumn, rarely gets angry. She is a calm and collected person. She is probably the most understanding person out of us, four sisters. However, because of her intuitiveness, she often meddles in other people's lives and tries to solve their problems. So, it wasn't a real big surprise when she revealed what she did in our conversation.

"Nuh-uh, you are not going to stay here. You are going to go far away from here, Spring. You are going to make friends and live a damn life!" she wagged her finger at me, shouting.

"But I can't. I haven't responded to my other acceptance letters," I reasoned. There was no way she was going to make me move somewhere else. I only ever applied to all those other colleges, because mom had insisted.

Her exact words were 'I need to know if there are better opportunities for you.' In fact, that's all she's ever talked about her whole life. It was no mystery to any of us that we had been adopted. We look nothing like each other. Autumn is a ginger with green eyes. Winter is black-haired with icy gray eyes. Not only that, but mom is from India. Anyone who looks at her knows she's Indian.

Much to my surprise, a grin broke out on Autumn's face.

"Actually, I responded to one of your acceptance letters. Get ready to go to Millard University," Autumn said with a twinkle in her eyes. Right then, I felt the first teardrop on my face.

For hours after Autumn had broke the news to me, I cried. I still remember the feeling of betrayal searing through my entire body. In my head, I had cursed my sister with many foul names. Mom came into my room to comfort me too. She even told me she had yelled at Autumn, her favorite child. But I could see the look in her eyes. The look in her eyes that told me that whatever Autumn did was right. At the time, I felt like the whole world was against me.

How wrong I was.