1.1| Social Casualty

14| fight for you

"Where's your bag then?" Natalia asked me with a smirk, oh she definitely knew I was lying.

"You know girls! We always leave our stuff at each other's places and sometimes we borrow each other's clothes! Kind of like a, um, friendship..bonding..thing!" I attempted to tell them, stuttering over my words, confusing myself in the process.

"Okay well, tell Sebastian hi for me." Lucas remarked at me, smirking at my flustered state.

"Okay I wi-wait what?" I asked him with wide eyes, biting in my bottom lip nervously. Lucas and Natalia were looking at me with wide grins laughing at my expression.

"Relax, Alex. You're almost 18 and sadly I can't control everything you do in your life. Just don't get pregnant!" Lucas shouted out to me as I walked into the elevator, softly giggling to myself.

•••

I decided against calling Jeffrey to come and pick me up since the address of where I'm headed, isn't pleasant.

I climbed out of the taxi after paying him, and looked around at my surroundings. I've never been outside of the Upper East Side on my own before, especially so late in the night. The buildings surrounding me were very rundown, with some broken windows, wooden boards covering them. There's a few dark alleys along both sides of the street, vulgar graffiti decorating the walls. There's a few groups of people walking along the streets, some smoking god knows what, some probably walking home, and some walking towards where they'll be staying tonight.

Looking around this part of New York, I realise how different it is to where I've always known. I've grown up in a luscious penthouse with a loving family, never having to worry about where our next meal is coming from, or where we'll be sleeping for the night. I've had a good education in an outstanding school, and I have the option to go to any college of my choice since we can afford it. We own more than three houses across our country, not even including our holiday ones around the world. You may think that this is me bragging about what I've got, but I'm not. I'm realising. I'm realising how different our worlds are, even though it only took me twenty minutes to get here.

Seeing these different people scattered around the street, lying on the floor with a tattered blanket to shield them from the cold, makes me feel guilty. How naive do you have to be to not realise that this happens in your own city? I've been so concentrated on my own problems, not even realising that there's much bigger things to be worrying about other than my fucking feelings. I've felt guilt over some stuff, but I've never felt this guilty before. Seeing these people shivering in the harsh weather breaks my heart into a million pieces. But what really hurts me, is seeing a little girl, about the age of 12, curled up into a ball shivering.

I walked up to the girl slowly, planning out what I want to say to the poor thing. I crouched down next to her, evidently gaining her attention. She looked at me with small brown eyes, lips turned blue from the cold, her platinum blonde hair messy.

"Hi, my names Alexandra. What's your name?" I asked her quietly with a warm smile.

"Georgia." She responded to me quietly.

"I came here to help you, if you'd like it?" She nodded quickly at me as I smiled in response. I handed her two $100 bills, thinking that I don't need them because she needs them way more then me. She shook her head profusely, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Please. I've always had money when I didn't even need it. I want to help you Georgia. You can get rid of it if you want to, but you could spend it on some new clothes, food and drink, whatever. Please?" I asked her desperately, tears forming in my eyes as I looked at her smile forming on her cute little face.