I am Lydia Hudson and THIS is the story of my life.
I am seventeen, extremely scared of what the future holds for me and a very adamant introvert who does not communicate well with others, not even her family members. I am a simple, basic person attending the local public school with a taste for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a habit of binge-watching sitcoms.
"First day back in DC, huh? How're feeling? You sure you're up for starting the new semester in a whole new school." My sister, Lily, who is just an year older than me asked as we sat down for breakfast in our gorgeous, cutesy little dining area designed and taken care of entirely by our absolute perfectionist of a mother, Aliyah.
"Great! I have no pain, no bleeding, no vomit sensations, so today has started on a very good note. Besides, you're gonna be there too, so it's gonna be fine."
Oh, I forgot to mention. I am as normal a teenager as they come except for the fact that I suffer from a rare condition that makes me prone with liver failure and restricts my lifespan to less than 30 years. these are good odds right now because as I hear, my birth story involved a juicy life-death situation because I was a very sick baby with a survival chance of lower than 10%. somehow by gods' grace and countless doctors and medical treatments, I have successfully made it to 17th year of my life.
I have lived a good life so far, not much drama though, considering I spent most of my middle school going in and out of a hospital and have very protective parents owing to this 'deathly' sickness. But I'm hoping to live a very dramatic life going forward. As I've heard this new school has some crazy stories waiting for me, at least I hope so. Connor, my younger brother, who is a high school freshman claimed that the 'chicks are extremely hot'. Yup, Connor can be a dick sometimes but at least he is a decent sibling.
"Hey, fart face! I am sitting shotgun today."
Well, he has his moments...
"Okay honey, I'm gonna drop these headaches off to school before leaving for office. Hope, you have a great first day. Love you, bye!" My dad gave a quick forehead kiss to my mom and smacked Connor's head before getting into the car where we were almost settled down. He gave me a knowing smile and I realised that even though I was a middle child, I was daddy's princess and Connor sucked.
"Sam, you're taking three kids in that car and I expect three back in the evening along with my dry cleaning which you promised to pick up!" While my mom started this a nag, we were really out of earshot by the time she finished so in the end she was screaming.
I loved these days, where we were as normal as any regular dysfunctional family could be. We've had challenges, a lot of them. we've seen more tough times than average considering my prolonged sickness, the monetary issues that came with it, their jobs, and even a consideration of separation on my parents' part. They've lived difficult lives and I really am to blame for a lot of it so going forward I hope to help them keep their happiness as long as possible, maybe even forever, but life isn't so kind sometimes...
We reached school in less than 10 minutes. Guess we lived closer than I expected. We got down to the battlefield and our dad raced away to his battleground. It was simple, go in, attend classes, make acquaintances, get out and Lily and Connor will be right outside. What could go wrong in 8 hours?
I got my essentials and details sorted out at the admin office and walked towards my first class on the first floor. I was scheduled for an AP Biology class first thing in the morning. I mean, I loved bio but even I couldn't handle advanced biology class as soon as I woke up.
I sat down at the back hoping no one would be too curious and expecting it to be empty. It hurt a little when absolutely no one cared about the new girl though, it was as if I was invisible, I wanted to lay low, not be invisible.
While I wallowed in my sadness and insecurity, a guy with the single most gigantic glasses came and asked to sit besides me. I wasn't judging or anything, even I wear reading glasses but these were covering half his face.
"Hey, I'm Aidan! Are you new here?"
"Yup, just transferred from Virginia."
Between exchanging all the niceties and asking some general questions about the school we had a great conversation for the little over 10 minutes we had before the bell rung.
While most of the people were seated, a small number were still moving around looking for good, discreet seats. I wasn't the only one not feeling up for AP Bio I guess. A few people passed around smiles, while others ignored me.
Just as the bell rung, and everyone diverted their attention towards the front door, he came in, the prettiest, most beautiful looking guy I've ever seen in my life. And with that the time stopped, and my brain processed his entrance in the slowest speed possible. I used to think, all the love stories and the books and the movies were giving bullshit with the exaggeration and while I may have joined the crew in that respect, it was the single most precious moment of my life....because it was the day I fell in love for the first time in my entire life.
As I drooled all over the desk, Aidan waved a hand in front of me dangling my embarrassment in front of the class.
"Hey! Lydia, are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, I was lost in..." I took a quick glance at the cause of my distraction who had already settled down with his group of friends who had saved him a seat and turned back to Aidan.
"...thought!"
Since we didn't have a schedule for homeroom today, no teacher bothered to ask about my never before seen presence and carried on with whatever they had been teaching for the past week. I realised that I had a lot to catch up considering I missed a week because of my final consultation with Dr. Day who had been in-charge of my case since I was 5 and had recently moved to New York to start anew.
I guess we all were starting anew.
"Hi, I am Sarah, I think I saw in my Math class today. You're new, right?" Sarah had apparently decided to invade my personal space and trap me between her and my locker. She was tall, with the prettiest cornrow braids I'd ever seen and was carrying around a basketball. As I examined her, she stood up absolutely straight as a way to mock my behaviour. Embarrassed I turned pink.
"Hi!?"
"You don't say much, do you?"
"I'm sorry, you caught me off-guard. I'm Lydia and yes, I'm new here. We also shared gym but you were busy scoring baskets so you might not have noticed me."
"Yeah, sorry, basketball is my calling. Kinda cliche, I know but I have three brothers and everybody loved Kobe growing up."
"That makes perfect sense, so you're in the team?"
"Yup, captain actually." She winked at me while showing off her wrist-band that had a fancy 'C' printed on it.
"Wow! Good for the school, you're awesome. Obviously, I base this on my very limited knowledge of basketball goes and seeing you play solo in a single gym class."
"What do you have next? I'll walk with you and we can chat more."
I gladly took that proposal without a debate as I had been lost thrice in the corridors searching for my classes and I desperately needed a guide even more than an acquaintance, glad I got both in Sarah.
The last class of the day was none other than AP English Lit, turns out Sarah and I had the same class and by then we had gotten comfortable enough to get a bit more personal than our corridor conversation.
"...so yeah, I have three brothers, all of them are in college and I'm the last one left with mom before I follow in their footsteps hopefully."
We talked about our personal situations including my life-long visits to the hospital and little about her dad's death the year before which was still fresh for her and something that she struggled to deal with and wanted to talk about. I felt good being a stranger she could talk to if it made her feel a bit better. As we got back in the corridor and walked towards our lockers. My eyes followed the pretty guy from my first class whom I had been absolutely stunned by so I risked sounding desperate and asked Sarah about him.
"Oh, that's Hart Marcus Caldron. Yeah, I know, he's an eye catcher, he's kind of a sweet guy too..."
And as Sarah went to elaborate her knowledge of who that guy might be. I stayed back to her very first sentence.
His name was Hart Marcus Caldron.
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