My face falls as I walk towards my locker. Both of my sisters are there, ready to ambush me with a topic I don’t want to discuss. I sigh as I approach them.
“Chris and I are done for good this time, regardless how many times he apologizes.” I tell them as I open my locker.
“So there is a God who creates miracles,” Lillie replies. Vivitina scoffs and gives me a doubtful look. I chuckle.
I open my locker and see the necklace with a ruby pendant in front of my books. “Though it seems he is going to try anyway”, I mutter. I move the necklace aside and grab my books as my sisters argue about whether I should keep the gift or not.
“I won’t be keeping the necklace, or any of the other gifts he has given me. He won’t stop if he thinks he can guilt-trip me into giving him some of my time. Anyway, Viv, good luck on your math exam that you spent the night ‘studying for’, and Lil, let me know if you are coming over for dinner before 5 so I have time to make enough the first time please. It’s sloppy joes and mashed potatoes tonight.” I close my locker and walk off, making a mental note that I need a new lock so Chris can’t get in anymore.
One thing that sucks about being orphaned is that the Avila’s adopted Lillie before the Riddles found Viv and I. Luckily, our two families are close thanks to both families' efforts. I know that we are extremely lucky, as most prospective parents wouldn’t be willing to take in triplets. I’m just happy to see both my sisters every day, and that we get along the way we do. Our biological father died in the military and our mother died giving birth to us. According to the medical records, the broken heart of losing our father and the complications of labor was just too much to bear.
I’ve always wondered what growing up with them would have been like. Mom and Dad are great but I just felt that something was missing about my life. I always felt guilty because it isn’t like I knew anything about them to miss anything but the idea of it.
The bell ending class pulls me out of my reminiscing and I scribble down our homework as if I was paying attention to anything that happened during class. I go to my locker, and start getting ready to go. As I grab the necklace, hoping I can catch Chris before I head home, I am joined by unwanted company. I secretly hope that ignoring her will make her go away.
“So Chris finally realized he is too good for you?” Shasha asks. I roll my eyes and say nothing. “I knew being a goody-two-shoes was too boring to keep him satisfied.”
I continue to ignore her as I text him to meet me in front of the school. Shasha keeps talking but I finally finish getting everything together and start walking away. I know I am being petty by not even greeting her, but considering how childish she is… I don’t care.
I walk and wait in front of school when one of my few friends, Lyra, joins me. “Hey girl, waiting for King Liar? I told you he was a player.” She greets me. She never liked him and has called him that since day one.
“Yeah, but no need to say I told you so. Ready for tomorrow?” We are doing a bake sale to raise money for a club trip. As secretary of the FBLA, it was my job to make sure all the time slots were full.
“About that, my sister is in town and my parents gave me permission to leave school to have lunch with her, so…”
“It’s ok. I will take your shift.” Since I volunteered to bake for the sale, I wasn’t going to work the stand myself. However, this project was my idea, so I wanted to make sure it went off without a hitch.
“Thank you so much. Anyway, I see Chis so I am taking off. See you tomorrow.” She runs off and I go to meet Chris.
“Hey babe, I see you got my gift. We’re good now, right?” He greets me cockily. I don’t know why I thought his cockiness was hot.
“I was looking for you to give this back.” I say and toss the necklace to him. His eyes go wide as if it never occurred to him that I would truly break up with him. “Also, my name is Ash, not babe.”
“Oh come on, I was just playing around. You know you’re my forever girl.” Chris says. "Don't worry. Now that I know we are applying for colleges, I know it's time to be serious about life."
"No Chris, this is likely going to continue." I retort, rolling my eyes. "How about this, leave me alone for now and we can go back to being friends later."
"Fine, but when you change your mind let me know." Chris says, sauntering off to his truck.
Well, if he waits for me to change my mind, then I won't have to worry about him anymore. I sigh and start walking to my motorcycle. I've always enjoyed the wind in my hair. Especially when the day is full of drama.
I pull into the driveway and park my bike next to my dad's car. I've always loved our house. Mom and Dad own 3 acres and most of it is covered in forest. Two young willows stand tall in front of the driveway that our parents planted at the time of our adoption. At the end of the driveway is a two-story bungalow-style house with five bedrooms and four bathrooms.
I walk inside and see my dad sitting on the couch watching a documentary on wolves. "Hey Dad, I'm home but Viv is over with Lillie."
"Alright." After we exchange greetings, I sit and watch the show with him until it's time to make dinner.
"Mom closing tonight?" I ask. My mom helps manage a mom and pop shop owned by the Avilias.
"Yep. Will Lillie be joining us for dinner?"
Just as soon as he says that, my phone dings. It's Lillie saying she is coming with her mom. I relay the message and go off to the kitchen.
A while later, I hear the door open. "I'm home with company", Viv announces.
"Cool. Hey Lillie and Tina. Viv, do you want to set the table?" I yell back.
Soon after the table is set and everyone joins to eat. Dad starts the conversation.
"How's Charlotte?" Charlotte was Tina's partner until she chose to become a Ranger at Yellowstone.
"She was doing well the last time we talked. He is back to working in the conservative part of the park now that Christmas is over." She would always try to be in the tourist area whenever we had a break from school in case Lillie wanted to visit. Viv and I have got to go a couple of times as well. "Right now she is trying to track down some wolves that are causing problems. They can't seem to get an accurate count on them. Anyway, how is work for you, Wyatt?" Tina answers.
"Had a guy who didn't want to slide after getting up on top of the tower. Almost had to push him down." Dad works at a Zipline at Big Sky Resort. Dinner continues in the same fashion as we recount different things that happened over the last couple days. After dinner, we split into two groups. Tina and my Dad move off to the living room to chat until Mom gets home and my sisters and I head to my room to do our homework.
"I see you kept the flowers," Viv states.
"Yeah, I kept the flowers but got Chris off my back. At least for now." I changed the subject. "Did you guys finish your homework?" I ask while starting mine. I don't have much.
"No. I'm off to do that now." Viv waves as she heads to her room. See you tomorrow.
"Goodnight" we shout after her. Lillie finished hers already, so she heads down to bake cookies for our bake sale tomorrow while I do my work. I join her when I'm done.
As I pull the final batch from the oven, the door opens and we hear Mom greeting Tina and Dad. Soon after, she comes in and greets us.
"Lillie", Tina calls from the doorway, "I'm leaving. Are you staying or coming?" She decides to stay.
My dad comes in after locking the door and tells us to head off to bed. "I'll finish packing these up for you. I'm off tomorrow anyway."
"Alright, goodnight." I say. They echo goodnight and I head up to bed.
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