Chapter 1

"Aurora!" Evangeline's voice, which now sounded extremely annoying, forced me to open my eyes."Aurora, wake up!" She called again, knocking insistently on my bedroom door, making me cover my head with the thick blanket and sink my face into the pillows.

Evangeline was my younger sister and, despite her age, she was usually very mature. Most of the time, she was too mature. I was only fifteen, but sometimes it felt like she was the eldest and I was the teenager.

"You're going to be late." I heard a sigh from outside, she'd probably be running her hands through her hair by now, annoyed at my tardiness."I won't call you anymore."The sound of her footsteps became more and more distant, until everything was silent again, and then I got up."

This was our morning ritual, she came to wake me up every day, I refused to get up, she left and only then did I get up. I begrudgingly got out from under the covers, the weather was very cold, which was another reason why I wanted to stay in bed, but unfortunately I had a life outside my room and I was probably already late.

Damn.

I walked lazily to the bathroom and took off my completely childish pyjamas, printed with various unicorns and rainbows. I tied up my hair and turned on the shower, feeling the hot water run down my skin and make me feel more relaxed, which wasn't a good thing, after all, I was late, I should have been ready by now, but half my brain was still asleep. I left the bathroom wrapped in a blue towel and stopped in front of my closet, opening it and looking at all the clothes in there for a few seconds.

Letting out a long sigh, I grabbed a pink sweatshirt, a white T-shirt and tight jeans. I got dressed as quickly as I could, which wasn't much, and then put on my sneakers, looking at myself in the mirror and grimacing.

Dropped.

That's how I was at the moment. I just wanted my bed. I grabbed my backpack and opened the door to my room, heading down the hall and slowly down the stairs, yawning a few times. I passed through the living room, but didn't stop. I knew that by now everyone would be in the kitchen, where the wonderful smell of coffee and homemade bread was coming from. Evangeline looked at me with a small laugh, stopping a spoonful of cereal on its way to her mouth.

"Did it take you this long to go out like this?" She asked me, sarcastically.

Eva looked a lot like our mother, their eyes were identical, intense and striking blue, their faces had angelic features and plump lips, and their hair was blonde, wavy and long. Mom used to say that Eva was like a teenage copy of herself and she was right, her face was a little rounded and she had naturally red lips, she was so delicate and cute. On top of all that, Eva was extremely intelligent, with a very sharp tongue.

"Good morning, darling," said my mother, Victoria, giving me a kiss on the cheek and handing me a cup of black coffee, just the way I liked it.

My mother was an incredibly beautiful and successful woman who wasn't usually at home, so whenever she took a break from traveling, we would have coffee together and dinner together. Victoria was a renowned sexologist who had lectured throughout the USA and had also visited several countries, such as England and France. When I was little, I was very ashamed of my mother's profession, but over time I got used to it and now I really like it, I've learned a lot from her.

"Good morning, princess," Dad said as soon as I sat down, leaving my backpack on the floor next to the chair.

My father put the newspaper down, smiled at me and went back to reading. He was never a man of many words, Mr. Becker expressed things in his own way. He was usually very quiet, perhaps it was the fault of his profession, he listened to people so much that perhaps it made him very introverted. Like my mother, he was well"known and renowned, but as a psychologist. The two of them were the perfect couple and used to work together, they had even released a book some time ago. They used to go on long trips during the year, so moments like these weren't that common.

"I thought you were getting married, cutie." I looked over at the stove and saw Clay with a piece of bread on its way to his mouth and a lopsided smile.

He was my best friend, picking me up every day to go to school and always arriving early to have coffee with my family. I felt like I'd known him forever, but that wasn't the case. We met when I was nine and he was eight. Clay went to see a psychologist who happened to be my father. I had to do some kind of activity, about what one of my parents' work was like to hand in at my school, and since my mother's work wasn't the best option for presenting to a children's class, I ended up in my father's office, sitting in a little pink chair, totally bored while people came and went.

I'd been in the room for over half an hour, alone, sitting in my little pink chair with a notebook resting on my legs. I had to write a short text about my father's work, but since I couldn't see the appointments, I just sat there watching people go in and out of the office, after long conversations with him.

I was about to fall asleep when the door opened once again and a little boy came into the room accompanied by a woman. He looked a little haggard, his brown eyes sad. He was about three fingers taller than me, had cute cheeks and slightly tanned skin. His hair was a bit frizzy and he had a very cute teddy bear in his hands.

The boy sat in the chair next to me, but it was too high for him, making him wiggle his little legs all the time. I looked at him sometimes, I was curious, I wanted to talk, so I was the first to speak. I nudged his arm, which was hanging off the chair, and he looked at me, so I smiled.

"I'm Aurora, would you like to see the stickers in my notebook?"I finally said.

He didn't answer straight away, he was quiet for a long moment, then I began to think that he hadn't liked me and I couldn't help a sad expression, he seemed so nice. But, after long minutes of staring at me without saying anything while I showed him my table of cute stickers, when I didn't know what to say, he whispered shyly:

"My name is Clay."

That was the first time we talked. Clay developed a lot after his appointments, especially after we started talking. Whenever he had an appointment, my father would take me to the office so we could play a bit before our appointments. When I turned nine, he came to my birthday party and played with some children. His parents were amazed, and my father was also very surprised, because he had problems socializing with other children, he had never given space to anyone, not even his own parents.

Clay and I grew closer and closer, until we became simply inseparable. He came to my house very often and we grew up with each other's company. He still reminded me a lot of the little boy with the frizzy hair, but now much taller and stronger, with less frizzy hair and a charming smile. The girls were always trying to get to know him, but Clay was still very closed off and people didn't usually understand him. At first everyone said he was gay, because he refused any girl who crossed his path, then they started spreading the word that we were having an affair, but in the end everyone realized that he was just extremely shy.

"Good morning to you too, bum," I said, smiling, watching him eat like there was no tomorrow. He could only have had a black hole in his stomach, I've never seen anyone eat so much.

"Unlike you, Aurora, your friend is punctual" teased Eva, laughing as she finished her coffee."Now come on, I don't want to be late because of you again." She rolled her eyes at me and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

"Shut up, you pest," I said to my sister, then laughed and received a disapproving look from my mother."It's just an affectionate nickname, Mom," I said, watching Victoria knit her eyebrows together and stare at me suspiciously for a few moments.

Evangeline always went to school with us and she was usually late because of that. I've never been a very punctual person. She hated my lack of talent and willingness to follow the timetable, but since she had a crush on Clay ever since she started getting interested in boys, which wasn't a lot of time, it was worth the effort and stress.

"Your sister's right," Clay said, taking his last sip of juice and putting his backpack on his shoulders, while I leisurely drank a cup of coffee."We need to go."

"What's the matter, hummingbird?" I asked, setting the cup aside on the table."Dayanne texted you first thing this morning, did she?" I asked, laughing slightly and raising one eyebrow. Clay grimaced and I took a moment to finish my coffee.

Dayanne was madly in love with Clay, but she was completely indiscreet and constantly embarrassed him. The two of them had been slightly involved at the beginning of high school, Clay had his first kiss with her, but Day unfortunately didn't understand when he said he didn't want a relationship, so she smothered him most of the time.

"Do you really think that if I'd seen Day, I'd be in such a good mood?" he asked.

"She really won't let go of you," I said, picking up my cell phone and looking at Eva, who was a little sulky.

"Get in my car, I want your ass in the jeep seat right now." Clay pulled me out of the chair by my shoulders and started pushing me out.

The scene made my parents laugh, I could hear them as I was dragged out. They were both used to our morning routine, which consisted of the same ritual every day.

Eva got up as well, muttering a somewhat grumpy "at last" and following us outside.

"Have a nice day, kids" my mother shouted from the kitchen, as Clay pushed me into his moss"green Jeep.

"Thanks, Mom," the three of us shouted in unison.

"We're going to be late again" Clay complained, starting the car.

I pulled up the sleeve of my sweatshirt and looked at the time on my wristwatch.

"No, let's not, we've still got twenty minutes," I said, putting on my seatbelt.

Then Eva looked at me, raising her eyebrows.

"Correction, you have ten minutes. You still have to drop me off at school," said the blonde, fixing her hair before putting on her seatbelt.

"That's certainly not enough," Clay muttered, starting the car and turning on the stereo.

Demi Lovato filled the room and made me wake up a little more, after all, it was impossible not to sing and dance to Confident. The drive to Eva's school was much faster than usual, we were in a hurry and Clay ran a few red lights along the way. When we dropped her off, we left in even more of a hurry and it didn't take more than ten minutes for me to spot the parking lot, packed with students, in the distance.

"Ready for another day of studying, or rather working, counselor?" My friend asked, as he pulled into the parking lot.

I took a deep breath and slung my backpack over my left shoulder, closing my eyes for a few moments and only opening them when the car pulled up in the usual parking space.

"I have to be, don't I? You know that the school society can't function without me!" I smiled and got out of the car.

As soon as we got out, a group of smiling, excited girls approached us both, saying a cheerful good morning, which didn't really suit my mood. They talked too loudly, asked me questions I couldn't understand and created a jumble of voices that made my head spin.

"Calm down, girls! I've just woken up, speak one at a time or I won't be able to hear anyone." There was silence, but only for a few moments, then the chatter started again.

That's it, my day has finally begun.