Haven

There he was, standing in my doorway, wearing his blue Converse. But this time, he stepped forward and I saw him.

He was tall. Like, really tall. I had to tilt my head back just so I could look at his face. And when I did, I wasn't disappointed.

He had vibrant, green eyes - the kind that stood out as much as a patch of fresh, viridescent grass would against the pure, white snow. He pushed his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes as he flashed a killer smile.

"Hey, Haven," he murmured in a low voice, showing off his straight, pearly-white teeth.

"Who are you?" I wondered out loud, captivated by his eyes and unable to look away.

He chuckled and winked.

"My name is --"

BEEP. BEEP.

"Wait. What? Your name is what?"

"It's --"

BEEP. BEEP.

I groaned, rolling over to silence my phone.

It had been a dream.

Shaking my head, I sighed.

Pull it together, Haven! Heck, I don't even know if it was a dude. What if the stranger was a really strong girl with fists of steel? Besides, it's been two days since the incident. No one has come forth to claim the title of your mysterious savior. He/she/it probably never will.

Move on.

My iPhone rang again, and Ari's caller ID picture of her flipping off the camera popped up.

"What."

"Good morning! I'm having a fashion crisis. Meet me at my house in eight minutes," she barked in a tone that showed she meant business.

"You know it's 6:42 in the morning, right?"

"Does it sound like I care?"

I sighed in defeat. "Make me some coffee. I can't handle your attitude without it."

"Stop talking. You have seven minut-"         

I rolled my eyes as I pressed the red end call button.

I flipped through the heap of clothes that were laying on my dresser. After throwing on a short-sleeved black v-neck and some light blue ripped up jeans, I brushed my teeth and combed my hair with my fingers. Dissatisfied, I threw my hair up into a messy bun and ran into the kitchen to stick a piece of toast in my mouth.

"Bye, Mom!" I mumbled as I grabbed my backpack and car keys and ran out the door, all whilst trying to chew the bread that was soaking in my mouth.

I checked my phone quickly. 6:54am.

Almost as if she knew I was looking at my phone, Ari sent me a series of texts.

Girl, where iz u?

HELLO?

???

I sighed again as I pulled up the long driveway riddled with trees and plants to her giant, 5,000 square foot mansion.

"Good morning, Haven," Rachel, Ari's nanny, greeted as she opened the door. She smiled, showing off the faint wrinkles around her eyes from years of laughing.

She handed me a cup of steaming hot coffee and whispered, "Ari is upstairs in her room. You'd better hurry - she was screaming bloody murder about how you hung up on her." She grinned while patting my shoulder, as if she knew I was walking straight into a death trap.

"Thanks, Rachel. What would I do without you?" I asked after taking a long whiff of the coffee and enjoying the warmth in my hands. "By the way, I love what you've done to your hair."

Rachel beamed, touching her recently touched-up hair. Normally, it showed faint signs of graying, but she had dyed it a dark brown color, which made her appear younger than she really was.

"Haven!" Ari cried out from her room. She drew out my name slowly and increased the volume of her voice by each second. The word echoed through the house, and I could almost picture all of the glass windows breaking at the sound of her shrill voice.

"Gotta run," I said to Rachel, who gave me a wink.

"Chill. I'm here," I declared breathlessly as I walked into Ari's master bedroom's walk-in closet a few seconds later.

"Okay, first off, you're late. Now I have five minutes less to pick out my clothes, so thanks for that. Second, girl, you need to come with me to the gym. I can't believe you're winded just from walking up the stairs. Third, how effing dare you! You know how much I hate it when people hang up on me!" she howled, staring daggers into my soul with each word.

"Believe me, I know. You never shut up. You love talking so much that if anyone ever interrupts you, you glare at them and silently kill them with your eyes. Then you bark out an insult faster than that teenage boy ran after hearing his girlfriend's pregnancy test results last year."

"And don't you ever forget it," she warned with a glint of evil in her eyes. "Also, poor Rebecca. I can't believe her boyfriend did that to her. Anyways, I need help. Even after all that shopping I did this weekend, I have nothing to wear." She sighed while pulling her long, blonde, beach curls back into a ponytail and using her hand as a makeshift rubber band.

"You're literally standing in a completely filled closet almost five times the size of my room and you're complaining about having nothing to wear?"

"I have to look good! Today's the first day of our senior year. This is our year, Haven!" she exclaimed as she arched an eyebrow and wiggled it suggestively. "We're both going to meet cute guys and fall in love. But how can I do that without a fabulous outfit? Help me!"

"Fine, you drama queen," I mumbled while flipping through her racks of clothes.

"By the way, there are a few bags of clothes over there on the left that you need to take," she mentioned quickly while avoiding eye contact.

"No," I hissed, cutting the word short. I hated being a charity case, even if the donated things were from my best friend.

"Come on, just take it," she insisted as she frowned. "You'd be doing me a favor. I have no need for them. They're literally going in the trash can if you don't take it. Besides, the clothes are so last season. Perfect for you," she finished, laughing and throwing a slipper in my direction.

I couldn't stop the smile that formed on my face when my own slipper flew through the air and hit Ari on her button nose. She always knew how to make me feel better.

"Here, try this on," I said as I handed her a pink, sleeveless tank top from Prada, a mid-length black mini-skirt from Chanel, hot pink satin heels from Manolo Blahnik, and a white Louis Vuitton tote bag.

"Are you sure these colors would look good on me?" she asked nervously, biting her perfectly manicured nails.

"Ari, you're a walking Barbie doll. Your gorgeous green eyes match literally every color of the rainbow. And don't even get me started on your long, lean legs. They look good in dresses, skirts, shorts, jeans, and anything and everything else you wear. Everything looks like it was designed solely to fit you. Trust me. But don't let that go to your head," I warned sternly. "I still think you're ugly."

"Moi?" she asked with childlike innocence as she smiled and batted her long eyelashes. "I would never do such a thing!"

"Shut up."

"Now let's do you," she suggested while holding up a series of clothes up to my body. "This strapless white blouse looks good with your brown hair. It's backless, but you won't have to worry about that since your thick, voluminous hair falls down your back so perfectly." She winked.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?"

Ari sat down. "I think the easier question to ask would be, 'what's not wrong with it?' Ouch! Don't pinch me, you chicken nugget!"

"You deserved it. Besides, I'm fine with what I'm wearing."

"You sure?" Ari asked while raising her eyebrows and standing up next to me.

"I'm sure. And on second thought, lose the heels," I interjected. "You're already six inches taller than I am. We don't need to have a more Gandalf-and-the-hobbit situation than we already have."

Fifteen minutes later, we were downstairs having breakfast with Rachel.

"Ari, your mother and father wanted me to tell you that they will be working late every night this week and cannot make it to dinner," Rachel stated in her soft, soothing voice as she poured us more orange juice.

"Of course they can't." Ari rolled her eyes. "I couldn't imagine Mr. Successful Doctor and Mrs. Successful-Doctor's-Wife-Slash-Successful-Lawyer ever coming home early to eat with their amazing, beautiful daughter."

"I will be here, Ari."

Ari sighed. "I know, Rachel. I love you. You're the closest person to a mother I ever had, and I'm so grateful for you. What would I ever do without you?"

Rachel smiled as she cleared away our dishes. Her brown hair fell forward into her eyes, but she paid no attention to the stray hairs as she hummed a melody from the 80's.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Luke is flying home on Tuesday," Rachel added fondly.

"Wow. I haven't seen your brother in so long! How old is he now?" I asked Ari.

"It's been like... three years? His college life has been so busy that he hardly ever comes home. I'm pretty sure he forgot his baby sister exists," Ari ranted bitterly while holding her blonde hair back with her hand again. "But the thing is, I don't even blame him... Once I go off to college, I'm never looking back."

I stared at her with a blank expression.

"What?" she asked, tilting her head to the right in confusion.

"Thanks for the life story, princess. You didn't even answer my question."

"Oh. Sorry," she apologized as she grinned sheepishly. After pausing to look at the ceiling while she conducted a quick mental calculation, she responded, "He's nineteen now."

"Dang. That'll be us in two years." I tried to picture it. "I wonder what we'll be like in two years from now...?"

"Who cares? Let's just focus on this year. It's senior year!" she shrieked with excitement.

"So, I take it you guys are excited for the first day of school?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"West Court is literally the most boring high school in the world." Ari sighed as she rolled her eyes. "The only reason why I'm excited is because it's our last year!"

"You said that three times already in the past twenty minutes," I said while laughing and flicking her arm.

"What group should we join this year, Haven?" she asked. Her green, catlike eyes showed flickers of excitement.

Last year, as a joke, she and I had pretended to be "drama queens" for a week. We followed their schedules tightly and hung out with them until we felt like our brains were going to explode. But, it turned out their friendships were all fake and they only cared about themselves. The negative energy that followed them was too much for me to handle.

It had been hell.

"There are the skaters, the preps, the nerds, the Goths, the punks, the athletes, the band geeks, the drama kids, the cheerleaders, and the emo kids. Which group are we going to crash?" she asked again with a smile on her face.

"I'm just going to walk around, wandering from group to group. I won't be settling for one this year. I can't be tamed," I said with a wink.

"You can't be your boring, average self, Haven," Ari teased.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on. You're average and you know it. You try not to stand out in a crowd, but you don't make it a point to stick to the shadows, either. You get good grades, you never ditch school, and you're Miss Goody-Two-Shoes. Live a little. Have some excitement in your life," she said, exasperated. "It's senior year!"

"I'm more interesting than you are!" I countered while trying to sound convincing. But my voice betrayed me by raising an octave higher, and I knew it was a lie.

Ari raised her right eyebrow. "Really? Shall we take a trip back down to memory lane?"

I sighed. She was right.

My stomach grumbled and growled, angry with me for not having any food to fill it with. Mommy had forgotten to pack my lunch, just as she did every day after her depression started. I sat on the lunch tables, passing the time by watching all of the children play happily on the playground.

"Here," Ari said hastily, sticking out her arm and handing me half of a tuna sandwich. "Take it."

"It's okay," I lied. My stomach betrayed me, growling again in a desperate plea for help.

"Take it."

"No."

"Take it, or I'll pull your hair again."

I sighed, hesitantly looking at the sandwich.

"It's okay. My nanny always packs me too much food and gets mad that I never finish it," she insisted as she shoved the tuna sandwich into my hand. "Will you help me finish all of my lunches now?"

We became best friends after that, bonding over tuna sandwiches and grape juice.

"You're a crazy girl, Tuna," I laughed as I relived that memory. "You've always been crazy, even in third grade."

"And don't you forget it," she said with a wink as she flipped her perfect blonde hair over her shoulder. "Though I'm kind of sick of tuna. You can call me Caviar now. Or Unagi."

I rolled my eyes at her sassiness. "Rachel, what time is it?"

"7:40, my dear."

"Come on," Ari said excitedly as she dragged me to the front door. "We're going to be late for our first day."

"Save me, Rachel! I don't want to go!" I cried out, exaggerating by clawing at the table as Ari pulled me away.

"Have fun, girls." Rachel smiled as she waved goodbye.

"Gee, thanks for the help," I chuckled while waving back.

Ari and I walked out to my car, chatting about what classes we would be in together and wondering what teachers we would have.

Ari suddenly stopped walking and turned to me with a wide smile.

"This is gonna be our year, Haven. I feel it," she said breathlessly as she beamed.

And oddly enough, I felt it too.