The Girl Who Never Truly Lived

Austin

I got ready for university, waiting for my friends Luke, Asher and Diego to come pick me up so we could all head to campus together. My mind trails off to the girl who stole my heart, my childhood best friend. I had to move away for a while as my dad was having problems with another gang, losing all contact with her. I had been looking for her from the age of 16 to 19 but I couldn't find her anywhere. No records of her were shown. I wonder where she is and what she looks like. How has she been? Questions run through my mind, but they are left unanswered.

I heard a car honk, so I looked out the window. It was my friends. I grabbed my phone and walked out of the house, shutting the door behind me. After I stopped looking, I changed. I couldn't care less about anyone, so I started my training to be the leader of the mafia when my dad decides to step down. Luke, Asher and Diego are in my mafia alongside me. We all train together. I get into the truck.

“What's up boys, ready to go back to hell?” I asked them.

“Ready as ever” Luke the golden boy said with a smile.

“Of course you said that Luke, you're the professor's pet dude”, Diego says, clearly not pleased we are going back.

“God, I don't want to go back, I'd rather train than go back”, Asher says. “At least the will be girls”, he adds, then shrugs.

I laughed, “Of course you would say that you love your girls, I just hope we won't get bothered by Sandra and her shrimps”, I said to him.

“Hell yeah and god no I absolutely can't stand their guts.

We arrive at the university, and we all hop out of the truck only to be greeted by loads of cheers as a crowd forms around us. I roll my eyes, but the crowd just gets bigger. I looked towards the entrance to the university and saw two girls. One with red hair and the other with brown and blue hair. The red-haired one is looking towards us whereas the other girl is waiting for her friend to stop staring. Someone blocks my view and I lose sight of the girl.

“Woah everyone calm down, it's not like you haven't seen us before” Asher says to everyone.

“I doubt they will calm down, we are back after being away for a year”, Luke says, being the smart ass he is.

“Yeah that's true”, Diego says, replying to what Luke said.

After being stuck in the crowd, we are now 10 minutes late for the class we are supposed to be in. So we all started walking inside, with the crowd following us. “You should all get to class” I heard Luke say from next to me, after he said that the crowd started to disburse. We enter the classroom and the teacher goes:

“Why are you boys 10 minutes late for my class?”

“There is no reason, it just took a while to get here. We are quite popular, so we were surrounded”, Luke replies to him while I scan the room and my eyes land on the girl with the blue and brown hair I saw earlier. She looks just like my childhood best friend, I think to myself. She looks back at her notebook, then we all sit down at the back in the corner across from her.

The professor continues to teach the lesson until he asks the girl to answer a question.

“Amara, can you tell me the three C’s of architecture?” I looked at her. Her name is Amara? No way, I stared at her in disbelief. It's her, it has to be her. She looks so different. Amara is a unique name. I haven't heard anyone have the same name, especially her last name ‘Rabello’.

She answers the question but i don't hear what she says. I can't stop staring at her, then I get nudged by someone. I looked next to me, seeing it was Diego. “What's up dude? You seem out of it, and you're not paying attention, just focused on the beauty.”

“Diego, I think it's her. I think it's amara Rabello”, I said, turning my gaze back to her.

“Wait, your childhood best friend?” he asks, shocked. “Yes,” I replied quietly.

Diego is the only one who knows about her as he was the first person I met after moving away, and I wouldn't shut up about her.

I keep my gaze on her for the rest of the lesson, and she seems to be ignoring it. And in a blink of an eye the lesson was over. I saw her getting up and packing her bag. I'm tempted to go over to her. She receives a notification, and she looks worried, so I'm guessing it was a text message. She picks up her bag and shoves her phone into her pocket and rushes out. I go after her but by the time I'm out of the classroom, she is gone. My friends rushed out after me.

“Are you okay dude” Luke asks. I nodded, looking at Diego, so he didn't say anything. “Let's just go to lunch,” I said.

We all head to the cafeteria and line up to get our lunch and after getting it we go to a table and sit down.

“What has you so on edge dude” Asher asks,

“Nothing, I just thought i saw someone” I replied, not giving away.

“Alright as long as you're alright” he replies, and all the boys just start eating their food. Until Sandra, the most popular girl, comes up to our table with her minions. And she sits between me and Asher, Molly sits between Asher and Luke. Ezra sits between Diego and me.

“Hey Austin” she says in her fake sweet voice. My gosh, she really annoys me.

“Hi sandra”

“Long time no see, huh” she says and places her hand on my thigh.

“Mhm get your hand off me” I said, coldly, not wanting to talk to her.

“Oh sorry i didn't notice i put it there” she says, acting all innocent.

“Sure you didn't”, I replied to her.

The table just chats among themselves and eats their lunch for about 30 minutes. I step out for a few minutes to have a smoke. As I was walking out, my phone started ringing. I pick it up and see that it's my mum.

“Hey hunny, can you pick Reece up from school please?” she asks. Reece is my 4-year-old brother and I dote on him.

“Yes mom I can. Do you need anything else?” I asked her.

“No, I don't need anything else. I have to go now. Have a good day and bye”

“Bye mum, love you.” I replied to her, then hung up the phone. I put it back into my pocket and headed outside.

I light up my cigarette and start having puffs on it.

I said to myself," My gosh, I really needed this, it's going to be a long day”. I stayed outside for around 10 minutes enjoying the quietness, then I saw a motorbike pull up. I watched and, to my surprise, it was Amara. I saw her get off the motorbike and take her helmet off. She waves her hair so it doesn't look tangled. Then she grabs her bag and starts walking inside with her helmet.

I followed after her and I saw her stop and look for someone. I walked over and stood in front of her blocking her view.

"Can you get out of my way?" she says coldly and clearly annoyed. And she looks up and meets my eyes.

“No” I replied sternly, still looking at her and I noticed she took a few steps away from me. “Are you Amara Rabello?” I question hoping it was her.

“That's me, who are you?” she questions and confusion fills her face.

“It's me, Austin Stallard.” I said, hoping she would remember me.

“Sorry who? I don't know you, And how do you know my face” she replies coldly, still confused.

“You don't remember me, huh? So I'm the only one "I said back to her, hurt. But I try not to show her that I'm hurt. She really doesn't remember me. Why? And why is she so cold?

“I don't, so now if you excuse me, I need to go” she says, clearly not interested in speaking to me. I watch as she walks away. My heart is racing. I can't believe I found her after all these years. She has changed so much. She isn't sweet anymore. What's made her this way?