Two Halves of a Whole

Sunlight was streaming through the window when Sattira opened her eyes. She had just graduated high school and tonight her Mom and Dad were letting her have a graduation party. Technically they were her adopted parents. Her Mom couldn’t have children of her own so when her Dad had been called to the scene of an accident where she was the only survivor he talked the social worker into letting him take the new born infant Sattira home. He and his wife had just finished their foster classes so it was decided that as they searched for other members of the child’s family, Sattira would stay with the officer and his wife. Later when no family could be found Sattira was adopted and became a permanent member of their family. Sattia got dresses and pulled her mahogany red hair up into a high ponytail. She bounced down the stairs and heated a breakfast burrito her Mom had left in the microwave. She poured a glass of juice and pulled out her phone. She already had a couple of messages so she opened the first one that was from her mother. Her parents had left for the weekend to let her have this last party before her friends left to have their summer adventures before going to university in the fall. The message her Mom sent told her she had one more graduation gift in the garage. It got dropped off after Sattira went to bed. Since her parents had to leave early in the morning so they didn’t miss their flight her Mom had sent her a message letting her know. She would see her gift anyway when she took the garbage out to the garage. The next message was from her friend Nina. She offered to help Sattira get ready for the party. Sattira knew the next message had to be from Kim. The three girls had been friends since junior high. Nina and Kim were from rich families and had been best friends since they were in diapers so Sattira had been shocked when the two girls first started inviting her to their homes but as she got to know them she realized they were not rich snobs, as most of the other girls in their school had assumed. The three girls had become really close and Sattira was really going to miss them when they all went off to college. Her friends had gotten into Yale where their parents had gone to college. Sattira was smart enough to get into Yale but although her parents had started a fund for college for her at a young age the amount in the fund was not enough to comfortably cover Yale without her having to work. Sattira didn’t want to start her adult life by putting herself into debt when her parents had saved enough for her to go to a decent college and have it paid in full with extra money to help cover anything she might need so she could concentrate on school. She would miss her two friends but they understood and both supported her choice. She checked Kim’s message as she finished eating. It was just letting her know that Nina was already at Kim’s house and they were getting ready to help her with the party. Sattira was getting ready to message her when the front door opened and her friends stepped into her living room. “You better be dressed and ready to go party shopping,” Nina yelled. “I was just getting ready to take out the trash.” Sattira tied off the bag and walked towards where her friends waited for her. “My parents said they left me another gift it the garage.” Her friends exchanged a knowing look before Kim answered her, “oh, really?” “You both knew already? How?” Sattira was shocked her friends knew and managed to keep anything a secret from her. “What is it?” She asked as she stopped to look at her friends. “We helped pick it out. Your parents wanted to get you something special since you will be 18 in a couple of weeks,” Nina told her. “Hurry up, you will see it when you get to the garage,” Kim said as she held her phone up ready to start recording. “We promised your parents we would record your reaction since they couldn’t be here to see it.” Sattira followed her friends to the garage and let her friends enter first so they could record her reaction as they had promised her parents. When she walked in she froze. There where her old Ford Taurus had been parked was now a brand new Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. “How..” she could only squeak out the one word as she walked over to the car. She climbed into the driver’s seat and found the envelope her parents had set in front of the gauges. She took out the letter her parents had left her. ‘Our dear sweet girl, we know we raised you right and that you would never buy something like this for yourself no matter how much you truly want it. We don’t want you to worry about the cost as we had started a second account with the money we inherited from my parents when we started your college fund so we could buy a nice car for your graduation. We know that you would have used the extra money to follow your friends to Yale but this is what your Dad and I had decided on when we first adopted you. There is enough money left in the account still to cover your insurance and registration for a few years so you shouldn’t have to worry about it until you graduate college. Enjoy the gift and know it didn’t put us in debt. Love, Mom and Dad.’ Sattira was so relieved after reading the letter her parents left. She had been so worried that her parents had taken out a loan and would have to work hard to pay the money back. Her parents inherited the house they lived in and a decent sum of money when her Mom’s parents had died but they were not rich. Sattira had watched them both work hard all her life. Sattira felt a little guilty knowing that the money they spent on her new car could have made life so much easier for them. “Are you ready to try this baby out,” Nina asked as she slid into the passenger side. Kim climbed into the back before Nina shut the door. “Sure,” Sattira said as she used the garage door opener to open the door before starting the car. “The tank is full, let’s go shop for the party.” Sattira loved the way her new car drove and was so happy her parents had gotten the manual transmission. It was a lot more fun to drive than the automatic transmission in her Taurus. She knew her friends each had an expensive European car but they knew she had always dreamed of owning a Mustang and they knew she had been drooling over this car since she saw it sitting in the show room through the window of the Ford Dealership in town. They each complimented the way she drove it. They said it was as if the car was made for her. They spent the morning shopping. By the time they stopped for lunch Sattira felt like she was starving. She had always had a healthy appetite and her friends were always jealous of how she could eat whatever she wanted and never seemed to gain much weight. But today was different. She felt as if she had not eaten in days. She had never been this hungry before. They stopped at a local burger joint where all the local teenagers liked to hang out. They slid into a booth with a window so they could look out and watch people walking by. They were not seated long before Nina’s boyfriend sat down next to her. His friend grabbed a chair from a vacant table close by and sat down at the end of the table. “Ladies,” Nina’s boyfriend Danny greeted them. “You remember Jacob,” he nodded to his friend. Jacob was checking out Kim. We all knew he had a crush on Kim but she didn’t want anything serious since she knew she was leaving for college, so she would never commit to anything more than going out as friends. She had always been a serious student. Her parents made it clear from a young age that if she wanted to be part of the family business she needed to do well in school. “Of course, are you guys going to the party at Sattira’s house,” Nina asked as she batted her long eye lashes at him flirtatiously. “You know we wouldn’t miss it,” Jacob answered for them. The waitress showed up and everyone placed their order. Sattira ordered a full meal with a large chili fries, mushroom Swiss cheese double burger, and a extra large mint milkshake. Nina and Kim each got a salad and green tea while the guys each got burgers with a soda. Everyone sat and chatted about graduation and all the plans they had for the summer as they ate their meal. “You should really think about coming with us to Europe for the summer,” Kim said. “It will be a lot of fun and you know our parents won’t mind. Our home in Paris has plenty of room.” “I can’t. I need to spend some time with my parents before going away to college,” she answered her friend. They had talked about it before but her friends were going to miss her and had hoped they could change her mind. “You girls should all stay here. You could have just as much fun as you would in Paris,” Jacob tried to convince them. “Spoken like someone who has never been to Paris,” Kim answered back. They finished eating and Danny insisted on paying for everyone’s meal. They all said their goodbyes and agreed to meet back up at the party. The girls went to Sattira’s house to set up for the party in the backyard. Once the seats were set up around the pool and the floating chairs were blown up and ready to go into the pool they set out various snacks and drinks in the pool house. Once everything was set up the girls went inside to shower and dress. They each wore bright colored bikinis with shorts and crop tops. They did their hair up in high ponytails and did light makeup just in case they ended up in the pool. “See we look like triplets,” Nina teased as they stood looking into the large bathroom mirror together. “Yeah, triplets,” Kim giggled. Nothing could be further from the truth and they all knew it. They did even have the same hair or eye color. Nina was the blonde haired blue eyed girl of the group while Kim had coal black hair and deep brown eyes then there was Sattira with her mahogany red locks and green eyes. They made a colorful group but it had become a joke over the years because they always wore the same outfits just in different colors, so everyone teased them and referred to them as the triplets. They had just returned to the backyard, making sure the house and garage were locked up to discourage anyone from snooping around when the first guests started arriving.