Straightened Out

Her thoughts weighed heavily on her shoulders; her eyes were clouded with tears, as her vision became blurry. She closed her book and looked out her window.

Suddenly the room door creaked open and there were two people in the room. Matt put his hand on her shoulder, she shrugged him off. She stepped away from the window, and as the day was ending, she began to chill.

She sat back down and opened her book; she needed to finish reading. Matt followed her to her seat, and he spoke her name, “Giovanna.”

Her grandmother was diagnosed with a kidney stone and had to go for an operation far away from town. The pain of the kidney stone was unbearable, very unbearable. Smiles turned into frowns, laughter turned into cries, everyone in the family had to visit her before her surgery.

The perfect woman, Mrs. Kinsley did not deserve the pain she was going through. Mrs. Kinsley was her grandmother that held a light in her life that will stay in her heart as her bones grow stronger, and as her hair grows longer.

Giovanna remembered the last words her grandmother told her before she was taken to the operation room. Her grandmother, a woman in her mid-60s was a replica of her granddaughter from her white hair to her green eyes to her slightly wrinkled white pale skin. Giovanna always had a close connection with her grandma, a woman bubbling with life who was now very frail-looking. “Giovanna, if I don’t make it out of this room, I want you to know that you are that star that everyone will look up to, nobody should make you feel like you are nothing, you are a star.”

The operation took more than three hours. There was a complication, Giovanna’s parents did not let Giovanna know what the complication was, but she was rest assured that her grandmother was still alive.

That night, Giovanna’s parents were acting very unusual, and to say that they were weird was an understatement. Every little mistake she made, she was lashed at.

An accidental bump into her father and all hell broke loose. He yelled at her, called her stupid, and pushed her aside. She knew that this was because of her grandma’s health conditions but this was too much. She ran to her room and collapsed on her bed.

Matt sighed; he knew how her family was treating her and what she was going through. He looked around the room.

Her bedroom was modern but girl-looking. Even if anyone were to enter the room without being told whose room it was you would know that this room belonged to a girl. There was a simple feminine beauty to her room that was reflective of her spirit.

At times, Giovanna cried herself to sleep with the promise she made to her grandmother, she must be courageous, she must have self-assurance, and most of all “perfection.”

7 years later.

Giovanna slammed her locker, as the bell rang. She was late for class again. Mr. Rockwell will probably give her detention again, but Giovanna wasn’t worried. She usually goes into detention but manages to convince the counselor that she had an emergency to take care of and she will be let go.

Giovanna is the queen bee here in Eastwood High. She is the hottest girl in school. No one can resist her long, white curly locks that brushed against her shoulders. She had rosy pale skin and her leafy green eyes sparkled in every light. She also radiated in confidence, sometimes it can come across as arrogant, but she didn’t care. She was queen around here, and she never let anyone bring her down.

“Vanna!”

Giovanna turned to find her best friend running towards her down the hall. As soon as she caught up to Giovanna, she greeted her.

“Oh hey, Em.”

Emily was best friends with Giovanna since the 1st grade.

However, Emily was the complete opposite of Giovanna. Emily was quirky, bubbly, and wasn’t as confident as Giovanna. Emily had long raven-colored hair that she braided over her shoulder, and long bangs that she constantly tried to hide half her face with. The left half of Emily’s face had a large, ridged scar that an edge sliced into her olive skin.

This was after she had won the beauty pageant when Giovanna and Emily were in the finals because they were the only two with the most beautiful green eyes.

Only Giovanna knows the truth behind the scar, and everyone knows better than to ask about it.

This scar traumatized Emily; it was the reason why Emily would hide in a quiet room sometimes to cry over her looks. After the incident, she gained a bit of weight for her standards to which she now wears really large hoodies to hide her body. Sometimes she compares herself with Giovanna and gets jealous of her flawless face, rocking body, and even her greener eyes.

Emily feels like the tears that streamed down her cheeks, caused the green orbs of her eyes to pale.

Emily often feels anxious that her best friend will one day leave her because she knows Giovanna’s authority and expectations. However, deep down Giovanna would never. She loves her too much to ever abandon her.

Giovanna loved Emily’s eyes; she thought they expressed light hues of spring fields of leafy clovers. They represented Emily’s strength. She was bright, soft, and gave everyone a smile that they desperately needed.

“What is it, Em?” Giovanna asked her best friend.

Emily opened her mouth and took a deep breath, still tired from her sprint across the entire school.

“Vanna...There is....beautiful...she’s...” Emily was not getting any proper words out because she was gasping for air.

Giovanna turned to her friend and put her hands on Emily’s shoulders.

“Em, slow down and tell me what’s up?” Giovanna spoke.

Emily swallowed, and finally let out a proper sentence.

“There is a new girl in Mr. Rockwell’s class!”

Giovanna rolled her eyes and let go of Emily’s shoulder and began walking again.

“Omigosh Emily, did you run out of class just to tell me that?” Giovanna asked laughing.

“Vanna, this girl is drop-dead gorgeous.” Emily explained, “I had to tell you.”

“You know Mr. Rockwell is going to kill us for this; me being late and you running out in the middle of class,” Giovanna explained.

Emily shrugged her shoulders, “Eh, we all know he has a soft spot for us. He would yell, but he would feel bad after like 2 minutes and forgive us.”

Emily grabbed Giovanna’s elbow, “Wait.” Giovanna stopped and turned to her friend.

“So, you know the other day?” Emily was saying “I saw Dave talking to that strip of a girl, Amanda.”

“What?” Giovanna was mouth open and wide-eyed with shock.

“Yeah but then when I saw him, he just abandoned her like he wasn’t talking to her. I mean, if.....”

Suddenly they were interrupted by a high-pitched squeal. Giovanna who was facing the direction of the noise grew stiff and all the enthusiasm and shock from just a couple of minutes ago was gone. Emily didn’t need to turn around to know who it was, she could tell just from the stupid over-gushed squeal.

Emily rolled her eyes.

Zella rushed over to them, almost bumping into Emily’s back with her large book bag. Her hair was in streaks of blonde, pink and green. Today, she was in a navy floral skirt, striped leggings, and a purple and yellow shirt with a zig-zag pattern. Her wrist was covered in different colored beads and she wore white snickers to complete the look. Emily spun around and was almost choked by the air she sucked in, she tried not to look at Zella’s face which looked as if a clown had thrown up a multi-colored candy bar.

Zella rushed and pressed her body against their stiff ones in a friendly hug. Giovanna resisted the urge to push her away, whereas Emily gracefully pushed her and backed an inch or two.

“I just wanted you guys to know that I really, really, really love your outfits back at Jason’s party!” She said exclaimed, maintaining an uncomfortableness with Giovanna.

“Uhm...” Giovanna started.

“I mean that dress you wore? It was absolutely fabulous, I couldn’t stop staring at it, where do you even get your dresses from?!” Zella continued.

Giovanna gave a weak but the friendliest chuckle she can muster and replied, “Um I don’t remember.”

“Oh! Well, when you remember, you want to let me know, you have my number right?” She laughed geekishly.

Giovanna gritted her teeth and looked around frantically for an excuse. “How can we not? You text us every day.”

Zella put her arms up and spun herself on the spot, “So what do you think of my outfit today?”

Giovanna and Emily shared a look. Emily cringed, and Giovanna kept on fake smiling. Emily tugged on the fabric on Zella’s shirt.

“Zella, honey. How many times do we need to tell you? You never match patterns with other patterns. If you’re going to wear a floral skirt, wear a plain shirt.” Emily said genuinely.

Zella’s face fell, “oh, yeah. That’s right.”

“Anyway! Sorry Zella,” Giovanna tugged on Emily’s hand. “We have to go to...uh..Class right?”

“Um.....yeah, we have to go to class,” Emily said. “And we are kind of late already, so yeah, we should probably go...”

“Like right now.” Giovanna finished for her. “Bye!” Giovanna smiled with fake enthusiasm and scurried off to their class.

“Oh, bye!” Zella yelled.” “Catch you later...”

The girls sped walked away from the stan as quickly as possible. They checked the hall to see if Zella had left. The hall was empty. They both sighed and walked towards the class.

They arrived at the chemistry lab. Emily went ahead and checked the window to point out the new girl. Emily gasped.

Giovanna gave Emily a confused look, “What?”

Emily slowly turned her head to Giovanna, with her face scrunched as if she was expecting Giovanna to punch the wall. “You’re not going to like it...”

“What?!” Giovanna pushed Emily away from the door and peered through the window.

A girl with long legs, brunette mermaid hair that flowed down to her butt, and perfect make-up was sitting next to Jordan, they were laughing and Jordan was showing her how to work the Bunsen burners.

Giovanna was so late to class that she couldn’t get first pick of today’s lab partners.

Jealousy raged through Giovanna’s veins, as she pressed her hands on the door. The new girl was partnering with her boyfriend.

Hey everyone! Its simsparkleD here! You all are my new sparkles huh? What did you guys think of chapter 1? Please rate and comment what you think of it. Sorry posting the chapter was slow, Sir Martin and I live across the globe from each other so when he is rising and shining, I am crawling into my bed with my pjs on.. haha So be patient. We are so excited for what we have planned. And you’ll get a authors note from Guy-Martin in chapter 2 ;)

So nice to meet you all!

Sparkles here…