Have you ever met someone who seemed to have everything together? Perfect house. Perfect family. Perfect friends. Perfect boyfriend. Everything on YOUR "List of Wants", they have checked off. Ever met someone like that? Someone who's life is SO perfect, you'd sell a limb just to be them? Well, I haven't, but if I did, I know I'd hate them. Why? Because I could never be them. From the moment I was born, I was destined to live a craptastic life. And let me tell you, craptastic it has been. I don't know why, but for some reason, life handed me a sorry set of cards, and I don't have any choice but to play them. I would demand a reshuffle, but apparently, that's not how life works. Isn't that just great for me?! Sarcasm. I was using sarcasm. Despite everything I had to put up with, I was actually a happy person. Well, sometimes I was. Okay, fine...I was rarely happy these days. The only person in the world that loved me unconditionally was barely around because of work. How could I be happy when he was away and I was left here all by myself? "Natalie! You should be gone already!" Okay, so maybe I wasn't all by myself, but besides that yelled statement from my step-mother, I wouldn't be receiving any other words from my supposed "family". So, yeah, I was basically alone. I checked my watch, to see the time and figured it best to leave soon. I already had on my faded blue ripped jeans, a white cropped muscle tee, and my red Chuck Taylors. All that was left was my hair and makeup. Looking in the mirror, I decided to wear my hair up in a ponytail. I grabbed a black hair tie, using it to hold the majority of my raven waves in the ponytail, but pulled out some fringe to frame my tanned face; the summer sun was kind to me. I took off my thin, black, circular glasses, placing them on my dresser and put in my prescription contact lenses. With that done, I put on my mascara, top and bottom lashes, and felt satisfied with my minimalist look. Then, I grabbed my black Jansport bookbag and headed down stairs. Making my way to the kitchen, I prayed that everyone had already left, but that prayer went unanswered. Tracy, my step-mom, was still in her bathrobe, flipping through the daily newspaper. Seriously, who even reads those anymore?! Walking further into the kitchen, Paully, my step-brother, was eating a bowl of cereal. He was the same age as me, dark brown hair and eyes like his mother, but a grade under. Yeah, he failed a grade. It was probably because he fried his brain from blasting music through his headphones every chance he got. I mean, it was only 7:34 a.m. and here he was at the kitchen table, bobbing his head to only God knows what, while he ate his Fruity Pebbles. I wasn't surprised that neither one of them even acknowledged the addition of my presence to the room. Whenever Dad was away, they acted like it was just them in the house. Rolling my eyes, I walked to the pantry. It had been three years since Dad remarried, THREE YEARS, and we were still like strangers. It's not like I didn't try, at first. But, eventually I gave up. Tracy put in zero effort to get to know me, and I accepted that reality. It was better she ignore me than be some kind of wicked step-mother, like in Cinderella. Paully, well, he was really quiet here, but I saw him when he was with his friends. He really was a different kind of person and I always was a little jealous he didn't try to get to know me. But, he had to leave his friends behind, so maybe he'd open up to me now that he had to be lonely. I just really wished Tracy didn't make me move, leaving behind all of my friends and childhood memories. I grew up in a house that wasn't good enough for her. I remember when she first came over. 'Oh, this is quaint,' she said. 'It's nothing like our homes in Italy'. Like, lady, WAKE UP! That's because you weren't in Italy, you were in New Jersey! I always knew she hated the house, but I didn't think she'd actually do something about it. About a month ago, Tracy called my Dad whining about how lonely she was without him. Feeling guilty about always working, he asked her what he could do to make it up to her. And do you know what that coniving gold digger said? She said she wanted a bigger house, in a nicer neighborhood. Apparently, she didn't feel "safe" in our old one. And that's what's brought me here, to Langston Heights, Texas, in the middle of October. Yup, I'm the lucky girl who got to change schools her senior year. How fun! Again, that was sarcasm. Ready to get out of there, I grabbed a granola bar and headed out the front door. I had a good thirty, maybe forty minutes before my first class, which started at 8:30, so I took my time driving. Langston Heights High was probably 5 miles away from my new "home", so I should have gotten there in ten minutes or so...as long as I didn't get lost. And, with the extra time, I could get familiar with where everything was. Feeling productive, I let a smirk roll onto my face. ...I got lost. But hey, it was a new neighborhood, and I'd only been there a week. I'd get it right tomorrow. Plus, it only took me a minute to pull up google maps, and then I was back on track. By the time I got there, it was a little past 8:15. As I pulled into the parking lot, I kept my eye out for the closest parking spot. Spotting one up front, I drove past it, putting my blinker on so I could back into it. As I checked to make sure no one was walking behind me, a blur of black whirled past in my rear view mirror. I almost did a double take when I saw my empty parking spot now taken by a black Jeep Wrangler. "Are you kidding me?!" I exclaimed to myself. Did they seriously just steal that spot from me?! Who does that kind of thing?! It's just so...rude! Sitting in my car still, I looked out my window, watching to see who came out of the Jeep. I watched as a pretty girl with long blonde hair and a pink ombré emerged from the passenger seat. She didn't even notice my pissed off expression as she walked inside, but I noticed her sad expression. You know what, I wasn't even mad at her. It wasn't like she was driving. No, it was the tall brunet that stepped out the drivers seat that I was pissed at. He walked around the back of his car, and that's when I honked him, twice. Honk! Honk!