School had let out about an hour ago, so Allegracia sat at a table in a cute little café she and her friends frequented, alone. As she waited for her girls to arrive, she fired a quick text message off her Blackberry. After the message sent confirmation flashed across the screen, she tossed the phone in her bag, only pausing momentarily to catch a glimpse of herself along the smooth reflective surface. Her chin length chocolate bob looked as radiant as ever, due to her fresh highlights, which she had just gotten retouched earlier this morning. She then pulled out a slender tube of metallic grey eyeliner and applied a coat to her brilliant brown eyes. When she looked up she met eyes with none other than Blaize Claiborne, the super hot junior she’d been crushing on since the time they’d hung out this summer.

His blue eyes dared to stare right back into her amber ones. Allegracia struggled to catch her breath, usually guys didn’t have this effect on her- it was the other way around. He laughed, exuding confidence, as her cheeks flushed.

“I haven’t seen you around in a while” Blaize’s voice was so smooth and confident, as his blue eyes danced with obvious amusement.

She giggled nervously, “Yeah, that’s a shame. I missed you, this summer was the best.”

He nodded, and then sat down across from her, “I missed you too.” His responsive smile was so genuine, that she knew he meant it.

“So what have you been up to lately?” She questioned, meeting his gaze and returning his smile.

“Ahh… you know the usual, nothing too exciting…”

“Hmmm, well, that’s odd. Last time I checked, the definition of exciting was listed as Blaize Claiborne.” She smirked at him.

“Haha, yes but you see. Times have changed. I’m not the same little boy I used to be.” Blaize dared her to question him, with those gorgeous blue eyes of his.

God, he was so beautiful.

Allegracia nodded in mock understanding. “And what has inspired this change, Mr. Claiborne, is it?”

He laughed and fake punched her playfully, “Shut up!” He smiled at her, so sure of himself, and then continued, “I’m trying to be serious Gracie, or are you & your senior friends too cool for nicknames now?” He raised his eyebrows mockingly.

She couldn’t help but grin as he called her by her nickname, but it also brought a touch of sadness to her eyes as he reminded her it was her last year here, it was escaping her grasp little by little, as each day passed. She loved her town; she never wanted to leave it. No matter what people said about West Seneca, she loved it with all of her heart. It was perfect, every little aspect of it was just right. It wasn’t a small town, but it wasn’t a booming city either. Allegracia adored her life, it wouldn’t be considered perfect in other people’s eyes, but to her it was just that.

“So what exciting endeavors have you been up to Gracie?” Blaize asked, as he leaned back and stretched his perfectly tanned arms above his adorably shaggy chestnut hair.

“Lots of college applications, and schoolwork. Silly me, I thought senior year was supposed to be easy!” She sighed at the flashback to reality Monday would promise her.

“Oh boy, I can’t wait for my senior year now.” He squinted and then his normally goofy expression turned serious, “What are you going to do with your life Allegracia?”

This was the one question she feared. She had no clue which direction she wanted to take her life in. Of course, she had many ideas… but nothing seemed to stick in her mind. There wasn’t one thing she wanted specifically. Every single one of her friends knew exactly what they wanted in life, and it seemed as if she was the only one who was still undecided.

“Not sure” She answered flatly.

“That’s cool.” He answered and his expression was still serious.

“What, are you joking? I have no clue how I am going to spend the rest of my life, and I have less than a year to make the most important decision of my life. Please, enlighten me, how is that considered the least bit ‘cool’?” She glared at him incredulously.

“Well, maybe that simply means you haven’t found it yet, Al. It’s there, I can promise you that. I say that you need to get out there more, experience the world like you never have before. There’s excitement looming around every corner, but it’s completely up to you whether or not you choose to take advantage of it.” Blaize swiped his hair out of his eyes, so he could see her more clearly. He wanted her to realize he was right. And that he should be the one to help her experience life more, and make the most of the single year she had left here.

“Wow, that was pretty deep for you Blaize” Allegracia said jokingly, as she met his brilliant gaze, and looked away to the crowded streets. “You know what, Blaize, you are so right. Why am I spending all my time locked up inside, while I should be out there?”

His white teeth gleamed as she finally realized what he was trying to tell her all along. “Let’s go” He stood up.

“Wait, hold on a sec…” She forgot about the reason she had originally come here, her friends were supposed to meet her there. Digging through her leather hobo, she fished out her phone. The screen flashed, indicating that she had new messages. She grazed her finger over a few buttons, to reach her inbox. Opening the first message she scanned it momentarily, and her heart dropped in shock.
To: Allegracia
From: Sienna

Hey Gracie, when you get this message you’ll probably already be at the café and are wondering why I’m not there. I ran into some trouble… Well, I got into a little accident on the way to the café, I’m alright, but they are sending me to the hospital. When you get this message, come to Mercy General ASAP. Xo Sienna.

“This is not good, at all” Allegracia could feel her heart rate increase almost immediately, after she stuffed her phone in the pocket of her dark denim jeans and snatched up her purse.

“What’s wrong? Is everything alright?” Blaize’s aqua eyes danced with suspicion at her sudden alarm.

“Blaize, come on we have to go. I’ll explain in the car.” She grabbed his hand and as he didn’t dare protest, they ran out the door of the tiny café, hand in hand.


CHAPTER TWO


“YOU, it’s all you’re fault!” A very distressed looking Veronica screamed in accusation, the second Allegracia and Blaize walked through the elevator doors on and stepped into the ER waiting room.

Allegracia didn’t like being falsely accused one bit and turned to Veronica to knock some sense into the girl, but Blaize held her back.

He whispered lightly in her ear as he wrapped his arm around her to constrain her from doing something she would regret. She could feel his warm breath on her ear, “Don’t bother”

In an attempt to calm herself she bit her bottom lip and he held her closer, as he sensed her distress. “Thanks for coming here with me Blaize. Really, it means a lot more to me than you think.”

Blaize smirked and his aqua eyes echoed in response. Allegracia immediately felt guilty for feeling so blissful in the midst of this awful situation, as she swiftly walked over to the receptionist’s desk, with Blaize trailing right behind her. She leaned up against the counter and he placed his hand on the small of her back, to let her know she had his support.

“Hi, I’m looking for my friend, Sienna. She was admitted here about an hour ago…”


Allegracia felt a twinge of sympathy for the sweet looking receptionist, with her cheery dandelion mini-dress and illuminating smile, that she had to endure all this guaranteed trauma everyday of her life. The charming middle-aged lady gave her the room number and a tired, but hopeful smile, and pointed them in the right direction. She held Blaize’s hand just a little bit tighter, holding onto the security while it lasted.

12…13… 14, she passed room after room filled with unfamiliar faces, until she recognized the one face she had been so scared she would never be able to see again.

“Sienna, thank God.” Allegracia shut her eyes and took in a deep breath, as she turned to face her newfound companion.

“Blaize, stay right here. I’ll only be a minute or two.” She forced a weak smile and Blaize frowned out of concern, seeing right through the false expression pasted on her face.

“It’ll all be okay Gracie, I promise.” He lowered his face to her and cradled her chin between his thumb and index finger. Blaize sighed as he realized his attempt at calming her had only failed, but that was one of the many things he loved about her, she was so intractable, that was just her nature.

She opened the standard issue white on white door, and turned to face her worst fear. Sienna did not offer up the normal optimistic smile she always had plastered across her face, instead her look suggested that of horror, as she motioned for her friend to take a seat next to her.

“Love the top, is it new?” Ah, good old Sienna was still the same as before.

Allegracia chuckled softly as she glanced down at the silky purple fabric which suddenly seemed very inappropriate for the occasion, and nodded halfheartedly in response.

“Mm, so you want the entire story right?” Yupp, typical Sienna, always getting right to the point, she never wasted time dancing around the subject.

“Yeah, I do…”

Taking in a long swig of air, Sienna interlocked her French-manicured fingers, and stared out into the window, which had the blinds pushed back and out of the way. Sienna absolutely hated missing out, regardless of the situation. From a tiny radio resting on top of a spotless white nightstand, a quiet ballad became audible in the silence. It was familiar to Allegracia’s ears, but she couldn’t remember the name of the song at the moment. Too many thoughts raced through her mind at the speed of light, quicker than she could decipher and even make sense of.

“I don’t know how to tell you this… but Horatio-” Sienna placed her thumb and index finger directly above her brow and slid her hand over her face in despair.

“…He’s dead.”