*DIANA*
~FLASHSBACK~
It was the first day of middle school in the big city that never sleeps, we just moved here because of my mother's job and my dad had been so excited about moving but we all knew that his excitement was caused by the fact that there were more casinos and gambling spots in New York than our little hometown in Mexico, we were already good English speakers because we had good education and my mother worked in the embassy before she got promoted and transferred to New York.
Moving in was the easy part but the problem was in making new friends and memorizing new roads, routes, street names and in New York there were so many of those.
"Try to make friends on your first day at school so that they will help you with your assignments or tests at least." my mother had told me as she gave me my loaded backpack.
I hugged her before I left and I promised her that I would make new friends and she gave me a piece of advice that changed my mentality for the rest of my life.
It was a principle that I had kept to heart ever since and I never forgot it she had said, "You do not need to make a lot of friends, just make the right one that will be ready to give you all sort of personalities to fit every mood, every season, a friend that will never hesitate to defend you in public and even when you are not there, the amazing fact is that all of these amazing qualities would have been shared between a group of friends and a group will surely split apart but if you can the right one that has all of these qualities, you have found yourself a friend for life."
Those words never left my head and I kept them in a my heart as I walked through the hallways of my new school, everybody was looking so big and scary, I was so small and helpless in the sea of humans that I didn't know, I had poor communication when it comes to talking to new people so I could not build up enough courage to talk to anybody until the incident that made me to meet Olivia happened.
It was lunch time and all the students were gathered in the cafeteria and the ugly cooks were serving a sort of pudding that looked even more sour than their faces.
I took my tray to the counter and I watched in disgust as the food splurged on my tray.
I instantly lost my appetite.
They say that bad luck usually falls on the clumsy ones and I was indeed clumsy as I turn around in a full 360' with my tray which was filled with the pasty pudding, I did not see who was standing behind me so I hit a tall girl who had her back turned to me.
I watched in horror as the contents on my tray spilled on her clothes, I had a hand over my mouth in shock and I was about to apologize but the girl turned around with her arm in full swing and her punch would have connected with my face if it had not for the sudden interjection by Olivia who stopped the punch by holding the bully's hand, the bully turned to look at Olivia who was almost the same size with the bully.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
As Olivia said those words; she threw a punch straight to the girl's side which made her to yelp in pain, Olivia pulled her to the floor and she proceeded to tear off her clothing; starting from the wig then the lashes and she would have torn her blouse if it the teachers had not stopped her.
I was just standing there looking so shocked as this unknown girl fought/beat up a bully because of me, I could not understand her motive but I admired her courage, the way she had stood up for me and I admired the way she struck at the bully's weak point which was her side abdomen, she was the kind of person that would protect me no matter what, I looked into her wild eyes as she was scolded by our principal all because of me, Olivia was suspended but when she came back to school we became close friends and I intentionally hid my social status because I did not want any plastic friends.
Olivia stayed with me through the stages, she became a friend for the ages, she played swords and dark mages with me on my Nintendo, we went to college together and we were supposed to have the best year of our college lives during our second year but after I lost my mother things went downhill and I couldn't go past the third year because my father squandered all the money on drinks and gambling, we became broke to stupor, we couldn't even afford electricity bills for our trailer home and sometimes we had to stay without power for over weeks.
I had to get a job because no company would want to hire an alcoholic so I found Mr. Greggs restaurant and I worked there as a waitress for a pay that was enough to pay for bills and for the rent as well, my father resolved to do odd jobs and from this joint savings we funded my little sister's tuition fees in her high-school.
Olivia had completed her degree by this time and she was supposed to graduate and go and look for a job in another state but remained in New York and she even got a spot in the same restaurant where I worked so we became co-workers, she was the only person that was there for me after my mother died and she supported me in every way that she could even though it was little she still gave it her all, I owed her everything that I had become because if not for her I would have committed suicide because there was a time where I was scared of continuing with the struggle but she motivated me and gave me a reason to continue living and fighting for a better future.