My brown, amber eyes open to the sun shining

through a window above my head. I put my

white hand in the middle of my face to block

the light coming from the morning sun.

Laying up a little, I grab the black blinds,

sliding them, covering the entire window. The

room was now back to full blackness. I sigh

softly, laying my head back on my soft,

comfortable, flexible pillow, but yet again my

sleep was interpreted as "hey palva, wake up,

a soft feminine voice said from behind me. I

open my eyes and look up. It was my best

friend. Emily I lay up, rubbing my tired,

baggy eyes. Emily looked down at me and

shook her head. With disappointment, "Didn't

I tell you that you need to get more sleep, not

stay up all night and draw?" I roll my eyes at

Emily. "It's not like today is a school night.

It's fucking Saturday, and it's winter break. I'll

stay up as much as I want." Emily sighs,

"Alright then. But don't come bitching to me

when you can't focus in art class." Emily

walks away, and she starts to put on a white

t-shirt. "Get dressed. You promised me and

You will go out today." I look at her confused.

I didn't promise to go out. With her shit, I

don't even go out at all that much. What the

heck was she talking about? "What do you

mean, I didn't promise you anything?" Emily

tilts her head at me. "Yes, you did yesterday.

You said, "Ok, I'll go out with you, Emily, so

you can get your ass out of this room for once

and actually live life instead."Sitting in our

room just drawing and painting"? My green

emerald eyes look up at Emily's blunt, honest

eyes. I love drawing and painting art in

general. When I paint something inside me, it

connect. It's like I'm whole and having Emily

told me that what I was doing wasn't living; it

made me angry. "So what I paint and draw,

what does it matter to you if what I'm doing

isn't really living? I'm walking, pissing,

shitting, eating, and living, so what are you

getting at?" I said irritated. Emily leans

against our room's wooden wall and looks at

me. "Blah blah blah, tell me all that shit. Later,

palva what I'm saying: There's more to life

than just sitting in a dark room doing art like

going outside and hanging out with your

friend, aka me; you're only a friend." I look up

at Emily, sniffing at her. Laying my body back

on the bed, a sigh escapes my mouth. "No

need to remind me; you're my only friend,

Dickhead." Emily smirks, "Hey, that's what

friends are for—reminding you you're not

living life or that I'm your only friend." I look

away with a sad look on my face. Was I really

living? Drawing is my favorite thing to do; it

makes me feel alive. Just drawing nature and

making up characters in my head made me

feel like I was living and creating something

meaningful. I was snapped out. My train of

thought Emily walked towards me. Sitting

down, the bed made a creaking noise. "Lisen,

I'm not trying to be a bitch, but come on,

Palva, you can't sit in your room forever and

just not experience the real world." Palva

closes her eyes and sighs, "Okay, I'll go out."

Emily smiles and giggles tightly. "That's the

damn spirit. Now get off your ass and let's go

live!" Me and Emily were walking out of our

college dorms. I had a regular black T-shirt, a

cross around my neck, and black sweatpants,

and over my black shirt was a blue hoodie that

said life is good with a bear holding a drink.

Emily, on the other hand, wore a white crop

top with black leggings that made her curves

pop out and sunglasses on her face over her

green emerald eyes. Her hair was down over

her shoulders. Hitch always dressed more

more confident than me. When I covered up

and hid my skin and body from the world

and myself, Emily always dressed

with freedom and without a damn care in the

world, like she was the only person on earth.

Hitch unlocks her 2020 Chevrolet Equinox

and steps inside the driver's seat while I sit. In

the passenger seat, "dressing homeless now,

are we?" Emily teases as she smirks and starts

the car. She backs up out of the parking lot

and into the street. We start to drive down the

street. I roll my eyes. "And you're showing a

lot of skin. Are you hell you put on a bunch of

make-up and we're just going out, nothing

special?" emily giggles, "Man would kill to

see a body like mine first of all and second of

all we're going to a party later at a friend's

house of mine and you're going to talk and be

social." I look out the window at the bright

morning sun. Light shining into my eyes

Emily knows About me and social places

"Emily, I don't feel comforta..." Emily

interrupts me "Yeah, I know you do, but how

the hell are you going to make friends and get

a boyfriend? Hell, you did say you wanted to

become an illustrator, right? That's why you're

here, right?" A cold sweat went down my

brow. "Well, yes... but as I said, I don't feel."

Hitch interrupts me again. "So what If you

feel a little uncomfortable, that's part of life

and when you're going for bigger jobs in

whatever type of art career you want to

achieve, you have to be able to talk.

Communicating is one of the most important

things, and you, my beautiful friend, have

none of that." Plava blushes and hides her

face with her right forearm. "Shut up, Emily.

I'm not even that pretty. I look like a New

York rat compared to you." Emily lifts her

hand from the black steering wheel and slaps

the back of my head. "ow, what the hell,

Emily? The loud rap music plays through the

entire house as people dance around the house.

I was sitting on the coach with a party cup in

my hand. I sniffed the inside of the party cup

and smelled the beer inside the red party cup.

The taste of the beer felt bitter and disgusting.

I wanted to spit it out right on the floor, but I

shouldn't, considering I don't want to get

weird looks or be called disgusting, so I

swallowed, gagging at the taste. Standing up, I

walked around the party. I felt trapped and

claustrophobic, like everyone was watching

me. My heart started to beat. I breathed in and

out, closing my eyes, trying to calm my heart,

but I was interrupted when my shoulder was

grabbed, looking behind me. Emily was

smiling at me and had a party cup in her right

hand. She then noticed me, and immediately

her face went into a worried expression.

"You, ok, you look tense and out of breath." I

tried to put on a believable fake smile. "Yeah,

I..." I'm. Fine, just...got done throwing up."

Emily tilted her head; she didn't believe me

one bit; she could tell when I was lying, and

when I was telling the truth, she crossed her

arms under her chest. "Yeah, you definitely

are ok, you lair." My heart almost dropped.

Emily sighs, "Come on, follow me. Where are

Are you going to dance?" Emily grabs my

hand tightly, and we started to walk towards

the middle of the living room, where everyone

was dancing. People were jumping, moving

their hips and arms around to the loud hip-hop

music that was playing. My heart dropped in

the middle of my stomach. We were in the

dead middle of the living room. Nobody was

paying attention to me or Emily, but it felt

like even if I danced weird, tripped, or did

something really stupid, people would think

I'm a weirdo or there's something wrong with

me. emily moves Were swift in fluid in my

eyes. She was just jumping around dancing

and having a good time. She looked like she

didn't give a damn about what people thought

of her. Emily moved closer to me. She was

face to face with me now, and my heart felt

Like it was about to burst out of my small

chest. "Come on, palva dance. Nobody's

looking at you. No need to be so paranoid.

Just move that body and dance!". Emily

smiles at me. My heart was beating so fast I

felt like I was about to have a heart attack, but

I started to dance if you could call it jumping,

moving your hands and feet around like an

idiot who didn't know what they were doing.

Emily smiles at me, and I give an awkward

smile back as I move my legs and arms to the

hip-hop music. all the anxieties and me being

shyness just disappeared. At that moment, I

left both my hands, moving my body from the

right to the left, putting up a v sign with my

index and middle fingers, drawing them

across in front of my eyes and away from the

center of my face. Emily laughed, and so did I

while we both laughed at our goofy dances.

Emily turned around with a playful grin, her

movements syncing to the beat of the hip-hop

music. As she began to grind against me, I felt

her hips against my hips and her curvy round

ass pressing into me. I was caught off guard

by this, and I immediately backed away.

However, I accidentally ran into another girl,

and she had her phone up in the air taking a

video with her three friends, and when my

back made contact with her, she dropped her

phone on the floor. The screen cracked

immediately as it made contact with the

wooden floor. The girl picked her phone up,

and she gripped it tightly, yelling fuck. In a

furious voice, she looks behind her shoulder

and sees me. This girl was around 5'0 with

long blond hair and a smooth white face with

brown eyes. She was wearing blue jeans, a

yellow shirt, and her nails were painted

crimson red. "BITCH, YOU BROKE MY

FUCKING PHONE!!" I put my hands up in

defense. The girl had an angry look on her

face. Her face was red, her eyebrows

lowering, her face muscles tensed, and her

brown eyes Looking at me like a bull ready to

pounce on me with fury.

"I'm…sorry..I..I… Didn't mean… to bump

into you, my heart beat fast, and the room got

smaller. As I was afraid of what was going to

happen next, this was the reason why I don't

go out to parties, and that is fights. "Sorry,

bitch, you broke my fucking phone!!!" I

flinched and stepped back "I'll... pay for it... I

have the money... I..." Emily walks in front of

me. "It was an accident, and it's not her fault;

it was my fault. I broke it." The girl grits her

teeth. "You're fucking paying for this phone."

It's 525 dollars. Pay up, bitch!" Emily scoffs,

rolling her eye's, "You got me fucked up if you

think I'm paying for that expensive shit." I

grab Emily's arm with both my hands. "Come

on, Emily, let's just go..." I said with a worried

look at my face. Emily sighs, nodding, and

we both start to walk away. "Get back here!!"

Me and Emily keep walking. The girl bites her

tongue. "Oh, oh, ok, run away, run away with

you're girlfriend, you damn faggot!!!" The

girl's yelled Emily's expression went from

frustrated to anger real fast, like a hawk

catching prey. emily Walks back to the girl

and slaps her across the face. The girl falls to

the ground, and they both started to fight.

Emily right hooks the girl in the face while

gripping a large chunk of her blonde hair. The

the girl didn't put up much of a fight. She balled up in a ball, trying to protect her body

with her hands, but Emily stomps. On her ribs

Leaving a shoe imprint on the chest of the

poor girl, people started to take their phones

out of their pockets and film the whole fight. I

heard a man running downstairs towards the

living room to see the fight. I squeezed in

between 10 people trying to get to Emily in

the poor girl. I heard cursing and cries as

Emily stomps and stomps on the poor girl's

face. When I finally get to the middle, I see

Emily calling the girl names as she kicks her.

The girl had a cut on her cheek. She was also

bleeding from her nose. People started to take

their phones out of their pockets and there

was swelling around her left eye and right

cheek. Tears fell down the girl's face as she

begged Emily to stop. Emily was driving in

silence. We haven't said a word to each other

after the fight. I look over at Emily. "Thanks

for getting out of control, Emily Really

fuckin thanks." Emily sighs. Her hair was a

mess, and her face had a few cuts on her

cheeks. Emily fingernails once white were

stained with blood underneath them. "You

shouldn't have overreacted over a little

grinding." "I didn't ask you to throw your ass

back on me while we were dancing, " Emily

groaned. "It was in the heat of the damn

moment." Alright, I was just having fun." I

roll her eye's, "Whatever... you didn't have to

beat that poor girl up like that, you know?"

Emily grips the steering wheel tightly, her

nails digging deep into the leather wheel.

"You heard what she called me? You already

know how I feel about that word." I look out

the window. "It's just a word." Emily scoffs,

"Don't speak about stuff you don't understand,

Palva. You should know when to keep your

fucking mouth shut," Emily said in a low, cold

voice. I turn my body away from Emily and

continue. Looking out the window as we drive

by a few buildings and people coming out of

fast food places with their bags of food,

"Listen, I..." I was going to say something, but

I went quiet; there was no use of Trying to

convince Emily, but what right? So I have to

tell her what she can't be offended by; she's an

adult after all, but the way she beat up that

The poor girl was just brutal. I never saw that

side of Emily. Should I look at her differently?

I don't know.