Sometimes kolbi found herself thinking about how life used to be for her, back before the whole thing with gavin took place when she was in the eighth grade. Things had been difficult at times for her mother and her, not having another parent in the picture to help take care of bills or any of the other things that came with raising a daughter but the two of them made it through. Once upon a time ago, kolbi would have considered her mother to be one of her best friends. They had always been super close but things had obviously changed and sometimes kolbi feared she would never be able to get back the relationship she once had with her. It only made things more difficult for the girl because it was already hard enough not having a father in her life, sometimes she felt like she no longer had a mother. With everything that had happened to her over the last few years, she had never spoken a word of it to her mother. It was as if the woman was in the dark and not because kolbi wanted it that way, more so because her mother just didn't know how to react.

when she was first sent to st. jude's academy, she hadn't really been all that excited for the change. However, as time went on and she continued to get to know the students that she was there with, she found herself being more at home, welcomed and understood then she had ever before. Upon arriving there, she truly didn't see anything wrong with her and still to this day, she really didn't see that big of an issue with her relationship with the older male. Yes, there had been a huge age difference and that kind of thing was frowned upon but he had made her feel as if she was worth something and made her happy for once. Her mother had taken all that away from her. Coming here, she had been forced to try and move on but it wasn't until her junior year that she truly let herself do so. Yeah, it was only after gavin showed up back in her life and they had a short stint of a relationship again but although the love between them was still there and incredibly strong, they weren't able to make it work. There was too much of an age difference, too much jealousy on his end and then there was the fact that since her freshman year at st. jude she had developed feelings for one of her best friends, feelings she choose not to ignore anymore after a trip to new york with a group of friends, one of them being him.

not seeing estelle for a while, she wondered what had been going on in the girl's life. It looked as those she was slightly stressed about something but kolbi found it difficult to talk to people about their issues or things going wrong in their life because she had a difficult enough time opening up to people herself. Nodding her head in agreement with the other girl, she brushed her fingertips through her hair. “yeah, things have been busy since break for me really. Got back, things between flynn and I changed and since then we've been spending a lot of time together. It's been nice, although I do miss you and a few of my other friends.” she said, a smile growing on her face. Looking down at herself, she shrugged her shoulders at the girls question. She wasn't entirely sure whether or not she had lost weight, it wasn't as if she was trying, even though at times she felt gross and disgusting and found it difficult to figure out why flynn was so attracted to her, or any guy for that matter. The truth was, kolbi had some of the lowest self esteem there was out there. She constantly feared that she wasn't good enough, that people wouldn't leave her and reject her, thinking the worse of her. It was something she had been dealing with since she was a young girl and no matter how many times someone came into her life and told her else wise, she found it difficult to agree.

Somewhere too far for us to find Forgotten the taste and smell Of the world that she's left behind It's all about the exposure The lens I told her The angles were all wrong now She's ripping wings off of butterflies. Keep your feet on the ground When your head's in the clouds.

as she waited for kolbi to arrive, estelle took out her phone to entertain herself. a frown knotted her eyebrows together as she read through the text messages her sister had been sending to her. apparently her parents were behind that, especially since she no longer found it necessary to actually reply to the useless texts they were sending her. it was hopeless, the way her sister did nothing to get out of the suffocating grasp their parents have on their lives, the way she merely chose to submit, taking the easy way out of things, choosing to suffer for the rest of her life under their dictatorship instead of fighting for herself. ever since they were kids, her sister had always been so obedient, always so eager and quick to please whereas estelle made sure to create havoc for her parents to clean up after. since young, the natural blonde-haired girl hated being told what to do and having to live up to every single aspect of her parents' stupid expectations. she found that her parents' lifestyle was a total hoax, they always played out the fake side whenever they were with others, whenever they attended some charitable event. they clearly had no interest in such activities, and yet they still kept the pretentious smiles on their faces as they donate big sums of money to a cause they hated. estelle had seen enough and at the young age of ten, she was determined to make a break from it all. her principles made her the black sheep of the family, she refused to be yet another mccartney to be filled with lies and deceit just for the sake of belonging to the crowd of the rich and famous. she refused to put her morals aside and judge everyone based on their family statuses and their intelligence when there are more important things and standards that people could be measured with.

"don't text me," she replied, and promptly turned her phone off just so that she would not risk getting a phone call in the middle of something else, a phone call that would be so persistent, and yet one that she would be ever so unwilling to take. if her parents were persistent enough, she was pretty sure they would force sarah to call her repeatedly. did they not know that giving her several calls in a row would just end up pissing her off even more? apparently they did not bother to know her well enough to do so, and that was exactly why she never regretted breaking free from the family she wished she could truly escape from.

she decided to channel her thoughts towards something more pleasant as she tugged her phone into her jean pocket, humming a random tune as she tapped her fingers against the mini coffee table in front of her. she enjoyed coming to this starbucks cafe despite there being several other choices nearby because of the choice of music here. instead of blasting the most popular songs of the week, they chose the classics. it allowed the customers to converse more easily, without getting easily distracted by the song lyrics or the possibilities of their favorite songs being played. she scanned the vicinity as she waited, a smile tugging her lips upwards as she spotted a familiar brunette getting out of a cab. giving a small wave, she returned the enthusiastic greeting with fervor before sitting back down. "eh," she grimaced, "just the same old things here and there." it wasn't exactly true, since she's had quite a lot of troubles and complications for the past few weeks, but she felt that their meeting was supposed to be a pleasant one, so she decided to hold her thoughts back as she turned towards her friend. "we've both been busy, haven't we?" she said, eyes taking in kolbi's figure easily, "have you lost weight? you do look a lot skinnier..." at those words, she narrowed her eyes, not liking for the answer to be a negative one. she just could not help but worry for her friends, especially people like kolbi, because they were younger and often, she felt like a older sister. as much as she would like to convince herself otherwise, that was the role she often played whenever she was with them, and it was no use for her to try denying it forever.

WORDS: 736 -
NOTES: tag cassie. ha, longer now.
BY MEGAN FOX AT ATF

Having received a text message from estelle, asking her how long it would take her to get to starbucks, a smile formulated on the girls face. Typing away on her phone, she responded to the girl telling her it would only take her about ten minutes. She had been spending the afternoon with flynn, someone she had been spending quite a bit of time with lately, more so than she had in the past but alas he had to go to some sort of sporting practice and she had found herself back in her empty dorm, wondering where her best friend and roommate had been. Grabbing her purse, she made her way outside of the dorms and quickly hailed a cab to meet the other girl at the starbucks. A car was a luxury that kolbi had not been allowed, mostly due to the fact that her single mother no longer had a relationship with her like she had when she was younger. It had been kolbi's fault for it, once her mother had discovered she had been having an inappropriate relationship with a teacher when she was in the eighth grade, she no longer had any form of trust with her daughter. Kolbi herself actually refused to talk to her mother on most occasions, choosing to spend her breaks from school with friends or going on road trips like she had during their christmas break.

as the girl grew closer to arriving to the starbucks, she received another message stating that estelle had arrived. The two girls being friends had developed rather strangely, the way the two of them had met wasn't really ideal but alas, in the end the two of them were able to form a friendship and estelle really wasn't one to judge, something that kolbi greatly appreciated. The truth of the matter was, kolbi now got a good laugh out of their first encounter. It had been before kolbi had formed any sort of relationship with gavin or flynn and she was still freely sleeping around with the boys that paid enough attention to her. Yes, it all had been rather slutty of the girl but there were things that she was dealing with, things that stemmed from her father wanting nothing to do with her and her constant fear of rejection and her insecurities. Her friend owen and her had been sleeping with one another since they had first met and that particular day, neither of their dorms had been free and instead of just waiting for one of their roommates to leave, they had decided to get it on in the girl's restroom. It had been rather late in the evening and they had been sure that no one would have come in. alas, that wasn't the case and estelle had walked in on the two of them. Kolbi had been slightly embarrassed and was sure that the other girl would tell the entire school but when she didn't, that's when the friendship between the two had developed.

finally pulling up to the starbucks, she paid the driver and made her way into the building. Spotting the other girl on one of the coffee shops couches, she made her way over, a smile on her first. “hey there.” she said, leaning down and giving the girl a hug before taking the seat next to her. “so, how have you been? It seems like it has been forever since we've gotten together.” she said.

Somewhere too far for us to find Forgotten the taste and smell Of the world that she's left behind It's all about the exposure The lens I told her The angles were all wrong now She's ripping wings off of butterflies. Keep your feet on the ground When your head's in the clouds.

"on a scale of one to ten, how long will it take for you to get to starbucks?"

after sending the text to kolbi, estelle quickly ended the group discussion she was having with her biology group mates. after wasting nearly two hours going on and on about the structures of molecules and chromosomes, she was more than eager to get some caffeine in her system and take a long break from lessons and school work. she gave her friends a quick wave before setting out to meet kolbi at the starbucks cafe just downtown.

even though the two of them met under the most awkward circumstance ever, she was able to get along with the younger girl pretty well, and they were quick to fond a friendly bond like no other. "awkward would be an understatement," she thought with a smile on her face. quickly grabbing her belongings from her locker after depositing the books, she made her way out of the school campus, heading towards her car. the audi r8 coupe was a car she bought on a whim, as yet another attempt to burn a hole in her parents' pocket. it was silly, but it was all that she could think of at the time. in the end, it did the complete opposite, she had received praises from her father, with him babbling about how his daughter had absolutely brilliant taste and all that. her blood boiled as she was reminded of that family dinner, of how her parents were so capable of twisting facts to suit their wishes in front of everyone else. she had wanted to destroy the vehicle afterwards, just to throw another hissy fit for her parents to see, but as it turned out, the car had managed to grow on her. she loved the convenience the car brought her, and they had formed some sort of attachment.

with a sigh, she tried to focus on the task of driving instead of the unfortunate family lady fate decided to drop her in. taking another look at her watch, she sped up upon seeing that she had just ten minutes to spare. she hated being late, and punctuality was a must on her personal list. however, she was perfectly fine with waiting for others, as long as they were actually worth the wait. she was able to reach the place right on time, and the music died out as she killed the engine. "here, babe," she sent yet another text as she stepped into the cafe, planting herself in a single's couch immediately.

WORDS: 429 -
NOTES: tag cassie. hurr, honey.
BY MEGAN FOX AT ATF