CHAPTER ONE
T WO BLACK CIRCLES SURROUNDED my eyes as I stared at my reflection in the mirror within the eyeglass store located in the nearby strip mall.
I wasn’t impressed, not by a long shot. Sticking my tongue out at myself, I made a face then glanced over at my mother who stood next to me.
“Do I have to, Mom?”
Mom just smiled, running a hand through my dark tresses, then faced forward so she could inspect me in the mirror.
“Well,” she started, tilting her head to the side and tapping a perfectly manicured finger against her chin. Dark eyes moved up and down my face and I caught her gaze in the mirror. “It’s up to you whether or not you want to see.”
I examined the repulsive glasses currently perched on my face and wrinkled my nose. I was almost offended at how much I disliked them so much and wondered what had possessed Mom to pick such a pathetic and sordid thing for me to try on in the first place. “I don’t know if I want to at this rate,” I mumbled.
“You can always get Marie to lead you around.”
“Ugh,” I said, frustrated as I thought of my kid sister. That would be a disaster, the end of the world type disaster, to have an eight-year-old be my eyes for the unforeseeable future.
“Can’t I just get contacts?” I pleaded. “Please?”
My mother sighed, shaking her head. “You know what your optometrist said about getting contacts, Annabella. Dry eyes, my dear. For now, we’ve got to deal with the glasses. You might actually grow to love them.”
“Never,” I declared, taking the fugly glasses off of my face and placing them back on the rack. “There’s nothing here I like.”
“You’ve only been here ten minutes. We’ll keep looking.”
I pouted, tugging on my mother’s leather jacket. “I’m the only one in the family who has to wear glasses. That’s so not fair.”
“My poor baby,” Mom cooed.
“I’m not a baby,” I grumbled. “I’m thirteen, almost fourteen. I’m practically an adult.”
“I forgot,” my mother said, trying to hide a smile. “I’m sorry.”
I knew she was humoring me.
Calling on my inner adult, I sighed and spun around the eyeglass store, deciding on starting over. There had to be something here that was worth wearing. It wasn’t like I could go on wearing no glasses forever while bumping and tripping over things, and struggling to see the fine print in everything.
Gah!
It was so sad that my eyes were already failing me and I hadn’t even started high school yet.
Abandoning my mother by the mirror, I walked to the corner of the store and stood in front of the glasses that were deemed Women’s Fashion. My eyes slowly went up and down the columns of glasses.
Black ones, brown ones, even silver. Sometimes there’d be a touch of red or pink thrown into the mix now and again. They were all so … blah. Every pair I tried on were either too big for my face, too small for my face, or just too ugh for my face.
I should have brought Jade. My older sister Jade, who was cool without even trying. I bet she would have walked right into this store, twirled her fingers in the air, and the perfect pair would have materialized in the palm of her hand. Then she’d slip them on and smirk at the rest of us poor souls who didn’t know the first thing about picking out the perfect pair of frames. This decision would either make me or break me come September.
She would have been able to help me, I thought to myself.
Mom was awesome but then again, she was my mom . She wasn’t exactly up to date on fashion, if you knew what I mean. Plus she’d say anything would look great on me. To her, I was the epitome of perfection, being her daughter. I could do no harm or look no bad in her eyes.
I was going to high school next year and I had to make a good first impression. After all, I’d be there for the next four years. Young people were so judgy nowadays. It wasn’t the same back in my mom’s day like it was now. If I picked the wrong
T WO BLACK CIRCLES SURROUNDED my eyes as I stared at my reflection in the mirror within the eyeglass store located in the nearby strip mall.
I wasn’t impressed, not by a long shot. Sticking my tongue out at myself, I made a face then glanced over at my mother who stood next to me.
“Do I have to, Mom?”
Mom just smiled, running a hand through my dark tresses, then faced forward so she could inspect me in the mirror.
“Well,” she started, tilting her head to the side and tapping a perfectly manicured finger against her chin. Dark eyes moved up and down my face and I caught her gaze in the mirror. “It’s up to you whether or not you want to see.”
I examined the repulsive glasses currently perched on my face and wrinkled my nose. I was almost offended at how much I disliked them so much and wondered what had possessed Mom to pick such a pathetic and sordid thing for me to try on in the first place. “I don’t know if I want to at this rate,” I mumbled.
“You can always get Marie to lead you around.”
“Ugh,” I said, frustrated as I thought of my kid sister. That would be a disaster, the end of the world type disaster, to have an eight-year-old be my eyes for the unforeseeable future.
“Can’t I just get contacts?” I pleaded. “Please?”
My mother sighed, shaking her head. “You know what your optometrist said about getting contacts, Annabella. Dry eyes, my dear. For now, we’ve got to deal with the glasses. You might actually grow to love them.”
“Never,” I declared, taking the fugly glasses off of my face and placing them back on the rack. “There’s nothing here I like.”
“You’ve only been here ten minutes. We’ll keep looking.”
I pouted, tugging on my mother’s leather jacket. “I’m the only one in the family who has to wear glasses. That’s so not fair.”
“My poor baby,” Mom cooed.
“I’m not a baby,” I grumbled. “I’m thirteen, almost fourteen. I’m practically an adult.”
“I forgot,” my mother said, trying to hide a smile. “I’m sorry.”
I knew she was humoring me.
Calling on my inner adult, I sighed and spun around the eyeglass store, deciding on starting over. There had to be something here that was worth wearing. It wasn’t like I could go on wearing no glasses forever while bumping and tripping over things, and struggling to see the fine print in everything.
Gah!
It was so sad that my eyes were already failing me and I hadn’t even started high school yet.
Abandoning my mother by the mirror, I walked to the corner of the store and stood in front of the glasses that were deemed Women’s Fashion. My eyes slowly went up and down the columns of glasses.
Black ones, brown ones, even silver. Sometimes there’d be a touch of red or pink thrown into the mix now and again. They were all so … blah. Every pair I tried on were either too big for my face, too small for my face, or just too ugh for my face.
I should have brought Jade. My older sister Jade, who was cool without even trying. I bet she would have walked right into this store, twirled her fingers in the air, and the perfect pair would have materialized in the palm of her hand. Then she’d slip them on and smirk at the rest of us poor souls who didn’t know the first thing about picking out the perfect pair of frames. This decision would either make me or break me come September.
She would have been able to help me, I thought to myself.
Mom was awesome but then again, she was my mom . She wasn’t exactly up to date on fashion, if you knew what I mean. Plus she’d say anything would look great on me. To her, I was the epitome of perfection, being her daughter. I could do no harm or look no bad in her eyes.
I was going to high school next year and I had to make a good first impression. After all, I’d be there for the next four years. Young people were so judgy nowadays. It wasn’t the same back in my mom’s day like it was now. If I picked the wrong
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