• Preface

    I remember a simple time. A time before anything in my fragile and human life had ever changed drastically. A delicate easy time when my realationship with everyone else was easy, simple, and automatic, like breathing. But then Anthony had left, and that's when I'd filled my head with the idea of jumping off of a cliff..........
    I was so stupid.
    　
    Chapter 1:News

    "I love you gorgeous. Good night" My one true love whispered over the phone as I changed into my green and yellow polka-dotted silk nightgown. My parents had just went to bed, which is why I had my cell phone on speaker. "I love you too baby, I wish you were here." I crooned, slightly muffled by the semi-tight silk sliding over my face. He chuckled over the phone as I cussed when I stuck my face on the wrong side of the left strap. It was so easy talking to him, like we were meant to be together. When I woke up after being hit by that truck, I remember him cooing my name. When I broke my leg after falling
    out of that tree, he was still there. When I was left bleeding from Conor, he was there....Conor. That jerkwad Conor. "He let me bleed and didn't care." I hissed as I turned my bedside lamp off. I sat waiting for sleep to take me, thinking about tomorrow. I would get to see my knight in shining armor again.
    The next morning, my balding father snuck in my room at six in the morning to wake me up. "Lianni, it's time to get up kiddo. Alice and Ali are at the table waiting for you." He said quietly as he gently shook my shoulder. I grunted-and with alot of effort-pulled myself into a sitting position. My dad left the room and I changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, a black 'I Love Potatoes' T-shirt, and my familiar pair of thick, black DC sneakers with the bright orange laces.
    I clomped down the stairs and there sat my irritating but lovable younger twin sisters. They were both 13, five years younger than me, and beyond special. Alice was a gifted artist and Ali was a uniquely talented author. If you can put two and two together, you'd realize that they write and illustrate books together. Anyway, they were staring at me with excitement, and now I knew I was in for it.
    "So, Lianni, we found a little camoflague book that said The Diary of Lianni Corre, and we just had to read it. Who knew it would be so interesting!" Ali sarcastically exclaimed. Alice, on the other hand, looked genuinely interested. I rolled my eyes and Ali started running her big mouth again. "You know princess, you really shouldn't leave your personal belongings on the bus. That's how idiots get ahold of them." She hissed playfully. I bounded over and ruffled her short hair. My dad looked at the clock then at me. "It's seven-fifteen Lianni, you need to get goin'." My caring father said as I gave everybody a
    fleeting kiss goodbye. Lord only knows the kind of crap I'll have to deal with at school.
    Within ten minutes I was at the high school. As usual, the preppies were in groups, the jocks were shoving the nerds into the chain-link fence, while gangsters were spray painting a wall, while the emo kidswere sitting in a corner with the goths. The normal kids were everywhere doing anything. But I didn't belong among any of these people, except for one person. I scanned among the crowds, searching,
    when I felt cool arms wrap around my waist. "Hello babe. I missed you." Anthony whispered in my ear as I grinned in expectance. "Oh great! Just what we need, more Jessianna!" He muttered. For some unfathomable reason, Anthony absolutely despised my best friend Jessianna Moriisaan.
    She bounced over wearing another ridiculous outfit, some kind of overly-ruffled dress with alternating tiers of ruffled stripes-green, orange, and red-that bounced when she walked. I watched as Anthony took in her wardrobe and he tried not to laugh. "Hey guys! What's up?" She sang in her high bell voice. She looked at Anthony and whispered to me, "What's his problem?" I shrugged my shoulders while he muttered under his breath just so she didn't hear it, "You're my freaking problem."
    We waited for the bell and when it rang, we raced to avoid being trampled by everyone trying to get away from the coming rain. Suddenly, it felt as if all of us had exploded the doors open, at the moment the quarter-sized drops started to fall. I grinned at Anthony and he smiled back. "Oh Emerald, I have some exciting news to tell you." He whispered in my ear. I turned and looked at him suspiciously.
    "What do you mean by good news?" I asked, my eyes narrowing. He looked startled by my suddenly suspicious glaring.
    "Actually, my love, I was meaning that I heard from your father that you were recently accepted at Harvard, and this being one of the slums of Brooklyn, that's quite an achievement. I discovered that this morning, I was recently accepted to Harvard as well." He said, and the rest of the student body turned to listen. He took a deep, slow, deliberate breath. "My mother wanted to know if, if, if you wanted to go with me next year. We would get most of the tuition." He said.
    I stared at him in disbelief. Was the hottest and wealthiest boy in all of Brooklyn, offering to take me to college? Then again, he was my boyfriend who really would do anything for me. He had already nearly gotten killed for me, so why was it so drastic for me to go to an Ivy League college with him? I thought about it some more, and it started to make absolute sense. If he really loved me, he would want to go to college with me. If he went alone, girls would be all over him.
    "Alright, I cave. I'll go to college with you." I said, surpressing a giggle. I knew how he would react after graduation. We would spend a week together packing, then we would say goodbye to our families and the go off to college and share a dorm and-oh my god-something could happen. "It'll be wonderful Anthony! We'll share a dorm and get fantastic grades and after a few years get our Master's Degrees! Oh it'll be so exciting!" I cheered. He eyed me like I was nuts.
    The bell rang again, and he grabbed my hand and we started heading to first period.

    Chapter 2:Emergency
    After school we headed to Anthony's place. His parents weren't home yet, so we sat down to watch a movie. We decided on a comedy-horror movie, ZombieLand. At one point in the movie, a felt the desire to just kiss him. I looked at him and he flung himself at me, I didn't know if he had caught on to my mood, or his need was the same, but I think we broke a kissing record.
    About an hour later, Anthony's dad came home with his little brother Tyler. "How was the game Ty?" I asked the eight year old who walked in the door dripping wet. I knew their mother wouldn't like the muddy footprints they left, then I remembered it wasn't my business.
    Anthony's father smiled politely at me as he walked into the kitchen to get a snack. He had been the parent who liked me at first meet, unlike Anthony's mother, who hated my guts and wished that I would just drop dead up until the Pandora bracelet I got her for Mother's Day two weeks ago.
    Tyler came and sat down with us and asked if we could watch Planet 51 instead of a scary movie and we agreed. We were at the part where the astronaut lands on the alien's planet when the phone rang, shrill and urgent. Tyler reached over to grab the phone when his face went pale and he handed the phone to me. Automatically, I was waiting for Alice to say that Ali forgot to put away the milk and it's all curdled now and they need someone to go to the store and get a new gallon. I was beyond wrong.
    "Um, hello?" I said, unsure of who I was talking to.
    "Lianni! Oh thank God! Lianni listen, we need you to come home NOW! Alice got hit on her bike and she's at the hospital and she keeps asking for you and-" My dad screamed into the phone, but was cut off by the sound of ambulance sirens. "OH MY GOD ALI NO!!!!!!!" He screeched.
    "Dad what's happening!?!"
    "JUST GET TO THE DAMN HOSPITAL!!!" He shrieked, when the phoneline went dead.
    It was absolutely unbelievable. I didn't think that fate would do this to my sisters. I had to leave now. "Anthony I'm so sorry but I need to leave. Some-some-something hap-happened to Alice and Ali and, and I need to get to the hospital. Please I'm so sorry but I have to leave, I, I, I might be back if they're ok but I'm so sorry I have to go!" I sobbed to him. I grabbed my backpack and ran outside. As I took out my keys, I remembered something. Mom doesn't know. I shook that thought from my head as I drove off to Mercy Medical Center.