Chasing Sunlight

Kiran

The school was cold and smelled of fresh rain, something I should have expected entering a school in the early morning of August in Oregon. The walls were gray-painted bricks and the floor was cold concrete, making my shoes tap with every step. It felt like I was walking into a prison, not a high school.

Through the doors and to the right side, there were a few people gathered in a circle on the cold ground and against the wall. One of the students had a guitar with him but wasn’t playing. My first class is off to the left of the school’s entrance, so I wasn’t able to do any more than glance at the group of people, even though my curiosity was piqued.

I haven’t pulled out my guitar in forever. It was just a hobby of mine that I picked up years ago when my dad convinced me it was a sure way to win a girl's heart – to serenade her. My passion wasn’t in music, though, I chose to devote my time and energy to MMA- Kickboxing, more specifically.

I was always short-tempered and getting into trouble, so my mom encouraged me to pick up sports as a way to take out my aggression in a healthier way.

One night, while watching TV and scrolling through the channels, I came across a kickboxing match and my eyes lit up. I turned to my parents and told them, “I want to do that.” And I did. Two days later I began my training, and five years after that, I’m one of the top fighters in LA. At least, I was, until my parents split up and my mom and I moved up North.

We got here a couple of months ago, and the first thing I wanted to do was look for a new gym. The guy's at Pete’s Gym were like brothers to me, they even had a going away party for me when I broke the news that I was moving. We agreed to stay in touch with each other, of course, but it sucks leaving them.

You’re probably wondering why I moved up North with my mom when it seems like I have it pretty good in LA, right? Well, my mom has always been the one to understand and support my dreams in MMA, and dad, well, dad is a cheating narcissist who had that black eye coming to him a mile away.

I had my own demons to leave behind as well, though, so I had my own selfish reasons for getting out of the city and starting fresh.

I got expelled from my old school in LA after beating up a fellow student, and no one ever looked at me the same after that, including my dad. Mom sided with me on the matter, and that seemed to be the final straw in my parent's marriage.

I could have beaten up every guy in the state of California and it still wouldn’t ease the anger, frustration, and pain that comes after finding your girlfriend in bed with someone else. I couldn’t stand being there after that, knowing she’s nearby; the one person to take down Kiran Black, even if it was only emotionally. Your emotional state is extremely important when fighting, and after everything with Nat, my head wasn’t in the game anymore, and my parent's divorce was a perfect excuse to get away from everything.

So, here I am, a seventeen-year-old kickboxer with great potential and a broken heart, looking for a fresh start in a new state, with a new school and no friends.

Fuck. What was I thinking?

*

Aurora

I awoke this morning with a smile on my face, excited to start my junior year of high school at Glenrose High. I learned a few days ago that I share a homeroom with my two best friends Jen and Dani, and I was eager to see them and begin the new school year.

The girls and I made a plan for after graduation: we’re going to explore the country as we drive our way to New York where we would all get an apartment together that is equal distance to each of our desired colleges; Jen wants to go to Columbia, Dani to the Fashion Institute of Technology, and I am striving for Juilliard.

I’m not even sure if there is an apartment that is equal distance from those three schools, but no worries, we have time to figure out the details.

My boyfriend, Gabe, is on the school’s football team, and he’s hoping to get a scholarship somewhere, even though his family is pretty much swimming in cash and could probably buy a college if they wanted to – but college is the one thing that Gabe wants to earn instead of buy, and I fully support him.

We started dating towards the end of our sophomore year. I had been in one of the school's drama departments productions that he had attended, and he invited me and my friends to a party at his house that weekend. One thing led to another, and we are now going on 6 months of dating.

My parents work as elementary school teachers, which means that they are rarely home, and when they are home, they're distracted getting tomorrow's lesson laid out or they're so frustrated about how mischievous their students are that I don't dare even step near them. They're like ticking time bombs on those days and I choose to be away from the blast.

Dad teaches science, and mom is an art teacher. She was the one who named me Aurora because it means dawn, which is her favorite time of day, and her favorite thing to paint.

People interpret my name differently; some say that my name means first light or new beginnings, and they think that I’m this big ray of sunshine or something. Others think of me as the Disney character. It doesn’t help that I’m also a singer and love sleep, so I like being compared to the Disney princess more and find it to be more appropriate.

I’m not a gloomy person by any means, but when everyone thinks of you as this ray of sunshine, some high expectations come along with that, and I don’t like to disappoint people.

Why do I have to be a ray of sunshine for everyone? When do I get to just be Aurora Williams: human being?

_______________

Authors Note:

To anyone familiar with my previous work, I will go ahead and tell you that this is nothing like what I've done before. I've written this book to challenge myself as a writer.

Also, there are some rape scenes that may trigger some readers, so keep that in mind before you begin reading.

The book is yet to be edited so some slight adjustments will be made in the future for redundancies and things of the like. Please bear with me for the time being.