Love Bite

Outside the sky was dark and strong, night had fallen and a storm was about to begin. Nikola was packing her dark purple suitcase for her first vacation without her parents to protect her and her little sister to annoy her. It was going to be one of the most memorable moments of her high school years, but she had mixed feelings about it. She was going with the school marching band to Disney Land in southern California. For a girl who loved adventure, Nikola had barely been out of her home town in Seattle, Washington. It wasn’t far away but she would be missing school for at least 5 days, not that it mattered to her. She had never liked school anyway, Nikola was one of those students who could study all night and try her hardest and still get an average C. Looking at the piles of clothes sitting in her suitcase ready to pack, she felt a sudden rush of anxiety and excitement. She had never been on a plane before, or in a hotel, and this time she had to do both of those things AND share a room with three other girls including a bed. 1

“Can I come too Niki? I’m gonna miss you lots.”2

Her sister Ellie asked as Nikola put the last item in her suitcase, her red and black hair straightened.3

“No Ellie, this isn’t for little kids like you.”4

Ellie was her little sister, only two years younger and so much like her already. She, like Nikola, had once been a complete girly girl. She had wore bright pinks and pastels with hearts and butterflies, maybe some glitter. Listened to only pop music or whatever was “in” at the time and played with dolls. Of course since Nikola had grown out of all that, Ellie who looked up to her, wanted to be just like her big sister. Now Ellie, 14 years old, 2 years younger than her sister, stood at a smallish height of 5’4’’ and was dressed in head to toe black with just a touch of red in places. She wore a thin black tank top underneath a sheer fishnet long sleeved shirt with black skinny jeans and converse. If that weren’t enough, Ellie also wore a black studded choker with about 3 more necklaces layered over that and over 20 rubber black bracelets. It was a mirror image of the outfit Nikola had on, with the same thing except instead of a fishnet shirt, she wore a black skull hoodie and a long chain with a music note skull on it instead of a choker. 5

“All done packing?” Her mom asked her as she zipped the suitcase and dropped it to the floor.6

“Yes, I am finally done and now I can have a break.”7

Closing her eyes, she rested wearily on the bed.