Invitation to a Better Life- Prologue (standard:drama, 11233 words)
Author: Siobhan	Added: Sep 24 2002	Views/Reads: 3509/2876	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Everything is going ok for Jessica, she is surviving her dad leaving her and her mom, schools out and she's got the boy of her dreams, that is until her mom elopes with a stranger to change their lives forever.

Jessica laughed, as her mother, eagerly attacked her with a floured
hand.  She ducked the white powder and splotched some onto her mother's 
nose.  They were attempting to cook a cake but more of the flour was on 
them and the floor than in the cake.  Her mother snarled in mock anger 
and deftly scooped up a handful of shortening.  Jessica squealed with 
horror and raced out of the kitchen, giggling insanely when her elbow 
connected with the wall.  She raced up the stairs, laughing so hard she 
thought her ribs would break, and right on her tail was her mother, 
whose pretty brown hair was coated white with flour. 

“You cannot get away from me,” she called, snickering with mad glee. 
Jessica, fearful of shortening in her hair, threw herself into the 
bathroom and locked the door.  Her mom roared like a lion and playfully 
pounded the door.  Jessica chuckled with triumph, she was safe for the 
moment.  She didn't believe for a moment that her mom would forget that 
she owed her one.  She would have to be careful taking a shower 
tonight. 

She heard her mother creep down the stairs, pretending that she had
given up.  So, she sat on the toilet seat and looked around her.  If 
her dad hadn't left them, they would never had been able to do things 
like this.  Her dad had always been uptight about cleanliness and the 
correct way to behave.  He had been lacking in humor, and the only 
thing he had seemed to enjoy was darkness.  He loved to be a cynic and 
see only the bad in everything.  She always wondered how he had managed 
to snag her fun loving mom who showed her how to see the good in 
everything.  Her mom told her that he was very intelligent, that he did 
have a humor, a very dry humor, but it did exist, and he had said he 
loved her.  He had lied, obviously, since he left them about a year 
ago.  It hadn't always been easy, but because of her mother, she knew 
they would carry on no matter what. 

She heard the phone ring, and she wished that she dared to come out to
find the portable phone.  It wasn't generally for her, but once in a 
while, it was Anna, or even Elijah.  Just the thought of Elijah sent 
thrills coursing through her body.   Elijah was so great.  He was tall, 
very tall, and lanky.  He looked like the classic image of a “skinny, 
white boy”.  He had soft brown hair that always hung over one eye and 
he would casually run his fingers through it.  Oh, how she wanted to be 
the one running her fingers through his hair!  And his eyes, he had 
killer eyes.  They were an unusual, brilliant green, that always 
reminded her of the Irish hills, dark emerald green.  She had stared 
into those eyes for hours on end when they would talk about anything 
and everything.  He always had something to say, most of it was very 
smart but a lot of it was hilarious.  The dark, either morbid or 
totally stupid and gross, humor that all teenagers share.  He was her 
idea of the perfect guy, but she was his idea of a perfect buddy.  But, 
she wouldn't stop fantasizing about him, and only Anna knew of her 
obsession.  And, of course, her mom. 

“Jessie, get your fat booty out of the potty room, Anna is on the line,
dying with some great gossip.  Hurry, I think she may explode from the 
excitement,” her mom called up and she unlocked the door in a hurry.  
She wondered what Anna had to say, and she practically killed herself 
in her rush down the stairs.  She grabbed the phone from her mother, 
who grinned as if to say “watch your back”.  Jessica smiled warily back 
and pounced up the stairs, again, into the securities of the bathroom.  
It had a lock, and she didn't trust her mom in this mood enough to be 
in an unlocked room. 

“What is it, Anna?” she wanted to know.  She was as big of a sucker for
good gossip as the next person.  That was definitely one of her 
downfalls but who could blame her.  Gossip was pretty tempting, and it 
wasn't like she believed it, always. 

“I was talking to Ian,” Ian was one of Elijah's closest friends and her
heart gave a leap at the possibilities, “and he seems to be under the 
impression that Elijah is digging you. He says that Elijah is always 
talking about you but is afraid to say anything cause he doesn't want 
to ruin the friendship.  I was totally shocked, I mean, it's so obvious 
you two are meant to be.”  Anna gave an exaggerated romantic sigh to 
punctuate her point but Jessica was too caught up in the news to even 
notice.  Elijah liked her back?  She felt as if she could faint, it was 
so cool. He liked her back!  After all of her insecurities and fear of 
rejection, he actually was interested in her.  Maybe she should make a 


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