A Useless Teenage Fairytale

My name is Angel Harington and I wouldn't at all consider myself an expert on life. I've taken a few chances, I've fallen in love, I've seen tragedy, and felt loss, joy, and countless other emotions. But I'm only 18 years old. I still have a lot of learning to do. I'm just another clumsy teenage girl out of millions who are trying to stumble their way to find their place. One who talks too much and bites her nails when she's nervous, makes up words, trips, gets embarrassed, laughs, cries, gets hurt, hurts others, makes mistakes, and moves on. But if I'm one out of a million, then there have got to be at least a few out of that million who will read this and learn from it or maybe even relate to it or at very least be entertained by it. I might as well start by telling you a little bit about myself. I grew up in a small town called Kyndale. It has about 200 people living in it. Kyndale is a religious town of two different religions: Mormanism, and Cowboyism. Dont think that Cowboy is a religion? I dare you to come to Kyndale. I promise, it will change your mind. I follow one of those religions, being that I am LDS but I'm one of the few who live in Kyndale who isn't 'cowboy' material meaning that I dont fit in well with the other students at my school. In fact, I am very much unpopular among the cowpeople. I have one good friend at my school named Stephanie. Neither of us are very good for the other's reputation but we balance eachother out; I've never ridden a horse and she's never been to church a day in her life.
I believe in love, but I avoid relationships though they do happen every once in a while, but none of the ones I've been in have ended with many fond memories. They dont look very fun to me, I deal with Stephanie's break ups far too often to have the time or patience to deal with my own.
There are 5 members of my family. My parents, My older brother, My Twin sister, And Me. You'll get to know more about them as we carry on. But the basics are that my dad is famous for motocros, my mom is for singing, and my brother and sister are following in our parents footsteps. Then theres me. I'm the middle-child in a sense because my sister is a couple hours younger. Thats about all I could say about myself. I dont like singing in public and I prefer riding for fun to racing. I was raised, in my childhood, by my mothers mom and dad in the City. This was because mom and dad were too busy with their careers to be parents. That changed around the time I turned 10. But I still consider my grandparents to be just as much my parents as my biological set. After my parents decided to be parents, we moved away from the city into the small town so that we could grow up in the peace and quiet though I wouldn't consider Kyndale to be very peaceful...
For as long as I could remember, my parents have told me 'Life is about experience. How Exactly will you be living if you dont take every oportunity that comes your way?'. I remember that and try to take it to heart, saying yes to every good oportunity that I come across but sometimes it's hard to see which ones are good or bad.
One thing for sure I know I love doing is traveling, and maybe its because deep down I enjoy being by myself or maybe its just because I like getting away from the norm. Whatever it is, I apply for exchange student scholarships as often as I can.
Funny thing is, even though I applied for all those exchange scholarships, it never meant that I ever expected to get accepted. Thats why I was so shocked when I got a letter in the mail at the end of my Junior Year in Highschool that would begin a lesson that would change my outlook on life forever:
"Dear Miss Harrington,
Congratulations!..."​

*Note: This is a realistic, but FICTIONAL story. Angel Harrington does not really exsist. I'm going to give this story a try for the first few chapters but I'm not quite serious about it. I just thought I would write something real for a change. I hope you like it.​

 

Part 1: Turning Point

Turning Point​

"...I am pleased to inform you that you have been one of the 13 American students chosen to travel abroad as a recipiant of the Honda/Kikkoman Scholarship.."
I almost couldn't believe what I was reading, my hands were shaking and so was the letter in my hands. It seemed like I wasn't the only one in shock, my mother and sister, Charity, who were sitting at the table on either side of me had fallen completely silent.
Charity was the first to recover "Oh... My... Gosh!"
"Yeah... I second that." I said with a nod but I couldn't help but smile. I had applied for this scholarship months ago but never had I expected to be accepted.
The letter was gently lifted from my hands, it took me a second to realise that it was my mother who had taken it. She was being extrelmely careful, like if the little paper with ink tore so would my scholarship. "Oh My gosh..." she said, holding the letter up with one hand and covering her mouth with the other.
"Yes mom. We have established the Oh My Gosh." I said with a laugh. But I was just as surprised as she was.
"Wow Angel, Congratulations Sweet Heart." she finally blirted out, wrapping me in her all-too-familiar mom hug that rendered me short of breath. I returned her hug "Thanks Mom." I said.
Charity joined in, wrapping her arms around the both of us. We could only remain in that position for a few seconds before it hurt so we all let go.
"Wow..." my mom repeated, reading over the letter again with a proud smile on her face. "Your fathers out in his shop. You Should go show this to him." she said but she was already picking up the phone. I knew what she was doing; Warning him.
I took Charity's hand and the two of us sped to the door. I had the letter in my hand that wasn't latched tightly to my sister's.
As soon as we were outside, My sister asked "Where are they sending you?"
"Oh!" I said, feeling stupid. I had been so shocked I didn't even read the rest of the letter. I held it up to read it as we walked, knowing Charity wouldn't let me run into anything on the way to the shop. It was only about a mile's walk and we werent apposed to walking especially seeing as we didn't have a car at the time.
"Tokyo Japan." I answered after a moment. "And they only accepted me for the summer program. I'll be back before shool starts."
"That's still amazing!" Charity exclaimed.
"I Know." I said back, trying to at least pretend to contain my enthusiasm.
Charity nodded "What are you going to tell Dad? I'm sure he'll be nervous about this, mom too."
That took me by surprise. I knew already that my father had been reluctant to let me apply, it would be hard for him to send me out of the country by myself. Hes a pretty paranoid man. After a moment, I shrugged "I'll find a way." I said, not too convinced myself but it was all I could say.
Charity understood and sighed "Don't worry. Remember the family motto." she reminded me, holding her red hair behind her head in a ponytail with her hand to keep it off her neck. Charity may be my twin sister. But the two of us look as different as day and night. We have the same greenish-blue eyes, thin lips, round, freckled face, and birthmark under the left eye but thats about as far as our similarities go. Charity is very likely the most beautiful girl alive, and she is aware and proud of that fact. She stands about three inches taller than me and has a very nice figure, long naturally red hair and a pale complexion.
I'm small, unnaturally so for my age and my hair is blonde. Unlike my siblings, I got my looks from my dad.
At the thought of our family motto, I was a little bit comforted "'Life is about experience." I said.
Charity nodded "Uh-huh." she said cheerfully. "And thinking about experience, have you decided wether or not your comming to Youth Week with me?"
"Ugh." I groaned. I had hoped she forgot about that. Youth Week is a religous thing for teens to go socialize and learn about the bible. Its sort of like church camp only it's in a church and you sleep at a hotel. Normally it's pretty fun but after three years, it gets old. But this was the first year Charity would be able to go. Usually it was schedueled around the same time as her basketball camp but this year, basketball camp wasn't for a month so she would have time for both.
"I might be gone before it starts." I said, trying to find a good excuse to not go.
"Well check your letter. Doesn't it say what day you're leaving? Charity asked, not letting me get off that easily.
I looked. She was right. "Youth Week is on June 12th?" I asked, to be sure.
She nodded "Yup!"
Drat. "I'm leaving on the 19'th." I said.
"Yay! You can come to Youth Week with me for your last hoora in the US then!"
"I'll think about it." I surrendered, as we were approaching the shop.
The familiar smell of Diesel Fuel greeted us first but it was followed closely by the unexpected strong embrace from behind that pinned my arms to my sides and made me drop my letter on the dirty, oily garage floor.
"Hey little sis!" I heard my older brother's voice loudly in my ear. "What brings you two out here?" he asked.
"Ow." I laughed, "Car let me go!" I struggled "We came to talk to dad."
"Big news, Big Brother." Charity added with a giggle.
Carsen let me go and noticed the letter I had dropped. He bent down and picked it up for me, his mess of strawberry blonde hair (looking more red than blonde) tangled down in his eyes so thick I didnt understand how he could see through it to read the paper but I could tell he knew what it said as soon as the grin spread across his face. "I'm not sure if dad's going to kill you for applying, mom for letting you, or the scholarship people for giving it to you." he taunted.
"Shut up." I said casually, snatching it back and striding past him towards my dad's office door.
"We'll pray for you." Carsen called after me. I rolled my eyes and I heard Charity hit him. Then, I opened the office door. "Hey daddy. I got something to show you."

 

-Thanks a ton Star. I wanted to have the next part up by now but I'm not totally pleased with it just yet. haha soon though.

 

"Are you sure this is something you really want to do, Angel?" My dad didn't look too thrilled about the idea, just like I knew he wouldn't.
"What if something happens while you're there and you can't get home?"
I knew he worried about me. I worried about it too. But there was just too much of me that wanted to take on this new experience that outweighed the fear. I hoped my dad would see from that prospective too.
It's not like he wasn't happy for me. He was thrilled and so proud that his little girl had been accepted for such a scholarship. But, as all good parents do, he was worried about his daughter. I understood that. I didn't want to say goodbye to him either. But one of us had to be strong, and if I was the one who had to be the adult in order to go to Japan, then so be it.
"Dad. We can sit here and 'What If' all day. But if I don't go, then I'll be 'What If'-ing my whole life." I pointed out.
This stumped him. It seemed like I had finally won the argument that we had been having for the past half hour. He sighed "I'll talk to your mom about this. This isn't a deffinate yes. But there are conditions about me even considering this."
It was half a win at least. I would settle on it... for now.
"What are the conditions, daddy?" I asked.
"You Have to end this school year with straight A's."
Easy. I thought to myself.
"Get your chores done."
This seemed like it was going to be just another 'you can borrow the car if...' lectures.
"Attend Youth Week With Your Sister."
Dang it.
"And do anything else possible to prove to me between now and then that you aren't going to get yourself into trouble if I send you away alone."
Double Dang it.
I put on a smile and nodded "Ok." I said cheerfully. I wasn't too fond of the last two conditions but they were managable. See, I already established how much I didn't want to go to Youth Week and I am a magnet to trouble and my dad knows that. It will be hard to keep myself from doing something stupid in the next few months.
Dad just smiled but he was already getting back to work "Well why dont you get home and get your stuff done. Tell your mom I'll be a little later tonight."
"Alrighty. Later Dad." I stood up and walked to the office door.
"Oh and Angel." he called after me.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"I Love You." he said.
I laughed "Love you too Old Man." I answered before leaving the office.
"She's Alive!" Carsen said, annoyingly, as soon as I emerged from my dad's office door.
"You wont be if you keep up the abnoxiousness." Charity cut in.
Carsen just shrugged "Good Luck." he teased, messing up Charity's hair. She hit him and Carsen asked me "So what are the details. Is dad gonna let you go? Whats the scholarship?"
The three of us left the shop and started walking down the street towards home. Town was quiet today. That surprised me. Usually the streets were filled with the sounds of the children playing around in town and yard work on such a hot day like this but today: nothing. I assumed this was because it was a weekday so most everyone was either still at the school or at sports practices. I'm too nonathletic to play sports, It wasn't the season for Charity's sport yet, and Carsen was graduated so none of us would need to be there.
"Well it's connected with schools." I explained to Carsen and Charity as we walked "They partnered up with Honda and they send out thirteen students out of the US to study in Japan for two to three months. And I dont know if dad's going to let me go yet. He just set conditions to think about it and told me to go home."
Charity clapped her hands together, like giving me a mini applause "You were in there for a half hour and he said he'd think about it so you must have at least said something to make him consider it."
I nodded, but I felt sort of guilty for what I said "I guess you could say I put him on a guilt trip." I admitted.
"How so?" Carsen asked me. He was walking right next to me on my right, Charity was on my left.
"I just told him something like that if I didn't go, even though I knew I could, I would regret it for a long time. And as a parent, he's supposed to encourage me to succeed."
"Ouch." Carsen said with a laugh "One point Angel, Zero on Dad."
"I hope so." I said. The three of us finished our walk home in silence and I thought about what was ahead for me. It was the first time in a long time that I thought about the future, instead of the past. I had been through a lot in my life so far but nothing I would really consider traumatic or even extremely great. Just, average. But tomorrow was my last day of school, and after that, I had a feeling a lot was about to change.

 

Part 1: Turning Point.

I checked over my appearence one more time in the mirror, a little bit anxious for today. In just one hour I would be walking through the front doors of Kyndale Junior/Senior High School and be confronted with the last day of my Junior year. By now, A lot of people had heard about my acceptance for the scholarship and not only that, it was my birthday. In such a small town, things like this dont go unnoticed like in sane big schools. Today was going to be great, but also very awkward.
I had my shoulder-length blonde hair pushed out of my face with a wood headband and, because of some overhelpfullness from Charity, a lot of black eyeliner on my eyes. It wasn't my favorite way to do my makeup, thinking it made me feel a little bit fake, but it made her happy to 'help me look great on my day' so I just played along. I was dressed in two different tank tops, one over the other, which were pink and an orange one over top, a white denim skirt, and a necklace my best friend, Stephanie had bought me for my birthday. She had sent it to me through the mail the day before, so I knew if I didn't wear it today she would be hurt.
Doing one last tug at my hair, and an attempt at smudging the eyeliner a little bit to not make it so thick (unsuccessfully), I heard Charity call me downstairs. "Angel we should go!" she called. From the sound of her voice I could only assume she was in the kitchen.
"Ok Im coming!" I called back to her. I picked up my backpack off the foot of my bed and met her at the front door.
"Im driving!" she half sang in a cheery voice, jingling the keys that hung from her index finger as the two of us walked down the stairs and got in the car. I looked her over, she looked gorgeous, of course. With her long red hair pinned up in a curled knot with random pieces hanging out down to her shoulders and her clothes making her look like a super-model. It was just natural for me to feel a little bit inferior sitting next to her, as usual. She reached into her purse and put on her sunglasses. "Alright you ready?" she said. I nodded.
***********
"There you are!" I knew who it was before I even saw her face.
"Charity told me all about it in my first hour class!" Stephanie was saying as she got close enough for me to hear "You're going to Japan thats freeking amazing!"
I laughed "Nice to see you too, Stephanie." I said sarcastlicly.
She smiled, the two of us were in my second hour class. "You should have called me dude! I cant believe it are you excited!" she said, not letting me change the subject.
Giving in, I answered her question "If I can go, yeah." I said "My dad is being pretty stiff about it. We're going to talk about it when I get home." I explained.
"Awww thats cool. I'm sure he'll let you go hes just a dad. Dads always have to give their little girls a hard time about growing up."
"I hope you're right..." I started saying when the teacher called us to attention. "Alright class. Its the last day of school so I wont take up much of your time. One at a time Im going to call each of you back to turn in your books and show you your final grade. The rest of the hour you have to visit." The government teacher was a younger man, tall and kind of gangley with big teeth. A lot of the girls in our class thought he was cute and a lot of the guys looked up to him. His name was Mr. Austin. We all just called him by his first name, which was Austin. His last name was Barfuss and he said Mr. Barfuss was his father... and he just hated his last name.
"Sound fair?" he asked.
"Yeah..." a few of us mumbled. Mr. Austin clapped his hands together with a very overly cheerful smile "Great. Lets go by the Alphabet then. Angel would you come back and talk to me for a second."
I stood up, getting my government book to check in, and followed Mr. Austin to his desk in the back of the room.
"Hi Angel." he said cheerfully as he sat down at his desk.
"Hey." I answered, falsley enthusiastic.
He smiled "So I heard about your shcolarship. Pretty impressive. Your parents must be very proud."
I shrugged "I suppose so." I said, I couldn't help but smile a little bit though.
He nodded "And its your birthday today." he said, "I think that calls for us all to sing!" he spoke a little bit louder and my smile instantly vanished "No thats not realy nessisary." I said, putting the book down on his desk, trying to subtiley remind him why he called me back there.
He laughed "Ok fine. I wont make them sing to you but you owe me." he said, picking up the book and stamping my report card to show that I had returned it.
"How?" I asked, confused.
"You sing tonight."
"Huh?"
Mr. Austin shrugged "Well Im in charge of the seniors graduating this year and we need someone to sing their song after the President talks." he explained "The song they chose was 'Good Riddance' by Green Day. Im sure you've heard it." I was about to deny it but he proved me wrong before I even started "I hear you playing it in the halls after school all the time on that guitar of yours."
Dang I thought to myself but I smiled "A little last minute dont you think?" I asked.
"Ok if you say so..." Mr. Austin started "Class Its Angel's birthday today!"
"Ok ok fine Ill do it!" I laughed. It really wasn't that big of a deal, I did know the song and I was going to be at graduation anyway. I might as well do it and save Mr. Austin from his own procrastination in finding a better singer.
"Great!" the teacher said, "They are going to practice the whole program today right after school. Cant wait to see you there."
"Awesome." I muttered sarcastically. Dont get me wrong, I loved playing guitar but doing it for a public was an entirely different story. I hated having every eye on me, expecting me to do great. It was the one sure fire way to make me sound my worst.
"What was that all about?" Stephanie asked, looking confused as I walked back to my desk that was right in front of hers.
I shrugged "Blackmail." I answered.
"Huh?"
"He knows I dont want a lot of people making a big deal about my shcolarship and birthday. So he used it against me now I gotta sing at graduation tonight."
Stephanie nodded "Oh I see. Im deffinately going to come watch."
"Cool." I said, greatfully. But that was a given anyway. Seeing as I had to go to Youth Week, I wouldn't have much time to be with Stephanie after today. We decided to spend all of it together just in case we didn't have another chance before I left to go to Japan.
For the rest of the hour Stephanie and I took pictures (using the camera I got for my birthday) and talked about our plans for the summer. Steph was going to mostly work. She had three jobs lined up. I felt sorry. Her family and financial situations were always the complete opposite of mine. Sometimes, I felt bad that I had things like a dad and a steady financial income that she didn't but she never seemed to let it get to her and hardly ever accepted my help besides the few times that she would get kicked out of the house by her mom for a few days and needed to stay with me. She was always an example of overcoming the obstacles to me, being the strongest person I knew. She might be a bit of a drama queen from time to time but at the end of the day, I was always grateful to have her more than I think I ever let her know. Steph was shorter than me and not nessesarily fat, seeing as she was way more fit than me, but bigger boned. Her hair was naturally brown but she usually died it in a bunch of odd colors like bright blonde and brown streaked or black. And her eyes were the most awesome gold color anyone has ever seen. She might constantly voice her insecurities about how much bigger she was than me (though she was not in the least bit overweight) but she was by far the more attractive wether she would admit it or not and had it not been for her outgoing and stubborn personality, I probably would never have survived my junior year of highschool.
"So are you still going to help me curl my hair for the graduation party?" Stephanie was asking me as I put my camera away. I smiled "Of course." I was saying just as the bell rang. We stood up "Why dont you come home with Charity and I today we can go to graduation together. I'll take you home after the party." I suggested.
"Sounds awesome." Stephanie started. We were interrupted when I was suddenly stopped short by someone who stepped right in front of me.
Startled by the impact, I took a hasty step backward. Being my usual awkward clumsy self, my feet got tangled in someones coat that was laying on the ground behind me and I ended up falling over backwards. My backpack, which I had been in the process of closing, spilled everywhere.
"Sorry." I was already appologising to whoever I had run into though by the looks of it, I hadn't done them much harm.
"Thats just like you." the newcomer said, a voice I recognised and didn't like. "Apologising to someone who does you wrong. When are you gonna get a backbone, Angel?" the male voice laughed. I stopped picking up my papers and looked up at a face I knew only too well.
"When you stop pushing me over, Maybe, Tony." I said coldy, shoving the rest of my papers in my bag, not really caring anymore if they were straight just as long as I could get away from him as quickly as possible.
Tony laughed "Hey relax it was an accedent ok." he said, reaching his hand to me. Im sure he was just offering it to help me up but I didn't accept the offer. I must have flinched or something without meaning to because he looked a bit annoyed and offended "I just meant to help you up. No need to act like that."
"I dont need your help." I muttered, standing up on my own.
Stephanie only glared at the boy and the two of us both started walking away together.
"Yeah you do." he called after me.
I just ignored him but Stephanie picked up a book from a nearby open locker and hucked it at him before I could stop her "Get lost." she said. We heard him mutter some insult that I wont repeat about Steph as we turned the corner and out of sight.
"You didn't have to do that." I said to Steph, a bit annoyed.
"Yeah I did. He's an ass."
"Yes but stooping to his level isn't going to make him not be one." I answered.
"Hey throwing a little book at him is not stooping to his level."
"Maybe your right I just think hes not going to get any better if we all hate him. Ignoring him is god enough isn't it?"
"Not if he keeps harassing you. The fact that he even thinks hes worth talking to you after what he did..."
Feeling the need to change the subject, I interrupted her "So how are things with you and Jacob?"