Finding Light

Lisea woke up the next morning feeling the pains that went hand in hand with any hangover. But after a quick shower and a few cups of coffee, along with some Advil, She began to feel a little more like herself.

She hated it when Ramona wasn't around in the morning. Her face and cheery attitude was something that helped Lisea get up and going every morning and the apartment had a sad, dreary feel about it when she was gone.

After reading the morning newspaper, which didn't offer any happy, inspirational stories, Lisea decided to cheer herself up by venturing out into the city to take some pictures. Photography always acted as a therapy for her.

Walking out of the apartment complex Lisea was reminded of what Ramona had said; New York City was bleak in the wintertime. Taking that thought out of her mind, Lisea took in a deep breath of icy air and made her way down the bustling sidewalk.

It was Fashion Week and even though most of the activities took place in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and in Greenwich Village, The Upper West Side, where Ramona and Lisea resided, was also packed with people hurrying off to runway shows and parties.

The walk to Central Park was brisk walk from her home and when she arrived, the pathways were jam-packed with people taking in the winter scenery. Lisea found a clear area near one of the many ponds in the park and discovered many good photo opportunities. A shot of kids building a snowman and making snow angels, A man selling warm peanuts out of a vending cart. And construction workers from the Zoo huddled around a trash can fire for warmth during their lunch breaks.

After she filled her camera and was satisfied with her outing, Lisea headed back towards the busy city streets and her warm apartment. The streets were congested; cabs and people flooded the sidewalks and roads. She waited for the streetlight to change, signaling the time for her to cross and when it did change, her whole body lurched forward to escape the freezing weather as fast as possible.

One cab though, didn't notice the light change. And as Lisea walked in front of it, the cabby barely had enough time to swerve away. He honked the horn loudly and yelled something thought the windshield. At the last second, Lisea jumped backwards and out of harm's way. Other things could be said about her camera.

The Cabby drove away, with out as much as an apology. Lisea gazed down at her Five Hundred Dollar camera, which now lay smashed on the New York cement. It was her favorite and most trusty camera, it was the one she used to take pictures of everything for everyone and now it was destroyed beyond repair.

She had to fight the urge to cry.

*-*-*

The first day of school was a blur, a stressful and awkward blur.

It felt like everyone knew about why Ramona had moved to California, and weren't afraid to talk about it behind her back. Teachers treated her special, and not just because she was new to this school. It seemed like for the past few weeks all Ramona was trying to do was forget about what happened. And all of a sudden she was being reminded of it every second.

"What did you get for number eight?"

"Umm," Joey looked over his homework sheet. "X= 4.8."

"Thanks," Ramona said quietly and scribbled down the equation. The two were doing Algebra homework on the Armstrong's kitchen table, it was just the two of them, Jakob didn't get home from middle school for another hour and Adrienne was running errands for Adeline.

"You ok?" Joey asked, not looking up from his paper.

"Yeah," Ramona lied, "It's just, you know, first day and everything."

"Look," Joey looked up at her and saw right thought her disguise, "In a week, something else is going to happen and they are going to forget all about it. Trust me."

"I know that," Ramona gave him a weird look, "It's just all of a sudden it's this big deal again."

Joey scooted his chair closer to her's. "Than just forget about it."

Ramona gave him a wicked look.

"Well, don't forget," he shook his head "Just try not to think about it, you can't let it ruin your life 'Mona.'"

"I know," she whispered, suddenly noticing how close he was to her, she felt shivers go through her.

"Don't worry," He said almost silently and before either one of them could register it, their lips pressed together in a dry, soft kiss.

Reality hit Ramona and she pulled away as fast as grease lightning. "Wait," she laughed awkwardly, "What the hell are we doing?"

Joey laughed too and rubbed the back of his head "I don't know," He shrugged and looked at the floor.

"No, It's just, its so predictable." Ramona noted, thinking of how everyone would assume that the Son of Billie Joe Armstrong and the Daughter of Tré Cool would end up together.

"Yeah, you're right." Joey somewhat agreed. 'Damn it,' he mentally kicked himself 'What was I thinking?' "Sorry."

"It's alright, really," Ramona tried to act normal, although she had some urge to kiss him again. "I should go, actually." She started to get up and gather her stuff. "I'll see you tomorrow," she smiled at him as she made her way to the door.

"Yeah, most definitely," he said. He waited a moment and when she was completely gone he put his head down onto the table and groaned.

*-*-*

The next day Ramona hurried to get a seat in Biology, the day before she was a little late and ended up in the back where she couldn't even hear the teacher. When she had sat down she settled in her seat and sighed, so far, today could only be described as: better.

'Maybe Joey's right, maybe it's old news now.' She thought, but she cleared any thoughts of Joey out of her mind right away, it was too confusing.

The class got settled and Dr. Robert passed out one of those tests that 'only tested how much you remembered over the summer'. Biology was Ramona's strong subject, the test would be a snap.

"Hey," a finger tapped her shoulder "Do you have an extra pencil?" someone whispered

Ramona turned around to look at the dirty blonde boy behind her.

"Hey," he flashed a gorgeous smile. "Do you?"

"Umm yeah," Ramona whispered and turned back around to get a pencil from her binder. She wondered if she was blushing, she sure as hell felt like she was. "Here," she offered the writing utensil and hoped to get another smile out of the teenager.

Her wish was granted. "Thanks, I'm Conner by the way,"

"'Mona," she smiled before turning back around trying to hold back a squeal of delight.
**
The day ended almost as quickly as it began, and before long Ramona was packing up her books to go home. She had made plans to go over Joey's after school, but after the events of yesterday, she was starting to think maybe that wasn't a good idea.

Ramona was so wrapped in her own thoughts that at first she didn't notice when Conner walked by with a group of friends. He glanced her way and gave her a smile along with a small wave. Ramona didn't wave back, but instead smiled back in his direction. When he was gone she bit her lip and turned away.

"Be careful," A female voice beside her warned.

Ramona looked up to see a brunette girl, about her height in the locker next to her. "What?" she asked confused to what the girl was talking about.

The girl looked at Ramona and nodded toward the direction Conner was going, "He's bad news," she advised, shoving a notebook into her backpack.

"Oh," Ramona said quietly, not believing her.

"I'm Charlie," The brunette said, closing her locker, "Charlotte," she rolled her eyes "But Charlie."