In the Pouring Rain

My name was Alina Winter, better known as Lilli. I was fifteen years old, had no siblings. My mother worked as a nurse, which was the reason why she was never at home. My dad, didn’t live with us anymore. They had had a divorce, when I was five.

I lived in a small country called Austria, in Europe. The city I lived in was rather small too, though many people lived here. Most of them, however, were old couples. That's the reason, I was mostly in Vienna, visiting my friends. It took me about half an hour to go there, which wasn't too long.

The school I've been in was one for graphic design, or arts, how you would call it. I had some really good friends there, who were the most important thing in my life. I couldn’t live without them. I needed their company, to stay sane.

I was planning on doing an exchange year soon. Never, had I been sure, whether to do it or not; I still wasn’t. I was about to leave my friends and family behind, for twelve whole month, stepping into a plane, that took me to the USA.

Despite my fear of planes, I was also afraid of not fitting in there. I was pretty shy, for me it was hard to make friends, even talk to strangers. Though, I was the most hyper girl, as soon as I knew the kids, I was hanging out with. My friends always told me, I was awesome, that I would make lots of friends there, though, I was scared.

I had already gotten the chance to talk to my host family. They were really nice guys, I was glad I got to stay with them. They also had a son, who was my age. We had already talked over Skype. I think I could even call him my friend.

The agency I was going with, assigned me a nice tutor too. She would help me during the first weeks. In my opinion, I was lucky to get her.

In two days I was leaving. I was already excited, couldn't even sleep properly. My friends always told me it was going to be fun, that I would be looking back, and say it was the best decision I have ever made.

I hoped so.

Today, Jenny was coming over, to help me pack. I hadn't done it yet, because I couldn’t decide on what to take with me. The luggage couldn't weigh more than twenty kilograms, which is about forty-four pounds. That’s not a lot, considering my huge dresser.

Jenny and I spent the whole day picking out clothes, trying to figure out what to take. During the process, we ordered at Starbucks three times, not being able to stay awake without coffee.

In the end, I decided to take everything I usually wore. Though I had to leave some of my favorite things, making sure the suitcase wasn’t too heavy.

Jenny even talked me into leaving my favorite pair of Vans. Secretly I wasn't going to leave them, though. I had to bring them, no matter how old and worn out they were. I loved my Vans.

The day I left, I was excited, yet sad. I wanted Jenny and Toby to come. They were my best friends, after all. I saw them every day, just thinking of not being able to talk to them in person for a year, made me want to cry.

All my closest friends, came to the airport to say good-bye. I'm glad they did, cause it showed me that they cared for me. Some of them even cried, when I stepped through the gate, leading to the inner part of the airport.

Only seconds before I left, Jenny gave me this bracelet, which said hers and Toby's name. Both of them had one, saying all of our names. I loved it, it was the best present they could've given me.

Now, I was alone, sitting in the hall, arguing whether to buy a cup of coffee or not. There was a Starbucks right next to me, it was so seductive. Shortly after, I gave in, slowly rising from my seat, my Converses squeaking on the floor.
Another half hour to go, until the plane left. Then fourteen hours flight, to get to California.

The only thing that kept me sane, during these hours was my iPod and the girl in the seat next to me. She would sometimes start a conversation. We talked about us, where we went, just everything that came to our minds. She was pretty nice, I must say.
We figured out, she was going to a city only about two hours away from the one I would go to. Before we stepped out of the plain hours later, we decided to meet some time. In the USA two hours wasn’t much after all.

Waiting for my luggage to come out on this band-conveyor, I thought about, who would come and get me. If it was Joey, or just his parents. I was so excited, it almost showed.

When I finally stepped out into the hall, where everyone was waiting, I soon spotted Joey, talking to some girl, I didn’t know. I ran over to them, almost tripping. Joey wrapped me into a tight hug, welcoming me and introducing Katy, who I learned was his best friend.

Katy was a nice girl, not shy at all. She loved to ramble around, and laughed almost all the time. I really liked her.

Outside, in the parking lot, my host-parents were waiting. They, too, hugged me, acting like I was part of the family.

The ride home, I was asked millions of questions, answering them happily. I was so glad I was assigned to this family. They were nice, and caring. They acted even more like a family, than my own did.

I got a nice bedroom with bright red walls, a color I loved, along with black. I always wanted to have a room, with these wall-colors, but my mother didn’t allow it.
Now I finally got it.
Joey later told me, that they painted it new, just before I arrived and that he talked his parents into taking these colors, because he knew I would love them.

I so loved Joey for doing that.

School started about a week later. On my first day, Joey took me there, he let me get to know all his friends. They were all cool guys, and they even were in almost every of my classes.

Laura was a shy girl, she had long black hair with a green highlight. Her style was just the same. I learned, green was her favorite color, which could be seen on her clothes. This day, she wore bright green skinny jeans, a black top, and black skater shoes. In the beginning she acted a little weird around me, though they all explained to me, that it was because she was shy and somehow afraid of strangers. When I got to know her, however, she was an awesome person, who always smiled.

Chris was very outgoing, he didn’t care what people thought about him, at all. That explained his behavior around teachers. He didn’t care about them, always said what he wanted. During the first month I had been there, Chris had been sent to the principal's office twice.

There were some more guys and girls, whom all had a similar style. I guess I was totally in the Emo-group. I didn’t care, though, since I dressed the same and I loved all of them. They were awesome, not what everyone thinks of them. Like they dress black, they cut themselves. That's not true, they were the happiest people I had ever seen.

Hanging out with them was awesome. After school, Joey and I always went to Chris' house. Katy and Laura had been there too, along with a guy, I assume was Katy's boyfriend.
When we weren't at Chris' house, everyone came over to ours. We always had a place to stay, since Joey's mom was awesome. She let everyone stay over.

After a while, Joey became my best friend. We talked about everything, about these guys we liked, just gossiping around. No matter what, we always listened to each other, I felt safe around him.

I had been in California for almost four month, when Chris asked me out the first time. I had liked him for a long time, though I wasn’t brave enough to make the first step.

Our date was amazing. We went to the cinema, cliché I know, but it was cool. We didn’t make out the whole movie, we just laughed about the scenes, leaning into each other.

About three dates later, we were officially together. I loved him so much, though I hadn't known him for too long. Never before, had I fallen in love like this. Everything was perfect; I didn’t even think about the fact, that was going home only month later.

Joey had found the courage to ask this guy, he had liked for a while out, too. They looked so cute together, I was just happy for him.

I could've never thought of having a boyfriend during my exchange year. I always told myself, it was impossible to find someone, and even if I did, that I wouldn’t have gone out with him, for the fact that I had to leave again.

Though, when I met Chris, all these plans were gone, I wanted to be with him, I couldn’t leave him, not like this.

The following month, were the best of my life. I had new friends, people I could rely on, just like Jenny and Toby, who were waiting for me at home.

Unfortunately, the month passed much too quickly. Everything seemed so perfect, I didn’t want to leave, though I had to. I had to go home, to do the exams, that would get me into school again, I had to study for those.

Before I left, Joey and Katy organized a huge party for me. They wanted me to always remember the time, I had been with them.
The party was awesome, everyone came. They played the best music, I even got presents from them all.
Chris got me the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen. It was silver, with a heart on it, that said 'Forever and Always, Chris' on the back. It looked so cute.

The day I had to leave was horrible for me. I had to leave everyone behind, not for a year this time, but forever, unless I brought up the money to visit some time.

I had to take the train to the airport this time, so everyone accompanied me on the way there. It was an awful day, not only because I felt like this, but also because of the weather. It seemed like the weather was only like this for me.
Standing in the pouring rain, I hugged everyone good-bye.

My friends stayed until my train left, when I finally sat in the dry warmth, I looked at the picture in my hands. It was Chris and I, hugging in the pouring rain. I would always keep this photo; it would've gotten a special place in my room.