Complicated by Bianca Gray (story read aloud txt) 📕

To my family:
You guys are the heart and soul of this book!


Chapter 1
My Life

I’ve been studying polar bears all my life but when am I going to actually meet one? It doesn’t make any sense. Mom thinks it’s too dangerous but she thinks that moving out is dangerous too. For Pete’s sake, I’m in college!!

I looked at what I just wrote in my diary. I can’t give mom too much credit, I thought angrily. When was I going to move out and go off on my own? I mean I am 18. Ever since dad “disappeared” I had to be in my mom’s sight 24/7. It was so annoying. I turned back to my mini white laptop. I had to finish my research paper on polar bears. All my life my mom has been filling my head with dragons, vampires, ghouls, trolls, witches, warlocks, etc. I finally pushed it all away and went with polar bears. I remember when I told her she bit her lower lip so hard and it didn’t even bleed. My mom is the prettiest woman I have ever met. She never seems to change. She doesn’t get wrinkles, nada. Nothing. She looks like she was 16 or something. She has beautiful chestnut hair but she likes to have shoulder length hair, unlike me, I like to grow it long. Already it’s down to my lower back. There was something like fear in her eyes too, kind of like she was afraid of polar bears. She was afraid of something. My friends say I am really pretty. Well, now I don’t have friends. They were jealous of my flawless skin. At least that’s what my mom said but for some reason I feel that it’s more than that. Something like…danger. My mom had friends visiting over and I can hear the vacuum humming.
“MOM!! I’M TRYING TO DO A RESEARCH PAPER!!” I yelled. The vacuum stopped.
“What was that, Sam?” asked my mom.
“Do you really have to vacuum right now? I am trying to do my research paper on polar bears,” I said. Right when I added polar bears I looked at her face. I knew I shouldn’t have added polar bears. My mom had a smug smile that slowly turned to shock.
“Of course I have to vacuum!” My mom said looking shocked.
“Of course,” I mumbled. I turned back to my room wondering when I got up and out of my room. The vacuum started again. I only had one paragraph done after an hour. I knew my mom was already finished vacuuming but decided to keep it on just to get on my nerves. I heard a rumble from my breath. It sounded like a low growl. I gasped. Maybe it was my stomach, I thought. I saved my work and headed down the stairs. My mom turned off the vacuum cleaner when she heard me coming down the steps.
“I’m finally finished vacuuming,” said my mom in fake exhaust. She even wiped her forehead for effect.
“I just need a snack,” I said while rolling my eyes. My mom never acted like a mom. She acted more like a younger sister than a mom. I always felt I had to take care of myself. Even though she was always there, I had to get myself things. She said it was so I’ll get myself ready for the big world out there. Now I am ready and now she won’t let me go. My stomach growled. At least I thought it did. I searched the cupboards and found them empty. I looked in the fridge and found potato chips. My mom puts things in the weirdest places, I thought. She’s always has done that. Well, since she started putting the groceries away. I frowned and shook my head. I opened the bag of chips and popped one in my mouth. It tasted cold. Figures, I thought. I walked into the living room. The living room looked like a hotel lobby. It seemed like a hotel lobby too. The whole house seems like a hotel now that I thought about it. Gold felt outlined the carpet. I felt rich. I am rich too. Or my mom is. The house is huge. There are 27 bedrooms. Yes, 27 bedrooms. I have lived like this my whole life. Right now there was one guest in the “hotel”. There always seemed to be one person besides my mom and I in the house. My whole entire life. I pondered this over while putting a handful of potato chips in my mouth.
“Samanthia! Do not eat before bedtime! Does your mother teach you anything?” said my mom’s friend, Greta. What a weird name, I thought to myself. She cringed.
“Yes, I do Greta, but it is not her bedtime yet,” said my mother while striding into the room. I’m not surprised that Greta would listen to her. It seems like all her “friends” always listened to her. Greta scowled. She climbed the stairs to her guestroom. My mother glared at me.
“What? I was just hungry. I was growling, mom. Oh by the way the potato chips were in the fridge. I thought I should tell you that,” I said. I looked at her to see what her reaction would be towards the chips. Nothing. Her face didn’t change one bit. She didn’t even ponder over the statement. I sighed.
“I knew you were tired, Sam. You should go to bed,” said my mom. She actually looked worried now. I headed up the stairs. I had to stop midway.
“Wait, did you say you growled?” asked my mom worriedly.
“Yes, mom I growled,” I said. Her face turned from worried to fear. What was wrong with my stomach growling? At least, I thought my stomach was growling. I washed my face. The crystal face, my friend used to say. I looked up at myself in the mirror. I guess I was somewhat pretty. I had black hair that hung straight to my lower back. I tied my hair into a bun so it wouldn’t get messed up. I jumped into my king size bed and snuggled in. I turned off my nightstand lamp and just lay there, thinking. I heard whispers. I focused my hearing on the whispers. My mother and her friend, Greta, were talking.
“She was growling, Greta,” said my mom.
“I’m telling you, Rose, all she needs is a mate,” said Greta. Mate? I thought.
“She doesn’t even know,” said my mom, stifling sobs.
“Then your just going to have to tell her,” said Greta with authority in her voice. By then I was clearly knocked out.
When I woke up the next morning, I just lay so very still wondering what they were talking about.
“What did my mom mean, ‘she doesn’t know’?” I said aloud. I sighed. Why bother? My head asked me.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. Great, I thought, now I’m talking to myself. I pulled the gold satin blankets off of me. I, then, slowly walked down the stairs to the kitchen. I don’t know what my mother does all night but suddenly the cupboards were stocked and breakfast was made.
“Mom, what is all this?” I asked surprised.
“More guests are here,” said my mom casually.
“More?” I groaned. My mother turned to look at me. She looked sorry.
“Yes, more,” said my mother quietly.
“Is something wrong?” I asked. She didn’t answer but continued setting the table. I was going to ask if she needed some help but I heard feet slapping against the marble stairs. I looked up and gasped. There, in front of me, was a guy my age. He was beautiful. He had golden hair and he had Caucasian skin. His skin looked like silk. He gawked instead of gasped. Both of our mouths were open. I was the first one to turn away. I stared at my mother. She just shrugged with a smile playing on her face. I looked back at him and he was still staring at me.
“It’s not polite to stare,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Oh, I know. It’s just, um, I,” stammered the guy. I held my breath and I could tell he did too. Who is this guy? I thought. As if answering my thoughts he answered.
“My name is Drew and you are…?” said Drew.
“Um, my name is Samanthia or Sam if you prefer,” I said.
“Samanthia,” said Drew as if trying the name out. He smiled at me. “I like it.”
“You do?” I asked.
“Yes, it is…very unusual,” said Drew. Before I heard anyone coming down the stairs, he turned his head to his mother.
“Oh, good. You met Sam,” said his mother. I think I’m going to like her, I thought. She smiled. Drew whispered something to his mother. His mother laughed. Drew frowned. Apparently he didn’t think it was so funny. I think I looked very confused because his mother started talking again.
“Oh he only said that he didn’t know there was going to be a beautiful girl here, and that now he doesn’t look presentable,” his mother laughed again.
“Oh,” I said. We both blushed. Well, I blushed and he looked white as paper. He looks presentable to me, I thought. Then I looked at what he was wearing, pajamas and tousled hair. Oh, I thought. I looked down at myself.
“Oh my gosh! I don’t look presentable,” I said. He looked up at me and laughed. I blushed deeply. I quickly ran up the stairs and into my room. I turned the shower on and got in. After I did that, I quickly dried myself and got dressed. I worked on my hair for an hour. I looked at the makeup my mom gave me two years ago. I picked up a stick of pink lip-gloss and I looked at myself in the mirror. I sighed. Then I put it down without even putting it on my lips. My stomach rumbled, very loudly.
“Ugh. I don’t want to eat like a pig,” I said to my stomach. I sighed again. I bounded down the stairs as fast as I could but as gracefully as I imagined a queen would walk. Since I was walking so fast and gracefully, I tripped over my own feet and slid down the stairs. I landed on my bottom. I quickly got up and brushed my backside. I heard a chorus of laughter, high and low. Now I could see that there were more guests in the house. There were more mothers with male children. All were my age.
“What the-“ I said definitely surprised. None of them really stood out to me besides Drew of course. Now I understood. My mom wanted me to have a ‘mate’ as soon as possible. I groaned. They all looked up at me and smiled. Why would they want to be here? I asked myself. They didn’t look even look twice. Not even a glance. There were a lot of boys. No wonder why we were having a big breakfast. I sat down at the big mahogany table and at once everyone sat down as well. I looked at all the friendly faces. Does my mom even know all these people? I asked myself. I shook my head violently. Everyone stared at me. I blushed a deep red. Drew snickered. I flashed a glare at him. He laughed harder. Everyone started staring at him. He winked at me. I knew what he