Aly-Oops!

Chapter 4-Mia

"Ouch!"
"Ooh ooh let me help you with that!"
I hop around in a circle clasping onto my sore throbbing toe as this blonde girl with perfect hair and a flawless face runs toward me.
"Here" she says lifting up the heavy cardboard box.
"Thanks. That's not too heavy for you?"
"No problem at all, I do a lot of volunteering, and at the shelter we need to lift a lot of boxes all day long for the animals."
I smile at her. Volunteering and helping others? She's my kind of girl, we're going to be great friends!
"Wow, thank you. I'm Aly by the way."
The girl smiles at me.
"I'm Mia. Did you just move here or something? I see you have lots of boxes."
"Yeah, from Ohio."
"Ohio..." Mia ponders.
"Yeah. Well, my brother has autism and we found a great school for him around here."
It's crazy how for my whole life in Ohio I kept hiding and covering the fact that my brother had special needs. Not because I was ashamed, but because of how other people would treat us. Because of all the ignorance. Even after starting the Buddy Program I still kept my guard up. It was still my big secret. But I guess Asher changed that. And Philadelphia changed that. And it's just such a release to not have to filter an important piece of my life away from everybody else.
"Aw that's great. Well, welcome to Philadelphia. I live in this community too. Right there." Mia says as she points to around the corner.
Our apartment is part of this condo community so we have our very own green here, a private swimming pool, and a basketball court. New practice location for Asher??😏
Once again, it's crazy how less than a year can change you. If this were a year earlier, I would cringe at the thought of a noisy basketball court mixed with my lack of ability for anything involving a ball.
"Thank you!"
Mia follows me all the way up to my new bedroom in the new apartment and it is absolutely beautiful! My room is huge and it looks like it was recently finished. The floors are a beautiful oak wood, and the walls are still painted a cotton candy blue and pink gradient from the previous owners.
"This is really nice. Does your place look like this too?" I ask.
"Yeah, they're pretty cookie cutter around here. This is actually considered off-campus housing for Villanova."
"Seriously?! So college kids live here too?"
"It's kind of a mix of families and students. I mean Nova is only a couple blocks walk from here."
"Really? How did I not know that!"
Mia smiles.
"Yep, it's a nice school. One of my close friends is actually going to be on the basketball team."
"So is my boyfriend!" I exclaim.
"No way, that's awesome!" Mia bubbles.
I pull my dark hair into a bun on top of my head.
"Yeah. I'm really proud of him. I know this means the world to him."
"I bet it does. That team is really good."
"Aly!" My mom calls.
"Mom, this is Mia. She lives in this area too." I tell my mom.
"Oh, hi. I'm Eva, Alessa's mom."
"Mia! Nice to meet you!"
"Likewise!..So Aly do you mind if you can go pick up a few things at the grocery store for me? I have to help Josh settle in.."
"Um..sure."
I get up from my uncovered mattress.
"Well, it was nice meeting you Mia. I'm sure we will hang out again."
"You too, Aly. I mean, I don't have anything else happening for another hour. Would you like me to help you go shopping? I can show you around."
Wow, I'm already making a friend here!
"Ok, thank you!"
We step outside my room.
"I'll see you, Joshy!" I call to my brother.
"Goodbye..."
I smile as we walk outside.
It is super gorgeous out.
"Here, I'll show you the way..So Aly what grade are you in?"
"I'll be a senior next year what about you?" I ask as we continue walking.
"Me too! Do you know where you want to go to college? Everyone keeps bugging me about it!"
"Well...I really would love to go to UPenn. It's been a lifelong dream to go to an Ivy and now that we moved to Philly it wouldn't be too far from home."
"That's really cool! I absolutely have no idea at all.." Mia sighs.
"That's alright, we still have some time."
"Yeah I guess...the grocery store is right here."
"Ok, thanks.."
We step into the store and Mia stops short.
"Ok..don't look now..but...the guy I like is here..."
"Really?!" I squeal.
"Yeah...just be subtle, ok? He's that tall kid standing by the soups.."
I look up and scan the boy.
He looks very familiar...
"He's cute isn't he?"
"Yeah..but I feel like I've seen him before."
"You probably have. He plays basketball and he likes to practice at the court in our community a lot. He has some friends there that let him in or something."
The boy turns around, and Mia quickly turns and pushes her back against the aisle shelf so the boy wouldn't see her.
"Aw, you don't want him to see you?"
"I don't know...I just always get really awkward and then..ugh it's a mess."
"Hey Mia.." The boy says as he casually walks passed us.
"Hi, Evan."
Evan..Evan?..Evan! That was Asher's best friend!
He smiles and then continues walking away.
"Ugh..I should've kept the conversation going.." Mia buries her face in her hands and her blonde pony tail flops over her head.
"Mia...you were fine!"
I just can't believe Mia likes Asher's best friend!
"Honest?"
"Yes! Totally!"
"So..so how did you get your boyfriend? Are you just not awkward?"
"Mia, you were not awkward. You just..think a lot. I do that too, it's normal."
"You're sure?"
"Yes!" I giggle.
"Ok, thanks Aly."
Why I didn't mention to Mia that he's my boyfriend's best friend, I couldn't tell you. Maybe I just didn't want to drag myself into something on my first day here. It's a surreal experience when you know who someone is when you see them. They may not know it's you, but you know about them. All about them. They don't realize you are around or even that you know who they are. It really puts everything into perspective because at any moment that can be you. You can pass somebody at anytime, and they can have what they think is your life story figured out, and you won't even know who they are.

Well, for right now all I can say is so far so good in Philly👍🏻