Chapter 1

"You are kidding me, right?!" I asked with disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Dicia, but I'm not. We've been together for a long time, now and I feel like this relationship is going nowhere. I guess I'm just sorta bored with it." Aaron, my boyfriend of the past 3 years tells me. He just told me he had found someone new and wanted to break it off! I still cannot believe I'm hearing this.

My stpomach feels like it's in my asophagus, so I can barely squeak out the words "Fine. I gotta go." and I hang up.

Hot tears are burning in my throat and just like that, my world has just been shattered. I put my cell phone into my purse and look around me. I live in Santa Barbara, where I am a junior at UCSB. I'm working on getting my Bachelor degree in Art History. I love this city! It is beautiful! Near the water, not a huge enough city to get lost in, but enough to keep you busy. The mountains are nearby too, so, no matter what you're in the mood for, it's all right there at your fingertips! Old Downtown for some shopping? The beach? Hiking in the Hills? It's pretty much a ten to twenty minute drive to any of those places! I am standing outside Starbucks on State Street, which is the main thoroughfare through of this city. You want shopping? State Street is where you wanna be!

It was 4:30, Wednesday evening and I had just got off work where I work part time at the Gap. I had gone down to Starbucks to get a Caramel Macchiatto to take back with me to the dorms. I had a 10 page paper due in my "Introduction to Architecture and Environment" class at 8 the next morning, and I wasn't even half finished with it yet.

It was coming up ont he end of spring semester, only three more weeks left. Aaron couldn't have picked a worse time to clobber me with this life altering news. It was crunch time! I had papers, finals, and projects galore due the next few weeks before we broke for the summer.

"Well," I thought, "That's his problem. I have things to do, I'll just throw myself into them, and forget him!"

I walked to my car and got in. Driving back to school, with the sun roof open and the stereo blaring, I left Aaron and his mess behind me on State Street!