āCool,ā he said turning back to the laptop screen and continued to do his work, āIām going to eat later, Iām busy with this paper and then have to set an agenda for the next meeting,ā he said as his fingers typed different words from what he was saying. āYou can eat though,ā he said without being sarcastic. Sure on the inside, he was annoyed by someone being around him, but this was his girlfriend and he had to keep up appearances even in front of her. āHowās your day going?ā
She never understood how people were able to speak and type or write at the same time: the only time she could ever do that was if she was speaking what she was supposed to be writing down.Ā āSure thing.ā She nodded, plugging her headphones into her computer, beginning to dance while eating.Ā āI was super hungry.ā She wasnāt sure if he was listening, but she felt the need to talk, unsure if it was her anxiety or the alcohol.Ā āHm?ā She pulled out her headphones, having missed what he said.Ā āGood?ā She answered, unsure as to what she was that to.Ā
Small warm hands curled loosely around his neck, pressing a gentle and well-rehearsed kiss on his cheek, before unwrapping herself from him, settling in the seat next to him, placing the bag of food onto the table, before reaching down into her backpack to pull out her own laptop, beginning to open up her homework.
āI postmated some ÉĒn.ā She said, motioning towards the bag, before giving into temptation and pulling her meal out of the bag, the smell of vietnamese food comforting to her.Ā āYou gonna eat now or later?ā
She hadnāt drunken yet, so she was properly anxious. She was in a rather bad mood, and began rocking back and forth in her seat, eager to leave class. She restlessly fidgeted for the last two minutes of class, leaving the room in a huff. She needed to drink soon; she felt on edge and the conversation that her mother and her had on the phone the night before was far too present in her head.Ā
She quickly walked out of the building, going to sit under one of her favorite trees, before looking around speedily, and quickly pulling out a bottle of rum from her bag. She didnāt have time to add it to anything, taking a quick sip, before capping it and placing it back in her bag, though still holding onto it, already feeling a little warmer and a little less on edge.Ā āWant some?ā She offered to the person who had joined her, feeling a little bit more like herself with a little bit of alcohol in her system.
[ ā lana condor. cisfemale. she/her. ] my name is AURORA NGUYEN, i am a SEVENTEEN year old JUNIOR from HARWICK academy, and iāve been a student for TWO YEARS. people always say iām NOSY & EASILY DISTRACTED but i think the fact that iām EMPATHETIC & KIND makes up for it. they also think of me as THE EBULLIENT but iām not sure why. there is one thing that nobody knows about me, though, and itās that I HAVE BEGUN DRINKING DAILY.
bio.
Aurora Nguyen shouldāve been nothing. The daughter of two immigrants, living in an urban neighborhood, a nice one, but without the privileges of suburban life. For the first four years of her life she didnāt know her family was rich.
She shouldāve been nothing. But she was a ray of unstoppable energy and endless joy. She was the joy of her family, her sister the pride.
From a young age her parents and her older sister drilled into her the rules that are followed to thrive in America. It never made sense to Aurora why her sister would chime in, she may have been twenty years older than her, but she was a United States Citizen. It didnāt make sense to her, but Aurora, ever the diligent child, followed the rules.
Right away, she got labeled as The Perfect Child.
The title became heavier with each day she bore it.
At first it was fun. It came with the rewards of piano classes, dance classes, and a library card. They were all things that Aurora loved, and her whole life practically revolved around those events. She didnāt realize it when she was a child, but those events were a way for the adults in her life to supervise her time, and keep her in suitable hobbies.
The first time that The Perfect Child was stripped from her was the day she asked if she could take a fashion class. There had been a demo at the library, and she had fallen in love.
It was then that she learned, the title wasnāt all it was cracked up to be. Without the protection of The Perfect Child, she was yelled at, all her flaws pointed out, and it was then that she learned that it was a safety blanket: she couldnāt get in trouble if she was perfect. She was 12.
It became harder to retain the perfection that she had, her multitude of hobbies suffering as she worked hard, and harder to still be perfect. For the first time in her life, she was no longer joyous, rather she was anxious and resentful.
The longer she was at home, the less joyous she became, and the more her resentment grew. It seemed that her reprieve was Harwick.
Her first two years were successful; she managed to maintain good grades, and more importantly she was free of the constant monitoring of her work. She slowly became more joyous, although a bit more reserved than she used to be, but her excitement always seemed to leak through, making her seem rather exuberant and extroverted.
But then, the summer between her sophomore and junior year was more difficult than she could have anticipated. She was thoroughly no longer The Perfect Child, and now it seemed every interaction that she had with her parents ended in arguments: them pointing out that her work was slipping, and her finding it ridiculous, and for the first time in her life, respecting herself enough to defend herself.
She hated it though, because she loved her family. And subconsciously she knew they loved her, but it was too much. The pressure, the emotions, all of it. So, she turned to alcohol. Itās not difficult to gain hold of at a rich boarding school, so her entirety of her junior year she has drunk every day.
Itās fine though, it numbs her resentment, so she appears to be the same old, exuberant and rather nosy Aurora. But she canāt help feeling just a little bit broken.
personality.
Aurora is essentially sunshine personified. She loves talking to people, and considers everyone to be a friend, till proven otherwise. Sheās a bit anxious, and is pretty smart, but sheād rather focus on her hobbies (baking, dancing, piano, ice skating, fashion designing, to name a few), and just has an overall attitude of loving life. She likes helping others, but has a difficult time asking for help.
Sheās referred to as The Ebullient because sheās energetic and cheery, almost as much as a golden retriever. But sheās scared that sheās growing further away from who she is at her core, and is terrified to even think that thatās possible.
stats.
name: aurora rose nguyen
age: seventeen
birthday: february 14th
gender: cisfemale
pronouns: she/her/hers
sexuality: pansexual
ethnicity: vietnamese
languages: english, vietnamese, italian
clubs: national honors society, newspaper staff (editor), book club, events committee
