Chapter 1 LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

• Somewhere in a few years time
• “Let me do that for you.” She offered as she fixed her husband’s necktie while she said it with a huge smile on her face. She stands in front of him as they were in the waiting room where he seemed evidently nervous. “Are you okay?” She asked as she cupped his cheek with her hand and looked at him sweetly.
• “Just a bit scared.” He answered with a forced smile on her face.
• “You will do fine.” She encouraged him before she planted her lips against his cheek. “Like you always do, so you do not really need to worry about it.” She smiled proudly and she was proud of him.
• He took her hand closer to his lips and kissed the back of her hand before responding, “I know I will because you are here right now.”
• She smiled widely at him.
• As soon as her husband went on stage to take his award, she sat in the audience in the front row as she was applauding for him, feeling absolutely proud of what he has accomplished.
• “This award would have never been accomplished if it was not with the help of my ever-loving and ever-supporting wife who is sitting right in the front row with her beautiful red gown.” He speaks over the mic with pride as he gestured his hand to her. “Baby, please stand. Please.” He smiled at her.
• She stood as the clapping grew louder and as soon as she spun around to face the rest of the audience, she halted and her smile faded a second the second she laid her eyes on a familiar face. She forced a smile on her face, mouthing the words ‘Thank you’ to the audience before turning back her attention to her husband who was still smiling at her proudly on stage.
• “I love you baby and I have always had since I met you. This award is not for me alone, but for you and all our hard work together. I love you, my everything.” He continued.
• She sends him flying kisses with a huge smile on her face as he did as well.
• Present Day
• Meredith Gene “Mary” Wright, twenty and art major, spends the majority of her time in her father's auto shop attempting to change the oil in her beloved 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, which she has built from scrap on her own and is twenty-four hours away from the start of the first semester of junior year in college. In addition to having a deep love and passion for painting and art, she also has a strong drive to fix her car, a quality she inherited from her father, who owns and runs the iconic Wright’s Auto Shop.
• “Hey sport.” Her dad, Genesis, joins her with a smile on his face as he examines his daughter’s car’s engine.
• “Hey dad.” Mary responded as she finished with what she was doing. “Proud?” She teased with a grin.
• “Of course, look at this thing. You made it all on your own, why would I not be proud?” He smiled before planting a kiss on his daughter’s temple.
• “I know right? She looks absolutely stunning. A real beauty.” Mary smiled proudly as she finally closed the hood of her car. “By the way, I have to go and meet with Mo. Could you please tell Lawrence to drive my things in the dorm? My luggage is ready in my bedroom so all he needs to do is drive it to SAU.”
• “But you know your brother is–”
• “Thank you! Love you!” Mary cuts off what her father was about to say and rushes towards the driver’s seat, turns on the engine and ignores her father calling out to her as she speeds out. “Love youuu!!” She hollered and waved at her dad with a huge smile on her face leaving her father shaking his head.
• She puts a huge smile on her face and starts to turn on the radio as the music Here We Go by WILD is playing while she sings along with it and bops her head as she drives with one hand while the other hand is hanging out of her opened window. With a big smile on her face and a sense of anticipation and excitement for the start of another school year because she cannot wait to graduate and begin working, she feels the warm breeze brushing down her long, black hair and hitting her soft blushed cheeks.
• She pulls over as soon as she reaches the diner where her childhood friend has been waiting for her. The majority of their youth was spent together, and although having different personalities and tastes, they attended the same institution and chose the same major since they both had a passion for the arts. Mary always wears tomboyish attire, including a denim overall, tank top, and Converse sneakers. She has a keen interest in cars and enjoys constructing and mending them. Her face is fresh-faced and free of makeup stains in contrast to her best friend Ramona Quinn, who she refers to as Mo, on the other hand, prefers to spend time shopping, going to salons, having fantastic manicures and pedicures, and tanning. Mo always wears makeup on and dresses in a very girlie, almost seductive, and a little bit revealing way.
• “There she is!” Ramona hollers as soon as she spotted Mary entering the diner. “Hey babe! Oh God, what in Christ are you wearing?”
• Mary joins her table, looks over at herself and takes three pieces of fries as she shoves it into her mouth before asking, “What? What is wrong with what I am wearing?”
• “You went to fix your car again?” She asked about the huge black dirt on Mary’s denim overall.
• “Well, yeah, just went over dad’s to have it checked before the first semester starts. Look at you, did you color your hair again?”
• “Nothing major, I just toned it down a darker shade of blond.” Ramona smiles proudly as her cleavage was showing off her skimpy crop top. “How do I look?”
• “You look great as ever!” She smiles, admiring her best friend who constantly change hair color for fun.
• “I am so relieved hearing it from you! I just want to have this different look for the new school year.”
• Mary chuckles, “Someone is excited for the new school year.”
• “Well of course, we are almost graduates and I just cannot friggin’ wait to finally leave college.”
• “Me too. I mean, when we graduate, we will finally get to see a whole new world for us ahead. Isn’t it exciting?” Mary smiles as she takes another piece from the plate of french fries.
• “Ugh, you are always so darned happy.”
• “There is always something to look forward to in life.”
• “Yes, I know Little Miss Sunshine. Personally, I just want to get out of college and meet older guys.”
• Mary scoffed under her throat, “That is your goal?”
• “Well, yes! My cousin said, based on her experience, dating older men are far more interesting than petty guys our age who absolutely have no idea how to take a relationship.”
• “But I thought you were absolutely obsessed with my brother?” Mary smirked.
• “Just think of this idea of mine as a practice before I settle down with your brother and I become your sister-in-law.” Ramona wiggles her eyebrows and smiles widely.
• Mary responded with a laugh, “Yeah right, my brother is attracted to you.” She mocked because she knows that Lawrence, her older brother, has never actually shown interest in Ramona ever since.
• Ramona smacks Mary’s arm playfully which makes her laugh more, “You are just brutal. You will see, one day, I will walk down the aisle and become Mrs. Ramona Quinn Wright. Rings a bell.”
• She smiles at Ramona, “Yes, of course, everyone is allowed to dream.”
• Ramona gaped, “I beg your pardon?”
• Mary laughs.
• “I forgive you” Ramona chimed, “As long as you keep your promise with me that you will come with me to The Pink Flamingo tonight.”
• Mary’s eyes widened, “Was it tonight?”
• “Uh-Uh-Uh, do not give me that look Mary.”
• “What?” She stopped herself from smiling.
• “No,” Ramona clearly said. “You know I know that you remember it so do not act like that because I know you so darn well. You and I are going to the pub to drink and to socialize.”
• “And by socializing you mean to have sex?”
• Ramona gapes dramatically, “You naughty girl. I do not want your dad and brother to think I am such a bad influence on you.”
• “I was not implementing that I will have sex, Mo.”
• “I know you will not. I just want you to go out there and meet people.” Mary rolled her eyes at Ramona because she knows well that she is not interested in meeting guys because her goal is set on making a name for herself and letting the world know about her art. “Please Mary? You do know meeting new people is a very good way to improve your social skills.”
• “I have good social skills by the way.” Mary answered.
• “Yeah when it comes to art, you are socially skilled, but other things? No.”
• “Ouch? I am gutted here.”
• “Just come with me, please? I know it is not your crowd and it is not your circle but I want you to have fun with me, you never go out and drink and socialize.”
• “Socialize.” Mary mocked.
• “Yes, socialize with no sex.”
• “No sex.” Mary parroted as she pointed her finger at Ramona who was smiling at her.
• Later that evening, Mary finds herself arriving outside The Pink Flamingo wearing her high-waisted acid washed skinny jeans, simply pairing it with her tucked in white shirt with thin stripes of red and white and her red converse shoes with her baggy red Adidas jacket on her. The moment she stepped inside, she immediately stood out from the crowd of women wearing provocative clothes to enjoy the night.
• Despite that, she spends most of her time with Ramona as they were drinking and talking until she finds herself a bit drunk from the whiskey as she was now enjoying kissing a man sensually and hungrily in the hallway of the bar after they had discussed a lot of things about art which they both shared in common.
• “You arouse me.” He spoke to her mouth and she felt a crazy amount of heat all over her body.
• Nervously, since she has not kissed before, she accidentally bit the man’s lip which she was absolutely embarrassed and apologetic about. He smelled nice and had a pleasant personality and ignored the bite on his lips as they were kissing each other again while his hands were running all over her body. He was fairly tall with a powerful god-like figure and an immensely attractive face. She was immediately smitten by the kiss that they were sharing at the time, leaving the man longing for more as soon as Lawrence had arrived outside the pub and picked her and drunk Ramona up.
• Waking up the next day, a little hungover from the night before, she attended her first class but as soon as her teacher had entered the room, she knew she was not mistaking it. He was the same man who she was enjoyably kissing at The Pink Flamingo from last night.
• He grabs the whiteboard pen marker and starts writing against it, “Hello everyone, my name is Diether DeLoughrey.” He says as he finishes writing his entire name on the board. “That is pronounced as dee-ther. Nice to meet everyone. Since Professor Historia is on maternity leave then I will be your substitute professor for this class.” His eyes met hers as he was scanning the entire class but he kept a straight look on his face.