Universal Love: Nia's Cosmic Challenge

I am a hopeless romantic, and I believe in true love. But the truth is, I have never been good with relationships.

I moved to this town when I was twelve years old, and it took me months to make friends. It was only after I read them all their horoscopes that people started to notice me. I'm not sure what it is about astrology, but it kind of makes you seem smart (even though you don't really know any of this stuff). Then we started talking about our zodiac signs, and we discovered that we were all born under Aries.

Aries are very competitive, and they like to win at everything. And that's how it all started. We were always competing in the funniest way possible - with our homework assignments, with who could dress better (me), who could sing better (my friend Angela), who had a nicer phone (her brother), and so on. We would be so engrossed in one competition or another that we'd forget to eat lunch just to prove that we could win some dumb bet. It was great!

Then high school came around and we all went our separate ways. I think friendships tend to end up like that, after high school (or even earlier). You get so caught up in your own life, and your bigger goals, that you forget about your friends or take them for granted. That's why Angela and I drifted apart: she went into the medical field and became a nurse, while I studied music education at the local university. She works at the hospital now, while I teach music at the elementary school nearby. But despite our very different lives now - we're still best friends! She always tells me about her patients over coffee, and about all the men she meets on Tinder (she's always looking for someone "special"). And then I tell her about my students' progress on piano lessons, and my thoughts on new music trends - things like that! We both love teaching kids music because they are full of blissful ignorance - they think everyone can fit into one little box: "you're a musician", "you're not a musician", "you're a nurse", "you're not a nurse". They don't judge each other based on how much money they make or how many Twitter followers they have; they just like being kids... which is why I've been thinking about applying for a younger class next year.

But right now I'm stuck with taking care of my sick mother... and it takes up most of my time! She doesn't have enough money saved up for her medical bills, so she relies on me for most things since she got sick ten years ago - which means I barely have time to see Angela anymore! Or even do anything else besides work at the school and take care of mom... which makes me feel lonely sometimes! But then again, loneliness can be good for you sometimes too - especially if you're an Aries like me! Without loneliness there would be no loneliness competitions (which is what me and Angela used to do when we were kids). Loneliness competitions are great because they give us something meaningful to fantasize about - like maybe getting back together with an ex-boyfriend. The idea makes us feel hopeful again! And hope is something all Aries need to survive in the world today, especially if they want to win against Capricorns on Tinder (like Angela)! But hope isn't enough if you want to get back together with your ex-boyfriend: you also need courage and determination! And if you don't have those qualities then well - you might as well give up hope because your lost love isn't going anywhere. Which is why it's so surprising when someone actually succeeds where others fail...