Against The World
Lily Bolton walked through the door after a stressful day at school followed by basketball practice. A loud sigh escaped from her lips as she dropped her dark blue backpack onto the floor, creating a loud thud. Looking down, she noticed her shoes were a mess.
The September storm turned her once white shoes into a mess of brown mud. Her laces were hardly visible at this point. Her mother would surely scold her for walking through the clean house with her shoes looking like they did.
Slipping them off, she left them on the door mat by the entrance. By this point her face was in full pout mode. Not only did her boyfriend cheat on her, but her teachers decided to give her pop quizzes. Now what are the odds of having a pop quiz in six of her classes? The world was against her, she was sure of it. It only seemed to bring bad things. Last week it was falling flat on her face in gym class while playing volleyball. She had been embarrassed for the rest of the day and the following one.
Dragging her feet across the red carpet, she came to the living room, finding her parents cuddled up on the couch watching a movie. This was normal to her. Her parents often showed for their love for each other in front of her. Every morning would begin with a kiss, but what she thought was cute was that Troy would write Gabriella a note in her lunch bag.
You see, Gabriella was a chemistry teacher and worked 6 periods straight, not being able to stop and get lunch. Lily was the only one who new that her mother kept every note he wrote her in a box under her bed. She didn't even think her father knew that. He used to do that with Lily, but once she started buying lunch, he had no where to put the note, instead he would tuck it safely away in one of her folders. Each day was in a different place, but she would always find it by the end of the day. Both she and her mother secretly loved this.
Gabriella and Troy acted as if they were still in high school. The same love struck teenagers. It was amazing for Lily to see her parents act as if every day was the new beginning of their relationship. It would be an odd day not to see the affection her parents had for each other.
While most of her friends' parents were divorced, her parents loved each other unconditionally. She never took this for granted. It was probably the only thing that the world wasn't going against her on.
She made herself visible to her parents by letting out a long exasperated sigh. Her father Troy looked up from his spot on the couch. Lily walked over to the couple and sat down next to her father, laying her head in his lap. He put his arm around her and kissed her head, while her mother brushed the stray hairs out of her face.
"Tough day at school, Sweet Pea?" Her father asked.
"You have no idea. I am pretty sure everyone's out to get me." She whined.
Her mother, Gabriella, gave her a sympathetic look. "It couldn't have been that bad," She said.
"Why do boys have to cheat on girls?" As soon as those words flew out of Lily's mouth, her fathers' heart hurt.
He was afraid of this happening to his little girl. Well, she wasn't so little anymore. A normal person wouldn't call a junior in High School little, but to him she was still his baby girl.
The two parents shared a glance while Lily was focused on the movie playing. Neither one of them knew how to answer this. Troy gave an encouraging look to his wife. He kissed her daughter on her forehead once more before getting up from the couch and gently placing her head in her mothers lap.
This wasn't the conversation for him. His hand went up to Gabriella's cheek, gently caressing it. It was a silent gesture that he always did and it meant so much to her that words couldn't explain. He then walked to the hallway to pick up the ten pound book bag and muddy shoes.
Gabriella looked down at her daughter and ran her hands through Lily's auburn curls that she had inherited from her.
"You know not all boys cheat." She started, not knowing how this was going to go.
Lily's eyes never left the T.V. as she spoke. "Name one nice guy who isn't scum."
As her daughter spoke these words, it put a smile on her face. Her hand went under her daughter head, signaling for her to sit up.
"I can think of one." Gabriella said quietly.
"Yea? Who?" Her daughter questioned.
Her eyes stayed focused on her hands in her lap. She fiddled with them as she waited for her mother to answer. Gabriella used her index finger and brought her daughters chin up so they were both looking each other in the eye. She put her arm around her daughter and turned around, pointing to the man carrying the backpack and shoes into the hall closet.
I know, it's short, but I suddenly got an urge to write this. Tell me what you think. I had fun writing this and I hope you guys liked reading it!