THE ANONYMITY OF BEING
2. The Past
"Turn up the music, Ma," Bella giggled.
Renee rolled her eyes as she drove, feeling the breeze of summer laugh through the window. Its warm fingers played with her blonde streaks, setting some strands on fire with the iridescent glow of sunshine.
"You're the one with free hands," Renee pointed out.
The Pina Colada Song started to play, thumping through the speakers in rhythm with the spinning wheels hitting the ground. Bella smiled as she put her arms out of the window, leaning in for a revivifying kiss. Her hair waved with the locomotion of the vehicle. She felt like a national flag being held high into the sky, acknowledged with a windy embrace.
"How's the view?" Renee asked.
"Fresh!"
"Just wait until you get to the campsite. Plenty of cute boys. You can forget about your silly boy bands."
"I heard that, Ma," Bella said, ducking back inside.
"Well, it's true." Her mother shrugged. "You kids have horrible music, nowadays. Thank goodness, I decided to bring some of my own tracks on this road trip."
"Everyone thinks the past is better but I reckon they only look at the good whilst sweeping the terrible parts under the carpet," Bella stated emphatically.
"Okay, smart alec," Renee responded. "Good to see you using your head for once and not absorbing everything I say."
"Hey," Bella protested. "When do I ever not use my head?"
"All the time," her mother deadpanned before cracking a smile. "You really shouldn't have given me a chance to answer that."
"I'll remember it for next time," Bella grumbled.
"C'mon! School's over, long face. Everything will be fine. Aren't you even remotely excited to be hanging out with your dear mother?" she asked as the deserted landscape seemed to expand into the pastel layers of the omniscient sky.
"Sure, I am," Bella answered. "It's just that Wendy's moving to Arizona and I only found out a few days ago."
"Honey, you'll survive senior year without Wendy. You have so many great friends," Renee stated, quickly glancing at her daughter. "Like Lauren, Rosalie..."
"Yeah, they're nice," Bella said noncommittally as she bit her nails.
"You know you can always hang out with other people, right? If you don't want to be part of the popular group, you can quit."
"Nothing's really changed over the decades, has it?"
"I was never like you, honey. Sure, popularity is a huge thing in every social situation but I was never invested in its chaotic morass. A girl in my grade had once cut off another student's braid... and that was classified as minor news," Renee recounted, shuddering.
"People will do anything to feel powerful," Bella muttered quietly. "Or to get what they want."
"Once you enter the real world, you'll meet all sorts of people. And some will be even more twisted than your favorite gingerbread twists."
"Now, I'm officially hungry."
"I can hear your stomach growling for those fresh, summer camp boys!"
Bella rolled her eyes, laughing at her mother's puerility.
"But I'm still too young to be a grandmother," Renee added seriously.
"So you'll dangle the bait in front of me but I'm not allowed a bite?" Bella asked, cocking her eyebrow.
"There's the smart-ass talking again," Renee laughed, ruffling her daughter's hair.
As they drove into the blistering heat- leaving Knox behind, they headed towards a summer camp that would extinguish any remnants of worry from real life.
.
.
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A/N: I like using fictional places. Also, the mood and language can change considerably, due to various intensities.
