Chapter Six, Talented:



She held her mother's hair with her hands, gripping tight

as her mother threw up in the toilet. She sighed and sat beside

her puking mother on the bathroom floor. She was used to this.

She had been doing it with both of her parents for as far back

as she could remember.



Her mother reeled and almost passed out trying to stand

up. "Mich ellee," she slurred her words, her eyes like the crazy

eyes of a beast roaming everywhere. "Did you get a perfect score

on your umm your grade, test I mean?" she asked as she turned

her head back toward the toilet to puke yet again.



"Yes mother." There had been no test that day, but

Michelle didn't bother to tell her mother that. No use making

their conversation more complicated for her drunk mother.



"Good. We expect nothing but the best," her mother said,

trying to sound stern as she passed out on the floor. Michelle

sighed and picked her up and put her back in bed with her father

who had already passed out awhile ago. She left her parents'

house to go for a walk, hoping she would see someone. In

particular she was hoping to run into Amara. She knew Amara would

probably either be at the track training or the race car garage

preparing for a new race. She headed towards the track first.

She sighed and imagined her baby embracing her and holding her

close with her strong arms. A spring came into her step and for

awhile imagining Amara's face put out the faces of her

demanding, always drunk parents.



When she eventually found Amara, who was at the race car

track after all, they went out to eat.



The waiter came by to ask them what they wanted. "Are

you two girls waiting for anyone else?" the waiter asked.



"Do you see anyone else?" Amara asked sarcastically.



"Well I thought maybe your family or some other friends

might be coming." Amara's eyes narrowed. "No family huh? Sorry

about that," and he ran off.



"Amara you really should give the poor boy a break. How

was he to know that we don't have nice families?"



"People should just stop assuming," grumbled Amara, but

a gentle touch on her arm by her beloved calmed her down.



They ate their meal in silence, each absorbed in her own

thoughts.



That night they returned to the outers' house to hang

out with Trista and Hotaru. The next morning Michelle was still

lying in bed as the rest of the house woke up.



"There's no peanut butter left in the fridge!" yelled

the usually quiet Hotaru.



"Check the bottom shelf towards the very back!" Amara

yelled back as she entered the kitchen.



"So you're finally up? Ah, here it is."



"Yes I'm up. It's Michelle that takes twenty years to

get out of bed in the morning," joked Amara.



Trista nodded her head in agreement as she entered the

kitchen. "So what are you making with peanut butter small one?"

she asked Hotaru in endearment.

"Just a peanut butter and banana sandwich," Hotaru

responded.



"Sounds yummy," mumbled Michelle as she walked into the

kitchen, yawning. She looked at the clock. "What am I doing up

before noon?"she wondered out loud as she saw the digits

reading 10:08 a.m.



"I don't know, but I plan to take advantage of it,"

Amara teased, coming up and tickling her love from behind.



"Hey!" Michelle said between giggles. Soon they were

both on the floor rolling around in laughter as Hotaru and

Trista looked back and forth at the scene before them and each

other.

Hotaru raised her eyebrows. "They are strange ones,"

Trista commented as she left the kitchen with Hotaru who had her

sandwich in hand.



Later that day the outer scouts had a meeting.



"I call this meeting to order!" Trista commanded as

Hotaru, Michelle, and Amara took their appointed seats for the

outer scouts' meeting.



There have not been any major attacks in awhile,"

Trista observed out loud. The others nodded their heads to

show that they understood and noticed. "Any suggestions on how

we should be prepared?"



"First of all we need to make sure our guards are no

less down than if we had just had an attack. It's easy to almost

forget about our other life when the attacks are few and far

between," said Amara.



The others nodded their heads again in agreement. "So

true," Trista said quietly.



"I say otherwise we just continue with our regular

training and meetings," Amara finished.



Michelle and Hotaru nodded their heads in agreement.



"All right," Trista quietly agreed.

That night Michelle and Amara had a discussion with

Trista. Hotaru had gone to Raye's temple for a sleepover. The

others remained behind. Michelle sighed. She had sort of wanted

to go to the sleepover, but she didn't want to miss the

discussion Amara and Trista had wanted to have. Sometimes she

wondered if they worried too much, but then again better safe

than sorry she reasoned with herself.



The three sailor soldiers were sitting at home having a

discussion. "Do you think we're missing out on anything?"

Michelle asked.



"Nah," Amara said. "Just girly stuff."



Michelle giggled and leaned her head on Amara's

shoulder. "I'm sure you're right love."



Trista stared at the two of them as she smiled. "You

know you two would have died to be as free as this back in the

Moon Kingdom."



"Tell us about it," Michelle requested.



"Well...there isn't much to tell. Just the usual stuff.

Your parents would not accept two women being in love and

refused to let you see one another."



"Did we eventually win them over?"



"The war started soon afterwards, so who knows. But I

think you would never have been able to win them over to be

honest. They were all such traditionalists back then," Trista

said honestly.



Michelle and Amara grunted in disgust.

"Traditionalists," they both said in disgust.



The next day everyone but Serena and Trista and Amy

went ice skating. Michelle enjoyed herself immensely.



Darien lifted Raye up into the air and spun her around

on the ice. They were all out for a fun time of ice-skating.

Everyone that is except Serena who was grounded and Amy as well

as Trista who were reading. "Do you think Serena will be

jealous when she hears about this?" Lita asked in a teasing

manner.



Darien dropped Raye, who landed on her butt. "You

better not tell her," Raye hissed.



Lita laughed. "Relax, I won't," she promised. "But

it would be hilarious if I did..."



Raye glared at her. "All right. All right. Calm down,"

Lita said, her hands up in the air.



Amara lifted Michelle into the air and spun her around

longer than Darien. "Ha," Michelle said. "My love is better

than yours," she teased Raye.



Darien blushed and Raye glared at her as she stood up.



Hotaru and Mina were practicing their spins together.

The next day was the meeting for all the sailor scouts.

"We call this meeting to order!" Luna announced as all the

sailor soldiers sat down in their respective chairs in human

form.

"Really LUna, things have been quiet for awhile. Is it

actually necessary to continue to have all these weekly

meetings?" Mina asked.

"I suppose bimonthly would be enough now," she

reluctantly conceded.

Mina smiled and Serena shouted "Yippee."

"It's nice to finally have some peace," Hotaru

commented. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

Seeing as there were no new events or fears, the meeting was

quickly over.

After the meeting, Michelle raced with Amy in a swim

competition. She was glad to get to race her again.



Amy and Michelle took deep breaths as they dived into

the pool and raced against one another. Each breathing hard

at the end after a strenuous race that they did several times

over. Michelle winning the first two, them tying the next

one, and Amy winning the last one.

*Will I ever be good enough for my parents?* Michelle

wondered as she lay down next to Amara in bed. It didn't

really matter anymore she tried to convince herself. She had

a love and a nice house with Trista and Hotaru as well as her

and Amara, but secretly inside she constantly ached for their

approval. No matter how hard she tried or how well she did

they never noticed her. She was there for them almost every

time they got drunk. She did extremely well in school,

practically perfect. It was the practically that got to her.

She wanted to be completely perfect. She played the violin

and painted very well, but neither of her parents noticed

that. They only noticed every little thing she did wrong,

criticized it, demanded more from her, and forced her to be

the adult of the house at a young age by always going off

and getting drunk nearly every night. She turned over

towards Amara who put her arms around her love. "Michelle,

I love you." She sighed and snuggled into her baby's arms.

The three words she had never heard from her parents. A

tear slipped out of her eye.

To Be Continued...