Inside School Walls

Chapter 4

Lilian Garcia settled down in a chair at the dining room table of her house, letting her head fall off her shoulders and relaxing. She had been glad that she got to leave during fourth hour to go to a doctor's appointment, but now that she was back, she found herself wishing she was at school. Unlike a lot of the people, Lilian enjoyed school. Sure, the homework and everything was overwhelming at times, but it was fun. The blonde traced the edge of the placemat with her fingertip, her eyes moving between her hand motion and her mother sorting through the cabinets in the kitchen.

"So how was school today, honey?" her mother asked, glancing over at Lilian, who smiled.

"It was fun, seeing all of my friends again," she told her, "My teachers are okay," she added as an afterthought. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot to remind you. Chris got the tickets to the concert I told you about." Her mother paused, pushing her dirty blond hair behind her ears. "What?" Lilian asked, her brow furrowing at her mother's silence.

Her mother, Lori, set the Tupperware dish she had in her hands down, walking closer to Lilian until she was near the opposite end of the table. "Lilian, sweetheart," she hesitated. Lilian cocked her head, her eyes frozen, waiting for the finish of the sentence. "I don't want you going to that concert."

Lilian was sure she felt her jaw drop. "But Mom!" she protested. "You said I could go! You know how much I've been looking forward to this!"

Lori was not waved. "I'm sorry, dear, but some things in life you just can't have."

The blonde felt her muscles tense beneath her. "W-Why not?" she asked. "It's not as if it's just going to be a bunch of teenagers! Chris's parents are going, and his sister and her husband! We're not going to do anything stupid, jeez."

"It's not that," her mother sighed. "It's the fact that you're going with Chris."

There was a cool feeling gathering in the pit of Lilian's stomach. "What do you mean?" she snapped, her throat constricting on her.

Lori sat down on the chair across from her. "Lil, please hear me out. Promise me you will."

"No," Lilian replied almost immediately, all traces of a smile gone from her face. It was all too obvious that this had something to do with Chris, and she was not going to promise to be quiet. Lori just sighed once more.

"I don't want you to continue seeing Chris."

The statement caught Lilian completely off-guard. She had been expecting something about Chris—but this? After a few moments spent gaping at her mother, the blonde responded. "What the heck do you mean by that?" Lori reached across the table to cover her daughter's hands with her own, but Lilian snatched them back, her eyes glaring into her mother. "Answer me!" she demanded, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Honey, please at least try to listen. You're sixteen years old!"

"I'm turning seventeen," Lilian told her, as if it had any relevance.

"I don't care! You're too young!" Lori took a deep, calming breath. "You and Chris have been going out for a while now, and I'm worried."

"Why are you worried?" the whole conversation was rubbing Lilian the wrong way. "Chris is a great guy, he's nice, sweet, he—"

"I'm worried about how close you're getting to him," her mother interrupted, and Lilian gaped at her. "You've been all over the place with him, going places or talking for hours nearly every day, meeting all of his family... There has to be a line drawn. I don't want you getting tied down too early in life. Chris is not the love of your life, he is a high school sweetheart and I don't think you realize that Lilian."

Lilian stood up abruptly. Her chair fell over, the loud clatter making Lori jump in her seat. Lilian bit down on her tongue, forcing the tears in her eyes to remain at bay. "You're forbidding me to see Chris," she repeated slowly.

"Yes."

Her palms slammed down on the table, her bracelets clanking against each other. "I love Chris. What don't you get about that? If things go wrong, I'm not going to string anyone along. But right now, we're great together. He's the best thing in my life. Hell, I love him more than I love you," Lilian felt her anger taking hold of her. She immediately felt guilty for the last sentence she'd squeezed in, but she was hurt, too. How could her mother not understand? How could she do this to her? Lilian turned on her heel, grabbed the messenger bag sitting on one of the empty seats, and ran through the hallway.

"Where are you going?" her mother called after her.

Lilian didn't answer, her shoes slamming against the stairs as she flew up them. She could hear her mom's movements in the kitchen; hear her standing up. The blonde jerked open her bedroom door and slammed it, feeling some tiny sense of victory at the loud booming sound. With finality, she flipped the lock on the doorknob.

"Lilian!" her mother's voice was coming closer. She felt the tears rolling down her face, the choked sobs beginning to escape. Lilian pushed herself off of the door and stumbled toward her bed, shuffling through the CDs piled across the comforter, finally pulling out a burnt copy of Three Days Grace's debut CD. Chris had given it to her, saying that they were a good band. Lilian had only listened to it once or twice. It was okay, but Chris was more of the rock fan. But now, she popped the CD into her stereo, flipping the volume up until her mother's voice was drowned out.

Lilian threw herself onto the bed, ignoring the CD cases jutting into her back. The tears rolled down her face as minutes passed by, sobs surpassing her throat every now and then, angry and desperate thoughts jumbled into an emotional mess in her mind. As the CD changed to the third track, she heard her mother, clattering away back in the kitchen.

It hurt twice as bad, though she wouldn't admit it, knowing her mother wasn't concerned about this enough to see if she was halfway alright. As the chorus of the song came around once more, Lilian found herself singing along in a tear-induced throaty voice. "I...hate everything about you/Why...do I love you? /I...hate everything about you/Why...do I love you?" she pushed the tears away from her face. "Can you hear me, Mom?" she shouted, though knowing Lori couldn't possibly hear her over the music. "Can you hear me?" she whispered, drawing her knees to her chest and sobbing.

Chris Jericho was the best thing in her life.

But now her mother had forbidden her from being with him.

What am I going to do?