Lily Evans stood in her room, staring motionlessly at her reflection in her floor to ceiling mirror. She sighed loudly and pushed back a stray hair from her ponytail. Lily looked down at her dress, the one she was going to wear as a bridesmaid at her sister Petunia's wedding. She sighed again. "Good God!" she said loudly. Nothing, not an original hairstyle or good makeup would make this dress look even decent. The puffy purple sleeves got caught in her hair and the rest of the dress was a disgusting bright pink. Lily almost barfed when she found out she had to wear it. She stomped across her room and stood at the top of the stairs. "Mother!" she yelled.
"Yes, Lily, I'm right here," said a voice from behind her. Lily turned around and saw her mother's head sticking out from behind her bedroom door.
"Mother," Lily said again, this time in a whiny voice. Her mother smiled. "Yes?"
"I hate this dress!" Lily complained. Her mother chuckled. "You think this is amusing?" Lily demanded and stomped her foot.
"Shut up, Lily and stop acting like such a baby," Petunia Evans told her as she walked out of her own room. "For God's sake, you're sixteen, not six."
"You shut up, Petty!" said Lily. "And don't you tell me what to do!"
Petunia rolled her eyes. "Fine, you hate the dress? That's good. No, that's excellent. There is no way you could attend my wedding in a dress you hate," Petunia said happily. She turned to her mother. "See, Mummy? She hates the dress! You wouldn't make her go if she didn't want to go, right?" Petunia stuck out her lip and widened her eyes. Her lip quivered.
Lily scoffed quietly. "Yeah, and I'm the one who's childish," she muttered. Petunia, who was the only one who heard this, turned around and glared at Lily. Lily stuck her tongue out at Petunia once she turned around. Her mother noticed this and chuckled. "Behave, Lillian."
"But Mummy," Lily whined. "Do I really have to go?" Petunia nodded her head vigorously and looked up at her mother.
Her mother sighed and looked from Lily to Petunia, then back at Lily. "Weeeeeeeeelllll . . ."
"Please, Mother, no suspense. Just tell her she can't come to my wedding right now," Petunia said. Her mother looked firmly at Petunia. "Young lady, Lillian is your sister, and she will attend your wedding whether you like it or not." It took a couple seconds for that to sink in, but once she got the picture, Petunia started to cry. Tears were falling dramatically down her pale cheeks and hid in the crevices her high cheekbones formed. "B – bu – but M – Mummy! It's my w - wedding! A-and I don't want her to g – (hiccup) go!" she sank to the floor and hit her face in her hands and continued to sob.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Sheesh," she muttered. Her mother looked at her. "Lillian," she warned. Her eyes softened, and spoke to Lily even though Petunia's wails were becoming very loud and she wouldn't stop hiccuping. "Now, I know you don't like the dress," she said quietly so Petunia couldn't hear. "Maybe you could talk to Petunia and come to some sort of an agreement. Hm? What do you say?" she asked.
Of course I won't, was what Lily really wanted to say, but she could never say something that harsh to her mother. So instead, she put on the best smile she could and hugged her mother. "I'll try, Mum," she said.
Her mother hugged Lily back. "Good." She straightened up and looked down at Petunia, who hadn't stopped crying. "Oh, Petty," she cooed. Lily, who was sickened of the thought of her own, sweet mother calming her bitter sister down, went back into her room. She walked back to the mirror. "Maybe you could make a compromise," Lily mimicked. She looked at her reflection. "Make a compromise," she commanded. She laughed at herself. "Only Lily Evans would ever command her reflection," she whispered and smiled sadly.
She looked around her room, and realized that she wasn't . . . happy there. Yes, she called it home, but it hadn't felt like a home for awhile. Lily couldn't even remember when it did. "Okay," she said and looked back at her reflection. She made a decision. "I'm not happy," she said. She looked around her room again. "So where is home," she asked no one in particular. She started to pace, then she stopped. "I'm making myself crazy." She rubbed her temple. Her head snapped up and ran over to where she kept her maps. She got out a political map of the world and sat down on her bed.
"Where am I going to live." Lily covered her eyes with one hand and with the other pointed to a random spot on the globe. She opened her eyes and moved her finger. "Turkmenistan?" she wrinkled her nose. "Maybe that's a little too exotic for me." She covered her eyes again, and when she opened them her finger was on Greenland. "Too cold," she decided. She tried this one more time and when she opened her eyes her finger was directly on Honolulu, Hawaii. She smiled. "Perfect."
There was a knock on her door. "Come in," Lily called. Her mother walked in and sat down next to Lily on her bed. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I was finally able to calm Petunia down," she added hopefully. Lily laughed. "She is such a drama queen." Her mother smiled and decided not to respond to that. She glanced down at the map Lily held in her lap.
"I'm deciding where I want to live once I finish school," Lily explained.
Lily's mother raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't want to stay here?"
Lily shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with here, but England is just so . . . boring!"
Her mother laughed. "And what exciting, non-boring place have you decided to move to?" Lily pointed to Hawaii. "America," she said happily.
"And you think America is more interesting?"
Lily shrugged again. "I know it's not boring," she said. "Besides, I've always wanted to go there. Plus, I've heard that Hawaii is suppose to be very beautiful."
"Mm hmm," her mother said. "Well, you'd better send me at least one postcard. And a lei," she added. "A real one," she said, "not one of those plastic ones with the fake flowers."
Lily laughed. "Okay, I promise." Her mother smiled. "Well then, I need to go to the bank. I'll see you later, then."
"Bye, Mum," Lily called as her mother left the room. She got up and looked out her window and watched her mother pull out of the driveway, then drive down the road. She saw Petunia walk out to the middle of the road and wave. She faintly heard a, "Bye, Mummy!" but she wasn't certain. Lily heard Petunia walk back into the house and slammed the door shut. "LILLIAN EVANS!" she screeched.
Lily winced. "Talk about multiple personalities," she said. She walked to the top of the stairs. "What?" she asked Petunia who was standing at the bottom and looking furious. "DON'T YOU YELL AT ME!" she hollered.
Lily raised her voice to match Petunia's. "I DIDN'T!"
"WELL YOU ARE NOW!"
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE YELLING AT ME!"
Petunia paused. "YOU'D BETTER NOT COME TO MY WEDDING!" she yelled.
"WHO EVER SAID THAT I WANTED TO?" Lily yelled, her voice getting louder with every word. "NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID, YOU GOT ME MAD!"
"YOU MADE YOURSELF MAD!"
Lily clenched her fists and groaned. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBEM?" she screeched.
"MY PROBLEM?" Petunia asked. "MY PROBLEM? YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT MY PROBLEM IS? MY PROBLEM IS YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HAD TO BE A FREAK AND GO TO THAT FREAK SCHOOL OF YOURS! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU WE'D ALL BE A NORMAL FAMILY! BUT NO! YOU JUST HAD TO COME, DIDN'T YOU? YOU JUST HAD TO BE A FREAK!" she spat. Lily was taken aback. Tears formed in her eyes but she refused to let herself cry. Especially in front of Petunia.
"IF YOU EVEN SET FOOT AT MY WEDDING, YOU WILL NEVER FORGET IT!" Petunia continued. "YOU ARE NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, COMING TO MY WEDDING! YOU CAN DIE FOR ALL I CARE! JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME," she said dangerously and she walked away. Lily walked into her room and slammed her bedroom door shut. She picked up a vase that once held lilies in it and threw it across the room. She watched it shatter into her mirror, and she watched the huge mirror fall to pieces on the ground. Her hands were shaking. She screamed loudly and paced angrily across the room, angry tears threatening to pour down her face.
"I hope she GOES TO HELL!" she shrieked. She backed up against her door and slid down to the floor, attempting to lock herself in, but more importantly, lock the world out. And she finally allowed herself to cry.