Switched

Chapter 1 - The Wish

"Go ahead, honey, blow out the candles now." Michael smiled down at his daughter, who looked around sadly for a while before doing what she was told.

The kids around her cheered as she smiled at them half-heartedly. Michael clapped his hands with a smile as he immediately went to cut the cake into pieces just so he could feed a piece to his own daughter.

Lisa ate the piece with a small smile on her face, not really enjoying herself since her older sister wasn't there. Michael began to distribute the cake pieces to the kids and the parents, while Lisa still tried to look for her sister in the crowd, but she came up short.

A sad sigh escaped her lips as she looked down at the ribbon shaped vanilla cake. She loved everything, from the party to the cake, and also how her father was there to celebrate with her, but she didn't have her sister there.

Her sister – Andrea – who was a big part of her life, wasn't there somehow.

Lisa had expected something like this to happen, but she wasn't completely sure about it. This wasn't a one-time thing at Andrea's part. It had been a routine ever since their mother passed away a few years ago.

Andrea would just leave right after coming back from school. Neither Michael nor Lisa knew where she'd go, but they did know when she'd come back.

Because that was the time when Andrea and Michael would have a fight over how she didn't care about how worried he'd be for her, and how he didn't care about anything except his job.

It was always over this specific topic. Either Michael's workaholic behavior or Andrea's nonchalance.

Their fights never did end well though, and that was what worried Lisa every time, since she'd always listen to them throw words at each other from the staircase.

She was aware that the two of them really didn't know about her knowing of their falling out, and that was what made things sadder for her. She'd always worry about both of them. She didn't want to lose neither of them from her life, but if things were to continue the way they did, she'd have to say goodbye to her sister sooner than planned.

Andrea was a senior after all, she had a life ahead of us. A life she could continue in some other place, away from Michael, if she chose to. And Lisa knew that Andrea would choose to go away from Michael, and even she herself could not stop her sister from leaving.

"Have some more cake, honey." Lisa shook her head as Michael frowned. Lisa sighed when Michael patted her shoulder. "Don't wait around for your sister, you know she's not going to get here anytime sooner."

Lisa nodded her head as her father smiled down at her. "But cheer up, I brought you a really great gift. Do you want to go open it now?"

There was nothing Lisa could do than to nod her head and stop her father from worrying about her. "Okay."

Michael smiled widely before he guided his youngest daughter towards the table that held all the gifts.

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"Do you have any idea how long she waited for you to come?!" Andrea rolled her eyes as she listened to her father, who had been sure to scold her as soon as she had entered through the front door.

"Don't act like you care. You just want to have a reason to nag at me!"

"Do not talk to me like that! I arranged the party to cheer her up, since she's been feeling down lately! And I know you're part of the reason why!" Andrea rolled her eyes again with a scoff as she folded her arms in front of her.

"Can I go now, I'm tired." Michael opened his mouth in frustration before he glared at his oldest daughter.

Lisa prayed for her father to just let things go before they would blow out of proportion, as she sat at the top of the staircase listening to her father and sister in the living room.

"NO, you cannot! I am sick and tired of your behavior!" Andrea looked away from the man as she looked bored by the conversation. This made Michael even angrier. "You know what, either you straighten up your act or you go to a boarding school!"

This caught Andrea's attention as she whipped her head to look at her father, who held a smug smile. "You can choose between the two."

"This is not fair! I only have a couple of months left till graduation!"

"As you've said before, I don't care either. Either you learn to respect me and your sister, or you get sent away from here." Andrea felt herself wanting to cry out in frustration and anger, as she ran a hand through her hair.

However, Michael was the one that was most scared of what Andrea would do in this situation now. He knew how much Lisa loved her and how much she'd hate for Andrea to even think of leaving their house.

And he was right, as Lisa shook her head from the top of the staircase. She didn't want her sister to leave, so she prayed for Andrea to choose the first option. She wanted Andrea to stay.

"I wish you had just understood." Andrea muttered loud enough for Lisa to hear as well, as she looked at her father. "I wish you could just be like mom!"

Michael looked a little taken aback as he stared at Andrea.

"You don't see anything except for yourself! You know nothing about me and nothing about what I do or want to do! I just want to be alone, can't you just respect that!" Michael could only watch as Andrea stormed out of the living room and walked out of the front door, making sure to slam the door behind her.

Only after she had walked out, did she let go of her tears.

Lisa tried to not cry as she stood up from her place at the top of the staircase, and went back to her room. She knew that this was the most intense fight that they had. But how would they be able to look past all of it now?

Walking over to the gift her father had given her, she touched the starry snow-globe before turning it on, after remembering what her father had told her right after he gave her the gift.

"After you turn this button on, make a wish on the first star you see. It'll surely come true."

"I wish dad and Andrea would just understand each other a little better. I wish they'd just see each other's pain and not only themselves."

"Lisa, honey, what are you doing?" Lisa jolted in surprise as she quickly turned around to look at her father standing in the doorway of her room. And while she turned around, her hand accidently hit the snow-globe on her desk.

It fell down and the glass broke into a million pieces as Lisa gasped in surprise.

Michael quickly walked over to his daughter and made her back away from the shattered glass.

"What were you doing, honey?"

"I... I was just turning it on." Lisa felt sad as she saw her globe broken. And she had just received it a few hours earlier from her father. Michael sighed before he hugged his daughter.

"It's okay, I'll get you another one." Lisa nodded her head as her father sat down on one knee just to bring her closer to him. Lisa kept looking at the broken snow-globe as she rested her head on her father's shoulder.

Maybe her wish was just too hard for the globe to handle, or maybe she just couldn't get her father and sister to understand each other even if it meant through impractical means.

She just wished, and hoped that maybe someone somewhere was listening to her. 

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I know I shouldn't but I can't help it, so here's a new story. And I hope you guys are ready.