30 Days of Love

Bachelorette Party

 Joanna's POV 

Everyone's happy, and surprisingly, I am too.

Music blasts, balloons hang, and we all dance.

My outfit, a sparkly dress picked out by Rylie, shimmers off the disco lights; I am a star and though I'd typically like to be the cozy sky that holds stars rather than be one, I don't mind being one tonight.

Even my makeup is done, with my eyes painted black with some silver glitter placed on top. I stopped wearing it for a while, first because I didn't have any when I stayed at Rylie's and second because I realized that it wasn't for me. Why waste money or time on something that will only make you happy for a few hours? Yet now, none of that matters. Nothing matters, the only thing on my mind is to have fun, that's what Barbara said tonight's all about.

"I can't believe you're getting married!" Rylie exclaims, grabbing both her and I a virgin cocktail.

"Thanks." I raise the drink before taking a sip.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I sigh. "I didn't know about it until the beginning of the month and a-after a while I didn't want to talk about it. Talking about it means it's real and I didn't want it to be."

"So... everyone in your family gets married at the age of fifteen to someone they don't know?"

"Yep.. while at least the girls do."

"Huh?"

I look away from everyone, turning towards Rylie who wears a floral blouse with a skirt. "Boys don't have to marry until the age of eighteen if they want. However, girls have to get married at fifteen."

"Well, that's sexist."

"Definitely."

"How is this even legal?"

"What, the marriage or how sexist it is?"

"Both."

"Well.." I explain, "In our state as long as your parents consent, you can get married above the age of thirteen, and while I don't know how to explain the sexist part."

Rylie's eyes widen. "Wow."

"Yep."

"Why do you even put up with it?" she asks. "The marriage, how do you deal with the fact that you have to get married?"

I put up with it because... because...

"Because I love him," I say. "I love his smile, his personality. He's not one of the rich snobs that I once thought he was, but he's kind and gentle and patient. And, I love his family. They're all as loving as he is. I just-" I take a deep breath. "I can't marry him and deal with it... it's easy to deal with anything when it comes to love."

"I... I never knew you to be the type of person who likes let alone loves people." She chuckles.

Me neither. I think, chuckling inside. Though I don't say that, rather I say, "Not everyone's worth my liking nor love."

"Do you like me?"

"Of course I like you," I say, wrapping my arms around the sides of her.

Rylie hugs me back. "Liam has changed you."

I nod, closing my eyes, inhaling the scent of vanilla perfume that radiates off of her.

Yes, he has. I think. In more ways than one.

"I just can't believe you're going to be married whilst being a junior in high school..."

I stare at the picture on the wall of a mountain, hearing Rylie's words: I just can't believe you're going to be married whilst being a junior in high school.

No one should be married in high school, why did I even consider that?

Right as I thought that the opinions of others didn't matter, it's drawn on me that people will talk about my marriage at school, and the thought of that makes my chest compress, crying in agony.

Meanwhile, how can I run away without hurting Liam? How can I run away and leave his family without upsetting them? Is there a way for me to leave without seeming like I never cared about them?

How do you leave behind the people who have done everything for you? Who've taught you lessons you would have never learned, made experiences you thought you never could have, how do you leave them without feeling guilty for it? And how do you make it possible for everyone else behind you, the next generation, to not have to go through the tortures of this tradition as well?

Though, as the moonlight beams inside the balcony doors, and the silence is louder than any sound, I think of an idea. A plan that can either go well or... can go horribly.