Cheer Up

Chapter 6

A small smile graced her beautiful face, “I love you Con.”

He pulled her face closer to his and kissed her forehead, her eyes closing against the contact. “I love you too Angie.”

She cuddled into his neck, “Can you stay tonight?”

He wrapped his arms tighter around her after pulling the covers from under him and placing them over the both of them. He got comfortable, “I didn’t plan on leaving you.”

He felt her smile against his neck. He placed his head on top of hers, listening as her breathing became even as she fell into a deep sleep.

Connor hated seeing her that upset. It made him violent and he wasn’t a violent person. He just didn’t understand how a mother could be that cruel to her only child. And I really don’t understand how her father could just let it happen, Angelie was always a daddy’s girl, she has been all her life. She’s always tried to be the perfect daughter, always hiding the bad behind the good that she possessed. But her parents never saw the good, they only saw the little things that went wrong with her and it sickened him.

Connor sighed as he made himself even more comfortable, cuddling closer to Angelie, holding her tighter. He listened to the steady noises of her breathing until he fell asleep himself.

Angelie woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in her balcony doors. She squinted at the bright light and felt Connor stir beside her, his arm tightened around her waist as he spooned her from behind. She looked at the clock to see it was 9:04am. She had to leave for practice in about a half an hour. She felt Connor sigh into her hair, “You have to leave soon I’m guessing?” His voice was raspy with sleep.

“Yeah… got practice at 10.” She sat up as his arm loosened. She rubbed her eyes before looking at Connor who was still laying on her pillows.

“Want me to drive you?” He asked.

She shook her head, getting up from the bed, “That’s okay. I’m probably gonna stay late and tumble or something.”

He nodded as she walked into the bathroom. She did the normal morning business and walked out of her room to see her bed empty. Her phone was on her pillow so she went over and picked it up. There was a notepad written: Went home so you could get ready in peace. Have fun at practice :) Love you. – Connor

She smiled as she saved the note before walking into her closet. She pulled out a pair of pink Nike pros and a black sports bra. She put them on, throwing her pajamas in the hamper in the closet. She grabbed a white v-neck t-shirt and a pair of socks. She threw on the t-shirt as she walked to her mirror and put on the socks when she stopped walking.

She heard yelling from downstairs as she brushed her hair. She sighed and plugged her phone into her iHome, turning her music up loud so she couldn’t hear them.

They pretend to be the happiest people on earth. They pretend to still love each other. They haven’t loved each other since she was little. Everything has to do with their reputation. The Marx family always had to be perfect; perfect house, perfect marriage, and perfect daughter. Angelie got good grades, she was probably top ten in her class, she excelled at cheerleading, she cheered for her school’s varsity cheer team since freshmen year, she was pretty and she seemed to have a perfect life. The truth was, her life was far from perfect, her parents having a screaming-match downstairs was an example of that.

She put her slides on her feet and grabbed her cheer bag that had her sneakers in it and everything else she needed for practice. She grabbed her phone and left her room. Her parents probably went to work when her music was on, so she grabbed two big Gatorades from the fridge and grabbed the keys to her red 2013 Honda Civic, her baby.