proud// 5SOS

2

Esme

Link's alarm woke us up in the morning. He refused to turn it down, so it was glaringly loud, but he always turned it off and immediately cuddled me.

"Good morning,"

"Morning,"

"Breakfast?"

I hummed and wiped the sleep from my eyes, slowly sitting up.

He got out of bed and put on his oodie, then came and pulled me out of bed, jumping up and down with his arms round me. Apparently it woke us up, but I thought that must just be a him thing.

While he went downstairs to make breakfast, I got dressed, then he brought me up some toast and I ate it as his desk, which he had very kindly let me turn into my getting ready station. It was his own fault, he had bought me every piece of makeup I owned, and the hair straighteners were his mum's old ones.

My mum certainly wasn't giving me anything. She wouldn't even let me stay at home. Maybe it was my own fault for running away so many times in the past.

"You look nice today," I said, "Pink hair bobble,"

"From yours courtesy,"

I giggled and grabbed my bag, looking in the mirror.

"I am so lucky,"

"You know it," I said, "I am ready,"

"Me too,"

We called goodbye to his parents on our way out, then got in the car, making our way to get a coffee. Black coffee like usual for me, and today Link had a hazelnut one which I found too sweet.

When we got to school, he bumped into some football friends, so I went and found Clara and Jay in the study room, sitting with them. When I moved schools a year ago, Clara was the first girl who spoke to me, and it was the best thing that had happened to me. She got me into cheer, and taught me everything I needed to know about female friendships (and...makeup). Her boyfriend Jay wasn't so bad either, and he was Link's best friend.

"Morning, Ez," Jay said.

"No good?"

"He said my hair looked shit so he is in the doghouse,"

"I didn't say that. I asked if you were gonna brush it, which you then did,"

Clara grinned at me and I giggled, sipping my coffee. It was the only thing that got me through the day, honestly.

"Where is Link?"

"Bumped into someone, you know, knows everyone,"

"Yeah. Still on to double date tonight?" Jay asked.

"Of course,"

Every Thursday we all went to a cheap ass diner that did the best milkshakes in the whole world. It suited me because it was cheap enough that I didn't feel horrendously bad that everyone chipped in to my bill,  and it suited the rest of them because it was unbelievably delicious. We weren't sure on the hygiene rating, and it was never full, but it was the best discovery we had ever made and now it was tradition.

Before the bell rang, we headed towards English class, meeting Link there. It was my favourite subject, and I wanted to be a journalist, so I tried extra hard. I managed to get a few B grades recently, and school was a lot easier now I lived with Link, even though it had only been a few weeks. It was our last year, so I was kind of feeling the pressure, especially as we were halfway through.
We split up after English, Clara and I heading to sociology. It was probably my second favourite subject.

Clara was gorgeous. She was tall, with long blonde hair. Bright blonde, naturally. She was one of those girls you looked at and wondered how the hell she looked so perfect everyday. Plus, she was the kindest person in the world.

"Is your arm okay from yesterday?"

"Yeah, just bruised,"

"Sorry we dropped you,"

"I signed up for it,"

"True. I love doing cheer with you,"

I smiled and sat down in my seat, Clara beside me. My pen had ran out at the end of English, so she passed me another, then we waited as miss collected our homework.
Today seemed interesting, it was about gender stereotypes and it was pretty easy- for a while.

"Does anyone know why mothers are more likely to get custody?"

"They're seen as homemakers,"

"The dad is seen as the fun parent but the mum is seen as the one who looks after them,"

Clara gave me a side eye and I ignored it, picking at my fingers.

"If the child is sick the mum usually stays home,"

"They probably know more about their kid,"

That definitely wasn't true for me. My dad got custody. For a while we did 50/50, but then it changed and I was mainly with dad because my mum didn't have a stable living situation. I didn't complain.

For a few years it was fine, she had a crappy lifestyle and dad managed to use that to stop all the court stuff, and the frequent social worker visits that just upset me. However, mum got clean, and started to accuse my dad of alienating me from her.

Over a year ago they forced me to move in with my mum. They came in the middle of dad, my uncles and I eating my favourite pizza because I had just got an A in my test, and they took me.

It wasn't too far, I could have stayed at my school but I took the chance to change. Mum was horrible. She never liked me and it showed. I ran away a couple of times, trying to get back to dad, but then they told me if I contacted dad or made it back home then he would get in major trouble.

And I never understood why they would put me with my mum, and how my dad could let that happen. Eventually, I left so many times she kicked me out, so now I lived at Link's. His mum treated me better in a few weeks than mine had my whole life.

If I didn't have my friends or Link I would be so alone.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I am gonna get some air," 

"Want me to come?"

"Yeah,"

I stood up, everyone turning to look at me, then Clara pushed me towards the door and we left, standing in the hall.

"She should have had a warning,"

I sank down to the floor and my head on my knees, starting to cry. My mum wasn't any of those things, but they made me go to her because she was meant to be those things.

Clara sat beside me and hugged me tightly, rubbing my back. I tried so hard to keep an image at school, I had since I started, but things like this didn't help. People liked me, the cheer team were my good friends, and theatre was always fun, but if you looked closely I had average grades, had the same bag that was falling apart, and was really petite because we never had food in the house at mum's.

It was really difficult to know my dad was so close and I couldn't see him, but also be mad at him. I knew he couldn't do anything otherwise he would get in trouble, but I wish he could do something.

"It's gonna be okay," she said, "When you're eighteen you can go back, right?"

"That's not yet though,"

"I'm so sorry. Wanna call off tonight and have a girls night?"

"No, it's okay. Thank you though,"

"I love you girl,"

"I love you too,"

"Let's sit out here for a bit, and let me fix your makeup. Don't you worry about a thing,"