Happily (ON HOLD)

Chapter 3: Perfectly Wrong

Our second week is full of Harry gushing over his new girl crush. Ridiculous because he didn't even like Lindsey until she was so straightforward about her thoughts on him. It was artificial. Rushed. I despised it. Just like my mother and father, not thinking anything through, just startled by instinct and attraction.

Then again, they were just a couple of freshmen, nothing serious. Couple. The word was tasteless in my mouth.

 School days come quickly and weekends flick by. High school's tiring and I'd have dropped out already if it weren't for my step-mom urging me to make a living for myself. Easy for her to say when she's a stay-at-home mom.

Maybe it's one of her regrets, among others. Sometimes I wonder if my father told her about me, or if I came as surprise baggage. I agree, their suburban family would be lovely without me, but I like to pretend I'm the extra bling that makes it interesting.

Dad and I used to be the ones who were alike and looked at my mom like she was crazy. Now I've stepped into the abandoner's shoes, my father and stepmom being content with one another and the child they created, whereas I stick out obnoxiously.

I could wish upon all the stars to be seen as essential to them. In all honesty, that could never happen. Little Lena is their pride and joy. Understandably, of course. Why would Martha care equally as much about a kid that wasn't even hers?

Harry's nice, though. Never makes me feel like that when he's around. Loyalty is a good trait to possess.

☆

The peaceful blaring of my alarm clock had me rising into consciousness. Lena was once again sleeping at the foot of my bed like a small puppy.

"Hey," I shook her with my foot a bit. "Kiss ass."

She blinked her light eyes up at me. Innocent blue.

"Time t'get up." I slurred, not completely awake myself. Lena knuckled at her face while sitting up and stepping toward the door of my bathroom where her shoulder collided with the door knob. Another thing she had that I did not: obedience.

"How many times is that this week?" she chuckled, rubbing her shoulder and blindly reaching for the wooden door.

☆

A pat arrived on her head. "Make memories, don't eat rocks."

"Why would I want to eat a rock?"

"You'd be surprised." I tell Lena, squeezing her shoulder in goodbye.

Harry was already at my door practically bouncing in his shoes.

"No," I frown, "too happy."

He knows I'm kidding so he laughs. "Young love, Rosie. You'll get it someday."

"Okay, barf," I follow up with a gag for good measure. "Don't need it, love can shit on someone else's life."

☆

 School had been an absolute mess of missing assignments I didn't even know were given to me and counting the minutes until I got to see my friends.

Harry didn't stick around for lunch, going over to where Lindsey sat with her ensemble of dancers.

I paid no mind, he was probably happy to meet people other than us. It had been just us for ages and with all the time-wasting we did together, it was easy to lose sight of how compact our social circle was.

And none of us cared much about the social hierarchy that seemed to dominate most friend groups. We just knew that Elliot was hilarious, Cassidy intelligent beyond words, Harry a goofy sweetheart, and I, the friend with redeemable qualities that overlapped my constant negativity.

I only got to walk with one of them on the way home that day. Cassidy vented about the difference in size regarding the workload from middle to high school, claiming that she was going to explode soon.

"You did take all the advanced classes, what were you expecting, Cass?"

"Obviously not this," she exaggerated the abundance of papers in her hand by waving them in front of my face. "It feels like I'm drowning in this crap."

There was a hint of a whimper at the end of her sentence and I glanced at her face hastily. Cassidy looked a bit worn down, and I felt bad because school was important to her and thinking back to what I said before seemed insensitive.

"Hey," I forced a smile for her, "you got this."

She nodded heavily. "Yeah, thank you." My arm extended to go around her freckled shoulder and that's how we went home.

☆

A set table wasn't something we had with my mother, but now that my dad's remarried, he and his wife can't wait to have family dinners each night.

Fork, spoon, then knife. That's the order that I placed them in on the neatly folded white napkins Martha prepared beforehand. Lena couldn't do much with her height holding her back, but to include her we had a little system where Martha would hand her the dishes, which Lena would then give me to lay on the table.

When we're done, they eat and chat about their days like a perfect family apparently does. I don't have much input and listen intently to Lena's story about daycare involving snack time and a mischievous kid with grabby hands.

Dad makes a show of his anger with the child who stole his daughter's food, and Lena's soft giggle makes an appearance.

It doesn't get better than that. Honestly.

☆

A/n: LSJBFSLIVOIVHIAPVBV:C:A:AVHI{WHFIVlwu0492[jakkaeh[04wutp94ug;odjvae;g4[ti42-9yu5405o=\ed[Ddb;ojrhhp9it[w          

happy winter break if ya have it :3