As I had completed my assignment quite early, I was making use of most of my down time by spending time with Lily, who also recently finished it.
When I wasn't spending time with her, though, I decided that it was probably about time to learn some more Greek.
Once I had the alphabet down, I began to learn short phrases and statements.
It was going fairly well, and my dad had certainly been impressed with my attempts to speak Greek over the phone to him, anyway.
Aside from that, though, I had really been missing Lily.
She had been doing a lot of preparation for the theatre society: designing and painting sets, rehearsals and general practice for their play of The Tempest. Although she had joined this late, she had already been promoted to the leader of it.
I supposed that was how that Everett family power worked, after all.
Her father was well-known as a businessman with certain people at the university.
I hadn't known about it before she had brought it up with me, though.
Lily stated that another reason, why she occasionally didn't trust people, was because she was afraid they only liked her due to her wealthy family.
Of course, there was so much else to focus on than that, and it made me a little sad to even think that other people would think that way.
Either way, at least Lily had been able to distract her mind from those who weren't genuine, by completing her assignment and spending time with me.
Over all, Lily had become a lot friendlier recently.
I had undergone changes too, of course.
After a visit to the hairdresser I was no longer a brunette, as I had decided to follow in my sister's footsteps and dye my hair, and it had ended up a lot lighter than I had intended.
However, that was alright. I knew that it would fade with time, and the contrast between my hair colour and my chocolate brown eyes sort of worked well for me.
My phone began to buzz shortly after that, breaking my reverie, and I answered it to find my father talking on the other side of the line.
"Ya sou, sweetheart!" he greeted me, his Greek accent evident in his voice again. He sounded incredibly happy.
"Hey, papa," I replied with my own smile.
My dad amazed me in the fact that he had managed to teach himself English, before he had arrived in England, and over the years he had learnt so much more, that you could hardly believe he wasn't a native speaker.
"How are you, dad? You sound well," I told him.
"I am well, Selina!" he said cheerfully.
He always was happy, though.
It certainly helped to have an optimistic member of our household, especially when I knew that my mother's mood can often crash at times.
"How are you honey?" he asked me.
"I'm also good," I stated, then, "How's mum?"
No matter how she was doing, I knew that I could adjust to the situation. It was just something that I had gotten used to over the years.
"She is okay, at the moment," he told me.
That at the moment didn't sound very optimistic, but I was going to assume that she was going to be just fine, soon enough. My dad usually had these things under wraps, and he was able to get in touch with the doctors hastily if need be.
"Okay, dad. Just keep me updated," I told him.
"Of course, sweetheart," he replied.
I could imagine my father's bittersweet smile on the other side of the line, and could only hope that he was going to be okay.
I knew that he had Violet, but there were occasions that I wished that I could just go home to see him, and ensure that everything and everyone back at home was indeed okay.
"Hey dad? I better get going soon," I told him.
"Your mother would like to speak with you, Sel, if that's alright of course," he stated.
"Yes, yes it is," I said quickly.
I wanted to hear from her, more than anything.
I heard him pass the phone to her, and sure enough soon I could hear my mother say, "Hello," on the other side of the line, as I gazed outside.
It was beginning to rain again.
I wondered when the skies would clear up again.
"Hey mama, how are you?" I asked her.
I heard her voice break on the other side as she answered, but I knew that she was trying to keep it together for me, and I had to admit that did break my heart a little.
"I just miss you, honey. A lot. I've been trying but I just feel lost," she said quietly.
I supposed that she was trying to not get the attention, of my sister and dad, too much.
"I miss you too," I managed to say.
Shortly after that, I could hear Violet's voice on the other side of the line, and my mother passed the call on to her.
"Hey loser," she said. She always had the best ways of greeting me, evidently.
Just like that, though, I went from frowning to smiling, in the fraction of a moment.
I supposed that was just the kind of power that my sister had. She could always cheer me up. That was one of the main things that I could always rely on her for. I really was thankful that I knew that no matter what was going on back at home, Violet would do everything that she could to keep the family together. She and my dad were strong forces for that.
"Hey, you," I replied, still smiling as I said it, even though she had basically just insulted me. I always knew that I could take it as a joke.
"Is mum okay?" she asked me.
"I don't know. What do you think?" I asked her.
I heard Violet exhale for a minute, as she probably became a little more thoughtful.
"That's one of the things that is difficult, Selina. One moment I can think that she is just fine and then all of a sudden, it can change incredibly quickly."
I felt rather sympathetic to her, when she told me that.
I knew that I was limited in what I could do. We had several hours between us.
I just knew that regardless, I would always do whatever I could to be helpful for my family.
If that meant that I would have to travel home to see all of them, then that was simply what I was going to have to do.
"Don't freak out. Okay, Selina? You don't have to come home," she told me.
Of course, my sister would be wise enough to know.
"In an ideal world, mum will be just fine in no time. She will be tip-top shape in no time," Violet said.
I sighed.
"This isn't an ideal world though, Violet," I reminded her.
"I know, Sel...I wish that it was," she said.
"You're not the only one who does," I replied.
In an ideal world, our mother would be just fine, but we simply had to accept the challenges that came with her diagnoses.
I could picture Violet moving a hand through her purplish hair on the other side of the line, probably with her eyebrows crinkled together slightly in her worry.
As much as she could joke around at times, I knew how much our family mattered to her, and she just wanted to do whatever she could to make sure that we were all okay. It was one of the reasons why as temperamental as she could be at times, she was an amazing sister. I knew that I could learn a lot from her, and I respected and admired her so incredibly much, too.
"We're going to be fine, Selina, okay?"
"Okay, Vi. Please just keep me posted," I told her.
"Always. I love you, loser," she said.
"Love you too, you purple-haired freak," I said.
"Hey I am not a purple-haired freak!" she protested.
I heard my father's laugh on the other side of the call.
"Violet, let the girl go, okay?" he asked her.
"Fine. Bye for now," Violet said again, with an affectionate tone to her voice, despite my teasing.
She then ended the call, and I managed a half smile, as I sat down on my bed.
My worries about my mother soon puffed out of my thought cloud, as there was a quick knocking on my room door.
"You called?" I started to say, as I got up off the bed to open it.
I soon found Lily standing there.
"Hey, can I come in?" she asked me.
"Yeah, of course," I told her.
I noticed that her eyes were a little red.
"Hey, hey, hey," I said, as I passed her the tissue box when a tear rolled down her face, "Are you okay? What happened?"
I sat down on the bed with Lily, and just took her hands in mine again.
"I'm just so angry that I could scream," she stated.
I remained quiet for a moment, patiently waiting for her to continue to explain the events that had passed.
"My dad made some homophobic comments, and I may have accidentally outed myself to him...he's going to be visiting the dorms soon to talk to me. I already know that it's coming. Whatever, though. It doesn't matter. When I left, though, I did something, admittedly, stupid, Selina," she told me.
I wiped at her tears, and she smiled appreciatively at me.
"Wait, what did you do?" I asked her.
"I flipped him off. It's the first time I have ever done it. I know...I must have been brave to do that. I just wanted to study today, Selina. Then he started rambling about how it was a sin to be gay and I freaked out. I couldn't let him talk about something that I am a part of like that..." she trailed off.
"Hold on a moment- you flipped off your dad?" I asked her.
She released a soft laugh, then, still crying.
"Yeah," she said.
I chuckled along with her.
"He's going to kill me," she stated.
"No. He isn't," I assured her.
Well, I wasn't about to let that happen anyway.
"You didn't do anything wrong. Apart from the whole flipping off thing, though I understand. Hey, if anything, I respect you for what you did, Lily. You weren't afraid to stand up for what was right," I said to her.
"It's like you just intuitively know exactly what I needed to hear, Selina. Thank you," she told me, and took a deep breath, as her crying eased off.
"Now, you're a beautiful badass, okay? And you deserve more than to let him make you feel small," I told her, "If need be, I'll go all karate style on him," I added imaginatively.
She smirked.
"I'd love to see your 5'4 self try to attack him," she joked, her eyes locking with mine in a meaningful gaze.
I just blushed.
Sooner than anything else could be said, I turned to the doorway of my room to see Lance's presence there.
"Lily..." he started to say, "You're gay?" he gasped.
Lily just rolled her eyes as she turned to him.
"You already knew that, idiot," she joked.
He just smiled.
"Hey, you already know I tenaciously fight for you, right? I'm not about to let dad walk all over you. So, I told him what he needed to hear," he stated.
"What did you say, Lance?" Lily asked him.
"I tried to investigate the situation a little more, find out why he felt the way that he did, and he just said that his friends often make jokes and tear the community down. So, I told him that he needed better friends, and that you, as his daughter, should be his number one priority," Lance explained.
"You're much more complex than I gave you credit for. I never knew you could stand up for me like that, Lance, but thank you," she told him.
"We're always here to support you, Lily!" Lina announced then, as she appeared in the doorway, and moved a hand through her blonde hair. She had a determined glint in her blue eyes, which I had to admire.
Lily grinned.
"Lina bear!" she said, and quickly wandered over to her sister to bring her into a hug.
"Don't let dad get you down," Lina told her.
"I'll try my very best," she said, and the cheeks of her face seemed to warm a little, as an optimistic glimmer appeared in her eyes.
Lance cursed under his breath, causing Lily to turn to him.
"What is it?" she asked him.
"Dad's going to be here, soon," he said, then.
"Let him come," Lily said, with a shrug, "I want to be with Selina, and nothing is going to change my mind about that."
"You do?" I asked her.
She searched my eyes for a moment, then, probably as much as I was searching hers to see if what she was saying was truly real.
"I do," she replied.
I just smiled to her, and she smiled back with an affectionate glint in her eye.
She stood up from my bed, then, and clapped her hands, causing everyone's attention to be on her.
"Alright, people. Let's get moving," Lily stated, with a determined expression upon her face. I could sense the confident energy off her, and I knew that she was about to stand up for herself again.
This time around it would be different, though, because I would be right by her side to support her.
She began to walk out of the room, and Lance met me with an expression of curiosity.
So, I just answered with a nod of agreement, and wandered out of the room with Lily, grabbing our bags from the coat hangers before we headed out into the fresh air of the January day.
We wandered on a short while longer, and I soon saw Luke Everett moving in our direction.
"Lily," he said, "And you-" he added, meeting my gaze briefly.
"Hi, sir," I greeted him. I didn't usually get too caught up in formal titles, but I had never spoken to Luke before, and I didn't want to give him reason to not like me, other than the reasons I already knew that he disliked me for.
"Hi," he said, his mouth forming a fine line, "I suppose this is the girl that you like, Lily?" he asked then, quickly catching on.
Lily moved closer to me, to take my hand in hers again.
"Selina is indeed," she stated.
"Selina-"
"Is her name. Don't wear it out," Lily said.
"I imagine that you really must like her to be sticking up for her so much, Lily," Luke said.
Lily just nodded her head.
"Well, I think you could do better," he said, then.
"Don't be so arrogant, father," Lily said in warning.
"However... you're right. I haven't taken the time to get to know Selina, and I don't feel that I can really prevent you from being with her. I know you never truly listen to what I say-"
"That's not true, dad. I just wish that you would understand me here," Lily stated.
"Alright," he agreed, with a nod, and then turned to smile towards me, "Just... just be happy."
"Yeah?" Lily asked.
"Yes," her father replied, "It wouldn't be logical to argue with you on this matter any further, especially when I suppose deep down I would always accept your desires over what my friends have said about things. Beyond that, I apologise, Lily," he said.
"Me too, dad," Lily said.
There was an awkward pause for a moment, but then Luke stepped forward to hug his daughter.
"I love you," he said, "I know I don't say it often enough, especially after everything that happened with your mother...but she would be proud of you, Lily," he stated.
"Thank you, dad, I love you too," Lily replied, with a huge smile upon her face.
"Always," he replied.
I felt all warm and fuzzy witnessing them make up, but all the same, another development had happened today- Lily had stated that she wanted to be with me, and I couldn't help but blissfully be pleased at that.