She was the best sports player in the school and yet she
wasn’t satisfied, having shifted from New York to a small city across the
country, Ashley missed all the opportunities that knocked on her door.
It had been only three months since she had started her new
school and life. It was early evening when she started heading back home with a
Trophy won for a basket ball match, so big that she herself could not
carry. Ashley was quite different
considering how her parents were, those parents who had forced her to pursue
sports just like they were forced by a generation before them. Ashley never
minded the pressure but it was terrible that she never got any other
opportunities inside the house, obviously anything but sports.
It was almost dark when Ashley rang the door bell, forcing herself to put a
smile on her face and pretending herself to be loving the award, as she walked
through the open door. “Hey Ash, Congratulations!’ Exclaimed her mother’s
joyful face just as Ashley was trying to find a place to keep the trophy, to
get rid off it.
Dinner was a quiet affair for Ashley as she never found
anything to express to them about. It was like she always had to wear the
seat-belt even when the signs were off, always had to play it safe with
emotions. And there she was, sighing while munching her pizza.
After finishing the last meal of the day, “Night mom and
Night Dad”, mumbled Ashley as she pretended to be sleepy and went to her
room. After making sure that her parents
were asleep, she silently bolted the door and put the lights back on with her
phone on recording her fluent speaking of a whole scene from a classic, with a
smile on her face which proved that she
was finally satisfied.
Just after fetching her bag pack from the living room, Ashley
was surprised to not find Riley waiting for her at the main door. After scanning
the house, Ashley found Riley sitting in her bedroom and going through Ashley’s
laptop, just as she entered, Riley slapped the laptop shut and headed to the
bedroom door and put her hand around Ashley, pretending as if nothing had
happened, “C’mon, lets leave”.
She sprinted through the corridors towards Ashley’s class.
Riley had heard about Ashley’s breakdown after she was told about being
selected for the main role in the school play. Her head full of confusion,
Riley found Ashley in her class silently sitting around the corner,
exaggerating, “My life was already so miserable, why are you making it worse?”
Riley replied with a confused expression, “I thought you would be glad that I
sent your video to the drama teacher”.
Ashley felt that one of her close friends was again ditching her, just
not understanding her like everyone else in her life, By looking at her own
condition, she surely felt terrible.
With a sad tone, she continued the conversation, “I am glad
that I got selected, very to be frank, but you know my family, not only will
they start hating me, they might just kick me out of their house or pretend
that I never even existed”. With that exclamation Ashley walked out of the
classroom.
Ashley remembered writing a note to her parents about the
play that was next night, explaining to them about her real passion, what she
had been doing all along and why she had this decision. Ashley was now heading
towards Riley’s house to stay over, for she needed to practice and would not be
able to do with the tense atmosphere at her house and tough decisions in her
mind. She had decided to head for her play as first thing in the next morning,
if her parents arrive then she would be the happiest person and if they did
not, with a heavy heart she would run away from home.
“Staying at Riley’s place was not very productive it was
much better than being worked up at home”, thought Ashley as she headed for her
school. She wished that her parents would be more considerate and that she
would have been more open to them, regretting her past decisions, she went
through one of the hardest days of her life. Her play was scheduled to start at
seven pm, which means that she had four hours of doing dress rehearsal and deep
thinking in front of her. Ashley grumbled and headed towards the dining hall, just
before entering the she saw two figures in front of her, waiting for her.
Ashley thought that her parents finally understood her and that they had come
to watch their daughter’s play with joy, Oh! She felt delighted.
She went closer to her parents with a huge grin on her face,
with eyes so wide open that they would be filled with tears and she felt she
might just end up giving them a tight hug for the first time in her life. “What
are you doing?” questioned her parents, looking like as though they might do
what she had dreaded.
And there she was, stuck inside her room. Ashley’s parents
had hated her big move of taking drama, instead of reacting positively, her
parents took her home, telling her repeatedly that that drama was not for her
but they had to stop when her face turned red, her fists tightened and her eyes
full of tears, she sreamed out words she herself would not understand and she
headed to her room. Ashley’s throat was sore and her eyes were hurting and she
fell asleep. Hous later, or maybe that’s what she felt it was, she was called
outside and where she found a table full of food and a hanger with her dress
for the play.
Ashley was confused and called out for her parents but there
she saw a note, the same one on which she had confessed and she saw another one
on the other side, there it was where her parents had explained themselves
along with an apology, that brought tears to Ashley’s eyes and an explanation
for the dress that was kept on the chair. She was supposed to reach her school
in half an hour for the show that was rescheduled, for a play cannot commence
without her main character. Just as she reached there all dressed up, she saw
everyone waiting for her. Not only she felt important, she felt like the star
of the show. Just as she was experiencing this moment, she saw her parents
looking at her with a broad smile and pride on their face, and there she was,
Ashley in her parents’ arms for the very first time and walking towards the
stage that was waiting for her.
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