Written by Ivy Terante, Year 9 (2017)
Lily saunters through the school gate with a smile – a smile brighter than the sun. Her smile is so bright no one can hint that there’s something ever wrong with her. She gets to her class and greets her teacher.
“Good morning Mrs. Evergreene” she happily said.
“Good morning sweetie,” she smiled back.
“How has your morning been?”
Her smile falters a bit, remembering what happened this morning…
“You stupid girl, see what you made me do!” he shouted at her. He blames her for breaking the vase he stumbled on. “This is worth more than your life! Now you have to pay for it!”
He threw a shard of glass at her cutting her forearm deeply. She whimpered.
“But Papa, you were the one who stumbled on it. And how do you expect me to pay for it?” she spoke back. She said it even before she realized it was too late. That’s the worst possible thing she could have done.
“You dare talk back to me?!” he rushed at her choking her. She coughs and struggles for air. He throws her to the ground, her back hitting the wall hard and she coughs out a little blood. She looks at the
blood on her hand and then at her father.
Her father slowly walks up to her and bends. Grabbing her cheeks with one hand, he said “Don’t ever, and I mean, ever talk back at me again. You hear me?” she didn’t reply. “I said, you hear me?!” he shouted and she nods. She stays there silently crying…
She tries to keep her smile, “Great as always!” but her voice cracks a little.
She walks to her friend Mal, one of the two friends, in fact, people in her life that she can afford to trust, the other being Shayne who hasn’t yet come to school.
“Hey Mal,” she greeted.
“Hey Lily,” he greeted back.
They talk for a while until Mal says something funny and they both laugh. Mal playfully hits Lily on her arm and she hisses in pain. Mal notices this; he pulls her jacket down, revealing the nasty gash that was made from this morning.
“Lily,’ he calmly but angrily said, “What is this?”
“I fell,” she quietly said.
“You fell, you fell?!” he repeated. “Lily, you and I both know that that’s a lie!”
“Leave me alone Mal,” she walked away crying.
She hated him for seeing through her. She knows he cares but she just hates it.
Remember when I said she smiles so bright no one can hint that there’s something ever wrong with her? Well, the brightest smiles have the darkest stories.