Little Girl Don't Grow Up Too Fast

First Day

Charlotte had barely slept the night before her first day of freshman year. I had been nearly 9 months since the last time she had been in public school, and all of those horrible memories came flooding back. She remembered the fear she endured on the drive to school every single day. The constant reminder from her peers that she was never good enough. Why was she about to put herself through this again?

"Did you check to make sure that she was up?" Carrie asked her fiancé after she had just finished her workout.

"She came down for breakfast earlier, but didn't eat anything. She said she wasn't hungry. She was being really quiet," Mike told her.

"Hm," Carrie stared blankly, immediately becoming worried. She was already worried about her for weeks leading up to this. She wanted so badly for her daughter to be happy and hated when she was even just a hair slight of it. "I'll head up. She probably needs help with her makeup anyways."

Carrie had entered the bedroom once she had received Charlotte's permission after knocking. She took a seat quietly on her bed as she watched her daughter stand in front of the giant floor length mirror that was in the corner of the room. There was a white wooden table that lied all of her makeup, hair brushes, styling tools, bobby pins, everything. Charlotte was just beginning to put curls in her hair, something that she normally could do herself. Today, her shaking hands were proving it to be way more difficult than what it should have been, fumbling strand after strand of hair.

"Stupid..." Charlotte quietly mumbled under her breathe to herself. She continued to try to wrap a strand of blonde around the hot tool, but the curl would fall almost instantly. "Gosh darn it," she scolded herself again, angrily placing the hot tool against the counter as her arm had become tired, stressfully running both her hands through her hair.

"Shh," Carrie hushed, hoping to soothe Charlotte even just a little as she quickly stood up from the bed going over to her. "Sit down, and let me help."

The teen had no problem taking a seat at the vanity that was against the wall, letting out a large sigh, and let her mom go to work. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes while Carrie seamlessly curled Charlotte's hair.

"You're quiet this morning," Carrie spoke aloud what was on her mind. Charlotte didn't respond though. She just sat staring into the mirror in front of her, her hands underneath her legs to keep her from fidgeting. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing," Charlotte muttered looking down to the floor. Carrie finished the last few curls before setting them with lots of hairspray. Once she was done, she turned the vanity chair around so that Charlotte would face her. She squatted down so that she was eye level with the younger blonde, taking her daughter's hands into her own.

"Talk to me," she spoke softly.

Charlotte knew as soon as she met her mother's eyes she would break, which is exactly what she ended up doing. Her voice cracked as the tears spilled, "I don't want to go."

"Oh, honey," Carrie's heart sunk immediately taking her daughter into her arms as she sobbed.

"I-I-I-I don't want to be made fun-fun of," Charlotte panted through her sobs. "I just w-w-want to make friends a-and be n-n-normal."

"Baby, I know you will," Carrie soothed her as she rubbed her back trying her best to calm her down. She knew what was happening, and it absolutely broke her heart see her own daughter go through it. "You just have to give everything a chance."

"I'm so nervous."

"I know, I know," she responded. "But you're going to be fine, more than fine actually. You're smart, you're funny, stinking gorgeous, and you're more caring than anyone I know. You just lack a bit of confidence is all."