Because of You

Chapter 1: The Lightning Strike

"Help me carry these boxes to Ms. Hartford's room."

My mom is gracefully stacking boxes on one of her classroom desks. Her high school classroom is almost finished being set up for the upcoming school year. A plethora of "punny" math posters hang on the walls, Christmas lights are strung to create a warm environment, and her desk displays a collage of pictures of former students. I pause my current job of labeling her turn-in trays to help her with the boxes.

My mother, Ms. Lacey Williams, is an absolute queen. She is by far the most popular and best teacher in Oak Hills High School. Not only that, but she's also the high school drill team coach. And she's a phenomenal one. She took an almost nonexistent dance team and transformed it into a competition-winning team in just a few years, which is a huge deal here in our small Georgia town. The town we live in is one of those big, small towns. Big enough to have a movie theater, a 3A school district, and a decent variety of stores. But small enough where pretty much everyone knows everyone. So when my mom did some major reconstruction with the drill team, everyone, and I do mean everyone, heard about it. We're talking about the front page of the local newspaper. And honestly, it's a big deal to me too, since dance is basically my life. When I finally get to the high school, we'll run this school together. Her as the dance coach and me as the captain. We'll be unstoppable.

And on top of all that, Mom is absolutely gorgeous. She has the body of a twenty-two-year-old; lean, strong, and feminine. Her bouncy, short, blonde curly hair makes it impossible to not notice her. Even standing at only 5'5, her presence is strong. Tiny, but mighty you could say. And her voice is smooth, kind, and inviting. She's extremely smart, wins Teacher of The Year every single year, gets all the best gifts from her students on holidays, and makes math really fun. So naturally, I am the girl with the "cool mom." And I can't lie, I love it. I love being so well known by people in the school district and our small town. Everyone knows us, because everyone knows my mom. And everyone loves her. Her coworkers adore her, bosses praise her, and students look up to her. And I want to be her.

I definitely resemble my mom. While I'm already her height as an eighth grader, I inherited her slender body type and blonde hair. But my hair falls down to my hip bones in a pure mermaid fashion. One thing I haven't inherited from my mom just yet, though, is her confidence. I've never seen my mom express any ounce of insecurity. Maybe it's just that I'm young and going through puberty, but I'm definitely not there yet. Aside from the physical attributes, I totally take after her, personality wise. She's definitely more outgoing and popular than I am, but we're still quite similar. Which is why we're so close, I think.

It's just us, no one else. My dad left when I was a baby, leaving my mom to raise me all by herself. Mom moved to Oak Hills shortly after he left. She said she needed a fresh start in a new town, which to me sounds rough when you've recently become a single parent of a new baby. But she quickly made Oak Hills her home and knows basically everyone in town. Sometimes I'm sad that I don't have a dad. The thought sounds nice, but it's also so forgien to me. But truthfully, I like that it's just me and Mom. I think that's what has caused us to have such a close relationship. It's always just been us, and I love our little family. Birthday's, Christmas, vacations, everything; it's always just been about the two of us.

Sometimes I feel bad for Mom, though. She's the best person I know and she deserves real love. She's never dated or remarried. I think whoever my dad is really messed her up. She never even talks about dating or being interested in looking for a relationship. She just wants to be the best teacher, dance coach, mom, and friend that she can be. And she really is fantastic at all those things. Still though, I wish she had someone to love and take care of her. But for now, our little black, fluffy toy poodle, Minka, is the only other family member we have.