modern family | vanessa delgado

Truth Be Told

"Hey." Manny and I greet our mother as we enter the kitchen together.

"Ay, good morning, papi, mami." Mom is pouring herself a cup of coffee and sets her red mug on the counter.

"Is it?" Manny doubts.

"Ay, you're still sad because of that audition." Mom remarks sadly with a frown.

"That part was mine. I was born to play Tevye. Instead they give it to Rod Jackson? What does he know from suffering?"

"What do you know about suffering? You're twelve." I point out, rolling my eyes at how dramatic he is.

"How we doing?" Jay asks, coming in with a bag.

"A little better. But we're gonna go and throw ice cream at the problem." Mom says.

"Oh, yes, cause solving your problems with food is always the answer." I roll my eyes and ignore Mom's pointed look at me.

"Well, if that doesn't work, this should do the trick." Jay shows us a picture frame. The photo has trees and a quote.

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Manny reads the quote. 

"We can hang this in your room. You can see it every morning, start to internalize it. Pretty soon nothing will keep you down." Jay says.

That's thoughtful of him, but the quote doesn't really make any sense.

"But it's not true." Manny disagrees. Mom and I are nodding, being on his side.

"What are you talking about?" He asks.

"What if someone gets into a car accident by a drunk driver and causes the other driver to get paralyzed? The driver didn't get killed, but they're also not stronger in the end." I explain.

"Lots of stuff that doesn't kill you makes you weaker. My friend's grandfather had a heart attack. Now he needs a machine to breathe."

"I've seen him - at the supermarket," Mom says. "Now he needs to drive one of those little, like-" Mom starts to imitate what the poor old guy drives.

"We get it, Mom." I interrupt because her obnoxious noise is about to give me a headache.

"That's right. Be negative." 

"It's just not a good poster, Jay." Mom wraps her arms around me and Manny as we leave for ice cream.

"You're only making me stronger." I hear Jay replies in the back.

•          •          •

Mom, Manny, and I went to this ice cream parlor shop together to cheer Manny up from losing the part in his school play.

We stand in line and decide on which ice cream we should pick. When it's our turn next, we tell the server our order. I recognize the brunette from school because she's in my grade; her name is Chloe Evans. She's so freakin' pretty that she can get any girls. Including me.

But I have a boyfriend and I'm only into boys.

At least I think I am.

Maybe I like girls too?

"Hey, Chloe." I greet her as she's getting me my ice cream while my mother is paying for ours to the cashier.

"Hi, Vanessa. You're getting the turtle ice cream flavor, right?" Chloe predicts accurately.

"You know me so well, Chloe," I appreciate with a smile. "Double scoops, please."

"No problem," She says, putting two scoops of the ice cream into my cup. Mom and I have our ice cream in a cup and Manny has a cone. "How are you and Will doing?"