Green, White, and Blue ~ A KotLC tale...

˗ˏˋ43: Sophie'ˎ˗

TW: kidnapping stuff. kinda emotional abuse. be careful...

"I'm tired!" I told my dad as he got ready to hit my volleyball at me again. My small arms were red after so many passes from harsh attacks. He just shook his head.

"You can't just stop when you're tired, Sophie. If you want to do anything in life, you've gotta stop listening to your body's limitations. We're done when I say we're done." He tossed up the ball and hit it. I tried to back up before the ball got to me so I could pass it with my forearms, but I didn't back up fast enough and it hit me square in the shoulder. The force of it knocked me back a step.

"I'm done!" I shouted, falling to the floor and on the verge of crying. My dad stomped over to me, holding his hand out.

"Get up." He told me. I crossed my arms over my chest, huffing. "Sophie, you're going to be ten years old soon, you can't keep acting like this. You need to grow up, be more mature. You're mother and I won't always be here to baby you, so you need to learn to be stronger. More resilient. Stop giving up. I know for a fact that I've never raised you to give up, even when you're tired."

"It's just volleyball! It's just a game, and I'm already better at passing than all the girls on my team. Why do I need to keep practicing? It's not like it's gonna be my job." He shook his head, disappointed.

"It's not about the game, mija. It's about the fact that you want to get up and cry like a baby. When you're older, you can't act like this. You're going to face much harder, much more painful things in your life. You can't sit on the floor and cry every single time." I sniffled, grabbing his hand and letting him pull me up. I buried my face in his shirt.

"I just wanna go home."

"Not yet." His voice was a little lighter, a little softer. I pulled away from him, looking around. We were at the pool, right next to the diving board. My stomach burned and I could feel the water that went up my nose. "You need to get your backflip right." I sighed, marching back onto the diving board then turned around at the edge.

I jumped, throwing my arms up then tucking. When I hit the water, it was with my head. It stung so bad. I felt arms pull me up out of the water. When I looked up, my dad was above me.

"It's okay, Sophie. You're okay." He pulled me up to my feet. I coughed, feeling the water burning through my nose again. As soon as I was done coughing, he pushed me to the diving board. "Again."

"My head hurts." I whimpered.

"Go. Again. You need to try harder. We're not leaving until you get this right." So I went again, that time able to fully turn in the backflip. I pulled myself up out of the water onto the side. I stood up, looking down and seeing my knee scraped, my bike next to me in the grass. The sidewalk had blood from where my knees were, glistening in the bright sunlight.

"Come on, Sophie. I can't stop every single time you wipe out. You need to get up and keep going." My dad pulled my bike up, setting it back on the sidewalk. I hopped on and started biking ahead of him. My bike went of the side of the concrete again, throwing me into the grass. My dad kept biking this time.

I wished he'd take me home, or at least stop and help me. It was my first time without training wheels. He stopped beside me, but didn't help. He just sighed and shook his head.

"You're six, Sophie. You should've been off training wheels a couple years ago. At least try harder." I only nodded, standing up, and running.

My dad was running beside me, in his athletic shorts and t-shirt. The rain was soaking him through but he didn't seem to notice. I was wearing my own pair of shorts and shirt, my shorts sticking uncomfortably to my thighs because of the rain.