Who Are You?

Chapter 1

   It was about 3 months into school in sunny Los Angeles, and Lyric was sitting in a field with a few friends. Her pastel purple dyed hair was curled into pretty, loose ringlets and the sun reflected off of her baby blue eyes that contained tiny galaxies of purple within them. The corners of her pink luscious lips curled up into a smile as one of her friends, Alex, did her best impression of their angry old English teacher. "He's very sprightly for a man his age, isn't he?" Giggled Lyric, glancing at another friend, August, with a slight smirk.

   "You're telling me!" August chimed in, "The guy nearly hit me in the face with a Coca Cola can once!" He added on, crossing his arms and pretending to pout as he let his brown hair fall into his emerald eyes.

   "Oh stop being such a baby! That was nearly two years ago." Alex said with a roll of her brown eyes, smiling partially as she messed up Augusts hair, meanwhile Lyric was laughing in the background.

   The three of them had always been friends, ever since grade two it was a destined friendship. There was another member to the group, Zeven, though he was out of town for the long weekend. They weren't all rich and not all of them had the greatest families, but I suppose that is what made them all special; No matter how different they seemed, their friendships remained stronger than any family bond. 

   As the hours went on and they found themselves walking aimlessly around town, all of the fun and laughter was interrupted by the familiar buzzing of Lyrics phone. All three of them fell silent as Lyric pulled her phone out of her skinny jean pocket, silently praying it wasn't who she thought it was. "Shit..." Lyric thought aloud as she swore under her breath, staring at the iPhone screen which read "Evil Mother" as the phone continued to ring.

    "Just answer it, maybe it's nothing." August shrugged, not sounding too confident in his words as Lyric hesitantly answered the phone.

    As soon as Lyric pressed answer she was bombarded with questions, the yelling from the other side slightly audible to August and Alex. "Did you know it's almost 9 at night, young lady? When are you going to stop hanging around with your hooligan friends and learn to be more like a lady?" Lyrics mother spat in a stern voice while Lyric said nothing in return. "You better be on your way home right now, Lyric Devore!" Her mother snapped one last sentence before hanging up, while Lyric held the phone to her ear still, frustration bubbling inside her.

    "Damn, you going to be alright Lyrie?" Alex asked, calling Lyric by nickname with a sympathetic look as August tilted his head with concern.

   "You guys know how my mom is, I'll be okay." Lyric held back a chuckle, slightly surprised with their concern as she slid her phone back into her pocket.

   "Okay, well, text us in the group chat later if you can." Alex replied with a small smile, "I'll see ya' later." She added on before pulling Lyric and August into a group hug.

   Pulling out of the hug, Lyric slowly began to walk away. "See you guys tomorrow, maybe!" She called back, throwing up a peace sign before continuing on her way.

   "See you Lyrie!" Alex and August yelled out simultaneously, waving their hands in the air enthusiastically.

   The air began to get cooler as Lyric walked back to her parents house, the moon slowly rising, it was a bit of a hike from where she was so she had a lot of time to think and wonder to herself. She wondered what her mother was going off about now, as far as she knew, she had been keeping her grades up, dressing as her parents advised and doing her chores so she didn't see the problem.

    Before the school year had started they had agreed on a deal that allowed Lyric to be with her best friends as long as she followed every other rule her parents set, and for the most part she had followed through. Huffing, Lyric came to the conclusion that her mother was on her period and pms-ing.

   Finally, she came up to a light blue house at the end of a cul-de-sac. Almost all of the lights were on and through the living room curtains Lyric could make out a silhouette pacing back and forth. Her stomach dropped for a moment and she slowly walked up the wooden steps and opened the front door.

   Almost immediately Lyric was pulled into the house and greeted by two angry parents. "I have tried my best to raise you as the perfect daughter but you can't even come home at a decent hour any more!"  Lyrics father threw his hands up in the air before placing his hands behind his head and beginning to pace once more.

   Every other word after that was just a blur as Lyrics mind started to spin, silently she would nod her head to make it seem as if she were paying attention. Finally, after ten agonizingly long minutes, she was sent up to her room as she quietly obliged. "Yes mother, yes father." She sighed under her breath.

   Later that night, as she stared up at her dark ceiling her mind whirled with questions. What is a perfect daughter? Is there such a thing? Why do I care what they think any ways?  These questions swirled around like a tiny tornado in her head until she felt dizzy and sick.

    Lyric wasn't one to question too much of anything, so eventually she gave it up and as her eyes slowly started to close and she began to drift off to sleep, her mind seemed to whisper, maybe they are right...

   Though her heart had begged to differ as she drifted into dream land.