Her Last Hope

Chapter Three

Since all of the commotion involving my nosy sister, my derisive parents, and the chance at proving myself to my entire family stole my attention away from everything else, I completely missed my daily phone call with my best friend, Ava.

Ava and I have been best friends since I moved to Springfield in the third grade. Since I knew no one, and had a bit of a rough time fitting in (I still do), she took me under her wing and made sure no one gave me too rough of a time. Back in seventh grade we started having daily phone calls to chat, discuss schoolwork, and fangirl over various things.

A smile spread across my face as her name lit up on my phone.

“Oh my gosh, Quills, I’ve got so much to tell you,” Ava called into the receiver as I repositioned myself on my bed.

“So do I, but you go first,” I responded quickly.

“Okay, so…” I listened patiently as Ava went into intense detail about how arduous her day was, how her boyfriend of five months was being a ‘complete and utter douchebox’, and how her boss had forgotten to include the overtime she did last week in her paycheck.

After a while, she took a deep breath and said, “So yeah. What’d you have to tell me?”

I sighed. Did I really want to tell her about the writing contest? Ava was usually pretty supportive of any endeavors I took part in, but this wasn’t something I wanted her to know just yet. I wanted to tell her when I struck it big, won the writing contest, and got to visit my favorite author at the convention; I didn’t want to tell her and then have it all blow up in my face so she could say, ‘I told you so.’

“Uh, nothing. It totally slipped my mind, actually.” I’m a horrid liar.

Ava’s end of the line got so quiet I thought she had hung up. Her breathing was stifled, and not even the familiar hum of her air conditioning could be heard.

“Quilla, you don’t have to lie to me. You sounded way too excited about whatever it was you wanted to tell me before I began blabbering about my stupid issues. Tell me!”

Another sigh escaped my lips. Whatever. I could tell one person, right? This didn’t have to be a total secret.

“I’m entering the Springfield writing contest.”

There, I said it. Let the jeering and derogatory comments begin.

“Really? Oh my, Quilla, that’s amazing! You could totally win something like that,” Ava responded cheerfully.

“Yeah, I know, I could never win…wait, WHAT?”

This wasn’t real life. THIS MUST BE A DRILL.

“I said you’d be great at that, and you should totally enter. You are going to enter, right?”

“Yeah, totally. I was actually just about to start brainstorming.”

“You’ve always been a great writer; all of our teachers from elementary up to now have told you that. If you don’t enter, I’ll find that short story you wrote in fourth grade about conquering fears and middle school or something like that.”

Oh, heavens no. That story took me over half of the school year to write, but ended up being a royal failure. I had promised to only look at it when I felt as if I hadn’t progressed in my writing. No way was she entering that monstrosity.

“There will be no need for that Ava, trust me,” I responded quickly.

“That’s what I thought. Hey, I’ve got a call coming through, and I think it’s my boss. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, alright?” Ava announced as I heard her rise from whatever position she was sitting in.

“Sure,” I agreed, “thanks for encouragement, by the way.”

“No prob, Quills. Catch ya on the flip side.”

I placed the phone down and sighed. I had gotten the encouragement I needed from my best friend, but why did I still feel so unsure? I guess no amount of validation a person gets from their peers and loved ones amounts to the validation they get from themselves. If I don’t start believing in myself, none of this will ever seem possible.

**

Alrighty, another part up. I'm getting used to this whole thing. I should have another part up soon, hopefully. Let me know if you're liking it so far, please, I ADORE feedback. Thanks, everyone for taking the time to read, it means very much to me! :)