Project Fat Suit

Ten: How I Met Uranus

Chapter Ten: How I met Uranus

Holly’s Point of View

I smiled at the scene before me. Trent was in the rain, already drenched from the ten-yard walk over to my house, holding a dozen yellow tulips.

“For you,” he almost shouted to be heard over the pouring rain.

My heart swelled at this point. Why hadn’t I seen it before? Trent liked me—as in, like-liked. I thought we were just friends from the very first day we met that one warm, summer morning.

“Mom, I’m going out,” I declared, passing my mother in the freshly-painted aqua-blue hallway.

“Be back for lunch,” she told me, too tired to question where or why I was going.

“Yeah, Mom.”

I dodged all the boxes that were scattered about in our new home and walked out onto our old-fashioned porch, immediately greeted by the light of day and the cheerful chirping of the birds.

Yawning, I walked down the steps of the porch as a way to stall my time before my jog.

“Come on, Holly. Keep your resolutions,” I whispered to myself as a form of encouragement as I broke out into a jog.

I hummed to the song, Dynamite, as I listened to the soft thumping of my feet against the pavement. Eventually, after turning many corners, getting bored to the beat, I started to look around.

I was approaching a bright, yellow house on the corner of an intersection. It looked like it came straight out of a story book. In the front yard there was a family—a mother, father, son, and daughter, who were about my age. The father and son were throwing around a football while the mother and daughter were just laughing at some joke.

Distracted by the picturesque scene, I didn’t notice that I was shifting towards the gravel on the other side of the sidewalk. So, I fell.

I landed on my knee with a thud. As I did, I heard footsteps coming up to me.

“Are you okay?” a sweet voice asked me worriedly as she stuck her hand out in front of me.

“I-I think so,” I replied hesitantly, taking the hand and getting up.

I almost gasped as I caught sight of my helper. She looked like a saint. Her hazel brown eyes looked at me with concern and her hair was glowing in its honey-brown glory. She was the same height as me, if not maybe taller by a few centimeters, but her presence made me feel shorter. Something about her just made me feel serene.

“Your knee is bleeding,” she stated, panicked. “We have bandages inside,” she offered, giving a small gesture to her house.

“Uh,” I replied like the social introvert I was. “I-I have to-uh- get going, but thanks,” I declined awkwardly and started to run in a random direction.

“Wait!” she called after me, but I didn’t turn back. Somehow, that girl, who looked so kind, managed to get me acting even shier.

I silently cursed at myself. I had no idea where I was going, but eventually I came across a simple park.

“Might as well,” I said to myself and slowed down to walking-pace, heading towards the swings.

“Please leave,” a male voice pleaded as soon as I sat down, which frightened me, causing me to fall off the swing completely.