Family Ties (girlxgirl)

Chapter 28

School was almost over. There were only six weeks left, as April flew by and May was ending soon. Easter and come and gone, and so did winter. The snow had melted leaving puddles of slushy water and wet grass.

Spring in St-Hudson was an awkward season. Sure, the animals were coming out, the birds had begun to sing profoundly and the warm weather was on its way. But there was also the black flies, dear flies and the trillions of mosquitoes that would hatch with an empty stomach and needed blood to survive. Just like zombies, although they are smaller, quicker and sneakier than them. Fortunately, they don't spread malaria here.

Everyone loves spring, surprisingly, with the exception of some. Vivian was one of them. As much as she anticipated the upcoming rides with her horse, she had a thing for proper and cleanness; all of which the beginning of spring was not. She worked hard on her mother's farm and her father's horse track, keeping her mind at bay. It frustrated her sometimes, the fact that she had to concentrate on keeping her mind straight.

All her life, Vivian learned about ethics and how to properly behave in all circumstances. Her father was very strict and unforgiving. He had to be since he began working in a difficult and competitive branch of business. He raised her as if she were someone who worked for him; someone who always had to be on time, always surpassing herself and never made mistakes. Vivian was in fact the reason for her parents divorce. They knew it and she knew it as well. She never showed it, but it bothered her, although, she had forgiven herself a while back knowing full well it was not something she could have changed.

Her parents could never agree on how to raise her. Her father was prone to achieve perfection while her mother wanted her to enjoy freedom. They had been a good match before Vivian was born. Her father was ruthless and her mother calmed him down. She was a sweet mother; a bit naive according to Vivian, but a lovely woman.

As she grew up, Vivian's parents kept giving her mixed signals. Do, don't do. Play, don't play. Clean up, enjoy the dirt. It had confused her immensely to a point when she didn't know who to listen to. As a normal child, she also didn't want to disappoint her parents, especially her father who could be hard on her. It was easier for Vivian to please her father since her mother would never actually be mad at her.

She slowly learned to become impassive, hiding her emotions as a good employee, and worked to achieve perfection. She pretended to be friendly with others for she had to be perfect in public. She achieved high grades without actually working for it since it came naturally to her. She and her father had that in common. It had become so easy that Vivian had forgotten her mother's way of thinking. That was until Sarah came crashing into her life like a feral bulldozer.

Oh Sarah, Vivian thought, having no idea how it had escalated to this point. Sarah had been feral the first time she and Vivian had met at that diner. How Sarah ate her plate in front of them to prove a point and sending sarcastic and passive-aggressive remarks along the way. She had been everything that her father taught her not to be. It had made her angry and slightly disgust at first. Vivian was in disbelief when she heard Sarah was attending her school; a school that encourage ethics and politeness. Things that Sarah was not.

It had been their first meeting that had Vivian engrossed about the girl form the streets. The way she was careless, and the way she was always defensive as if protecting herself and those she considered family. Vivian had never met someone who was as poor and feral as Sarah and it had intrigued her from the start. Sarah not only brought chaos, but aspects of life that Vivian had either never knew, had forgotten or chosen to ignore.

There was also no symmetry. Vivian was raised to understand that everything is calculated and actions were made because of certain reasons. But, there was no reason for Sarah to ask her to join her to dip in an ice river. There were no calculations, no reasoning and certainly no logic in the entire event. If Sarah wanted Vivian off her back, she could have done so with at least eight different ways that were more logical and assured good results. The river dip had been a random, spontaneous, out of the blue and top of the head demand. That was probably why Vivian accepted in the first place.