Practice

Chapter 4

Tyler came home from school and did her usual thing, only an hour later. The bus was going to kill her - she needed her license so she could avoid those hour long trips. After cleaning out her handbag and placing all her stuff on her bed, she grabbed an apple and stripped off to get into something more comfortable, checking her old facebook account on her phone, of course.

She was surprised to see that the notifications and friend requests hadn't stopped - she was still facing the repercussions of that stupid photo and rating. Shutting it off, she picked her outfit for tomorrow, deciding on something simple but still acceptable for Eleanor's standards. Her mum came home soon after, harassing her about her day.

"Mum, it was the exact same as it was at East. The same thing," She exaggerated every syllable, the words harsh. "Everyone's the same in this stupid county," She huffed as she fell onto the couch beside her mother. 

"So you didn't see any boys you liked?" She pressed, flicking through the television. 

"Why're you so obsessed with that?" Tyler grunted, "Boys aren't the most important thing." The teenager couldn't believe she was even saying that to her own mother. Aren't parents supposed to be completely against  their children getting in relationships? She understood why her mother was interested, but being interested was one thing - being obsessed was completely different. 

"I'm not obsessed, I just.. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did."

Tyler shot up off the couch, her arms crossed over her chest. Why did their conversations always have to end the same way? The girl knew her mother meant well - she was loving and cared for Tyler more than anything, but she needed to know when to lecture and when to just be there. "I'm 17. I'm not pregnant. I already passed your mistakes, mum. I don't need this lecture every second day. I know that your mistake fucked up your life, and now you're alone and working two jobs, but I don't need to be reminded of that. I'm the mistake, remember? I live it everyday and living in this tiny apartment is reminder enough." 

The second the words were spewed out into the space between them Tyler regretted them. She could see her mother physically breaking away, her eyes burning a hole into the cheap carpet covering their floors. Before the girl had to witness the breakdown first hand she ran to her bedroom and hid under her blankets. She needed sleep. She needed to somehow switch off.

**

The light streamed in from outside Tyler's window, waking her well before her alarm. The morning sun was warm on the exposed skin of her leg, her blanket hanging off the mattress.For the first few minutes of her day, the girl forgot about everything. She wasn't a girl living in a tiny one bedroom apartment. Her mother didn't sleep on the couch every night, and she certainly wasn't only 16 years older than her daughter. Tyler wasn't the infamous girl on facebook, number "12," rated a two out of ten.

She was just Tyler.

But reality hit her full force when her alarm buzzed through the room, cutting through the peacefulness like a hot knife through butter. She pulled on her preselected outfit and reapplied her make up, curling her hair at the ends and tying it up into a ponytail. The morning went like every other and soon enough Tyler was on the other side of town, stepping off the bus into the same crowd she walked through yesterday. 

She heard her name being called, and followed it all the way up the stairs to the left side of the main door. "Hey," She smiled, spotting the group she sat with yesterday at lunch. The blonde girl was there, her hair in a messy bun. She seemed to be in a deep conversation with the tattooed boy, her arms crossed over her chest. Harry was there, and he was quick to greet her with his signature smile.