Lean on Me

Chapter One

"I love you, a bushel and a peck..."

I gasp and my eyes pop open, hoping to catch a glimpse of her face...again. Every morning I wake up to that song, her soft voice, hoping to see her face, but every time I seem to be just a beat behind.

I take a slow, deep breath, rub my eyes until I see little green stars, and reach for my phone sitting on my nightstand: 6:58 AM. Two minutes until my alarm is supposed to go off. I know in two minutes, Aunt Pam will come bursting into my room, a huge smile plastered on her face, ready to start one of the biggest days of my life. The first day of the rest of my life. 

I lay back in bed for what seems like hours, until my alarm finally goes off. I barely let the song I've set to go off as my alarm play before I quickly shut it off. But just like clockwork, Aunt Pam comes bursting into the room.

"Today's the big day!" She yells and bounds over to my bed. She jumps into the bed with me, or rather, on top of me, and begins to hug my neck and kiss my face wherever she sees available skin. I try to wiggle out from her loving grasp, but it's no use.

Then, I hear the sound of two more pairs of feet hurtling towards my bed, and just like that my bed squeaks and groans as two more bodies jump on top of me.

"Wake up, Darcy!" Grace squeals into my ear and jumps on top of her mother (who, I must add, is still on top of me) excitedly.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Hannah chants on the other side of me, bouncing with every phrase.

"I am up, you weirdos" I complain, but I can't be mad at any of them. And just like that I pull my arms out from Aunt Pam's grasp, and begin tickling Grace and Hannah's feet. They squeal and laugh, begging me to stop, which only prompts Aunt Pam to begin going after their stomachs and armpits.

"STOP! I'm gonna PEE!" Shouts Grace in between laughs, and I end my assault on their feet. I realize now that I'm sitting up, wide awake.

"What is going on in here?" Uncle Mark asks as he saunters into the room, a knowing smile on his face.

"We were just making sure Darcy was awake," Hannah explains as she runs over and gives her father a hug around his waist.

"And Darcy, do you feel as though you've been thoroughly awakened?" Uncle Mark asks with nothing but adoration in his voice, still smiling as he puts a hand on his younger daughter's head. 

"I mean, I could've done with just a simple 'Hey Darcy, are you up?' from the hallway, but I guess this way works, too," I say, sarcasm dripping from my voice. I try to act like I'm annoyed, but I love when my cousins give me the wake up call they usually reserve for Sunday's only, where they come bouncing into my room to make sure I'm awake and ready for church. It used to annoy me when I was younger and just wanted to sleep in, but now I realize I'm going to miss it terribly when I'm away at school.

"All right pretty ladies, let's give Darcy a chance to get up and get dressed. Darcy, I made your favorite—pancakes and bacon!" Uncle Mark exclaims and he beckons his daughters and wife out of the room.

"You okay, honey?" Aunt Pam asks as she climbs off my bed. I can hear the concern etched in her voice, and my stomach tightens. It amazes me how one minute she can be the happiest person in the room, and like the flip of a switch she turns into the concerned mom she's been for as long as I can remember.

"Yeah, I'm good," I say as I smile softly to her. I want to make sure she doesn't mention—

"You know, your mom would be—"

"I know, Aunt Pam. She would be proud of me," I finish for her. Every time something monumental in my life happens, we go through this. I win an award at school, I get an A on an English paper, I get accepted to college, it's all the same. But I don't want today to be about this. I want today to be like any other eighteen-year-old's day, not reminiscing about people who are gone and being all sappy and teary like I can see the tears forming in Aunt Pam's eyes at the mention of her sister.

I roll out of bed and give Aunt Pam a quick but tight hug. "We're not doing this. Today is a happy day. Now go and make sure the girls don't eat all my bacon," I instruct her with a soft smile. Sometimes, I need to be the strong one between the two of us, even though she's the one who's been raising me the past nine years. She nods and exits the room, wiping a stray tear that has fallen from her eye. She never wants me to see her cry, but I know she still cries about everything that happened.

When she finally closes the door I sigh heavily and immediately flop back onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. The same white ceiling I've looked up at for the past nine years. The ceiling I would look at when I cried myself to sleep for the first year of living here. The ceiling that I would tape posters of Harry Styles to so I could look at him before I fell asleep. The ceiling I would wake up to when I woke up suddenly, dreaming of my mother's voice. It dawns on me that I won't be looking up at this ceiling again until Thanksgiving.

No, I can't dwell on the past today. Today is about the future. Today I go to Clark College and begin the next chapter of my life. I'll go to school, and no one will know who I am, or who I was. It will be the fresh start I've been desperately craving for since I moved here with Aunt Pam and Uncle Mark, and I can finally be on my own.

With this thought in mind, I feel a new burst of energy and excitement and jump out of bed, and head over to my closet. I am ready to start the day.

***

Thanks so much for reading! I'll try and update weekly :) Please comment and leave suggestions!!!