Anika Rose was okay with going unnoticed. She preferred it. It gave her the time to focus only on school and convince her Mom that dance was a worthy career. But at the start of the new year rumours of a new student float in the air. Anika isn't ple...
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My bed creaks as I sit down. How unfair, is all that comes to mind as I pick my phone off the bedside table. I slide my finger across the screen. The heavy footfalls on the stairs faintly echo through the hall. I try to ignore it, scrolling mindlessly through my phone. A fist rasps against my door alerting my attention.
"Hey, Grampa," I smile faintly. Grampa nods and walks into my room. He sits down next to me on my bed and stares off into space. "I know," He starts, "That you're frustrated. You wanted to do cheerleading, and that was all you asked for. I know it seems simple to you, a small thing. But, to June, that was too much." I stare bitterly at the ground.
"Why?"
"I think that's something June should tell you herself." He gets up and heads towards the door. "You should go down and apologize." He smiles and leaves.
I huff and flop down onto my bed. I'm left with more questions than answers.
♥
The stairs creak under my feet, Grampa left a few hours ago. As he left, he kissed my head before whispering, "I talked to your mom for you, good luck my little bug." I stand in front of mom's study, I take a deep breath before raising my fist. "Come in," I push open the doors and slip into the cozy office.
"Hey, Mom,"
"Hello, Anika, do you need something?" She looks up at me from the paperwork in front of her. I move towards the desk, taking a seat in of the chairs. "I'm sorry for yelling during dinner," I say. "I should've stopped when you asked." Mom smiles softly at me. "It's fine, Anni. I know that you love to dance, and it was unfair of me to take it away from you without reason. Yes, your yelling was inappropriate, but it was also unfair that I didn't take the time to have a proper conversation with you."
Mom gets up from her spot behind the desk to sit beside me. "You remember my sister?" She asks. I nod. "She loved dance just like you. Rhea spent hours dancing around our room. She was so passionate about it."
I try to picture young aunt Rhea dancing around their childhood bedroom, I smile faintly.
"I on the other hand loved volleyball, Rhea and I used to play volleyball together every day after school playing volleyball until she started getting into competitive dance. We barely hung out anymore, she was too busy practising and I was busy with volleyball. When we got to high school it was like we were never sisters, best friends, it was like we were strangers. There was one specific day, where dad was driving Rhea to a dance comp and me to a volley meet."
Mom inhales deeply before continuing. "I lost my volley meet while Rhea she won each category of her dance competition. I was so annoyed on the drive back, Rhea was smiling and telling dad about all the praises she got from everyone. I was practically seething when Rhea turned to ask me bout my meet, I yelled at her, told her to shut up. Rhea when quiet before asking me what my problem was. I wanted her to get mad so I shoved her. We started arguing and shoving each other, dad had to turn around to try to separate us but while doing that he lost control of the car."
