i love you • formula one

04

pls interact bc i need attention... still

third person

~***~

05/09/2015

Lyra knew something was going to happen between her parents when they forgot her birthday amidst all of the arguing. She spent the entire day with Lando and her sister instead, trying to savour the last few days of their summer holidays before she had to return to her final year of secondary school. Somehow, she had managed to keep her parents' arguing out of Lando's attention. He did have his suspicions from time to time when he could hear the yelling in the background of a phone call, or when Lyra came into school with tears in her eyes. The fact that she wasn't spending her sixteenth birthday with them was also a giveaway, but once again, Lyra managed to formulate a believable lie. As far as she was concerned, Lando was oblivious to it all - the way she intended to keep him.

It was only on the day after Lyra's birthday that they finally remembered. The not-so-young girl gave them plenty of reassurance that it wasn't a big deal despite the hurt it caused her. She knew why they had forgotten; the arguments had taken over the married couple's lives, as well as their two, innocent daughters'. Lyra knew that one of the topics they often cane back to was money, and that they were struggling. They had been getting progressively worse over the years and, to Lyra, it seemed like it could only end one way - divorce. Thankfully, none of the arguments ever turned violent, however several walls had been punched and glasses smashed (mostly by Tobias when he couldn't control his anger).

Starting year eleven, the year of the dreaded GCSEs, gave Lyra some anxieties. Lando had been pulled out of school at the end of the last year which meant that Lyra was going to have to tackle the year alone. She still had Connor and Martha to help pull her through, but things had never really been the same between them after Lyra broke up with Connor after three months of dating, and Lando with Martha after almost two years. They trio were still tight, but they had nothing on Lyra and Lando. In addition to this, Lyra also had to start thinking about auditions for ballet school. She had to take a small break from the intensive schedule when her doctor warned her of potential damage to her feet, but the issue was eventually fixed when she took some time for the muscles to heal. Despite this, she still performed at a level that made her optimistic about becoming a professional ballerina.

As she grew older, Lyra started to understand more and more about 'adult' problems. One of the main reasons why the Evans' were experiencing money problems was because of Lyra's expensive dance hobby. She was constantly needed replacement pointe shoes, and the lessons themselves were incredibly dear. Neither Martha nor Tobias had the heart to pull her out. The period where she had taken a step back from dancing eased some of the strains of the relationship, however they quickly got tense again when she started back up. Lyra wasn't an idiot; she could piece it together and found herself blaming herself for some of the problems. It chewed away at her with every argument and she seriously considered dropping her dance, but that'll mean giving an explanation and she was sick of lying to Lando.

It was a warm Saturday morning when Tobias and Maria called their oldest daughter into the kitchen for a talk. Rosie was staying at a friend's that weekend so the Evans couple thought this was their best opportunity to break some news. It wasn't something they wanted to do, but it had to be done for the sake of the family.

"Lyra, sweetheart, if you could focus, please," Maria pleaded with her daughter. "This is really important."

Lyra wasn't a morning person on the best of days, even more so on a Saturday. She could barely focus on the glass of water in her hand, let alone her parents on the opposite end of the table. Maria was sat to her left, with Tobias to the right - a sizeable distance between them. Lyra thought nothing of it; this was typically how the family ate dinner.