Pushing Northwestern

I hated being depressed, but that’s all I felt. Being in this gloomy dark room every day could do that to you. But only a couple of more weeks until I’m off to college, away from this dumpy town that I live in.

“Aren’t you happy that in just a couple of weeks we don’t have to deal with Griffith’s bipolar weather?” My best friend Brooke asked. She plopped down on my bed and hung her head off the bed so that her long beautiful brown hair would touch the floor.

“I’m happy to get away from this dump.” I said.

People have spread rumors around about me. Some of them are just so painfully awful that I had to take a year off of school and do it online. What people don’t understand is it isn’t my fault. I didn’t ask for a child when I was younger. People constantly bullied me from day to day, calling me a slut and whore. I just couldn’t take it all. Only one person stood by my side and that was Brooke. She knew what happened even though she had just moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana.

“Mommy, why you crying?” Elizabeth Ray asked. She ran up to me and hopped on my lap. I wiped away the tears that I didn’t know was right there and just stared into her blue eyes. She looked just like me, minus her nose and ears. Those were her father’s.

“Mommy is going through something right now. Something you will understand in the future, Elizabeth.” I said. I watched as Elizabeth got off my lap and went over by Brooke.

“Auntie Brooke, why are you hanging from the bed?” Elizabeth asked, smiling. Brooke sat up and grabbed Elizabeth, lifting her up in the air. Elizabeth started laughing uncontrollably. “Put me down!”

“Alright.” Brooke put her down. It was good to have a best friend who was good with kids. “Who wants ice cream?”

“I do! I do! Mommy, do you want ice cream?” Elizabeth jumped up and down. I smiled at Brooke and got up.

“I’ll go get Paige.” I said, walking out of the door. Paige was Brooke’s younger sister. They both are very flexible and pretty. Most people know them from the show Dance Moms. They quit and moved on to bigger and better things. I’m actually happy they did because without Brooke I would have been living on the streets.

I walked down the hall towards Paige’s door. She had her “Do Not Disturb” sign up, which means she’s probably doing her summer reading.

“Paige, do you want to go for ice cream?” I said through the door.

“No, thank you.” Paige yelled back. “I have so much work to do.”

“Alright.” I said and walked away. By the time I got back to the room, Brooke and Elizabeth were both ready to go. “She’s not going. She has too much work to do.” I laughed.

“Yeah, right. Paige, doing her work. Nah, she’s probably just skyping a friend from Pennsylvania. Probably Chloe.” Brooke said, grabbing her purse.

It hurts to know that Paige has to suffer everyday all because her parents divorced and her mom got full custody. I know that she wants to go back to Pittsburgh. It’s no secret. I hope that when Brooke and I are off at college she doesn’t suffer too much. I would hate for her to feel horrible. I bet nobody ever felt that way about me when I was going through a stage. It hurts to have a heart for others, but they don’t respond with the same type of respect.

Notes