FicWad

Delilah Thompson meandered into old school building, a gaggle of girls surrounding her. Her golden hair blew behind her in the warm summer breeze. It was the last day of school that year, and though her friends couldn’t see, she was restless. The minute she got home, she was going to be in the car, headed for the airport. She was anxious about leaving her home for four months, but she knew that it was about time for some change. It may have seemed exciting to live in New York City when she first moved, but now she was realizing that it wasn’t as new and shiny as she had initially thought. The streets were dangerous and filthy, and if you didn’t know what you were doing, you were likely to be killed, or worse. You may not have been able to get lost very easily, but New York was dangerous, and Delilah longed for the rolling pastures of her childhood.

None of her so-called ‘friends’ that she had acquired since arriving in New York knew that she was originally a country belle. She loved the smell of the country air, and playing barefoot in the heat of the evening. She loved the scent of the stables, and she most definitely loved her horse, Sandra, who she had raised from a foal. When she was galloping bareback along the open fields, she felt as if nothing could hurt her.

However, New York was nothing like the home she had known. It was loud and scary, and though she was a very adaptive girl, she was tired of being stuck labeled as the catty head of the clique that had formed itself around her. She wasn’t really what her reputation made her out to be, and she didn’t think she could make it another day if she didn’t get a break. She was sure that going back to Texas was a good idea, but still… she was scared. What if no one remembered her? It had been a full year. What if her friends forgot her? She looked the same, same blue eyes and blonde hair, but she seemed so different. Her mother thought it was an improvement, often saying that the move had matured her, but Delilah wasn’t so sure that she wanted to be matured. She wanted to be herself, but she knew that in this city, you had to be who they wanted you to be, or get trampled by the ones who waited in the wings, waiting for a chance to claim your spot. She knew that she was going to be hurt horribly if she showed her true colors, so she did what was expected of her. She wore miniskirts when she wanted to pull out her old jeans. She wore makeup when she would rather be wearing dirt and sweat from helping at the farm. She followed the crowd, when she wanted to create her own path. And she forced a smile twenty-four/seven.

Now, she was glad to be rid of the false smile and go back to her little town. But, as the bell rang to signal the beginning of the last day, a nagging feeling in her stomach told her that this was going to be a very different summer.