Apr 26, 2020
“You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are.”
- The Fault In Our Stars, John Green
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“You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are.”
- The Fault In Our Stars, John Green
Harsh Words
Layla found herself very excited as she made her way home from school with the news that there was going to be a mom and me day at school next week, which her teachers had been quick to specify didn't actually have to be with a mom but any important female in her life was welcome to attend. At ten years old she'd already had her share of being left out for not having a mom. Mother's day activities that she had no one to give and uncomfortable situations where people wanted to speak to her mom only to find out that she didn't have one. This, however, was an event where she'd be just fine to go without her mom. In two weeks after school on Friday she'd be able to go to a pampering party with her aunt and she couldn't wait to get home and have her dad call his sister.
As usual, once she was home her dad asked about her school day and she couldn't help but tell him excitedly tell him about the upcoming event. "We're gonna have a pamper day at school on next Friday for all the girls and their important female figures! I'm so excited to bring Aunt Kat! It's gonna be so much fun. Remember when Tessa got to do it with Aunt Kat? She had such a great time and now it's my turn!"
Instead of his usual excitement her dad made a bit of a face. "Listen, sweetheart, I can't call Aunt Kat and ask her to come with you," he said.
"What do you mean?" she was confused. Aunt Kat always came when they had important women in their life events. She lived outside of the city, but it was only an hour's drive and she'd always done it.
"Aunt Kat is visiting her boyfriend next week," he replied, referring to the writer who lived in California that her aunt had been dating for a few years now.
"So? She can come back early, I'm sure that Stan will understand," she answered, not bothered by that information. Aunt Kat always showed up.
"Layla, I'm sorry honey but I'm not going to ask her to do that," her dad sighed. He seemed tired already, like he knew this information wasn't going to go over well with her at all.
Suddenly all the excitement that she'd had over the day came crashing down into disappointment. When her dad said no he meant it and she couldn't understand why he would take this from her. Usually time with Aunt Kat was shared among her and Tessa and she loved Tessa but she also wanted to be able to have some time to feel what it was like to kind of have a mom figure alone. Her nose burned and she swallowed hard. "Why not?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Because, Layla, it's not fair to ask her to rearrange something she's been looking very forward to for one school activity. There will be other ones. Other things that you can do. Pop and I could talk to the school see if one of us could take you-"
"No!" she cried, feeling extremely betrayed and hurt. Every event that she'd missed - uninvited by girls in her class who didn't want her to bring a boy along to a girls only event, every mother's day present that she gave to Aunt Kat or to her grandma even though they couldn't be here like a mom was, it all came back. "No! I don't want to bring you or Pop! I don't want to be the one who can't find one woman to come with her so has to bring her dads!"
"Layla Adele, don't be so loud in the house. Look, honey, I know it's disappointing, but sometimes we get disappointed in life and I wish I could stop it from happening to you but I can't." He reached forward to run his hand along her hair but she pulled away.
"I'm disappointed I don't have real parents!" she snapped, pulling away as she started to cry. Even now she knew it was an awful thing to say but she couldn't stop herself.
As she turned on her heel, running to her room and crying the whole way, she hurt knowing that she'd be excluded again and she hurt not having a woman in her life that she could count on all the time, apparently. And she hurt because she'd seen the absolutely wrecked look on her dad's face but that was a problem for another time.
Character moodboard → Layla Fair
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