For My Lucy

She sat quietly in the back of the classroom, doodling on her note sheet. She drew different swirls and various stick figures. Sometimes, she wrote down a name. She knew the teacher would never see the paper, so it was okay to write other things down for her to do so. She rested her cheek on her right palm and stared drearily at the paper, continuing her balance of taking notes and doodling her life away. She kept a loose ear on the teacher’s current lecture about the infinity symbol and inequality equations, just in case she got called on.

“Lucytania?” The teacher asked her from the overhead. She peered up from her paper to the teacher. She gave the problem at hand a quick evaluation, fixed her bangs, and said, “The answer is seven.” Lucytania went right back into her daydream world. The teacher praised her without her knowledge of it.

Too much was already running through her mind. She had racing thoughts of her little baby sister, who was not even ten years old and had more health problems than an eighty year old. She thought of how her parents never saw her that much anymore. They were too busy attending to her sickly baby sister, and if they weren’t attending to her sister, they were away on vacation or business. This upset Lucytania, but she taught herself to deal with it. Her thoughts soon drifted to her only friend, Devon, whom she has been friends with since about the age of five years old. She always secretly wished she would have more friends than just Devon or was most popular girl in school.

In an instant, the bell rang. She kept her stuff tidy on the corner, so when the bell rang, she could just jump up and shove the note sheet in a book and make her way to her next class. She gracefully glided on the floor, carrying her stuff. She came to a stop outside a door and waited. She started to walk again when a boy of her own age came out and hugged her slightly. He had a nice medium brown hair color and had piercing blue eyes. “Good morning, Lucytania,” he said to her. She smiled at him.

“Good morning, Devon.” She kept quiet after, knowing he’d be too busy talking to other people to talk to her. She was always the last one he talked to before he went into his next class. He wasn’t exactly proud that she was a friend of his, but he didn’t necessarily want to get rid of her. She kept good company when he was lonely and gave good advice when he asked for it.

It’s not that Lucytania wasn’t pretty. She was. She used to be a rather popular student, but once her baby sister was born and her parents focused all their attention on her, she lost that popularity. She let herself go grade-wise and socially. She started to keep to herself more and started to have a real dislike of her sister. Nine and half years later, she’s still the same Lucytania.

She broke apart from Devon’s group of friends into her next class and slid right into her seat. As she sat in her seat, she started to tense up. He wasn’t here, and she was starting to get concerned as time passed on. The late bell rang, and she groaned out in desolation. He wasn’t here, and he was the only reason she continued to attend the class. She threw her arms out in front of her and put her head between her arms. The class presumed from where it left off yesterday, and her peers continued their projects. But before she knew it, the door had opened. It was him.

The boy was skinnier than a Popsicle stick and had a few tattoos here and there. His hair was about chin length and was continuously growing every day. He had ice blue eyes that made her feel so at sea. He’s never said a word to Lucytania in her life, but she was hoping, one day, he would just notice her and whisper a hello to her. He handed the teacher a piece of pink paper, which was assumed as his excuse to being late and took his seat next to Lucytania. She watched him using her peripheral vision. He clawed at his jeans for his pencil, but ended up without. He groaned out loud and scrimmaged to asked people for a pencil. Every time asked, he was denied. He was notorious for taking pencils and never giving them back.

Lucytania continued working on her project for class. She was concentrating on what to put on her poster board. She felt a tap at her shoulder and before she knew it, Tom Sykes was staring straight at her with a nice big grin on his face. She smiled slightly at him as he asked, “Do yeh ‘ave a pencil I could borrow?” She knew that if she denied him, he might never talk to her again, but she also knew that if she gave him a pencil, she would never get it back.

She questioned for a moment and reached into her bag for a pencil. “All’s I have is a pen. Does tha’ work for yeh?” She said smoothly, dangling the pen in front of him. He rolled his eyes at her. Why hasn’t he ever noticed this girl before? He’s asked himself this question from the moment those words slipped out of her mouth. Maybe she was a different catch than the rest of the school, whom nearly bowed at his feet since his brother was the “hottest” thing to ever pass through the school. They all wanted to have a piece of the awesomeness that was Oliver Sykes. They all wanted to be his friend.

Tom, on the other hand, was riding out on Oliver’s pride and joy he called his reputation. His brother got him on the good side of life and ended up with not having to work for his reputation, unlike Oliver. Since Tom didn’t make a name for himself, he was known exactly as Oliver was. He was known as a womanizer. He was known as a heartbreaker. He was known as the guy who always had a girl by his side. The majority of the girl population fought for him. Tom Sykes has dated sixty percent of the school, and Lucytania knew this. She wanted to be part of that sixty percent, but then again, was content with being part of the forty.

Tom Sykes had his mind set. He was determined to see what made this girl tick. He was determined to get to know Lucytania Bostwick, the girl he has just met today but should have known she existed earlier in his life. He looked over at her as she was concentrating harshly on her project. She stuck her tongue out him accidentally. Sticking her tongue out while she was concentrating was a habit for her, and they always say “Old habits die hard.” He reached over to poke out Lucytania’s shoulder, but before he knew it, the bell had rung, and Lucytania was already skipping her way out the door. He whispered “Damn” silently under his breath and knew that he would have to wait a whole twenty-four hours before he would get to talk to her again.

Lucytania couldn’t believe her brain. She swore she saw Tom Sykes reaching over to touch and get her attention. She was hyperventilating on the inside and just wanted to scream. Soon the thought of just being another chew toy ran through her mind and was immediately bummed. She didn’t want to be walked all over like the rest of the girl population has. She approached the doors to the school and walked out. She had her last class of the day. That was all she scheduled for that year. No other classes interested enough to want to schedule them.

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By the end of the day, Tom Sykes had looked high and low for the girl. He didn’t know her name, so he kept it to himself like a secret. How was it possible that she was there earlier and now she was no longer in school? He was thoroughly confused, but he didn’t let this put his day down. He walked over to his current girl and kissed her on the forehead. “I gotta go. I’ll see yeh ‘round.” He said to her. This was his way of telling girls it was over. His relationships never lasted longer than maybe a few months. The girl from his English class was his next one. He was determined to find out more about her and woo her in the way of making her his girlfriend.

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Lucytania arrived at home and unlocked the door. She had the house to herself for the next few weeks while her mother and father were in London with little Chastity. She peered into the hallways. She lived in a very nice home. It wasn’t like your average house. It was more like a mansion. It was finely decorated. It had a large foyer. No one else lived in the house, not even a person who rented a room. It was just the Bostwick family to its entirety, and there were only four of them. “Home, sweet home,” Lucytania whispered to herself. She sighed and dropped her book bag next to the door. A tiny black kitten walked up and rubbed against Lucytania’s legs. She picked him up and whispered, “It’s okay. I’m home now.” She put him on her shoulder and continued to walk past the table in the middle of the room. It held a large bouquet of flowers and a newly required note addressed to Lucytania.

Luc,
Chastity is going to need another heart surgery. Dad and I will be staying in London until she gets out of the hospital and is brought home. The surgery is scheduled for the week after New Year’s. There should be enough money in that charge card to keep you until then. I love you.
Mom

Lucytania placed the letter back into the envelope and then threw it in the trash can kept in the cleaning closet. There went spending Christmas and New Year’s with her family. It was only the third week in October. Two months of spending time alone didn’t sound very pleasant for her. Lucytania hated that she spent most of her time by herself in her parent’s house. She was too busy with housework and schoolwork to even bother having a social life. She fought back the tears that she was unfortunately letting run by.

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Tom Sykes walked into his house to see his brother waiting for him. “Tom, What the 'ell is this?” Oliver was holding up an opened condom pack he must have found in Tom’s bedroom. He dropped his stuff off at the door and took off his shoes. Tom was a tad bit annoyed knowing that Oliver goes through his stuff when he’s not home.

“It’s a condom wrapper. I stole it from yer room,” He snapped back at Oliver. Tom walked over and sat on the couch, turning on the TV.

Oliver stared at him with a blank expression. “What are yeh doin’ when ’M not ‘round? What if Mum found it before I did?” Oliver babied his little brother. He knew what kind of reputation Tom has gained at school, and he didn’t want Tom to create the same mistakes he had during high school. Many mistakes that he truly wished that he could take back.

Tom turned his head and glared at Oliver, “Yeh did the same shit when yeh were seventeen, Olleh.” The tension was thick between the two brothers. They have never fought like this in their lives and found it rather uncomfortable. Oliver dropped the subject immediately, knowing that Tom knew he won that round of fighting.

“Just… Don’t do what I did,” Oliver said to him, walking away to find a place to throw out Tom’s used condom wrapper where their mother would never find it. Tom ignored Oliver’s request and continued watching TV. Tom honestly hated it when Oliver started to get into his business.

“What’d yeh do, Olleh?” Tom asked innocently. He didn’t understand what Oliver could have done so bad that he would scold his own brother doing something he’s done before. Oliver cringed at the moment he was asked this question. He hesitantly kept quiet before Tom asked again, “Olleh, wha’ was so ‘orrible tha’ yeh did?”

Oliver sighed out loud, and then he said, “Neveh min’. I’ll tell yeh later on in life.”