Foolproof

“Did you win?!” her mother called when her daughter entered the house. Mallory ran in the kitchen where her mother was cooking super.

“YES!” she yelled.

“Whoo!” her mother dropped the knife and hugged her daughter.

“Look!” Mallory said excitedly. She put her bag down and took out her trophy.

“Ah!” her mother took it and looked at it. “It’s beautiful!”

“I know!” Mallory smiled. “We won first place by one point. One point and guess who broke the tie?”

“My baby girl!” her mother laughed. “So your ankle was okay?”

Mallory put the trophy back in her bag and sat on the counter dangling her feet. “Yeah, it hurt every now and then so coach had to take me off for a few minutes to give my ankle a break. I wrapped it up really tight so it was good. I took the pills once a day like the doctor recommended,” she explained.

“Good girl,” said her mother. “I just don’t want to see you pushing yourself too hard.”

“Mom,” Mallory rolled her eyes, “I know I always push myself over the limit when it comes to playing soccer.”

“Yeah, but there’s only so much your ankle can handle now.”

Mallory sighed, “I know. But it’s okay and I’m done playing soccer for now. I’m going to train my ankle this summer nice and slow so I can be ready for that tryout in September at university.”

Her mother smiled, “That’s my girl.” Mallory got down and kissed her mother on the cheek. “Oh, by the way, the principle called and said that you have been chosen to be the valedictorian.”

“Cool!” Mallory called. She went to take a nice warm shower.

**

Mallory cleared her throat. And she began confidently yet quietly. The microphone did its job making sure everyone heard her.

“High school is finally over for us. But this is just the beginning,” she paused. “Our lives are like a story. We write it how we live it. High school was a chapter, a long and hard chapter, but we got through, didn’t we. We’re graduating, aren’t we? This is something we should celebrate because we have finally finished writing the chapter. Celebrate while you can because before you know it, life will haunt you. Life will try and break you in the big world. High school gave us the education to keep going. But we have to come up with our own strength to keep moving. Don’t let life bring you down. Don’t let life scare you. We’ve gotten this far. We passed our exams, didn’t we?” The audience laughed. Mallory felt more relaxed and continued. “Don’t let the sadness from the past or the fear of the future rob the happiness of the present. Go with all you got. When you go out in the big world, don’t hesitate. It will only slow you down. Don’t build walls, but bridge because you’ll get lonely. Whatever you do, wherever you are, always try your best. More importantly, don’t give up.”

Everyone clapped hard. Mallory heard Lindsay whooed causing her to smile. She stepped back down and took her seat. The ceremony continued.

**

After graduation, Cameron tried to talk to Mallory, but his own big sister stopped him.

“Cameron, let it go.”

“You know, that’s not helpful,” he said bitterly.

“You only making it worse for the both of you. Look at you! You’re miserable and Mallory made it clear that she wants nothing to do with you.”

“Who’s side are you on?”

“Obviously, not yours,” she said truthful.

“Bella!”

She shrugged, “You fucked up and expected her to just forgive you. Please. Cameron, I’m a girl myself and if a guy did what you did, I would want to stay away from you until things settle down. So let it go.”

Cameron sighed, “I can’t.”

“I don’t know how you do it. Let. It. Go,” said her sister seriously.

Cameron groaned in frustration. He could not hold it anymore. He got really mad. He picked up a chair in the gym and threw it nowhere in particular.

“Cameron Ross!” his father roared. Anyone else who were in the gym looked and remained quiet. “How dare you act like a child for your age,” he hissed and grabbed his son by the elbow. He dragged him out of the gym and out of sight. “Take your car and go home.”

He groaned and left. All Cameron wanted to do was talk to Mallory again. He understood that she did not want to hear him, but he needed to tell her how he felt so he could get it out of his system. No one else understood that and it was driving him to the edge. Why was everyone stopping him from the one thing that could mend his relationship with Mallory? It could give her peace. It could and Cameron wanted her to know. He wanted to know if she ever felt the same way.