The Musician's Daughter

Sighing, I look out the plane window contemplating what it would be like to be in a plane explosition and debating whether or not it'd be painful. I'm in another one of my slumps yet again as I contemplate my life and wonder why things have happened to me, what my purpose to be still alive is. I hate when I get into one of these moods. I become some sort of nihilist where life, or anything, matters to me anymore.

Looking at my travel sized sketchbook, I notice that I'm drawing a crying Kasane Teto who wasn't able to sing or speak anymore because her mouth was sewn shut with "failure" from cheek to cheek. It's how I am feeling. I'm nothing compared to my perfect step-sister, Elle, being praised for her good grades and her "sport" (cheerleading is not a sport), and being congradulated as Prom Princess last weekend. She gets all of the hype, but when I get a solo in choir or get the best grades I can get, all I get is "Oh, that's good" from Greg. At least my mother does the curtousy of expressing that she is truly proud of me. He always critiques me, and I'm glad that I'll be getting away from him for eight days...I wish it was longer.

Sighing, I shut my book as the pilot announces our landing in LAX. "I hope my dad can get me to at least smile" I think to myself as I stuff the small, diary-sized sketchbook into Gir's head. He is probably the only person who can get me to smile when I'm in my slumps somehow.

Scratching my wrist with my nail-less index finger, I feel the scar that almost killed me against my finger tip. I'm surprised that no one has ever noticed it, or maybe they have and didn't say anything about it. Sometimes I wish I had a razor to feel what it'd be like to reopen my scar, but I couldn't put my mother and father through the same pain that I did before. Greg,on the other hand, I wouldn't mind torturing him knowing that he failed with me; But his misery isn't worth hurting my family.

The bumpy landing signifies that we're at LAX, and a smile begins crawling onto my lips. In twenty minutes I'll be able to see my dad, Nora, and little Jimmy, and things will begin to get better.

"Where did you get your hat?" a girl's voice that sounded like it'd belong to a mallrat asked, obviously liking my Toeto hat. I'd imagine her to look like a stereotypical scene girl.

"I made it, but you can buy one on eBay I'm sure." I replied while looking up to see that I was correct. She looked like a hotter and much whiter Raquel Reed, with a hint of Audrey Kitching when it comes to her face and beautiful blue eyes. She looks very cute, and I begin to feel my cheeks heat up.

"Oh, well maybe you can make me one?" she asks as a flight attendent walks by and tells her to sit down and buckle up because we'll be landing soon. She rolls her eyes and gives me an apologetic look before sitting down.

Taking off my cat hat, I look at it and sigh. "It's not like I can't make a new one" I think to myself while looking at the black button eyes.

Placing my face at side of her seat, I feel like a creeper. "Here, you can have this one." I hand her my hat above the seat and feel her hand touch mine.

"Aw, you didn't have to do that-"

"Harleen, but my friends call me Harley." Her voice sounds as cute as Audrey's now that I ignore the mallrat accent.

"Well, you don't have to do it, Harley. You can just make me a new one. I was going to give you an address you can mail it to and I'd pay you for it." she said, quickly losing her accent.

"No, don't worry about it-uh, what's your name?"

"Marlene, but my friends call me Marley." I smile at how similar our names are.

"Well, you don't have to worry about it, Marley. I can just make a new one and it sound like too much trouble to me." I say while smiling as we come to a complete stop.

"Well, okay. Thank you so much, Harley. I really appreciate it." I can hear the smile in her voice which makes me smile back. I think I'm being pulled out of my slump.

"No problem." I said as the flight attendent announced that we have to wait until the seatbelt light went off and to have a nice night.

Once the light went off, I unbuckled my seatbelt and stand up to put my Gir backpack on. I look down to see her put on the hat and I smile.

"It looks cute on you." I say while looking at Marley as she stands up. I notice her wearing a Black Veil Brides shirt with gray skinny jeans and knee-high black converse.

"Thanks. Oh my god, your outfit is too cute!" Her mallrat accent came back and I smile. I look down, forgetting what I'm wearing today, and see that I'm wearing my black piped trench coat over my black and white strapless Lolita dress along with a pair of black heels that gave me an extra five inches.

"Oh, thanks. I made the dress myself." I say as I let her go in front of me.

"Wow, you seem to make everything yourself. Are you a designer?" Though it is one of my hobbies, I never thought of myself as a designer...More like a seamstress.

"Yeah, I guess." I said as we walk to our exit for the terminal.

"That is so cool. I think you should become a designer like Audrey Kitching. I mean you're an Asian version of her really." She tells me. Though it is not my intention to be an Asian version of Audrey Kitching (I'm suppose to be Kasane Teto, but I don't have my pink contacts in), I take it as a compliment since I absolutely adore her and her style.

"Ha, I suppose I can. I do own a couple of her shirts."

"Yes, and I can be a better looking Raquel Reed. She's honestly not that pretty." She says, showing some conceit as the flight attendents say "good night" to us or "have a good night".

"You too." we say in unison and walk onto the platform.

"Not a lot of them are. I think the only beautiful ones are Hanna Beth and Audrey Kitching. Jac Vanek was cuter when she was dating Ryan Ross." I speak honestly and, even if they were here, I wouldn't take anything back.

"Her voice annoys me too. How did Ryan put up with it? I mean, my God." she says laughing. Yep, we're just talking trash about girls like a lot of girls do. Maybe this is why I can fit in so well with different "cliques".

"Yeah, I'd rather would've been Brendon and deal with Audrey's voice. Her's is so cute."

We walk to luggage claim and continue to speak about what we like and don't like about the "scene queens". She's a very interesting girl and I kind of enjoy her company. I'm afraid that if I were to hang out with her continuously, I would get annoyed by her.

"Hey, do you have a cell?" she asks as we wait for people to move out of the way so we can grab our bags.

"Yeah, do you want my number?" I reply while grabbing my iPhone that I stole before leaving the house. I'm not suppose to have it because of my high D in precalculus and my C's in derivative math and AP biology, but they won't know since my dad takes care of this phone.

She asks for my number in response to my question and I gladly give it to her before she tells me her number. Judging by the area code, we live in the same area, but the area code covers for most of Nevada, so I wasn't sure if we lived in the same city.

Seeing my black rolling suitcase with multicolored neon stars I painted on it, I allow it to travel it's way towards us.

"Oh, well, I see my stuff. I'll text you later. Bye Harley." She hugs me unexpectingly, but I hug her back after a half-a-second delay."Okay, bye Marley." I said as we pull away from each other. She walks to my left as I see my rolling suitcase come to me.

Just as I was about to grab it, an arm with a lepord print tattoo on top of his forearm grabs it. I know it belongs to my amazing dad who must have seen me hug my new friend. Now the question is what kind of mood he's in. Before I even arrived at the airport, him and Greg had an all out argument about his parenting skills. Just remembering the conversation, or at least Greg's accusations made me feel down again.

"Hey kiddo." he says happily while messing up my hair with his hand with the rising sun on his forearm. It's good to know he's not angry by the conversation he had two hours ago.

"Hey Dad." I said with a smile as I see my white zebra striped duffle bag by the corner of my eye.

"So, who was that girl you were hugging?" my dad asks in a teasing tone. He knows that I like girls and he doesn't mind it. In fact he told me that he would rather have me like girls than guys because of my past experience with them. Isn't he the greatest?

"My new friend, Marley. We met twenty minutes ago." I told him as I grab my duffle bag.

"Oh, wow. Don't go moving too fast." he told me as we walk away from the other people who were crowding to grab their luggage.

"Don't worry, I won't fausha" I said while using Goldmember's pronunciation of "father". God, I love Austin Powers.

"Good." We walk out of the airport and to the waiting black truck where we place my belongings in the back before getting in."That's a beautiful dress. What's the occassion?"

"Spring Fling week. Today was Manly Man versus Girly Girl." I answer while placing Gir on my lap, as if he was actually sitting.

"Ah, I remember. Well, it's a good thing you're dressed up. We're going to dinner with some friends of mine." he tells me as we drive away from the airport.

"Can you tell me who?" I ask. Whenever he says "some friends" or "a few friends", there is always more than two or threeand they're usually friends that have never known that I existed. As you can tell, he is the one who wants people to know I exist. I'm personally content being invisible to the world though.

"Panic! At The Disco." he replies.

"Oh cool. Does that mean their 'possee'," I use airquotes to express my lack of a better term, "is going to be there too?"

I see him laugh silently at my misuse of a term, as I smile and look out the window. My dad seems to be more "hip" than me, which is so sad. I mean, I'm seventeen and he's fourty-one. I should be the more up-to-date one but, then again, he hangs out with young musicians all the time.

"Yeah, they'll be there. We're going to get sushi."

"Yummy! Sushi!" I said excitedly.

"I knew you'd enjoy that. Nora and Jimmy are going to be there too." he adds. It made me smile more. I missed them so much, even though I saw them like two weeks ago.

"Awesome. This is definitely the cheer up I need." I say while looking at the disappearing street as we go on the on ramp to the freeway.