Shine On

Harper stared into her almost empty closet. Ten months ago she stood in the same spot admiring her great packing job before she first set off to London. She never would have guessed she would be doing it again. Earlier in the week, she had gotten permission from the dean of her college to continue her school year in London. Every since the moment she found out, she had been packing, even though she wasn’t leaving for another week. There was a knock at the door and Harper glanced over to see Melody standing in the doorway.

“How’s it going?” She asked joining Harper in the middle of her room.

Harper sighed. “Weird. I never thought I would be doing this.”

“Aren’t you excited?” Melody asked. She placed her arm around Harper’s shoulders.

“Well yeah. I’m nervous and excited. I don’t know. It’s just so weird that this is actually happening.” She replied. Melody gave her a confused look. “What if things don’t work out, Mel? I mean between me and him.”

Melody removed her arm from Harper’s shoulders and stood in front of her. “Honey, something tells me that things are going to work out just fine. And if they don’t, you’re going to college in fucking London! How awesome is that?”

Harper smiled. Her best friend was right. Aside from going back to London with Rupert, this experience, studying in London, was wonderful in itself. She felt a wave of excited just thinking about spending the entire semester abroad in a place she absolutely adored.

“Harp, you’re my best friend. I wouldn’t have suggested this if I didn’t think it would be good for you. I’m going to really miss you, but you deserve this.” Melody’s voice began to crack in between words. “I saw how happy you were whenever you talked about your summer and I see how happy you are around Rupert. He’s going to take good care of you over there. I can tell. You’ll be fine. Okay?”

Harper could feel her eyes starting to well up. She nodded and pulled Melody into a hug. “I going to miss you so much.”

“Well you better let me come visit you then.” Melody sobbed into Harper’s ear. They stood in the middle of the room hugging for the longest time. Harper wished she could take Melody along. She did feel horrible about leaving her here. Whenever Harper asked Mel if she was okay with it, Mel always reassured her that she was more than happy for her and that she wanted her to go. After about ten times, Mel would walk away whenever Harper started to ask again.

Suddenly they heard a loud knocking on Harper’s bedroom door and the two girls jumped away from each other. Nina, Harper’s mother, stood in the doorway with her arms folded in front of her chest. She was looking around Harper’s room with a stern look on her face. So much for waiting till last minute to tell her mother about her plans. Harper wiped the tears from her eyes and folded her arms in front of her chest as well.

“Well, well. What’s going in here?” Nina greeted, her voice stinking with disapproval.

“I’m packing.” Harper replied nonchalantly. She continued to fold clothes to avoid eye contact with her mother. Melody hopped into Harper’s closest, also folding clothes and wanting to avoid all contact with Harper’s mother.

“What for?”

Harper took a deep breath before answering. “I’m going to finish my school year in London.”

She heard Nina scoff in disgust. “You really don’t have your priorities straight, do you?”

Harper stared folding another pile of clothes on her bed. “I think my priorities are very much in order. I’m finishing my year somewhere I do well at and I love. ” She replied sharply.

“Oh really?” Her mother said cunningly. “So you’re not moving there for that boy?” Her voice changed to a disgusted tone when she said the words ‘that boy’.

Harper stopped folding and looked up at her mother finally. She still had a stern and cold look on her face. Even though her mother’s comment rubbed her the wrong way, the mention of Rupert made her heart skip a beat. “Yes, really!” She yelled. Her displeased tone surprised her mother and herself. She took a deep breath before continuing. “Give me at least a little credit.” Her voice was low and calm this time. “Do you really think I would run off just to be with some guy?”

Her mother shrugged and raised her eyebrow. “Well how should I know?”

“Because I’m your daughter and you should know that I’m better than that.” Harper replied. There was pain in her voice. For the first time since her father left, she felt her heart break. She didn’t only lose one parent, but she was about to lose another. She felt a sudden buzz come from her back pocket. She pulled out her iPhone to see she had a text message from Rupert. There was a jolt in her chest and she quickly unlocked her phone to see what it said.

‘I heard The Beatles while I was out with Tom. I thought of you.’ She read. There was a heart icon at the end. Her heart jumped yet again and not for the heart; they were becoming more frequent in his texts lately. The fact that he remembered one of her favorite bands and thought of her made her heart jump. They had a conversation about their favorite bands ages ago, he remembered and sent her a message telling her he was thinking of her. A smile spread across her face.

If her mom wanted Harper in her life, she would have to work for it. If she didn’t want Harper in her life, then she would be better off without her. “If you acted anything like a mom, you would know how happy I was in London. You would know that I’m doing really great right now and you would be happy for me. But you don’t know any of that. If you’re not going to be happy for me, then you need to leave.” She was surprised at how easily the words came out of her mouth. A sense of relief came over her. She didn’t need her mother constantly bringing her down. She was making a life for herself, a life that was was beginning to love. She glanced down at her phone again reminding herself of the people in her life who really mattered.

“Excuse me?” Nina exclaimed. Her hands moved to her hips.

“You heard me.”

“Harper Marie Peterson! How dare you...” She began to yell when Melody came out of the closet pointing towards the bedroom door.

“You heard her, you need to leave.” Melody ordered. She glanced back at Harper giving her a wink and led Nina out into the living room closing the door behind her.