Gen 2 - Chapter 2: Time

This is about how the first few days after Mom's death went: I tried to hold it together for everyone else, while they couldn't even perform everyday functions without breaking down. I wanted to do the same, but someone had to at least appear strong, right? I nearly broke down, myself, though when I saw Feliks and Dad try to play catch, and then stop in the middle and have a synchronized breakdown. Everything reminded everyone of Mom, I guess.. I know everything reminded me of Mom.

I tried to hold it in. I tried my hardest to stay strong for everyone else, but after only a little while I just couldn't, and when I woke up, starving, I found myself having my own breakdown. If it felt like this for me, how was Dad even still going to work?! It had to be even worse for him, he was in love with her!

I don't know how long I stood there, crying my eyes out, but eventually I couldn't handle the hunger anymore, and pulled myself together. "Get yourself together, Lyric.." I mumbled to myself, before heading to the kitchen.

Turns out I'm not a chef. Who'da thunk? As I was making the macaroni and cheese, macaroni flew everywhere, including onto the stove. Maybe it was just because I couldn't quite concentrate on cooking - how could I? After having that breakdown, all I wanted to do was lay around and mope.

After a few more failed attempts at making the mac 'n cheese, I got frustrated and just left it there, grabbing some cereal. I was too hungry and upset to do something I'd never done before. Rhett, however, came to the rescue and made sure the mac 'n cheese I'd already prepared didn't go to waste. He was much better at it than I was..

After my cereal, I watched Rhett cook for a bit, before deciding that I needed to call Dominick. He was quite a bit younger than me, but he was my best friend. I went upstairs, and called him. We couldn't talk very long, because it was late, but I did get to tell him about Mom.

"You'll be okay, Lyr! You're always okay, you're a fighter! And if you aren't okay I'll grow up and protect you from ever being not-okay again."

I laughed. "Thanks, Dom. Speaking of growing up, you are going to soon, aren't you?"

"Prob'ly. I dunno. When I do, I'll give you flowers though!"

"Aw, thanks. Well, I should go, you gotta get to bed soon."

"You do too." I heard him blow a raspberry, and laughed at that. "'Night 'night!" Click.

As soon as he hung up, the unwanted grieving came back, and I stared out the window at our martial arts equipment and nectar maker, gripping at my heart. "Mommy, why did Vladimir have to take your urn? If he hadn't, you could be down there right now, practicing your martial arts.."

 

 

Feliks birthday came up eventually, and none of us really wanted to have a party, so he just invited a girl from school over. I don't think I ever got her name. But I didn't like her much anyway, because all she did before Feliks aged up was talk about how cool Rhett was. "Oh my gosh, Felikssss, your brother is SO COOL! I wonder if when I grow up he'll wanna be my boyfriend?" 

Then it was time for Feliks to actually age up, and when he did, he immediately went to change into his favorite color again. Why on Earth does he insist on wearing brown? He's just one big blob of brown, even his eyes are brown! I tried to convince him to dye his hair, but he refused, because.. you guessed it, it's his favorite color. And he also mentioned that it's the same color as mine, and that was rather flattering. So I didn't insist too long.

Days keep coming, and eventually time heals. It took a while for all of us, but we did all get.. mostly over Mom's death. A good thing, too, homework was never easy for me, but when I was grieving it was nearly impossible. I was determined to get an A, though. It would've made Mom proud!

But it sure is easier said than done. I looked so forward to becoming a young adult, no more homework! Or school!

"Brain.. mushifying..." But I wasn't going to let Rhett help me again, that just made me feel pathetic.

Rhett was also getting over his 'heartbreak' that Mildred had caused him. By taking my advice and turning his attentions to Katina! He called her up one day, when we were all feeling better, and chatted with her for.. who knows how long. I know he didn't come out of his and Dad's room for ages. Jeeeee, I think it went well, don't you?

Since Mom and Dad's band had been sort of.. perma-disbanded, because of Mom's death, Dad just decided to occasionally take our keyboard down to the park occasionally and play for tips. He never got any, but since it seemed to make him feel good, we encouraged it. I mean, I never saw Mom do it while I was alive, but she told me that she'd taken it to the park to play a few times when she was new to town. If I didn't have to worry about homework and plain ol' work, I would have gone with him to watch him. Alas, he usually did it on a school/work night..

I finally started working on my book again. While I was grieving, I couldn't concentrate on it at all, so I just put it off and put it off. So, with trying to get an A in school, work, and writing, I was a busy, busy bee. I didn't really pay much attention to my family, I'm afraid. Pff, and I said I was family oriented.. but it was just that that's what I wanted, to write a book, and I knew that I should get to writing as soon as possible if I wanted to master writing. And painting. I didn't even think about painting, while I was focusing on my book and my grades.

One night when I got home from work, the strangest scene awaited me. Estiu Calent - still almost as young as me, creepy - and Deon Quirke were standing outside.. just chatting, and peering in our windows occasionally. They did that until morning, too. It wasn't so weird about Estiu, I think she thinks of us as her pets, but Deon? I thought he was regular, normal sort of guy. Guess I was wrong about that.. oh, and Estiu is a ghostbuster. Every time I meet her or hear about her, she just gets weirder and weirder.

Then the day came! Rhett got up the nerve to ask Katina out, though he only invited her to the park, rather than the stadium. That way she wouldn't concentrate on other guys, hopefully only on him - I might have given him the idea that the park was romantic, too. Heheh. And here I thought he was the hopelessly romantic one!

I just had to watch him as he asked her out, and it was too cute.

"Um, hi Katina. It's Rhett.. ... yeah, I know I just called yesterday, but I wanted to see if you'd wanna go to the park with me. I mean, unless you're busy or something, we could do it another-... really?! You want to? ... great! Meet you there in a few minutes!" he practically squealed - he may be Mr. Perfect but he had his moments of Mr. Girly - and hung up the phone, before hurrying over to me and hugging me. "She said yes and we're meeting there in about ten minutes!"

"I told you she was interested!" I laughed, hugging my silly brother back, before whapping him in the back of the head lightly. "Now you should get dressed."

"Oh, right.."

He didn't give me any details about what happened while they were at the park, except that they found out that their signs are compatible and she's single, and then one of our stalker-paps thought it must have been his birthday for such a wonderful gift. Then, they said that they went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner.

Meanwhile, I wanted socialization. Focusing only on schoolwork, work and writing really made me feel lonely. Especially since, not only was Rhett on a date with Katina, but Tony was stalking a girl, Neenah Yllam, he'd had his eye on since she started going to our school, Dad was soaking in the hot tub, and Feliks was working for a day at Steve's Business Complex and Restaurant (also, funnily enough, that was where Rhett had taken Katina) as an assignment for school.

Recently, we had a major influx of people moving to our city, and so there were a lot of new kids at school. One family that had moved here was the Harden family, and one of their daughters had interested me, and I wanted to be friends with her. So I called Kayleigh Harden up, to ask her if she wanted to do something. "Hello?" I heard her voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hi! It's Lyric Parodi, want to hang out?" Straightforward was often the best course of action.

"Uh.. I don't even know you."

Hm. Normally with my two-star celebrity status, people would agree. It was refreshing to be rejected. "Okay, I understand that. Where are you then? I might be casually going for a drive then a walk soon, and want to know where might be the best place to go for a stroll."

".. are you flirting with me?"

"No! I just want to be your friend, you look awesome!"

"Fine. My family and I are at the beach."

"Great! See you soon!"

And so I headed off to the beach, where I saw her and literally her entire family. After I greeted her, we started into a conversation that started with her asking me where I got her phone number. We chatted there for several hours, and she realized that I really wasn't some sort of creepy stalker, I just wanted to be friends.

 

Poor Tony wasn't have nearly as good of luck as Rhett and I seemed to be (not that I was having a romantic escapade, but you know what I mean, right?). All he wanted to do was find out Neenah's sign, to see if they were compatible, but she had seen him standing creepily outside her apartment building. He told me that he didn't do anything wrong, but knowing him, he probably said something that insulted her. He couldn't help himself, he just enjoyed being a jerk sometimes. Eventually though, she did forgive him, and told him her sign. Turns out they're compatible. Wonder if he'll get over himself enough to be a romantic and woo her? Kinda doubt it.

Rhett's date this time got better and better instead of worse and worse. After their dinner, he and Katina stood outside the business building and chatted for a little bit. I don't know any of the juicy details, unfortunately, but I do know that he finally got his first kiss. Squee! How cute. He came home practically floating, and had a bit of a giggles-and-clapping fit in the living room, before telling me a few details and going to bed. Oh, yeah, by that time I'd gone home because it was almost past curfew and our stalker-paps had found me and Kayleigh, and if we stuck around to chat too long there'd probably be a rumor spread about me being a lesbian. That's how being a celeb goes.. dramatic sigh.

 

A few days later, it was my birthday, and I didn't want a party, but I decided to invite Kayleigh over. I still wanted to be friends with her, and we hadn't chatted long enough the night we were at the beach to consider each other friends yet. When she got there, we launched into a conversation, and.. then Rhett came out and sat behind Kayleigh to do his homework.

"Ignore my brother; he just likes to be near pretty girls, even though he has a girlfriend."

"We're not technically together, Lyric, and anyway, I always do my homework outside. You go inside if it bothers you that much."

Kayleigh looked back at Rhett, then at me and shrugged. "Whatever works for me, really.."

"Alright, cool. Let's go inside and watch TV until my birthday hits me."

Except my birthday had other plans, and decided that since I mentioned it, it should get me right then.

I grew up very pretty, if I do say so myself. I'm certainly the most like Mom out of us kids, though.. I'm sure I probably have bits of my Dad in me too. If I'd known him before he died, I'd be able to tell more, but anyway, I'm still very pretty. Decided to keep my hairstyle, since it was just.. part of me. But I lightened my make-up up, and added a little more purple to my outfit, since out of my siblings I was the closest to Rhett and he loved purple. Just like he added black to his clothes to honor me.

After aging up, suddenly I felt like reading a book. Or writing on my book. Hm, maybe growing up had made me a bit of a bookworm..

(A/N: So, now I'm gonna go upload Lyric to the exchange. Where I am, Rhett is also a YA, so hopefully next chapter he will be too and I can upload him as well. I know there's stuff I wanna comment on about this chapter but.. I can't remember them, so, I'll just go publish this so everyone can read it, haha.)