Preston

Preston
My parents are the old fashioned type. You can tell just by their I-am-better-than-you names, Bart and Charlotte Parker, which describe them better than I ever could. Dad owns Piers 25-37 and charges people who want to dock their boats there. He comes home late from the yacht club, golfing, or whatever dads do, and leaves early for work in the morning. Typical dead-beat dad except we've got money, we've got lots of money. But it's not the good well-earned, self-made, work-my-way-up kind of money, it's old inherited money. My Dad is the sole heir of my long gone grandmothers' fortune. That's probably why my Mom married him, I mean the man has not an atom of appeal in his 250 pound body.
And my mom, well my mom is hard to describe. It seems like she could have been cool at some point, but has completely lost that. Mom wears dresses every day and accessorizes with beautiful pearls dangling from her neck and a signature fake smile plastered across her face. She's not the kind of person that you go to for advice of any kind; feelings and emotion get swept under the rug. My parents don't talk to us or each other, I mean they've never really had a parental conversation like the ones that I see in movies.
By "us" I mean my lovely nine-year-old sister Claire and I. There is no one more charming, adorable, and likeable than Claire. She can sometimes be a spoiled little brat, but can you blame her? I mean given our circumstances it's only normal. I can't help but smile when she says my name "Saywah", which is really pronounced Sarah but she's always had trouble with R's. She is my best friend, and the person who makes me want to keep everything together. She is innocence in the rawest form.
But anyways, back to my pompous Mother. Up until recently I don’t think I've ever even seen my Mom raise her voice, except for the time that Claire refused to wear a dress to our family's annual charity ball. Philanthropic right? No, it's all an act. Our entire life is a show, an elaborate, elegant, exclusive movie that only recently took a turn for the worst.
I could only see flashes of shadows in the small crack beneath my door, swiftly stabbing through the light that brightened up the hall. I always wondered why they left that hall light on. Fighting in the dark must not be as fun. I like to imagine their silhouettes as little shadow puppets putting on a special feature just for Claire and I. Our parents have been at it all month. The littlest things have been setting them off. Fighting about money, the house, cleaning, and even what's for dinner.
But last night was the worst I'd ever heard it. "You have to try a little harder to make things work", Mom kept saying. "I am done trying", my father would yell back. It ultimately ended in my mother kicking my dad out. I heard his car engine rev up as he descended down the driveway. I felt my heart beating out of my chest and I wanted my body to diffuse in to my bed sheets. I was so glad that Claire had fallen asleep earlier because I couldn’t let her see me like this. I spent the rest of the night counting the number of crystals hanging from the chandelier above my bed, 937 being the final number.
"Pass me some of the bacon, pleeeeease", Claire said. And if it weren't for her cute little gapped tooth smile, I would have slapped her right there for being so happy. She loves bacon; it's her favorite thing second to me, so she says. I picked up the plate with my fists clenched so tightly that my fingers were turning red. I let go thinking Claire had grabbed the other end of it, and it dropped to the floor. "AAAAngelaaaa", Claire screamed. "No it's fine Claire I got it, it's my fault anyway. When you drop something it is your job to pick it up." I insisted. But Angela ran in and started sweeping the glass and bacon up before I could even get out of my chair.
Angela is our maid/nanny/driver/fill in parent, she barely speaks English and calls Claire and I "the queens". She's a really great person and I always feel bad making her work so hard. Claire on the other hand, fully harnesses the advantage that is Angela.
"Good morning my leetle queens, no school for today if you not want to", Angela said in a genuinely joyful tone. Was I the only one afraid for what would happen when Mom came down? "Why is there no school today?" Claire asked. Obviously being so sound asleep last night that she missed everything. "Speeecial day today Queen Claire! You pick what you do today!" Angela said. "Where's Mommy and Daddy?" Claire asked Angela dodged this with, "Oh so many questions this morning, you just enjoy the bacon leetle queen."
And then Mom came down looking like she was just thrown out of tornado. Her hair was all over the place, her makeup was running, and she wasn't wearing a dress. You know something is wrong when Mom isn’t wearing a snobby vintage dress. "So how is everyone this beautiful Wednesday morning?" She asked. I almost laughed right there in her face "Are you joking Mom, really how stupid do you think I am? We need to talk in the kitchen.", I insisted.
She followed with a surprised expression painted on her face. I got right in front of her and asked, "What is going on. I mean like where is Dad?" She responded in the quietest voice I have ever heard, "Well Dad and I have been getting into what you might call fights over the last few weeks and I thought that it would be best if he left the house for a little bit while we figure this whole thing out. I didn't want to have to tell you this in such a flat out way but I think we might be getting a divor-" I interrupted " Mom I get it okay, you and dad are fighting, things have been stressful lately, and you think that this is a good idea. But I'll tell you it's not. Mom you do not need to mess this family up even more." I knew it was harsh, but a divorce really? That was the last thing we needed. That would crush Claire's whole world. "Sarah keep it together okay?! You don’t need to make this into a bigger deal than it already is. And also don’t go telling all your little friends about this because they will tell their parents and we don’t need that right now." That's my Mom, always caring about what other people will think. "Well I am going to school. If you are going to be in denial about this, than so am I Mom." I said
I got in the car with Angela and didn't talk the whole way to school. "Have a good day my queen", she shouted out the window of the car. My bag felt like it was 90 pounds and my head was spinning. I met up with my friends and we walked to math class, my favorite. Even my friend Katie's story about her date last night with Joey Faringer couldn't get me open my mouth. But my friends weren’t worried or anything and the more time they have to talk about themselves, the happier they are.
I threw my bag on the desk in math and took out my notebook. How could my Mom do this? Everything was fine up until recently. Why couldn’t she just let things be? I felt tears burning my eyes, I cried when I was angry. "Is everything okay Ms. Parker?", Mr. Street asked concerned. "Yea yea no I'm fine", my voice cracked so he wasn't convinced. "Why don’t you just take a few seconds outside and you can come back in when you're ready", he said.
I sat down in the hall way and just let it all out. I haven’t cried in years and this needed to come out. This was not the silent type of cry, this was the type of cry with all kinds of weird noises that you didn’t even know you could make. I must have been really loud because around the corner came a very worried Preston Walker. Now if I wasn't worried about sounding like a typical teenage girl, I would say that Preston is probably the hottest guy in school. But I do care about that, so I will say that he has such charisma and confidence that being around him makes you feel like the most socially awkward person ever. He was coming straight for me so I wiped the tears from my face and put on a fake smile. "Are you alright Sarah?", I swear if one more person asked me that question I would punch them. "You know, I have had better days.", this just slipped out of my mouth and I immediately regretted it.
"What's wrong? I wont judge you or anything, maybe I can help.", he was so endearing that the following words just came out. " Things at home have just been tough lately. I mean things have never been good, but recently my parents have just been constantly fighting. They hate each other. And this morning my mother informed me of a possible divorce. She can't do that. Not to Claire, not to me." It seemed like the words were just spewing from my mouth, I had no control of them at all these things just needed to get out. Preston looked so deep into my eyes that it made me a bit uncomfortable. As he talked to me he never broke his stare or confidence.
"Last year my parents got a divorce and at first I was so upset by the whole idea that I didn’t talk to them for a month. I was so mad that they were splitting the family up and I couldn’t believe that they were being so selfish. Time went by and I started to realize things were better. Like I was actually spending time with my Dad on the weekends and my Mom would actually smile and laugh when I saw her. I then realized that I was the one who was being selfish. My parents were finally happy. So now as you can see I am fine, I love my life and the way things turned out." His words were crazy, it's like he read all the problems in my mind and knew just what to say. "Things wont get better right away. But in the end you'll be happy, trust me.", he said.
"Thank you so much Preston. You honestly don’t even know how much you just helped me.", I thanked him for about 10 minutes after that and finally let him go. I grabbed my phone from my bag and called Angela to come pick me up, I couldn’t go back to class right now I needed to get home to my Mom. Angela came right away and didn’t ask any questions.
I ran in the house and found my mom lying in front of the TV, something she never does. "Mom I know your not being selfish. I am being selfish. You are doing what is best for all of us, you are helping our family. I'm really sorry that I said what I did earlier and I didn’t mean it" I got emotional and started to cry again. She stood up from the couch and hugged me tightly, which hasn’t happened in years. Claire came running down from her room and joined in our group hug. We were all crying and it seemed like sadness, but I knew it wasn’t.
-Friend

My parents are divorced and that kind of inspired this story. My initial reaction was very similar to Sarah's. I was confused, concerned, and worried for what might happen next. I wish I would have had a Preston in my situation, someone to represent hope, confidence, and patience.