I Should be Pink...or Maybe Not

"What are you doing up there!" Ed yelled as he heard Robert and I banging on the floor. "They are on the third floor. How can we still hear them?" Olive asked. "You two get down here now!" Robert and I walked down the stairs, I held myself like a super hero, with my head held high, and my pride filled to the brim. In front of me was an eighteen year old golden man with a black eye, several other bruises, and a completely empty sense of masculinity. I had a few bruises on my arms, but first person with a black eye loses, same rules as always; and like always I won.

"What happened?" Ed and Olive ran to me worried. "I will tell you what happened, I beat this guy's ass for being stupid." I said proudly. Ed saw the bruises on my arms and turned to yell at Robert. "You hit women! I didn't think you were that kind of man. If you are a threat to my daughters, you will be kicked out!" Ed yelled at Robert.

"That is not just any woman," He pointed at me. I smiled waiting for his description. "That is a beast you see this eye?" He pointed to his black eye, "She made the rules when we were young and she still follows them. HER rules are, the first one with a black eye loses, and if you reject the challenge you will be kicked in between the legs. I haven't won one of these 'challenges' since I was thirteen. Either I stand and fight, or I get beaten to a pulp." Robert said sounding pitiful.

Ed turned to me with wide eyes "Is it true?" he asked me. I smiled "I learned to fight to keep away bullies and to earn some gold points. This guy's stupidity is why I am not rusty." I jestured at Robert. "Which in turn helped me save Olive that one day at her school."

Ed smiled at Robert. "Thank you for angering my daughter regularly, and be willing to fight her." Ed said to Robert, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Robert scanned over the three of us. I stood proudly, Olive stood in awe of me, and Ed had a greatful smile on his face because Robert fought with his daughter. "I am a member of the most ridiculous family ever." he said. I smiled at him "Well if you want to work on that maybe you should try and get a girlfriend. It might make this family a little more 'regular'." Olive and I both gave him devilish grins. "Get that girl, or sis will challenge you to another fight." Olive said. "Sorry kid, but that won't happen. Rules are we can't fight again, until the loser's black eye is healed." He stuck his tongue out at Olive. Olive smiled back. "Doesn't mean I can't make your life a living hell." she said. "Language little lady." I said. "I am sorry for my language, but not my statement." she said smiling again. "Face it with two girls in the house you are doomed.", I said. Robert gave up. "This is a losing battle, I am going to get ready for work." he said.

I prepared Olive for school, as Ed made breakfast. We continued our routine when I dropped Olive off at school, I quickly realized I didn't have anything to do afterwards. I had work off today, what would I do without all of my new family? Ed and Robert were at work, and Olive was at school. I didn't want to just go home and be lazy. So I went to an animal shelter. I volunteered for hours. I walked dogs, changed cat litter, played with the animals, and finally (without permission) I adopted a small grey kitten. I ran to the pet store, and bought all of the supplies needed for the small fur ball. I bought a wicker basket, with a pink cushion, and a big pink bow to go around the kitten's neck. I made a tiny pillow and embroidered, "For Olive. Love Your Family." I called Robert and asked him to pick Olive up for school. "She will never get in my car!" he yelled over the phone. "Just tell her that her big sister is waiting with a surprise at home." I said, then hung up. Thankfully Ed wouldn't come home for a few hours, so he couldn't get mad at me for buying a kitten without permission. After all once Olive fell in love with it, he couldn't say no. I waited by the door I petted the kitten until it fell asleep in the basket. I then sat behind the basket, and waited for Olive and Robert to come in. In about five minutes, they came in. When they walked in she saw the kitten covered her mouth and hopped up and down before she dove to the basket, where the kitten had woken up. "Did you get her for me?" Olive cried tears of joy with a huge smile on her face, and the kitten in her arms. "Can you read this pillow?" I asked. she slowly sounded it out until she read the whole thing. She put the kitten in the basket and hugged Robert's legs. "I am sorry I am always mean to you. I will be nice to you now, because of my new kitty." Olive said. She turned around quickly and went to hold the kitten again. I was already holding her. "Hey I want a kiss first, since Robert got a hug." I said joking. Olive quickly kissed my cheek and held the kitten in her arms. I took out my phone "Olive smile with your new kitty." I took a picture and sent it to Ed. " Hey Ed so we added another member to the family," I texted, I attached the photo of Olive and the kitten. "She thinks the kitten is from all of us so be happy about seeing them together when you get home. Act like you knew about it already." He texted back an angry face emoji and, "We will discuss this later young miss.". I know he was serious, but the mood is always lifted when he sees Olive happy. I took more pictures of her. "So Olive," I said "What are you going to call her?" I asked. She looked at the kitten intently as she played with it with some ribbon. "I am going to call her Mochi." she said. "Mochi is my favorite candy, it is from Japan." she explained. "I like "Mochi", it sounds sweet." I said. Robert looked at the kitten "She is like you Olive. She is tiny, cute, and likes ribbons. She is fluffy and snuggly, but she also has claws and can use them whenever she needs to." Robert said. Olive looked at him and smiled. "That's right, I have claws alright, sharp ones." said Olive. We moved the basket, the cat toys, and the kitten to the living room where we had more fun. Ed came home and yelled in the hallway. "Hey where are my girls!" Olive and I went to him, leaving Mochi with Robert. Olive hugged him and I stood in front uncomfortably. "Hey one of my girls is missing." Olive looked confused. "Have you seen her? She is small and fluffy." Olive ran to the living room and brought back Mochi. "This is your other girl. I named her Mochi!" Olive said excited. Ed looked at me with a smile "Yeah you are definitely pink. Though we will talk about this later." Ed said to me. "What will you talk about?" Olive asked Ed and I. "We will talk about what makes Violet Pink." Ed said. Ed and Olive walked into the living room to play, and I started making dinner. " everybody, leave the kitty alone awhile, so we can eat!" I yelled from the kitchen. We ate, went through our evening. I eventually tucked Olive in bed, alongside with Mochi. I walked into the living room where Ed was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed. "Violet, sit down." he said in a solemn voice. "You haven't been my daughter for long, and I am new to this uhh...lecturing thing, but I need to talk to you about something." he said. I sat in the chair and was ready to listen. "I understand your heart was in the right place today when you rescued that kitten for Olive, but that is something that should be discussed, not put out on a whim. I gave you that card so you could buy necessities, not a pet, and cat supplies. That was a very immature decision, and you won't be getting pink points if you make a child happy, but also disrespect your father doing so." Ed said lecturing. My whole life all I had worked towards was being colorful. How could he say I wasn't pink? He thought I should have been pink before. What is wrong with him now? "Listen Ed; I, whether we like it or not, I am a teenager, and it is known that teenagers screw up. I don't drink, do drugs, hang with the wrong crowd, endanger myself or Olive, I have a professional job, and with that money I will pay back for the cat. Face it I am superior to most. You have it easy with me. I cook, and clean, genuinely care for Olive, and even busy myself with work. When everyone was busy, I volunteered at the shelter. All of that, that adds up to pink." I said, my voice getting louder as I continued. Ed looked at me shocked, then put his hand to his head slowly. "You're right you are a teenager, and I forget that, because you are typically very mature, but this is not pink and you are not perfect. You always present yourself as a self made miracle that is perfect at everything." he started. Tears began to well up in my eyes. "but you know what; you aren't perfect. Try as hard as you may, but those "color points" are simply excuses." he said. I couldn't handle it anymore. I stood up and ran to my room, tears falling down my face. I had been yelled at and lectured to before, but never by someone I cared about. What hurt the most is he knew my insecurities, and hit the nail on the head. I flopped onto my bed and cried. Was everything I was doing really useless? Just then my door opened. A little Olive in pajamas, stood in my room. Mochi was dangling in one of her arms. "I heard you run on the stairs, and daddy looked sad." she said. "It is way past your bed time, you should go back to bed." I said. Olive walked in my room and got in my bed with me. She gave me a hug. "You are always there when I am sad, I will be here." she said hugging me tighter. We fell asleep like that. "What would tomorrow hold; how could I talk to Ed?

SIDE NOTE: Hi the author here, the cat in the story is named after my cat, Mochi. Please leave comments and ideas.