August 1, 2020

My life has always been quite a disaster.

Disappointment.

Aggravating.

My dad liked to call it that at least. And since when has he ever been wrong?

There's nothing wrong with the family, my dad says, there's something wrong with me.

He says that my attitude is a 'disgrace to the family'. And that I should be nicer to strangers, and nicer to him.

I would always say no.

Might as well tell the truth and not get his hopes up.

Oooh. Wait. That counts as being nice, right?

My younger sister, Evangeline, seems to agree with him a bit on that.

But Eva likes to hang out with me, because I'm nice to her.

She's the 'good one' in the family.

My dad says that she behaves better than me, and she's only 8.

Always listens to rules, and dresses nicely, actually brushes her hair, and all that random stuff.

I always tease her when she wears her long wavy brown hair in a high ponytail, and wears her leotard and tutu, and puts on her eyelash thing and lip stuff.

But at least that means that I get to play ballet with her.

She's my teacher. And I must say, she is very good at it. I know how to do a Grand Cliche.

She always loves to boss me around, and say, "Parkee! You're not supposed to wear my tutu around your head!" Along with, "Parkee! Why are you walking on the bar like it's a tightrope?!" And, "Parkee! Why are you eating all of the black raspberry ice cream in the middle of class?!"

It's fun.

My sister means the world to me. Eva is probably one of the only people who understands when I'm not fancy in this giant house.

My parents say that I have to keep our family proud, and live up to our name. What else would anyone expect of the kid of the richest family in Denver?

My mom seems to understand a bit. Of course she still encourages me to be polite and keep the family's good name. She still loves me, and sees a different side to me, I guess.

She's always treated me like I'm the nicest and the sweetest, and that I have a big heart. I usually laugh at her, and say that I'd never be nice in my wildest dreams. She always tells me not to believe what other people think.

I love her to pieces.

My older brother always says I don't deserve her. Then I always respond with something along the lines of, "She's my mother, not my girlfriend. I don't pick who my parents are."

And then my brother says, "I doubt you'll ever get a girlfriend, so there's no way you would know the difference."

Well, he's not all too bad. He's a total perfect boy, just like my sister, but less fun, and doesn't do ballet with me. Michael is a bit on the nerdy side, but somehow is incredible at everything.

Michael is the captain of the baseball, soccer, basketball, fencing, and academic team. He gets good grades, and is well behaved. All of the girls practically love him, and it'd either be because of his looks, athletic ability, academic abilities, and the fact that he's a rich daddy's boy.

The second I get an A, instead of an A+, my dad gets all over me, talking about how Michael was never this 'academically disabled'. Despite me being one of the top students in the class, he likes to ignore that, and finds only my flaws.

Like, how I might not take a shower in 2 weeks, and how I might have shoved the hamster up the vents, and that I ate all of the black raspberry ice cream in a day (during Eva's ballet class).

I'm actually better at sports than Michael though, despite Michael being the team captain of practically everything. Michael is pretty good at sports, but is definitely not the best in his class. The coaches are just afraid that my dad will get angry with them if they don't give Michael the spotlight. They don't worry about that with me, because they know that my dad wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't the best, or if I got in trouble for my attitude.

The teachers seem to despise me, because I'm practically proof that there are actually snarky rich kids who have overcompensated egos, at least that's what they say.

I mean, for instance, the teacher said, "Kids, a phrase is something that people use to exaggerate, or to prove a point. One that people commonly use, to promote healthy eating is: An apple a day, keeps the doctor away."

And then my response would be, "An apple can keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough."

Then the teacher would say, "Parker! Go sit in time out!"

"Why? What I say is true." I'd respond.

"Because of your attitude problem!" The teacher would say.

Well, she isn't wrong.

My dad seems to agree with her.

At least I can cope.

"PARKER!" my mother screamed from the top of her lungs.

"What?!" I responded, sitting up in my large bed.

"You're going to be late for your soccer game!" my mom said, walking into my room.

"Oh yeah, what time is it?" I said calmly.

"You have an iPhone 11 for that." my mother said, handing me my soccer jersey.

I put on the unwrinkled jersey, which had midnight blue outline and borders, and golden yellow filling, with the number 7 inscribed on the front, and Denver Lions inscribed on the back.

I put on the matching soccer shorts, yellow long socks with blue rims, and my black and white Jordans.

"Do you have your soccer shoes?" my mother asked, twirling her braided brown hair nervously.

"In my bag right here." I said with a confident smirk, holding up my black duffel bag.

She let out a sigh of relief, and I hugged her, and she said, "Alright. Let's go get into the car."

I smiled and looked into her hazel eyes, and let go of her.

I would have hugged her for longer if I knew what were about to happen.

_______________________________

"Parker!" my friend yelled happily, waving to me, "I was wondering when you were going to get here."

"Hey, Caleb." I said cheerfully, fist-bumping him as I walked past and set my bag on the chair next to him.

"I'm surprised you weren't 45 minutes early like you usually are." Caleb said, scratching the back of his shortly cut hair, "Only 30 this time."

"Yeah, my mom thinks 25 minutes early is late. Did you bring sunscreen?" I asked him teasingly, "Got to make sure we don't fry."

"I don't need sunscreen." he said, rolling his eyes.

It made sense, he had naturally dark skin anyway.

"I have dark skin too you know?" I said, pointing my finger at my olive skin, "But what about your head? I definitely have more hair then you, you have to make sure it doesn't fry." I said, sifting my hand through my shaggy dirty blonde hair.

"I have hair, and my skin color doesn't change on my head too. And I'm pretty sure you have more hair than anyone. I'm honestly surprised that your parents haven't made you cut it. You practically look like an anime character." Caleb said, sitting down on the chair next to me, casually putting his legs up.

"Yep, a fine anime character." I said, holding my pointer finger up.

Caleb sighed and smiled at me, his black eyes averting my gaze suspiciously.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked him.

"I don't know, man. Ever since this quarantine thing has started, my parents have been arguing more than ever. They have to see each other all the time now, and it's gotten better, but..." Caleb said, looking downward, covering his face with his hands.

"But what?" I asked innocently.

"Parker, I know you're sassy as heck man, and you have quite the ego, but sometimes it doesn't fit with how oblivious and innocent you are." Caleb said with a forced smile.

"What am I missing here?" I said, grabbing his shoulders.

"I'm afraid my parents are getting divorced." Caleb said.

I slowly backed away from him with a blank stare on my face.

"Oh..." I said.

My parents.

"I'm sure you have nothing to worry about." Caleb said, "My parents are just going through some rough times, that's all. It's not like your family has anything to do with it."

"Yeah." I said blandly, "Right."

"It'd be better for them anyway. My mom and dad are both stable on their own, and need some time alone." Caleb said, forcefully.

I moved out of my daze and said, "Yeah yeah yeah. I'm so sorry. I hope whatever happens, you'll be able to stay here with me."

Caleb smiled at me and said, "Thanks, man, I needed this."

"Alrighty. The game starts in 25 minutes, so we might as well put our shoes on and warm up." I said, removing my Jordans from my feet.

"Dude, if I had those shoes, I'd wear them all the time." Caleb said in awe.

"Meh. They're fine I guess." I said with a shrug.

I quickly slid on my blue and yellow soccer shoes to match my uniform, and stood up from my chair.

I grabbed an extra soccer ball from my bag, and casually placed it at my side.

"You're right, Parker. You are a fine looking anime character." Caleb said with a laugh, as he stood up from his chair.

"What did I tell ya?" I said with a smirk, then burst out into laughter.

_______________________________

I kicked the ball as hard as I could.

The scene moved past me, along with the other kids in the black and red uniforms that surrounded me.

I kept running to the middle of the field with the ball, until I saw a boy, on the opposite team, behind me faint.

The referee blew his whistle.

"Time out!" he yelled.

"Over here!" my coach screamed, waving his hands in the air.

My team scurried over to him, and crowded around him, huddling close, and crouching down with our hands on our thighs.

"We're going to have to have you sit out Mr. Galvin, that was a foul." my coach said, pointing to a boy on the team, named Charlie.

My coach's hand moved to point at the chairs to the right of us.

"We're going to need someone else to play offense." coach said, to all of us.

"I'll do it." I said, raising my hand politely.

My coach stared at me in confusion, "Mr. Ecksen, you are our best defense, do you expect someone else to magically be able to fill that role?"

"Yes, Coach. Caleb is more than good enough." I said politely, standing with as best posture as I could.

Caleb gave me a smile from beside me.

"And do you expect to be able to fill the role of our best offense?" my coach said condescendingly.

"I will do as best as I can, Coach." I said quickly.

"Quite polite today Mr. Ecksen. A good attitude will get you far, but I'm not sure that your bad one will be forgiven." my coach said, standing in directly in front of me, towering over me in an attempt to intimidate me.

But I kept my composure, and looked directly into his eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Coach."

He laughed a little and said, "I'm not sure I've ever heard those words come out of your mouth before. Despite that, why do you expect me to pick you over all of these other players, who are completely capable, and have been nothing more than polite all season?"

"Because you need me, Coach. I am the best option." I said, regaining my confidence.

"And that you are." my coach said under his breath, "Alright, don't make me regret this, Mr. Ecksen."

I nodded, and kept my posture, and lifted my head higher as he walked away.

"We have a 5 minute break." coach said, "I will be using the bathroom. Behave yourselves, boys."

All of my teammates waited patiently until coach was out of sight, and then the let out a round of applause.

They all surrounded me, and cheered for me, until Caleb quieted them down, and stood next to me in the middle of the circle of players and said, "Dude! No one's ever stood up to Coach like that!"

I gave him a smile, as he playfully punched my shoulder, and I said, "Well, it's not worth anything unless I play well."

"There's no doubt that you will!" a teammate said.

"Yeah, you're the best on the team!" another said.

"Definitely." Caleb said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Well, in the end, it's a team, and not just my effort. Remember, we all need to play our best." I said, trying to keep my smart mouth controlled.

"Oh, cut the act, Parker. Coach is gone." Caleb said with a laugh.

"Well, here's one. "There is no 'I' in team, but there is a 'me'"-Taylor Swift and Parker, 2020."

"If he's quoting T Swifty, you know it's serious!" Caleb said.

The team laughed, and we all walked back onto the field, as Coach ran up to us.

_______________________________

I slammed into the grass, and tucked and rolled back onto my feet.

I herded the person next to me, over to the side, and stole the ball.

I swiftly turned around, and began to sprint over to the goal in determination.

Competitive.

That was definitely a word to describe me.

When I was in the game, no matter who they are, they're my enemy.

No words, just fight.

I'm sure people would prefer that over my smart-mouth any time.

I quickly swerved in and out of the enemy team, ignoring all of my teammates, who struggled to keep up with me.

I looked up at the scoreboard.

21-21

30 Seconds left.

Sounds cliché I thought to myself.

I kept sprinting, and when I reached the defense of the other team, almost bulldozed through them, forcing them to move out of the way.

I slammed the ball with my left foot.

The world seemed to move in slow motion, as I view the audience quickly.

No parents.

Just Eva and Michael.

Again.

Mom and dad hadn't come to my big game, and never did.

Eva cheered happily, waving her blue and yellow Pom-Poms in the air.

Michael sat with his girlfriend, paying attention to her and his phone.

Nobody cared.

The ball slammed into the goal.

But I never got to see it, because I was too focused on the crowd, and not where my own feet were.

I tripped, and slammed hard onto the ground.

BLARE!

The buzzer went off, signifying the end of the game.

With a face full of off grass, I spit, and lifted my head from the ground.

Caleb ran over to me, and helped me up.

"Dude! We won!" Caleb yelled happily, grabbing my hands in excitement.

I gave him a smile, and watched as the rest of the team ran over to me.

"Ayyyyyyyyyyy! Let's hear it for Parker!" my one of my teammates yelled.

Everyone cheered.

"Let's hear it for the team!" I yelled.

Everyone cheered louder.

I looked over at the audience again.

Then the cheers drowned out, and all I could see, was my sister and brother.

"Hey, man!" Caleb said, "You want to go get some ice cream?"

I would've said yes, but my dad would never let me hear the end of it, and I didn't want my flaws to over-shine my accomplishment.

"I'm sorry. My dad would be really mad." I said.

"Alright. See you tomorrow, man." he said, patting my shoulder, then walking away to join the rest of the team.

I looked over for a second.

"You're the best, man!" Caleb yelled from a distance.

If only my father thought so.

And if only anyone did.