Chapter 2: The pressure mounts.

Lily's feet scufted along the school hallway, the sound of sneakers against polished linoleum almost drowned out by the bull of students, chatting and laughing around her. Another day, another cycles of expectations. She was growing increasingly tired of .

She hadn't even made it to homeroom when she spotted Sarah, her classmate and cousin, standing with a group of friends near the lockers. Sarah was the picture of success - well spoken , confident, effortlessly at the top of the social hierarchy. Lily used to be able to talk to her about things, but now it felf like there is a gap , one that was widening everyday.

" Hey, Lily !" Sarah called out, waving. Her smile was bright , too bright like the kind that tried to hide something behind it. Lily offered a small smile back, walking over reluctantly. The expectation Sarah had for her were never explicity stated, but they were always there, unspoken pressures to be a polished , successful, and " in top of it" as she was.

" How's your homework going? I heard about that chy 101 test today. You ready? Sarah asked, though Lily could hear the hint of challenge in her voice. It wasn't malicious, not really. But it was there . Sarah always seemed to be testing her, to see if Lily was keeping up, or at least making an effort to.

" Yeah, I've got it covered," Lily said, though inside, she felt a growing sense of dread. She had studied, sure but the test felt different this time. It wasn't just a test in formulas and reaction. It felf like a test of her worth, of how much she could balance between school, family , and everything else that seemed to demand her attention.

Sarah nodded, her eyes scanning the hallway as if she was looking for someone something else. " I'm sure you're fine. Just don't let it slip, okay? You know how dad gets if you don't keep up with your grades.

Lily's stomach clenched at the mention of Sarah father,vher uncle - one of the most driven and demanding people she knew. Her never said it out right, but Lily knew what was expected of her; to be more , to be better . No one In the family ever said it aloud as such, but there was always an undercurrent of "you need to keep up Lily. You need to be successful like Sarah" .

The bell rangs cutting through the moment of tension, and the crowd of students started flowing towards their classrooms. Sarah gave Lily a one more silent and a quick wave before she disappeared into the sea of people.

Lily walked to her own class, her mind buzzing with thoughts of the expectation placed on her shoulders. It wasn't just Sarah and her family. It was everyone. Teachers, classmates, even strangers on the street who didn't know anything about her life but still had a tendency to glance her way like they are measuring her worth.

Her first class of the day, and as soon as she sat down, her teacher, Mrs Carter, gave her one of those looks - kind that said," I know you can do better" . Lilly heart sank. She wasn't behind in class, not by any means. She kept up with the lessons, wrote her essays on rije, and generally kept things together. But , Mrs Carter never seemed satisfied, always pushing her to writing with more flair, more creativity. It felt like she was always waiting for Lily to unlock something deeper inside herself .

But what if there was nothing more to unlock what if she was already doing her best, even if it wasn't enough to meet the impossible standards she was constantly measured against.

" Lily, I'd love to see you bring more of your voice into writing, Mrs Carter said after reading Lily's last essay. Her eyes were kind, but there was a challenge there too. " You have got potential. It just know you are capable of so much more."

Lily smiled stiftly and nodded, the weight of words lingering long after class ended. Was it ever going to be enough? When her potential be enough for the people who seemed to think she could be more than she was? .

The rest of the day passed in a blur of teachers voices, classmates charter, and assignment pilling up. Each task felt like it carried an invisible weight,was though her every action was under the microscope of the expectation ls everyone else had for her.

At lunch, she sat alone at her usual spot a corner table by the window. She didn't mind the solitude, not really. It was better than the alternative of trying to keep up with the endless demands of being in the spotlight. But there was a hallow feeling in her chest as she looked out at the bustling courtyard outside.

Lily's phone buzzed in her pocket, breaking her from her reverie. It was a texts from her mom.

" How's school going today, honey? You doing okay ?

Lily's fingers hovered over the screen for a moment. She wanted to say she was fine, that everything was going great, but that didn't feel right. She could never be completely honest with her mom- not because she didn't want to, but because her mom, like everyone else, had certain expectation that Lily didn't always feel she could meet.

Instead, she typed back a simple message " it's good.. just tired. We'll talk later.

She tucked the phone away, feeling the familiar pull of needing to please others, to make them think she was okay even when she wasn't. It wasn't that she didn't love her family - she did, deeply, But their expectations felt like a constant weight, pushing her to be someone she wasn't sure she could ever fully be.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footstep approaching. She glance up to find her best friend, Amy , standing by the table, holding a tray of food.

" You look like you've got a ton on your mind " Amy said,taking a seat across from her " Spill".

Lily's hesitated for a moment , then let out a long breath. " It's just... everything, you know? School,my family, feeling like I'm not enough.. I'm just... So tired of always having to do more, to be more ".

Amy raised an eyebrow, setting down her tray, " so, who are you trying to impress? Your parents, Teacher? Sarah? "

Lily nodded slowly. " Yeah.. it's like... No matter what I don, it's never enough for them. They always expect me to be at the top of everything. like I'm supposed to have it all figured out. And I don't even know if I want that" .

" Hey," Amy said, leaning in. " Maybe you need to stop trying to meet their expectation and start meeting your own. What do you want, lily? What makes you happy?

Lily looked down at her stray, her mind racing. What did she want ? Was she allowed to want something different than what everyone expected from her?

Lily, are you going to work today?, Amy asked her.

Yeah, I've to go even though I don't feel like, said Lily.

Alright dear, see you. And with that, Amy left.

And for the first time that day, Lily felt a small spark of something inside her a possibility, maybe she didn't have to follow the path everyone else laid out for her. Maybe there was room for her to be herself, even if that didn't fit into anyone else's idea of success .

She smiled and for the first time In a while Lily felt like she had a tiny bit of room to breath.

Her phone buzzed from a pocket, cutting her thoughts short and immediately her smile vanished when she saw the message sent by her mother..

" Lily, I want to remind you of the blind date this weekend, Make sure you go and be on your good behavior" .

This is the Fifth blind date set by her mother in the quest to see her settling down with a " Perfect man" like she always says.

Her mother who she would said that is obsessed with the word " Perfection".

"Lily,youve to be perfect in everything you do" .

Oh God! Lily said to herself. She is tired. What kind of life is this? when would I be free from the distress? I'm losing it. I don't want to live this kind of life anymore 🥲.

With her head placed on the table, she cried her eyes out. Don't I have the right to make choices for myself? Can't I live like the way I want? Must everything be determined for me? Must I live like a robot, programmed? . I want to live and not just to exist , is it that hard?

Lily asked herself these questions. Then she quietly stood up , wiped her tears and left the cafeteria without glancing at other students who were shocked to see her cried. Lily had never shed tears no matter how she feels but for the first time, they witnessed her cried..