Love, Life And Figurative Death

So Proud

"Millie! I heard you got into your class. I'm so proud of you!" Fulton says as he sees me round the corner. He drops his hockey stick and runs up to me.

"Hey, yeah I did." I say opening my arms as he hugs me. I laugh as he lifts me, spinning me around.

"So what was it again? Ballet? Hip hop?" He says as he puts me down.

"Uh, nah. It's just dance, we do all kinds of dance apparently. I don't know." I say rubbing my neck.

"Well, that's ok. I'm still proud of you. Oh speaking of being proud. I broke this guy's car window!" He says excitedly.

"And I'm meant to be proud of that?" I say sceptically.

He laughs and picks up his stick. He turns back to me. "Well, it turns out that he's the coach of a peewee hockey team, uh, district 5. We go to school with them and he thinks I have a strong slap shot. He wants me on his team!" He says while setting up his "puck", a rock before hitting it towards some boxes.

"Fulton, you can't even skate. How are you meant to play?" I say taking a seat behind him. 

"He said the team would help teach me. As long as I can learn to skate I have a place on the team." He says as he continues to play.

"Well, in that case, I hope you learn fast. And yes I'm proud of you too. That's so exciting, we both have a pathway to a career, if we decide to when we're older." I say, smiling as I watch him.

We spend an hour in that alleyway before he begins to pack up. He turns to me with a look of recollection. "Oh! There's a game on TV tonight. You gonna come by to watch with me?" He asks picking up his backpack.

I smile at him. "Wouldn't miss it!" I say waving goodbye.

He walks off as I watch him sighing. 'What would I do without him?' I smile to myself blushing before walking off.

~

"Hey, Millie. You heading to dance class?" Fulton asks as he walks beside me.

I nod at him. "Yeah, it's just down the road." I look at the big duffle bag slung over his shoulder. "Hockey stuff?" I ask gesturing to the bag.

"Oh, yeah. I'm officially a might duck!" He says jokingly puffing out his chest.

"A duck?" I laugh. "What happened to being on District 5?"

"We had a name change. Got a sponsor, Duckworth, so now we're the Ducks." He explains. "Anyway this is my turn-off, got practice." He says pointing down a street.

I nod and wave. "Be careful!" I call after him.

"You too!" He says waving and walking away.

I watch him leave and smile to myself before continuing to walk. Suddenly I feel two people walk up on either side of me.

I look over to my right and see Amanda, a girl from my dance class. "Who was that? He seemed dingy." She says with a gross look on her face.

"Yeah, did you see those baggy clothes? Where does he shop? A dumpster?" Angela, the other girl on my left says.

"Oh, that's Fulton, we hang out sometimes." I say awkwardly.

They laugh. "Why?... It doesn't matter. What matters is you have us now. You don't need him and he doesn't deserve you." Amanda says wrapping her arm around me.

I look down at the ground and continue to walk along with them. We walk into class and begin our lesson.

~

I'm walking to class with Amanda and Angela, behind them when I feel a tap on my shoulder. "Hey, Millie! Are these your friends from dance class?" Fulton says as he walks beside me.

"Oh, hey Fulton. Uh, yeah. That Angela and Amanda." I say monotone.

They look back at him and make a done face before turning back.

"I don't think they like me." He whispers.

I gulp and nod slightly. "Anyway, we should hurry to class. Bye!" I say as we pass the street he needs to turn down.

"Oh, ok bye!" He says walking away.

We walk in silence before Angele turns to me. "You need to get rid of him. So gross!" She says and Amanda nods.

I sigh sadly and nod.

~

I walk into the alleyway, looking at the ground. I slightly look up and watch Fulton hit a rock into a trash can. I smile sadly, leaning against the wall. I sigh and accidentally slip, knocking a can that was on the ground.

Fulton spins around fast before smiling. "Millie!" He says walking up to me. "I haven't seen you in so long."

"Heh, yeah. We've both been so busy." I say looking down again.

"Yeah, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I've been working so hard with my hockey, you know, and I'm sure you're becoming an excellent dancer." He says happily.

"Um, actually, about that. Uh, our schedules kinda clash and we don't really have time to hang out. Do you think we could... Uh, maybe take some time to just focus on our activities. It's just I've been so worried about not being available, I haven't been able to focus on class. But if we both agree to time apart then we can both focus."

"Millie, what are you saying? Do you not want to be friends anymore? You can just say that." He says confused but I can see anger slowly building on his face.

"N-no, I do still want to be friends but I just, I..." He watches me. My eyes prick with tears. "I-I can't... I don't want... I just... I'm sorry!" I say tears streaming down my face. I look up at him before running off.

"Fine, whatever! I don't need someone who won't even tell me what I did wrong! BYE!" I hear him yell before aggressively hitting something.

I run home and cry on my bed until I fall asleep from exhaustion.

~

'I don't need someone who won't even tell me what I did wrong!' I remember what Fulton said as I ran away and cringed. 'I shouldn't have done that. He looked so sad and angry. If someone did that to me I'd-'

"Millie! I don't know what's on your mind but you need to focus." Madam Juliet says pulling me out of my trance.

'Oh, right. I'm meant to be dancing.'

"Please, you have so much potential. And you're pretty, you could be our lead but you just need to focus, hun." She says smiling.

I nod and go back into position.