Fractured from the Fall

How It All Began

THE PAST

Lily looked her sister up and down trying to figure out how the two of them were related. She had often wondered about the possibility of whether or not one of them had been adopted and nothing made it more abundantly clear than her sister's choice of clothing for the first day of her sophomore year.

Violet's dark brown hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, not a hair was out of place. She wore a T-shirt tucked in to her boot cut jeans with a brown leather belt and a sweatshirt tied around her waist. She was wearing sneakers of course, she always wore sneakers. It seemed to be her sister's stance that shoes were meant to be practical and that they served no purpose other than to protect one's feet from mud and snow.

The thing that perplexed Lily the most however, wasn't her sister's lack of fashion sense, despite tying to make helpful suggestions to Violet on many occasions, but the way in which she hid behind her ugly clothes and large framed glasses. She was beautiful, in her own way, not that Lily would admit it. She had always seen her as her uptight obnoxious know-it-all little sister.

"You know, it's the start of a new school year. You could at least pretend to try," Lily said in a snarky voice.

"I did," Violet said, pointing to her eyes.

Lily stepped closer and squinted. A thick layer of mascara covered her sister's lashes. She had done a terrible job. Spots of black goop freckled her eye lids.

"Here," she said, dragging Violet into the bathroom. She grabbed a Q-tip, wet it and squeezed it out so that only a little moisture remained. Then she removed her sister's glasses.

"Shut your eyes," she said. Then she ran the Q-tip across Violet's lids removing the smudges. "There, that's better."

"Why do you wear these hideous glasses?" Lily teased, twirling them around in her hand, holding them just out of Violet's reach.

"So I can see," Violet snapped back, snatching the glasses from her sister's hand.

"Did you ever think the boys might notice you more if you got contacts?"

"Did you ever think I don't really give a shit whether the boys notice me or not?"

Violet knew her sister was trying to help but she couldn't resist throwing shade back at her. Violet prided herself on not taking her appearance too seriously.

"That's enough girls," their father said as he entered the room. The two immediately stopped their bickering. Their father was a no-nonsense kind of man. He was kind but firm and they knew better than to continue arguing in front of him.

"Get in the car and I'll drive you to school."

"That's okay daddy," Lily said, turning from her sister with a flick of her hair and turning her attitude from salty to sweet. "Grant is picking us up."

As if on cue, a honk came from outside.

Grant sat in the back seat of Ford's pick-up truck with the window down, hanging his arm out the window slapping the side of the vehicle impatiently.

"Let's go!" he shouted, rattling the truck.

Lily's father stepped out on the front porch and Grant immediately sat up straight in his seat. He had always been slightly intimidated by Lily's father. It could have been that he stood 6' 5" in stature or it could have been that the first time he officially took Lily on a date, her father took it upon himself to show Grant his impressive collection of shotguns while telling him he better never hurt his little girl.

Lily pushed her father aside and skipped down the stairs. Grant watched as her skirt swished from side to side. There were moments that it raised high enough that he could catch a glimpse of her underwear. She wore her brown cowboy boots which accentuated her perfectly smooth tan legs. They had been dating for a year now, which was practically eternity in teenage years. Like most of the boys at school, he had been first drawn to her looks. It was superficial, he knew, but that was what high school was all about. Plus Lily wasn't entirely innocent. He knew that she had been drawn to his popularity and that he was the captain of the football team.

Her beauty had been enough to keep him occupied their first year together, but the last year he had grown sick of her games. She would flirt with the other boys and pick fights to be dramatic. Grant hated fighting, but their relationship seemed to thrive best after the make-ups.

Lily planted a kiss on his lips. Grant's eyes were wide open as her lips touched his. He looked at her father and was met with a steely stare. She opened the door and hopped in next to Grant.
The screen door slammed shut as Violet made her way out of the house. She kissed her father on the cheek.

"Bye dad. Have a good day."

He smiled.

Violet climbed in the front seat of the pick up truck next to her usual companion. Ford was Grant's best friend. He was the wide receiver, but unlike the other boys on the football team, he was quiet and reserved. He also gave Violet the time of day, which was unusual for a senior football player.

"Hey Vi," Ford said, scooting his books over to make sure she had room.

"Hey Ford," she smiled.

Violet caught a glimpse of her sister in the side view mirror as she leaned in closer to Grant. It should have been her sitting in the back next to him, but then her sister swooped in like she always did. She still remembered that day: the day that Oakley High School's hottest jock, Grant Easton, showed up at her door. He was there for tutoring. In typical jock fashion, he was failing at least one of his classes and of course the high school was willing to do anything to ensure their golden boy could continue playing. That meant having him receive thrice weekly tutoring sessions from Violet. When she opened the front door that day she could hardly believe that the beautiful brown eyed boy was there for her. She knew it was forced upon him, but still, she couldn't help but feel somewhat special. He wouldn't have given her the time of day otherwise. She was a freshman and he was a junior after all, and they couldn't be more different. She'd passed him many times in the hall and thought he'd looked at her, but maybe it was just her imagination.

"Hi," Violet said as she opened the front door and he stepped into the house.

"Hey," he said back and her heart fluttered. Get a grip, she thought to herself. He's just a boy. Since when does levelheaded Violet get her panties all in a bunch over some jock.

But before she could figure out what she was feeling, she heard Lily yelling from down the hall.

"Dad! Have you seen my other boot?" she yelled as she came clomping out of the bedroom with one boot on. Her beautiful blonde hair fell in perfect waves over the straps of the spaghetti string dress she was wearing. And that's all it took. Violet could see the look in Grant's eyes. It was the look every boy gave Lily.

"You're sister is Lily Halliday?" Grant asked, nearly pushing Violet aside.

And that was it. From then on out, Grant would study with Violet and then he and Lily would sneak off and go make out in the stables while Violet distracted her dad or lay in her room trying desperately not to scribble Grant's last name next to hers in her math notebook.

Ford's truck peeled out of the driveway, jolting Violet forward and back into reality. And as her eyes left the side view mirror and turned towards Ford, she couldn't help but notice that she wasn't the only one watching Lily. Ford's eyes were fixated on the rear view mirror as he watched her sister. He caught Violet looking at him and smiled, then quickly looked ahead down the road, embarrassed for being caught ogling his best friend's girlfriend.

Maybe he was just glancing in his rear view mirror, but Violet could swear she saw something more in his eyes. Yet another boy who liked her sister, but wouldn't get anything in return, she thought to herself. Another one bites the dust.