most of the time she was happy, but one day, she got to a point in her life when she found she was rather sad a lot.
sometimes the girl knew why she was sad, and sometimes she couldn't understand why tears ran down her face when she listened to slow, sad, songs and watched long, sad, movies. or when she just sat by herself, with nothing swirling in the air around her but her thoughts.
you see, the girl lived with a family that liked to make things rather difficult for her. she didn't know why she was born into such a family, because it seemed like no one else lived in the same situation. when she went to see other people and their families, she felt green with envy when she realised she would never live the way that they did, talk the way that they did, laugh the way that they did.
and she had met a boy.
well, to tell the truth, she had met lots of boys, but usually they didn't mean very much. some of them tried to take advantage of her, and some of the time she let them. then she got to the point that she decided that she would stop letting that happen, and that she would no longer accept anything less than she deserved.
but this boy was different. he was far weirder than the rest, but not in a bad way. people had told her that the day you meet someone who is as weird as you, is the day you meet the person you are meant to be with for the rest of your life. but the girl wasn't entirely sure to believe that.
after a while, she found that thinking about the boy hurt. that she couldn't smile all the time because she didn't have a reason to smile at all. it wasn't just the boy that caused the trouble, it was everything and anything that she used up a lot of her time thinking about. because she thought a lot.
some people called it love, but the girl didn't believe that. she knew she was too young, too naive, too juvenile to experience such a thing. and with her being a wanderer, one who leaves places more scared of what she leaves behind than what awaits where she is heading to, she knew that her heart wasn't built to withstand it.
still, she had hope. because hope was her middle name, after all. not for the boy, not with the boy, but she had hope that one day she would grow up, and she would be strong. and stand on her own, as she didn't need any silly boy to hold her back or bring her dreams crashing down around her. because that's what boys were. silly. and so very, very, never, not ever, worth it.
and one morning, the girl awoke and knew that she had grown. not completely, but almost. she stood by herself and she felt like she was on top of the world.
the day came when she smiled again. and she meant it.
