No Longer

Lindsay is a teenage girl in her second year of high school. Her mom and dad own a bakery shop that was passed down to them from her mother's mother for over 80 years now. Lindsay's mom has always planned to pass down the family business to her because her older brother was incarcerated after committing arson and was not able to take the responsibilities of the bakery. Lindsay hasn't wanted to work in the shop all this time, but now since she is only a week away from getting her workers permit, she needed to confess.

"Hey Mom!," Lindsay said as she walked in the door of her new house, "How have you been?" Her mother smiled as Lindsay walked in. "Okay I guess," she said with a grin, "Maybe okay enough to get two tickets to 'Tie Die'!!!!" Lindsay was in shock! Tie Die was her's and her best friend Laurie's favorite pop band since they were little. "Oh my gosh!!! Thank you so much!!! Can me and Laurie go together???" Her mom nodded shaking her head with a smile.

Almost immediately she threw down her backpack, got her phone and called Laurie. "Hey girl!" Lindsay said to Laurie. "What's up? You sound so tired." Laurie said as she started going back to sleep. Lindsay rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah right lazy. Come over right now. We're going to a Tie Die concert. Hurry and get dressed." She hung up and started getting ready. In about one minute Laurie would be coming through her window since they lived next door now. Laurie came and they got in Lindsay's car and in about five minutes they were at the concert's parking lot.

They had a ton of fun at the concert and drove home. Lindsay walked into her house to find her mom and dad siting at the table with a stack of papers. "Hey guys..." Lindsay said with a bit of shakiness in her voice. The two parents looked at each other and mumbled a small hello. "How was the concert?" They mumbled in harmony. Lindsay said, "It was wonderful! See this balloon I bought? I will never pop or go dull! It is made of plastic and has a switch. Cool right?...." After a few minutes of quietness she decided to ask, "What are all the papers for? You're not divorcing are you?" They looked at each other and laughed. "No we are not divorcing. All the papers are for the new management of the bakery." Lindsay looked shocked and did not speak.

"Mom. Dad. I don't want to own the bakery." Lindsay said with so much courage and went quiet. Her parents looked at her with worry. "Are you okay honey?," her mom asked, "It's always been your dream though." Lindsay looked at her with disgust. "Mom it's been YOUR dream NOT mine! IV'E always wanted o be a dancer. That's why Iv'e been going to dance class the last five years. Ever since you allowed me to walk home and choose my after school stuff I chose DANCE!!!"

Lindsay stormed to her room as her parents were in shock. Lindsay sat in her room crying. "I didn't want to let my parents down..." Lindsay said weakly. She once again started sobbing.

The next morning she woke up and got ready for school. She did not talk or even eat breakfast. When she went to school a ton of people were talking to her. She was just smiling. Then all of a sudden she ran to the bathroom. She went to the stall on the entirely other side and started crying. "I don't know what to do!" She yelled and threw a roll a toilet paper at the wall. Then she went straight home without even telling anybody where she was going. Her school friends and even the people who didn't know her were all staring.

When she got back in her room she did her homework aggressively and when she was done she cleaned her room. She was having thoughts on running away where her parents wouldn't pressurize her and force her to work in a low paying job when she could become a dancer and make big money all the time. She cleaned her room so nice, and it was hard to believe because she hardly ever cleans anything. Next she cleaned the entire house even making the garage floor shiny. She cleaned everything and would not stop. Then right when her parents got home and were walking to the door, she got all her school stuff and put it on the kitchen table and was pretending to do her homework, even though she was done.

They saw her and she said, "Done!" pretending that none of today happened. "Oh my! This is a surprise! Did you do it Lindsay?," her mom asked she nodded yes trying to make them happy.

"We are sorry we pressurized you honey," her dad said. Lindsay shrugged her shoulders. Then again her parents looked at each other worriedly and took out yet another stack of papers. They both took one out actually. "What are those for?" Lindsay was asking. "One is for dance and one is for college." That was all they said. In Lindsay's head she knew that nobody could sign up for college like that so she read the whole thing on both. One really was for dance! The other "college" one was for the bakery. "Nice try guys." Lindsay said. She took the dance one and filled it out. Then she went straight to the mailbox and sent it to the dance company. Happy that she didn't have to work in the dreaded bakery. "I love you guys so much!," Lindsay said happily. She started to cry.

"No matter what we feel or what we want you to do, I want you to know that YOU are your own person and you need to make your own choices, whether they are good or bad, they are your choices, okay?" Her dad said starting to cry also. Her mom was crying this whole time. "I love you guys," Lindsay said once again. "I love you so much!"

THE END