Shelby arrived home, like always no one was home. She sat on her bed with her notebook in hear hands. She only had a couple more days until she filled it up completely. She was quite happy despite her run-in with Veronica and Kiley incidence. She enjoyed the company of Azur a lot.
She hadn't even asked him like other people what his powers were. The thing that she liked most about him so far was that he didn't treat her differently or like some insect. He even sung her favorite song with her. She didn't feel as different, even though she was in fact different.
She somewhat felt normal. For once, it felt like to her that powers weren't everything, despite it meaning everything in her world, that it didn't mean anything.
She continued in her own little world until she heard her mom call from her from downstairs. Shelby went downstairs to her mom who was in the kitchen cooking.
"Yes?" Shelby asked her mom
"Can you get ready for dinner? Your Aunt Mack is coming over" Her mom asked.
Aunt Mack was Veronica's mom. She was no different than from Veronica. It as confusing at times how Shelby's mom didn't end up like her sister. Mack took after Shelby's grandmother on her mom's side, while her mom took after Shelby's grandfather. Meaning that her Aunt Mack too the arrogant side, which she passed onto her daughter Veronica.
Shelby sighed shaking her head at the thought of Veronica in her home after school. You would think it couldn't get any worse, but it could.
That meant that Shelby had to lock her door before coming downstair and dress up enough not to be made fun of by not just one person but two. Her cousin and her aunt, just because she was different from everyone.
Shelby went upstairs and quickly got dressed in her favorite light tan dress that had a white skater skirt. When she heard her mom from downstairs she quickly went out of her room, just so Veronica couldn't make an excuse to come up there.
Shelby stood at the entrance of the dining room. Veronica was dressed in a black fitted dress that hugged her body. Luckily, she didn't have Kiley with her, Kiley was the one that brought out the worst in Veronica.
We all sat at the dinner table. The adults chatted and laughed at Shelby's little brother, Willy. Violet was sitting at her normal spot looking at her phone. I sat next to her. Every time Violet saw a hairstyle or hair color, she liked her hair change to it. What ever she thought of to change to her body could happen in a matter of seconds.
"So, Shelby" Shelby heard and looked up toward the voice of her Aunt Mack. "So, I heard from Veronica that you still haven't gotten any powers"
"Not that I know of" Shelby said sighing looking away from her aunt.
"Such as shame" Mack said looking at her 'Niece' "Your oldest daughter Fae"
Shelby's mom looked at Mack with a flat look.
"Mack" she said with a stern voice. You could tell who was the oldest "Don't talk about my daughter that way"
"And why heavens not?" Mack asked with a questioned look "You might as well get use to it. She's the only person born in this world without powers"
Tears willed up in Shelby's eyes at the hurtful words. It made herself hate herself even more. She had no control of how she was born. No control at all yet she was looked at as if she was.
"Shelby" Shelby looked up beside her to see her sister
"I'm sorry can I be excused?" Shelby looked towards her mom and dad.
"Sure" Her mom, Fae, said apologetically
"You know every person who knows about her will just keep doing this" Mack says as Shelby left the room.
"That's enough Mackenzie" Fae said towards her younger sister "That is my daughter. Your niece. If you can't accept nor treat my daughter as you the other than I'm sorry but you can't be here"
"Fine" Mack said and stood up "Come on Veronica"
Veronica looked up and stood up, following her mom. She looked up towards the stairs where Shelby went but didn't have it in her to treat her any different. She saw her different because, she was in fact different. It'd not hard to see.
She can't just pretend like she was different that Shelby. Veronica had powers although she knew how she used her powers were wrong however she was taught this way. Not any other way.
Shelby sat in her room upstairs. She had the dress she was wearing on the floor. She just wanted to rip it into shreds. She even looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn't see anything but her weaknesses. Her chubby face. The non-existent fat. The dark brown eyes she inherited out of nowhere. Unlike her family who had all either blue or green eyes, Shelby had brown.
She opened her notebook filling it with her world as tears fell onto the pages. For some reason this world, despite all the negative light she felt comfort.
She heard a knock from the door. The main door of her room. She walked out of the bedroom to the door and opened it. Her mom was there. She let her in.
"Shelby, I'm sorry" Her mom says "You know how your aunt Mack can be"
"I know it's just harder and harder to hear" Shelby explained "I don't even know if I will get powers anymore. I don't even feel like I belong anywhere anymore"
"Shelby" Shelby's mom said
"You can't even deny it. I'm so different from everyone. From you. From dad. From Veronica, Violet and even willy." Shelby cried "I'm so different that I can't even walk down the hall of my school without being looked at as if I'm a freak. Which I am a freak"
"Shelby, you are not a freak" Her mom says "You are my daughter"
"Then why don't I have powers like you or Dad?" Shelby asked "I keep having these dreams of a completely different world. One that's not here and it just confuses me even more"
Shelby flung her arms around the room at the painting and drawing that lined up in a specific way.
"All these places and this whole world that just seems so real yet it's not real" Shelby cried "Why am I so different?"
"You're not different Shelby. You're just a late bloomer. It's like with your period remember. You were a late bloomer with that to" Fae suggested
"I'm seventeen years late" Shelby says
"Sometimes you're never too late" Fae says
Shelby's mom left her room leaving Shelby absolutely confused. She never felt more confused that how she was now.
She truly felt more unheard now and different that before. Her mom didn't even hesitate but to say no. It hurt, more that she thought to bring up the world she felt she belonged to.
To her mother it was just a story, fantasy even. Not possibly real yet it felt more real than anything now. Shelby laid in her bed thinking about how she explained to her mom her own world but could grasp that it could be fake.