Chasing The Dream

Ashley was sick and tired of her life at home. Every day was the same story all over again. Get home from a tiring day at school, sneak back home when her mom thought she was at her shift at “Wendlyn” a restaurant that Ashley worked in late in the evenings. But, what her mother thought was that she had two shifts, one in the early mornings (when she actually went to school), and another in the evenings. You see, Ashley’s mother thought that school was a waste of time, that all that Ashley needed to be focusing on was finding a rich man to marry and bring fortune to the family.

But Ashley couldn’t care less about men, she hated them ever since her father left her mother and left them to scrounge for cash trying to keep themselves afloat and put food on the table. Ashley’s true dream was to get into Denports College, the best college in the whole country. Denports College was in the big city that was just a two-hour drive from the town of Livco where she lived near the beach of the Wellsbury Ocean straight across from her house. This is why she enrolled herself in a school on the other side of town called “Everly’s” and lied to her mother about it. Schooling in Livco was free, which is why Ashley never had to worry about the money, only the extracurriculars were costly, but if Ashley didn’t sign up for any she didn’t need to pay any money. 

One day, on her way back from school, she was crossing the same little street that allowed her to get to the alley where she climbed the brick wall at the back and where a homemade bicycle rested. Ashley had collected a variety of materials from the beach she lived by and managed to tinker with them to create a makeshift bike that could allow her to go to and from school without much hassle and so that her mom wouldn’t find out the truth. The reason she hid the bicycle behind an alley was that all the other kids in her school always had fancy cars and could afford the school buses, while she had to sew her clothes together by hand just to make sure they wouldn’t fall off. The other kids already resented her for being poor and being the child of an only parent, (they thought that her dad died) she wasn’t going to give them another reason to make fun of her, especially since she was in her last year of high school before she had to submit her college application. On her way to the alley, as she was crossing the street, she was nearly trampled by one of her classmates' cars speeding towards her. She managed to step back before she was crushed, and as she saw the driver, it was none other than Molly Pullingham. The rich, popular girl who had despised Ashley since day one. “Oops,” Molly said

“didn’t see you there,” the grin on her face told Ashley a different story.

Molly whipped off her big, black sunglasses (even though it was cloudy outside) to reveal her light blue eyes hiding underneath.

“You must have camouflaged with the other rodents on the street”

She said with a flick of her blonde hair, her posse of just as self-centered girls in the back of the car immediately laughing at her comment.

“Camouflaged, mhm, I’m surprised you even know that word since you got an F in English yesterday” Ashley replied.

That wiped the grin off her face. Everyone knew that Molly hated talking about her grades (since she mostly failed every class) so Ashley knew that it would bother her. Usually, she tried just to avoid her and not talk back, but today Ashley just didn’t have the patience for that anymore. Molly just drove off leaving Ashley coughing in the dust trail she left behind. The other students behind her started to give her angry looks. Everyone in the whole school worshipped Molly, not just because she was popular and cool, but also because her dad was the mayor. So if someone insulted her, then the entire school had a common enemy, and now that enemy was Ashley. Before someone could say something or even run her over with another car, Ashley crossed the street, climbed the brick wall in the alley, and rode her bicycle home. 

When Ashley arrived home, she opened the front door to the tiny house that she and her mother lived in. It was a simple one-story home with a blue roof that looked messily painted and washed out from years of storms, and different cloth patches were covering up various holes. The balcony that led to the door had a couple of rusted chairs outside. Inside the house, when you opened the door, it led directly to the living room which was also connected to the kitchen. There was an old chestnut sofa in the center of the room that was right behind the stacked cardboard boxes that were used as a coffee table. Which was facing the battered television that had not been turned on since the 1900s. On the right side of the room was a wooden table with two tall boxes as chairs which were right in front of the small kitchen that consisted of two cupboards on either side, a wooden table in the center that was also the oven, and a mini-fridge at the far back. On the left side was a small washroom with just one toilet, a small sink, and a shower at the back. At the very end of the house were two bedrooms, Ashley’s and her mother’s. Her mother’s room had a dirty, white mattress in the middle with a pillow and a torn grey blanket with a desk on the other side. Ashley’s room also had a dusty mattress in the center with a light blue sheet on top, a grey pillow, and a patterned duvet at the end, with a box portraying the side table with a small candle on top and a study table against the right wall. 

Ashley had become accustomed to the way of living at her home, having no bed, no homemade meals that they could afford (they had takeout every night from the restaurant "Wendlyn"), or even a mode of entertainment, and every day with her mother promising that things would get better. They never did. Ashley hoped that when she got into college and got a real job, she could live a better life and help her mother live one too. The only problem was that she couldn’t afford college, even with her savings from her job. So everything was dependent on her getting a scholarship. She studied night and day. The other kids at Everly’s might not accept her, but they couldn’t deny that she wasn’t doing well. She was top of her class. Even the teachers didn’t have a reason to hold something against her. The teachers at Everly’s held the same opinion of her as her classmates, but she wouldn’t let them get to her.

Everyone in school came from wealth, and even though Ashley didn’t, she never wanted to be one of those prissy, obnoxious rich girls who just floundered around thinking that they’re better than everyone. Truthfully, Ashley always wanted to best them, to not be like them, but to be better than them and to show them that even though she might not be as rich or come from as good of a family, she could still beat them at things that mattered. Like grades, which she was already doing a rather exemplary job at, and this was just the beginning. Almost everyone in school wanted to get into Denports college in the city, imagine what a huge deal it would be if she would get in, no one would ever make fun of her again. As Ashley ate her dinner and went to bed, she let that thought settle in and drift her off to a sound sleep. 

Ashley knew it was time to get up in the morning, not by an alarm clock like everyone else had, but from the loud sound of the garbage truck outside. That’s how she knew that it was time to get up and get ready for school. As she rode her bike to the alley wall and climbed it, she could see that Molly and her gang were already there. She kept her head down and made her way to the entrance, but that idea turned south quicker than she expected. Molly noticed her and instantly stepped in front of her, sending Ashley stumbling back. 

“I thought you learned your lesson yesterday,” Molly said with a cruel look on her cakey, makeup face. Ashley didn’t reply.

“You’ve decided to stay silent now?” Molly pressed

“Not a bad idea since nothing good comes out of your dirty mouth anyways.”

Ashley still didn’t say anything, even though she was praying that Molly would just leave, she didn’t need any confrontation right now. 

“Talk” Molly demanded

“It was funny for a second but now this scared girl act is getting silly.

“I’m not scared,” Ashley said, hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt. All eyes in the courtyard were on Ashley and Molly. Ashley wasn’t used to this kind of attention, everyone usually ignored her or pretended that she didn’t exist. 

“Ohh, then why are you shaking?” Molly said sneering

“Or maybe your run of a mill mother will finally show her face and we can find someone to blame for why you're even here at my school” 

Molly continued, clearly pleased with herself.

 Ashley had had enough. 

As soon as Molly started talking about her mother. She crossed a line. Ashley had worked for years to keep her mother out of this. She’d been in this school for three years all without her mother finding out. Making excuses for her not attending each parent-teacher conference, or why she never came to pick her up like every other parent in this school. Even avoiding conversation about her father. She kept her home and her school life separate. But, when Molly just came in here talking about her mother like that. She had to put an end to it.

“This isn’t your school!” Ashley snapped back, a familiar feeling of confidence and rage back in her body.

“Oh really,” Molly said, an amused look on her face.

“My daddy is the mayor! He paid for this school. While your dad couldn't even stand you and mother enough to stay with you” Molly threw back, she didn’t even bother to hide her victorious look. While Ashley was in shock. She had never mentioned her Father here at school, or the fact that he had left them. She told everyone who asked that he was dead just to avoid small talk. How could she have known?.

“How did you know that?” Ashley said, saying her thoughts out loud.

“When your father is the mayor, you have the access to everyone’s personal information right at your fingertips. Let’s just say I might have ‘accidentally’ stumbled upon yours” Molly answered, that victorious look still planted on her face. By this, Ashley was keen on wiping that smug of her face. So, she slapped her. Ashley was pretty sure everyone in the courtyard had stopped breathing after she did.

“You had no right to delve into my personal information like that. You may be the daughter of the mayor but that doesn’t mean that you can act like a diva just for your personal benefit. You just want to make me look like the fool while you appear to be the princess but I have had enough” Ashley said, still confused on where those words came from, and the look of rage that covered Molly’s face was enough to make even a police officer run with fear. 

“You are so going to regret doing that” Molly replied, her eyes never once leaving Ashley as she walked into the school. Because Ashley heard her message loud and clear. ‘This was far from over.’

The rest of the school day went like a blur. Ashley vaguely remembered avoiding Molly in the halls and eating her lunch in the computer lab just to avoid seeing her. She still couldn’t believe that she had stood up to Molly like that. But, she still didn’t regret it, in fact, Ashley had more to say to her. The rush of adrenaline from when it all happened still hadn’t died down. Ashley had never been scared or afraid of Molly, she had only been biding her time and trying not to cause a scene with her just so that it wouldn’t stir up trouble, for the both of them.

But, the one thing she was extremely afraid of, was how Molly was going to get back at her. She knew that this was not over and that Molly was probably cooking up something wicked to get back at her. Something Ashley was not ready to deal with. After school ended, she went straight to the courtyard and made her move to get home. Hoping that she could just leave and that Molly was far behind. But, since nothing had gone her way before, she didn’t know why she expected it would now. She nearly reached the alleyway, before she felt someone tug her hair, which was in a ponytail, harshly. She went stumbling towards the grey pavement from the pull. When she turned around to see who it was, it turned out to be one of the jocks from the football team. Molly, not far behind him. She knew instantly that this was her doing. Her act of revenge.

“No one can save you now,” Molly said

“The teachers are all gone, and it turns out that we have a crowd to witness your defeat.” She added, pointing to all the students who had gathered behind them, witnessing the finale to the scene in the morning.

As much as Ashley tried to reason with herself, she knew that her chances were hopeless. The teachers all left before the last period as part of their teacher's day gift from the school and Ashley was completely outnumbered. 

She bet that it wasn’t hard for Molly to convince all 11 of the football players to come to help her. They all practically presumed her to be a god and worshipped her in whatever ways they could anyway. The smart thing to do was to wait until they were all distracted and make a break for it. But, Ashley had had enough of Molly and how she constantly pushed her and treated her like she wasn’t good enough. So instead of doing the smart thing, she stood up and said enough is enough. But before she could do so, one of the football players shoved her and had her falling back on the ground.

She heard Molly giggle, but Ashley wasn’t giving up quite so soon. She got up again, they pushed her down, she got back up again, they pushed her back down again. Every time a different person pushed her back, but she still got up. The same thing happened for quite some time, but Ashley wasn’t keeping track. No matter how hard they pushed her or how many times she fell. She kept on getting back up. Until she was letting them push her, just to prove her point. The football players seemed to be confused, they thought for sure she’d give up by now, so did Molly. All signs of amusement were drained from her face. Even the students in the audience seemed stunned. For they believed the same thing Molly did right from the beginning, but none of them acted on it. But now, they seemed to be thinking twice of the things they said, the whispers behind her back, the mean glances, all of it. It was like they were reconsidering, all from one act. But Ashley wasn’t done.

 Once she got up, and they tried to push her back down, she dodged their push and made her way to Molly. Everyone seemed alarmed more so than ever before. “I am not going back down,” Ashley said to Molly firmly

“And even if I did, I would just get back up again. You think that just because you're rich and popular means that you have the right to treat me however you please? That even though I have been here for years, you can still continue to act like I am less than you. That you are some princess and I am some insect who invaded your palace. Well, you are wrong. I don’t deserve to be treated like this, no one does. You are not some Queen and I don’t serve you, I am no peasant. I can do whatever I please, come to school every day, and be good because that is who I am. You can not make me believe that I don’t deserve to be here any more than you do, because I do, maybe even more so than you.”

The whole school was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop from the other side of the yard. Molly looked as though she had been slapped in the face, twice, her cheeks were red and she looked as though no one had talked to her that way before, maybe no one had. The rest of the school looked dumbfounded as if they couldn’t believe what had happened. Without another word, Ashley walked to the alleyway, feeling as if a 100-pound weight had been lifted from her shoulders, these were all the things she longed to say to Molly, and now that she had, she felt relieved. So, she climbed the alley wall and rode her bike home. Still living on the adrenaline rush from what happened, Ashley opened her front door, barely catching a grip on it. Once she entered, she saw her mom, Miranda, sitting on the couch, silently fuming, and as she noticed Ashley, she stood up and started yelling.

“I just had a visit from one of your school teachers, asking me why I never show up to any of my daughters' events in school and when I said that my daughter doesn’t go to school she laughed in my face,” her mom said, it seemed as if her brown eyes had a fire in them, Anger encased every word, she had never seen her mother so mad. 

“As if I knew that you even applied for a school without me even knowing!”It looked like Ashley was finally caught.

“Mom, I can explain,” Ashley said, trying to calm her down

“Well, I'm listening,” her mom said, hands on her hips.

Ashley took a deep breath and told her mother everything. It was time for the truth to come out. She told her her dream of going to Denports college, how she didn’t want to wait to marry a man and have no proper education, how she wanted to make a life of her own. When she was done explaining. There was a pause of silence.

“Well say something,” Ashley said

“I don’t know what to say,” she responded

There was another uncomfortable moment of silence.

“Why didn’t you tell me” her mother finally asked, 

“I was afraid of what you’d say, you never wanted me to go college or have education, you just wanted to marry me off to some rich dude-”

“I did it for your sake,” her mother interrupted.

“I don’t want you living the life you do now, where we live in this place” she gestured to their home

“You deserve more, you don’t deserve to work three jobs like me, have terrible pay, just to afford scraps” Ashley's mom choked, she was close to tears.

Ashley went to comfort her mother.

“I understand that, and we won’t be living like this forever, which is why I want to go to college, to study engineering and get a job, buy a house and live a better life, but I want to do it my way, not wait for some arrogant guy to marry and then live like a housewife forever,” Ashley said, soothing her mother. 

“You really have grown up right before my eyes,” She said, tears streaming down her cheek. 

“If this is what you really want, then I’ll support you.” 

Ashley just smiled, no words could convey how happy she felt that she no longer had to lie to her mother and that she had her blessing. So she just hugged her, they sat on the couch and just hugged and cried for what seemed like forever.

The rest of the school year went by like a blur. Ashley barely saw Molly and even if they did, after all that happened, they didn’t even say a word to each other. Which Ashley supposed was for the best. The rest of the school had changed as well, instead of people whispering behind her back or ignoring her, they started to look at her with something like respect in their eyes. She even managed to make a couple of friends before the end of the school year. Her mother stuck by her promise in saying that she would support her, so she attended every parent-teacher conference and any other school-related event that Ashley was involved in.

Everything went by smoothly, and for once, Ashley finally felt that she belonged somewhere that she was worth something and no one could take that away from her. The time came to submit college applications, Ashley was in the computer lab just finishing off the final details of her application to Denports college. When she was done, she took a deep breath, crossed her fingers, and hit ‘send’. It took months for Ashley to get a reply, she tried distracting herself from the thought, but no matter what she did, her brain somehow wound up bringing the topic back up again. Until the day Ashley graduated from high school, top of her class. On the way back home, her mother couldn’t stop telling her how proud she was. When they reached and were walking up to the door, they saw a letter resting on the ground. Ashley instantly knew that this was either the acceptance or rejection letter. Mother and daughter both rushed inside. Ashley held the letter like it was a brick of gold, she just stared at it. Too anxious and nervous to open it. Until finally, she took a deep breath and mustered the courage to open it. She had gotten in with a full scholarship!

They both couldn’t stop squealing with excitement. Ashley had gotten into the best college in the country and on a scholarship. Ashley couldn’t believe it, she was at a loss for words while her mother was jumping up and down like a madwoman. This was the beginning of a bright future for her and she knew it. 

“Things will get better,” Her mother said

And for once, Ashley believed her. Things were going to get better for her, for both of them. That night Ashley’s mother surprised her with a special dinner of all of her favorite foods, chicken, broccoli, Manchow soup, and for dessert, Ice Cream! How she scrunched up the cash to afford all of it, she had no clue. As they ate, Ashley couldn’t stop smiling. This was the beginning of something bigger and definitely better. And it was worth every second of everything that she had gone through, just to get to this moment. So Ashley ate her dinner, hope-filled her body like a disease. It turns out, all Ashley had to do was believe in herself, and she could achieve all her dreams.

The end