It's not your fault — Maggie Lindemann

BACK WHEN CYNTHIA'S PARENTS DID THEIR version of "sticking it out" together, she was more miserable than she let on. All that stopped when she met Theo Antonetti, a boy who she believed was the one. Sure, he was a bad boy, and sure, her friends didn't like him but, that added to the charm.

It made her reach for him even more.

They had never kissed though, and the girl was starting to convince herself that her hair was weird, or that maybe she was too short, or maybe he didn't like that one of her eyeballs were bigger than the other.

They were outrageous thoughts but, thoughts nonetheless.

"Hey." Theo snapped to get his friends attention, a smile on his face. "What world on you on?"

"Earth now."  Cynthia tried to hold back a blush as she pushed herself off the brick wall she was leaning on as she waited for the boy to get out of class. "You just took forever, I thought you died in there."

"I uhm—.. yeah, we were talking about something important." The Antonetti boy cleared his throat. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Cynthia! You so missed watching the saddest little nerd trip and fall on the floor—..." Yasmine stopped in her tracks upon seeing the boy next to her friend. "Oh, it's you."

"Yup, it's me. Are we going to have a problem?" Theo tilted his head to the side, unable to deal with Yasmine's antics.

He was about to tell Cynthia something important, and now he wouldn't get the chance because she was such a...well, he didn't like to use the word but, bitch.

"Okay, guys. That's enough." Cyn held onto the boys chest, sending him a light smile. "Could you come over later, maybe? and tell me then?"

"Uh..—I can'—..sure, that's fine." Theo nodded, and as he watched the Sari girl get dragged away by her obnoxious friend, he sighed.

Maybe it was better he didn't have to say it out loud, because that makes it more real.

  AS SOON AS CYNTHIA WALKED INSIDE SHE heard yelling, like always. It had been a constant in the Sari household since they started having financial problems, and it was starting to become an even bigger constant as time went along. Cyn had tried to get used to it, but it still made her tear up whenever she was around it too long.

Too long being one minute.

"I'm home." She called out, closing the door behind her.

Of course there was no response, her parents were too busy in their old world, with their own problems.

.. and apparently, having a daughter was the least important to them.

"Yeah, I didn't want a welcome home anyways." Cynthia mumbled to herself as she clutched her bag, making her way into her room before she slammed her door shut.

Maybe that would garner some much needed attention.

She waited a few moments, and smiled when she heard footsteps coming towards her room, the girl taking out her laptop to pretend like she was doing school work.

"You okay, honey?" Penelope asked as she opened the door, the woman leaning on the doorframe for support.

She looked tired, beautiful as she always had been, and as she always would be but, tired nonetheless.

"Yeah, are you?" Cynthia wasn't the closest to her mother, no but, she could always tell when the woman was in need of some affection, a hug.

It seemed like this was one of those times.

"I will be, and I don't want you to worry about all that out there, none of it has to do with you, it will never have to do with you." Penelope said, trying to give the reassurance for something that hadn't even happened yet.

When Cynthia felt the most responsible for her parents breakup, she always remembered that memory, it burned hot in her brain and left a scorch mark in it's place.

"Are you sure everything is okay, mom?" The girl asked, tilting her head to the side as she got up to her feet, unable to really comprehend what the woman was saying.

Her mother was planning on leaving, she just didn't know it yet.

"I'm fine, I just don't want you to remember your high school years as your father and I fighting all the time." Penelope smiled, tears pricking at her eyes as her daughter hugged her, a feeling she didn't know that she would miss. "It's supposed to be the time you make mistakes, have boyfriends, break up with those boyfriends because they won't do you any good until later, it's not supposed to be the time you worry about us."

The Sari woman's words rang true for her daughter, and she wished someone would have told her the same thing. She met Simon too young, jumped into love with him too fast, and now things were crashing. It wasn't anyone's fault, sometimes flames just go out when you don't take care of them enough.

... and the Sari's relationship was beyond gone, like a match that had gotten wet.

"I know mom, of course I know that." Cynthia gripped onto her mother's embrace tighter, part of her mind telling her that she'd never get to do this again. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. I have to go down to the office but, i'll see you later? Okay?" Penelope took herself away from her daughters arms, and in response Cyn nodded, sighing as she walked away.

The Sari girl threw herself onto her bed and took out her phone, clicking on the one person she knew she could talk to without any judgement.

Theo.

She clicked his name, and the phone rang, and rang, and rang but, there was no answer. The girl then waited a few minutes, but, it was the same thing, no answer to her calls. She decided to just send him a quick text, maybe be was skateboarding, or painting, or whatever new hobby he had picked up that week.

Cynthia —
I kind of need you right now
Parent drama
Call me back

The Sari girl curled up into a ball, tears pricking at her eyes as she waited for an answer. It wasn't like she expected him to be on call but, the boy always answered in her times of need and this particular day, everything seemed out of wack. Maybe she was being stupid, or unreasonable, or crazy but it did.

There was never any answer to that message, or relief from Cynthia because she never got to talk about that day with anyone, especially Theo Antonetti.

AUTHORS NOTE—
Hey everyone, I figured a flashback would best fit to give a bit of backstory so our regularly scheduled program will be coming back next chapter.

Opinion on Penelope?

Hope you enjoyed, here's a gif with Penelope and Simon.