The Girl Who Cried Wolf -- (Author) Piddly

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Author: Piddly
Timestamp: Nov 6, 2024 at 2:33 AM
Content: It’s been a while since I had any motivation to sit and write, so apologies to those who’ve enjoyed previous stories and are waiting for an update - hopefully this will help reignite the spark for me.

I got a sudden urge to write something earlier, and had intended this to be a brief one-shot, but when I started I realised it was going to stretch to something more, so here goes.

Whilst the character names are the same I’ve used before, this is very much a standalone story. The first chapters will be mostly scene setting, but let’s see how it pans out. I’ve said before that my characters often write their own story and I’m just the conduit to get it into words, so there may be some twists and turns along the way.

It’s hard being a teenager, no longer a kid but not quite an adult; with the world beginning to lay its expectations on you and yet still being constrained by the rules and limitations of growing up.

It’s even harder being a pre-teen, when the adult world still views you very much as a child but you long for that freedom to grow up, to be yourself, to push the boundaries, to find your own way through life.

And that’s just how it is for Lucy Daniels. 12 years old, nearing the end of her first year at secondary school, fed up of being a kid and determined to prove that she’s not. But sometimes when you push the boundaries, they push right back.

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The end of the school year was nearing and Lesley Daniels was very much looking forward to getting her peaceful mornings back, 6 long weeks of not having to cajole her young daughter into action - why Lucy insisted on spending a whole hour doing her skincare routine and makeup for school she’d never know, she’s only 12, still a kid! But the TikTok crazes had well and truly sucked her in, image was everything for the youngster and a big part of her obsession with appearing older and more mature.

“Morning sweetie” Lesley called, knocking on her daughter’s bedroom door before entering to draw the curtains open and let in early sunlight.

“M…morn..ing Mum” Lucy yawned, blinking at the brightness and reaching to grab her phone from the bedside table. “It can’t be time to get up already, surely?”

Lesley rolled her eyes as chuckled “Yep, it’s 6 o’clock. You know, you wouldn’t be as tired if you didn’t spend half the night mindlessly scrolling on that damned thing!”

Lucy groaned dramatically, embodying the teenager she so longed to be, quickly flicking through her notifications with beary eyes before casing the phone aside and sinking back into her pillows. Within seconds her eyes were closed again.

“LUCY! Honestly, I’ve been shouting you for 20 minutes, if you don’t drag yourself out from under that duvet I’m leaving you there until it’s time to go, and you’ll be going into school however you are - PJ’s, bedhead and all!”

That did it, she immediately sat bolt upright and quickly threw off the bedclothes, the thought of appearing in public dressed in her pastel pink fluffy pyjamas and with unstraightened hair too awful to contemplate. The shame.

“Ok mum, I’m up, I’m up.”

Whilst Lesley made breakfast, Lucy prepared herself for the day. Showering, dressing in her uniform of slim charcoal trousers, shirt and blazer - no skirt here, altogether too ‘babyish’ she’d proclaimed when they’d gone shopping at the start of the year because it was the same colour and style as the ‘little kids’ wore at primary school - and meticulously cleansing her skin before applying salon standard makeup which added at least a couple of years to her appearance. Finally satisfied that nobody could mistake her for anything other than a mature teen, she grabbed her bag and joined her mum in the kitchen for a quick bite to eat and a large glass of her favourite fresh orange juice before heading out to meet her friends on the walk to school

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“Hey Luce!”

“Hiya Becky” Lucy replied, smiling as she crossed the road to join her friends. “Hey Emily”

Lucy and Becky had known each other since nursery, becoming fast friends over the years. They’d both met Emily when they started in year 7 together at The Grange school with the trio now pretty much joined at the hip, and both girls looking up to Lucy with her perceived maturity and aire of being more ‘grown up’ than them and the rest of their peers, although they were more than a little envious of how she breezed through school without needing to make much of an effort. Truth be told, if she’d been brought up in a country which allowed grade skipping, Lucy would almost certainly have advanced a year or two ahead such was her natural talent and intelligence.

“Love your makeup today Lucy, I honestly don’t know how you find the time to make yourself look so perfect all the time.”

Lucy positively glowed. “Ahh, thanks Em! Gotta look my best, y’know. It’s bad enough they’ve got us trussed up in these dorky uniforms, but at least I can make the rest of me look good.”

The three girls gossiped and giggled freely as they made their way across the housing estate to their school, arriving with just enough time to catch up with their other friends before the bell sounded for the start of the first lesson. Lucy didn’t know it yet, but today was not going to be a good day.