Another Town, Another Shoebox
Author: berryblue_girl
Title: Another Town, Another Shoebox
Rating: G
Pairing/s: None
Character/s: Allison and Chris Argent
Summary: She honestly thought he would keep his promise this time.
Warnings: Angst, Pre-Teen Wolf
Word Count: 683
Prompt: Photographs
Author's Notes: ritten for fullmoon_ficlet's Photographs challenge. As a person who moved around a lot as a kid, I know all too well how Allison would feel. I hope y'all enjoy!
She honestly thought he would keep his promise this time. He had seemed so sincere when he apologized for the constant moving messing up her schooling. This was the last time, honey. I promise. And she believed him, despite the scrapbook of broken promises past. She made friends, made plans becaus he promised. But in the end, he let her down. Her room was a mess of packing supplies, and her heart was a mess of hurt feelings. She finished packing her books and sealed the box, labeling it properly. She looked at her desk and felt another onslaught of tears. That was the one area she had been avoiding, the place with the strongest concentration of memories. Dragging her feet, she sat in her chair and looked at her cork board. When she moved to the next town, the items on it would be all that she had left of this place. She pulled the lid of the shoebox sitting on her desk and began pulling things off the board.
The first item to come off was her worn school schedule. On the back was a small collection of names and phone numbers she had gathered that first day.
Next was a collection of ticket stubs from different movies. Then there was strips of photo booth sessions with two girls that fast had became her friends. Her favorite strip was from the night the local movie theater hosted a Rocky Horror Picture Show night. Mary, the fashionista of their trio, designed the costumes and make-up looks. Felicia, always the first one to do something just for the shock value, dressed as Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Mary went as Columbia and Allison as Magenta. She remembered winning the costume contest that night.
Most of the cork board was covered with pictures of the three of them. Her favorite shot of them dressed as the Powerpuff Girls for Halloween, sleeping over at Mary's and holding an impromptu fashion show, eating at the Chinese place in town and using the chopsticks as walrus teeth, and all the little places and times in between. The girls were planning a going away party for her, but she wasn't looking forward to it. She didn't want to leave. Handling each picture with care, she packed them away in the the shoebox and wrote the town name on the lid.
There was a knock at her door, and she turned to see her dad standing there. She put on her best smile and he asked, "Almost finished packing?"
She nodded. "Just packing away the last of the knick knacks."
"Good," he replied. "The truck will be here tomorrow, and then it's off to Beacon Hills."
"Sounds nice," she commented, caressing her shoebox and wondering what the Beacon Hills box will look like when she has to leave there.
Her dad came to kneel in front of her said softly, "I know you don't want to leave, but believe me when I say it's for the best."
You always say that, Allison thought bitterly but said aloud, "I understand. I know we have to move around because of your job."
He put a hand on one of her knees and said, "I do feel bad for uprooting you so much. I grew up moving around the country, and I told myself when I had a family, I wouldn't do that to my family."
Allison fought the urge to snort, instead thinking vindictively Nice, you can't even keep promises you make to yourself. Clearing her throat of the invisible rage building in her throat, she said tightly, "Old habits die hard, I guess."
Her dad smiled. "I wish I had been so understanding of my parents when I was your age. I gave them hell constantly. I guess I got blessed with you."
Allison leaned forward to hug him, squeezing her eyes shut to hide her devastation. Yeah, she was the perfect daughter. She hid how she felt from him, so that he wouldn't have to feel too guilty for constantly breaking his word. She squeezed his neck and mumbled, "Love you, Daddy."