My Little Rebel

Lexi's P.O.V. 3 years ago (Lexi 13, Max 14) "Higher, Max! Push me as high as you can!" I scream out, giggling as I swing backwards, before Max grabs onto my back at the last second and takes off running, pushing me with all of his speed high into the air, running underneath me at the last second as he lets my swing go. I stare up at the clouds, feeling like a bird, or a butterfly, or a superhero for a few seconds, before the swing falls backwards and pulls me back down to earth. I smile so wide that my cheeks hurt. A loud squeal leaves my chest, as my stomach twists into ticklish knots from falling so fast. Max is standing there staring at me with his hands shoved into his grass-stained jeans, the corners of his lips pulling up into a smile on his sweaty face. He waits patiently for me to swing slowly back and forth, before I finally come to a complete stop. I can tell by the way he's looking at me that he's bored and wants to do something else, but he never says anything, ever, because he always does what I want to do. However, he's been pushing me on the swing for a good fifteen minutes, and I feel guilty that he hasn't complained once, even though I know he's probably tired of using his strength to make me go as high as he can. I jump off of the swing, and my converse covered feet land in the dust below me. Max stares at me as I tug my blue jean shorts down a little, since they were riding up on the swing, and I notice that he swallows hard while watching me. I brush my tangled brown hair out of my face and tuck the few strands that have fallen from my ponytail behind my ear. Max watches my every move, and it makes me nervous, but I also feel butterflies in my stomach at the same time. Max clears his throat and walks towards me, shoving his hands further into his jean pockets, "Come on, Lexi. I want to go to the skate park and hang out with the guys." I stare at him for a long moment, before crossing my arms over my chest, "Promise you won't leave me to flirt with Chloe Jefferson, like you did last time?" Max chews on the inside of his cheek, before quickly looking away from me in embarrassment, letting me know what his answer is going to be before he even says it, "Chloe said that if I met her at the skate park today, that she'd be my girlfriend. That means she'll be my first kiss, and I've really been wanting to kiss her for a long time." The butterflies in my stomach fall into the pit of it as soon as I hear it, and I suddenly clench my jaw at the sudden disappointment I'm feeling, before quickly trying to hide my reaction. It's not like I like Max or anything, or at least I don't think I do. He's my best friend though, and definitely deserves someone better as a girlfriend than prissy, Chloe Jefferson. Max stares at me as he waits for my answer, making me let out a little huff and throw my hands out to the side, "Fine! Only because it was your birthday two days ago, though! We have to go get my skateboard from the house first too, before we go. I will not be sitting around like all the rest of the girls, just drinking lemonade and getting a sunburn for no good reason! I want to have fun and skate too!" Max's lopsided grin tugs at the corner of his lips, making a perfect little dimple appear on his cheek, "Yeah, yeah. I know how you are about your skateboard. Always such a tomboy." he says, before he lifts his hand and ruffles my hair, making it even more of a tangled mess. We walk the block back to our houses, and once we reach our driveways, Max lets me know that he's going to go wash the dirt and sweat off of him and meet me in my driveway in fifteen minutes. I agree, before walking into my house and running up the stairs two at a time. I walk into my room and grab my skateboard from my closet, and the old hat that I found in my mom's old clothes from high school off of my dresser, staring at the writing on the front, before putting it on top of my head. Beautiful Disaster, whatever the heck that's supposed to mean. I walk over to the mirror, standing there staring at myself for a lot longer than I usually do. My hair is a complete and tangled mess, I have dirt on my knees and hands from playing at the park, freckles are scattered all over my nose, and my legs look like a chicken's. Why can't I look like Chloe Jefferson? She's always so beautiful and put together. Her hair is always brushed and curled, her clothes are always clean, she always has on Lip Smackers lip-gloss wherever she goes, and she always smells like strawberries. Me? I smell like the outside and grass every single second of the day. A soft knock taps on my door, before my mom pushes it open and smiles at me. Tears brim in my eyes as I look at her. She's beautiful too. Long straight black hair, beautiful blue eyes that look like the ocean in the sunlight, clear skin that looks like a soft tan cashmere sweater. She always smells good, too, like honeysuckle or some kind of flower. I sniffle as I look away from her, quickly rubbing the tears away from my eyes. When I look back in the mirror, I notice that the dirt on my hands mixed with the tears on my face, and now my face is dirty too, causing me to cry even more. "Hey, what's wrong, my beautiful girl?" my mom gently asks as she walks over to me. "I always look so ugly and dirty, like a boy. I always smell sweaty and stinky, like I've been playing outside all day. I just want to be pretty and smell good like Chloe Jefferson, so Max would rather hang out with me instead of that prissy girl." I whine out, before throwing myself onto my bed dramatically. My mom lets out a small chuckle, before sitting on the bed beside me and rubbing my back gently, "Lexi, you're beautiful just the way you are." "Easy for you to say! You've always been beautiful! And you're my mom, you're supposed to think that!" I cry out. I hear my mom let out a small huff, before she gets up from the bed and walks out of the door. I stare at the door, hoping that she doesn't come back, because I don't like crying in front of her. However, my wish to be left alone goes unanswered as she walks back in only a minute later, carrying a few things in her arms. My mom pulls a small chair in front of the mirror, and tells me to sit down in it, before placing all the items onto my bed beside her. When I sit in the chair, she gently grabs onto my shoulders and leans down beside my face, smiling at me in the mirror reflecting back at us, "I'm going to only tell you this only once, Lexi, and I really want you to understand and comprehend what I'm saying to you. What makes a person beautiful, is how they treat others and how they carry themselves. You're beautiful on the outside, don't get me wrong, but what really makes you beautiful is what's inside of your heart. You have had a fire inside of you since the day you were born that has never burned out, and I will not let it be burned out today because you aren't confident in yourself. Don't ever let anyone make you feel less, sweetheart. You are one of the most amazing people I've ever met, and it's not just because I'm your mom, it's because it's the truth. I would've definitely hung out with you back in my day if we were the same age." she says to me, before giving me a kiss on the cheek and standing back up, "Besides, all it takes is a little self-care. Do you think Mommy always looked like this?" "Yes!" I yell out as tears trickle down my cheeks again. My mom chuckles at me and shakes her head, "The answer is no, you can even ask your dad. I was always the tomboy hanging out with the guys; one of the boys. I was always dirty, and my hair was always a mess too. Just like you though, I had a fire within me and didn't really care what others thought of me, and you shouldn't either. If it'll make you feel better about yourself though, I'll show you what to do. You have to promise me that you're doing this for yourself though, and not because Max is paying attention to some other girl." I nod my head at her without saying anything, earning a smile from my mom. She tells me to go hop in the shower and to make it quick, so without a second thought, I run to my shower and jump in, quickly scrubbing away all the dirt and grime from the park. Once I'm done, I wrap a towel around me and walk into my room, only to see that she has plugged a curling iron in. She quickly and carefully brushes through my hair, drying it as fast as she can. After that, she leaves me sitting on the stool, before walking over to my dresser to pull out an actual grown-up bra that I didn't even know was in there. My eyes go wide at the sight, and she lets out a small chuckle. "It's time, Lex. You're turning into a young lady now. It won't be long before you start to look more like me in that department." she says as she hands me the training bra and points towards the bathroom. I walk into the bathroom to put on the bra, fidgeting with the bra clasps for a good three minutes to figure out how it works, before finally getting it on. Once I'm done, I walk back into my bedroom with my towel wrapped around me again. My mom smiles at me as she lays new, clean clothes out on my bed. I walk over to my bed and look down. It's at this moment that I'm happy my mom and I have the same sense of style. A loose-fitting Justin Bieber tee-shirt and black high-waisted cutoff jean shorts lay on the bed in front of me, and I smile down at them. "I went shopping for you the other day. I was keeping it a surprise for your birthday in five months, but I can figure out another present later." she says, "Hurry up and change, I'm not done with you yet." I nod my head at her and quickly change into the new clothes that she's bought me, before scurrying back over to the stool and sitting in front of her. She parts my long brown hair down the middle and pulls it into two loose-fitting pigtails that hang just below my ears, before curling the ends of them into soft waves. She spritzes a small amount of hairspray on them to make the curls stay in place, the flowery scent taking over my sense of smell as she does. So, this is why my mom and Chloe Jefferson always smell so good. I smile up at her as she smiles down at me, "Feel a little better yet?" I nod my head at her as she reaches into a small plastic bag, before pulling out a small tube of some kind of sunscreen. She squirts a small drop in her hand, and I instantly notice that it's a light brown color. She walks up in front of me and rubs it gently between the tips of her fingers, before rubbing it all over my face. "It's a tinted moisturizer. It's not makeup, because I don't think you need it, but it'll give just a little glow to your skin. Plus, it has sunscreen in it, which is good since you're outside all the time." she says, before walking back over to the bag again. What she pulls out of the bag next makes me widen my eyes and pull my lips into a giant grin. Cherry flavored Lip Smackers lip-gloss. "Thought you'd like it. I heard all of the girls that are you age wear this now-a-days." she says, before squeezing it out of the tube and coating my dry lips with it, "Don't just glob it on, because it only takes a little bit, okay? You can just keep it in your pocket. If you lose it, I have more." "Thanks, mom." I tell her as I gently grab the lip-gloss from her and look at it like it's a million dollars she's just handed me. "I'm still not done, Lexi. Because you're becoming a young woman, your body is going to start going through changes..." she says, but before she can finish, I cut her off. "UGH! MOM! NO!" I tell her. She chuckles at me and shakes her head, "It's not the talk, Lexi. I've already had that talk with you. We WILL have it again later on in life though, and I hope that you can come to me when the time comes. What I'm talking about, is your hormones changing." she tells me, before pulling a different type of deodorant than I normally use out of a bag and a small bottle of perfume. I stare at her in embarrassment, my cheeks suddenly becoming warm, but she only smiles and walks over to me, "Just trust me. Okay, Lexi? This deodorant is an anti-perspirant, which keeps you from sweating too much. Only spray two sprays of the perfume on your neck, not any more than that. Both of them smell like flowers. Not too overbearing, but just enough to keep you smelling fresh all day." I nod my head at her and do as she says. Once I'm done, she walks up to me and grabs the hem of my oversized Justin Bieber tee-shirt, before tying it in a knot right above the button of my jeans. She then reaches over to the hat laying on the bed, the hat that used to be hers, and holds it in her hands as she stares down at it. "You know, this hat brought me a lot of good luck. I wore it the day that your dad and I started mending our friendship, right before we started dating each other. Maybe it'll be your good luck hat too, kiddo." she says, before gently placing it on my head backwards, "Always wear it backwards, though. It's how all the cool people, like us, wear it." she says, before winking at me and turning me around to look at myself in the mirror. I stare at myself, amazed at what I'm seeing. Somehow, with only a few small tweaks, my mom has turned me from a crazy-looking kid, into a pretty young lady. It's almost like she worked magic within a matter of ten minutes. My mom leans down and places a small kiss on my cheek, before squeezing my shoulders. "Max should be waiting outside for you now. Chloe Jefferson doesn't stand a chance, kiddo." she says, before winking at me and walking out of my room. I walk over to my window and look out into the driveway. Sure enough, Max is standing there with his hands in his pockets, waiting patiently like he always does. The butterflies in my stomach have reappeared, and I'm suddenly nervous to go outside and face him, looking like I do now. I take a deep breath and wipe my sweaty palms onto the front of my jean shorts, before putting on my converse and grabbing my skateboard. It's now or never.