This story is formally known as "A Long Road to Happiness". It wasn't ever really a permenant title, unlike this one!! Her Wings.
DISCLAIMER! I do not now nor have I ever owned any characters of Lord of the Rings. No matter how hard I wish I did! Wahhh!
"Don't forget, class, you have a report due next Friday!" reminded Mrs. Kikiloko, the tenth grade biology teacher as the class rushed out. The last bell had just rung, and the students were eager to get out of the building and into the crisp autumn air. It was the kind of day that made kids giddy with fresh blood and a liveliness for living. Except for one. Laura just perfered to dream about a life that she could live. She was a dreamer really, not a doer.
Laura trudged out of the school building, one of the last. One of her only friends, Richard, was at the bottom of the stairs, waiting.
"Geez, you take forever! What are you reading this time?" he demanded, in a teasing kind of way. He slung his backpack on his shoulders, ignoring the adoring looks that girls sent him from the playground.
"Just another fiction/action-adventure thing. You wouldn't like it." Laura answered, quickly putting her book back into her backpack. She quickly descended the stairs and they walked out of the schoolyard, chatting about this, that and the other.
Many at that small school assumed that they were boyfriend/girlfriend, but everyone knew better than to say it to their faces. Richard was a black-belt in many disciplines of martial arts, and he was teaching Laura the secrets. Maria already had had her butt kicked by Laura on more than one occasion. That never stopped Maria though. Laura was thinking that she would really have to put the hurting on her to leave her alone. But Maria was a force of her own.
"Hey, want a root beer or something?" asked Richard as they passed the Sonic on the corner next to the school. Laura shook her head. She had to resist the temptation that the Sonic presented. It was hard. Cheap treats that were actually tasty.
"Naaw...gotta get home before mom gets worried. She doesn't understand why I don't take my bike, like my brothers."
"It's because you detest anything popular and anything your brothers do!" said Richard, laughing. "Alright, I'm stopping, but I'll see ya at my house at six!"
Laura bowed. "Right, Richard sensei!" He almost fell over with laughing. Laura waved, and dashed down the road, running almost the two miles back to her house. As she neared the driveway, she slowed to a walk. Her house was set back into the woods. She liked walking up the path slowly, for you never knew when a fox would dash out in front of you or when chipmunks with chubby cheeks would run up to you, begging for the remains of your sandwich.
When she finally got up to the porch, she took a deep breath. She slowly opened the door, and entered her house.
"There you are! Where the h--- have you been?" shouted her mother, going into her normal tirade, not stopping to take a breath or let Laura answer. "Do you know what time it is? Do you know that your brothers were here at least a half-hour ago?"
Laura ignored her and went up the stairs to her room. As she passed her step-sister's room, she heard the loud rap music thumping against the door, as if begging to get out and terrorize her. She quickly passed and entered her room, which was silent except for the soft thump of the beat of the drums.
She collapsed on her bed, grateful for the two hours she had before she had to get over to Richard's house, cause from six to seven-thirty, he wasn't her friend, he was her coach. He could get plenty scary when he was in martial art regalia. She quickly opened her math notebook, and finished the worksheet that she had done halfway. Then she completed her bio worksheet. Then she went to the computer room, kicked out one of her two brothers, and proof-read her essay portion of her bio project, printed it out, and then finished up her current events essay for English.
Then she raced into room, threw her essays onto her bed, and started getting ready for her training hour-and-a-half. She put on her favorite workout pants (black with purple stripes down the sides), and her favorite workout shirt, purple and green tie-dyed thing she made at camp.
Then she ran out the door, hopped on her brother's bike and went downtown, to Richard's house in the other side of the Hills. She paused and looked at the mall that crowned the Downtown. People came from all the small towns surrounding the Hills just to be considered somewhat cool from visiting the Mall. She shook her head as she remembered the grand forest that had previously crowned those hills. (The fancy mall that had been erected two years ago.) She took off again, desperate not to be late.
She watched the TV screen, it was almost time...there! Richard had flipped her without any apparent effort. They were watching their fights that they had done that day on the TV. (Richard's dad had lent him the video recorder.)
"See?" asked Richard, spraying chow mien all over the table. "It's really a simple hold. Then you use your opponents force against him. Or in this case her."
Laura winced as she watched herself hit the mat. "That one hurt," she said, rubbing her elbow. She stuffed another piece of chicken smothered in duck sauce into her mouth.
"I don't know how you stand that duck sauce. It's so gross." Richard commented, gagging. He speared his beef and dunked it into the soy sauce at hand.
"Yeah right, soy sauce is the disgusting stuff. Besides, you use way too much." Laura said around the forkful of rice that she had stuffed into her mouth almost right after the pork. Richard just shook his head, and watched the film come to an end. He sighed and sipped at his Coke. Laura rolled her eyes at his indifference.
"Whatever...hey, want to see what's on TV?" asked Laura, hoping against hope that there was an Lord of the Rings movie on. Richard started flipping channels. Suddenly, she saw the familiar figure of a Ring-Wraith, then it was gone, replaced by a basketball game.
"No, no!" she shouted, grabbing the remote and flipping back to the movie. She then sat on the remote.
"Geez...do we always-?" Richard started.
"YES!" Laura finished. She squeaked as the Ring-Wraith stabbed Frodo, and he screamed in agony. Richard paid more attention as Strider jumped into the scene, wielding a torch and sword.
"YES!" he shouted as Strider threw the torch into the last Ring-Wraith, and he disappeared over the side, screaming.
"See, you like it too!" said Laura, throwing a pillow at him. He ducked, grabbed it and threw it back at her. It hit her full in the face. "That's it!" she shouted, grabbing it and chasing him around the table, occasionally hitting him.
"You evil little snot!" she yelled, tripping and falling into the couch. Richard pounced on her and held her there, demanding that she apologize for hitting him with the throw pillow. She loudly protested. Laughing evilly, he grabbed his soy sauce and drizzled it on her hair, only to be hit with duck sauce in the mouth.
Laura came home, coated with soy sauce and rice. It was near nine-o-clock. Her mother would be furious. When she finally pulled up to the door, all was quiet. Weird...she thought, dumping the bike in the garage and tip-toeing past her family, who were all in the living room, cheering for that American Idol show. Why they liked it, she didn't know.
She managed to take a shower before her mother came up and saw her covered in soy sauce. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. She pulled at her short hair, wondering if it was long enough to put into Elvish braids before tomorrow. She decided that it wasn't and went into her bedroom, ready to hit the hay.
She yawned, putting out the only lamp in her room, and getting into bed. The same ol', same ol'. If only her life could change...if only...
Little did she know as she drifted off into dreamless slumber, that her life would be changing...FOR THE BETTER!