Blog Post #5 – My Story – Hollywood Dreamer (Part 1)

Hollywood Dreamer (Part 1)

By Julie Wang

Tic tok, tic tok, tic tok. The last few minutes of school seemed to drag by as Delilah sat at her desk, impatiently waiting for the bell to ring. It was finally Friday, and Delilah couldn’t wait to get home where she could relax on her bed and play video games. Lost in her thoughts, Delilah hadn’t realized the bell had rung until she looked up and saw her classmates standing up and heading towards the exit. In a quick attempt to stuff her belongings into her backpack, Delilah said a quick “au revoir” to her teacher before dashing out the classroom.

The frosty wind of winter swept past Delilah and she shivered. She was nearly home, and it was the thought of lying in her warm and cozy bed that forced her legs to keep moving until she reached the familiar ground of her house. Once inside, Delilah crept slowly up the stairs and made it into her bedroom without being spotted by anyone. She dropped her backpack onto the floor of her messy room, threw her jacket on the couch. and headed for the bed with her laptop under one arm. Delilah curled up and logged into her favourite video game of all time, Roblox.

It hadn’t even been five minutes before footsteps were heard approaching Delilah’s bedroom, followed by two rapid knocks on the door. Delilah scrambled up from her lying position and shut her laptop just as her mother opened the door and strolled in. She did not look happy at all. Without hesitating, her mother began, “Delilah, I just got off the phone with Mrs. Saunders. She told me you have a lot of missing assignments and you currently have a failing grade in her class. Is this true?” Delilah found it very difficult to maintain eye contact with her mother during these conversations, so she stared at the ground and muttered a “yes.” Her mother sighed heartily, but clear sarcasm and anger was heard underneath it all. “Come here,” Delilah’s mother motioned her daughter towards the bed and the two of them sat down.

Delilah knew what was going to happen next. Her mother was going to lecture her about submitting her homework on time, prioritizing herself so she actually gets the assignments completed, and getting into the best university she can possibly get into. Sure enough, Delilah’s mother launched into a full-on lecture about the importance of studies, which Delilah had heard countless times before. However, she was way ahead of her mother and didn’t even bother paying attention to a word she said. Instead, she daydreamed about her biggest idols in life. Her heroes and the biggest inspirations she grew up watching on television. Delilah daydreamed about her favourite actresses and her celebrity crushes whom she had a crush on since kindergarten. She also thought about her favourite singers and pop stars, how she longed to be able to afford one of their concert tickets, and how she hoped to be up one stage one day, performing and singing her heart out to all her beloved fans.

Delilah’s fantasy world in her mind vanished and she snapped back to reality as the sound of her mother whipping out her phone alerted her. “Alright Delilah, the deadline to complete all your missing assignments is this weekend. If you pass the line, you’re dead.” Delilah’s mother chuckled to herself, then grew serious again. “But seriously, your behaviour was unacceptable. I don’t want to receive any more emails from your teachers about your missing work. Do you understand?” Delilah nodded and looked down at her fidgeting hands as her mother gave her one last stern look and left the room.

A single tear slid down Delilah’s cheek. She hated this situation so much, every aspect of it. Most of all, the ninth grader despised how her mother was so quick to assume things, without even giving her a chance to explain herself. But what could she do? She was just a helpless little girl who had big dreams. Someday, Delilah thought, someday I will be a star.

Saturday and Sunday turned out to be two of the longest days of Delilah’s life. She worked tirelessly through all her assignments one by one, making sure each one was done with great effort. On Sunday evening, Delilah held the long list of homework assignments in her hand, scanning over the assignments that have been checked off and completed. She was overjoyed about her accomplishment.

Before Delilah went to bed that night, she looked out her window and saw the thousands of stars dotting the night sky. It looked so peaceful and undisturbed out there. Her ming began to wander. She thought about what it would feel like to be a tree, swaying in the wind without a single worry in the world. She wondered about how cool it would be to be a house dog with a loving family to run home to each night. As a crow landed in the yard, she imagined being the crow and flying high above the sky and going anywhere she wanted to go. Most of all, Delilah thought about how far she had come in life. Her transition from elementary school to middle school was not easy. Going from middle school to high school was even harder. This ninth grader hadn’t made any friends over the past few months at her new school, and she found she couldn’t manage to do well enough to get an A in any of her classes. Life, in general, was failing her. Little did she know, this was only the beginning.