Hurricane Heels by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative Fiction, science fiction, manga, superheroes, magical girls, diversity in SFF, LGBTQIA, POC fiction, POC authors, sff
Publisher: Book Smugglers Publishing

Since we met, I’d been jealous of the girls. Jealous of how easily they juggled the magical girl stuff. Jealous of how each other’s friendship came so easily. It had always been difficult, but college anxiety just made it worse. Sure, it had been floating around ever since freshman year—since even middle school, if I was to be honest—but it was junior year when things started to get extra stressful, extra competitive.

So of course I got pissed when mom sighed as I took my camera for a spin.

“What? What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong. I mean. Sometimes I just wonder how things would’ve been different if you’d stuck with violin, or maybe even track, instead.”

“What’s wrong with photography?”

Akari sensed the mood and vanished into our room. Smart of her.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” mom said, turning to wiper imaginary dust off the counter. “Go ahead, Aiko. It’s only Saturday anyway.”

The SATs were three weeks away. I’d spent most of the past weekends reviewing. I was burnt out, but I really, really didn’t want another fight—in my own home, too—so I said: “Look, I’m not going to do it, okay? I’m not applying for Film. There’s no way I’m actually doing that—you know this. I’m applying to Bio everywhere.” Just like you wanted, I didn’t add. I could go after a minor, maybe, or if I got a good enough scholarship I might be able to scrape together enough to do an MFA after—if I still really wanted it, if the job market had slightly better odds.

“Don’t raise your voice at me, Aiko,” mom said. She was tired too, but I was too upset on my own behalf to care. Why did it always have to end up like this? “I just have to wonder. Your friends, and you, you all hang out so much together, but how do they… Ria’s taking all AP classes, and Alex is so good at math. And Natalie has danced professionally, right?”

“She was a former gymnast. And yeah, she dances, now.”

“Right,” mom said. The wrinkles surrounding her eyes were especially prominent, paired with her frown. “There’s really nothing wrong with photography, I just wish you’d… submit your photos somewhere. Or at least volunteer to do things with it.”

Win an award or something. Get them published in National Geographic or at least Vogue. Whatever you can do—your friends are probably going to good colleges, and then they’ll move on to good careers. I don’t want you to be the only one who fails.

I knew all of that. But it wasn’t why I did photography. And I didn’t want to make that my reason. I’d already given up so many other things for other people.

So I just said, “Yeah, I’ll try and look for a contest or something.” It was submissive rather than combative, and the best I could manage. I’d never really gotten along with my mother. Akari and I had a “hey have you seen my jacket” type of relationship, which was fine, although

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