This one-shot was inspired by the song “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield. I don’t consider this a songfic, but this song did create the story, and I encourage you all to listen to it.
This is dedicated to skenef (aka Awesome Skedan) because she has been so nice about reading most of my fics, and doesn’t mind me spamming her story with crazy letters to her characters telling them exactly what I think of them. And also to Melissa, who somehow manages to read everything I write and always has something nice to say. Thank you guys for being two of the coolest people I’ve met here!
I also feel like I should tell you that I consider this the most different thing I’ve ever written. I’m not sure how I feel about it. But it’s not for me to decide on whether or not it’s good, it’s your call. So here you are…
Pocketful of Sunshine
Danielle walked slowly to the secret place she claimed as her own. Though she loved this area, she only came when she needed to get her mind off things. It was quiet and serene, with the creek flowing slowly and the birds chirping merrily. Her blonde hair was in a loose ponytail as she walked, and the breeze slowly knocked it out of its hold, the band landing on the ground. Running a hand through her now freed hair, she found the small boulder she liked to sit on and let her thoughts flow wherever they chose.
Predictably, they started with the event that led her to her spot. Hugging her knees to her chest, her mind supplied the images and sound that forced her to re-live her current nightmare.
She should have seen it coming, but she had no idea that someone could be that evil, that heartless. Though she’d never been on friendly terms with Melissa, preferring to socialize with her few friends, she’d never gotten the impression that Melissa hated her as much as she realized she did now.
“Dani, hey!” Melissa called, stopping Danielle in her tracks on her way to her last class of the day. Only her best friend called her Dani, but she wasn’t petty enough to make a big deal of it.
“Yeah?” Danielle replied, confused. Melissa wasn’t the type to start a conversation, preferring people to come talk to her. She was popular and never had a problem with finding something to do on weekends. Danielle noticed the small circle that was forming around the two of them and started to get anxious. She wondered what was going on.
“Nice shoes, are they new?” Melissa asked, pointing out Danielle’s new Converse. They were the limited edition Chuck Taylor Stars, and all Danielle asked for on her birthday. Money was low in the house, and it was a surprise to her when she actually got the shoes she wanted plus a little bit of money in her bank account as well.
“Yeah, I just got them. For my birthday.” The group around the two girls was growing, and Danielle noticed her two friends in the crowd, looking nervous and worried for her.
It was then that she glanced down at Melissa’s shoes, and blushed when she realized they had the same ones. When she looked up at Melissa, she found an evil smirk in place of the smile that was there a moment ago.
“See, I can’t let you go around having the same shoe as myself, can I?” Melissa said in a sickly sweet voice that made Danielle’s hair stand on end. And before she could answer Melissa was handed a slushie by one of her crew and threw it at Danielle’s feet. Laughing, she said over her shoulder, “Sorry about your shoes!” before walking away.
Tears filling her blue eyes, she turned and ran down the hall and to her car. She didn’t care that she was skipping her last class, she just needed to get out of that hallway and away from the jeering faces and laughing people that didn’t care that her birthday present was ruined by a girl who could afford to have anything she wanted.
The bright red stain wouldn’t come off of the canvas, and she hadn’t told her parents that their present was now useless. She’d come to her place instead, to try to clear her mind and think of a way to tell them without it being her fault. She knew it wasn’t, but they never saw it her way. She was sure they’d think it was her way to show how ungrateful she was and she’d get punished.
Danielle watched the sun slowly set, glistening over the creek and heard the birds chirp less and less. Finally, when it was almost completely dark, Danielle decided to make her way home. She was almost completely out of the woods when she saw something glinting on the ground. Walking toward it, she bent down and picked it up. She was surprised to find it was a cd. Turning it over to read the front, she read “Jonas Brothers.” It wasn’t very scratched, and seemed playable, so Danielle shoved it in her pocket and decided to listen to it when she got home.
Maybe it would help her get over the frustration she felt with herself and the way life was currently treating her.
--
Placing the cd in her old, reliable cd player, Danielle wasn’t expecting the songs that played to affect her as much as they did. From the opening chords of “S.O.S.” to the final riffs of “Kids of the Future,” every song held something new and promising for her. Though she didn’t know the names of the tracks, she related to every single one. She laughed and danced and forgot about her troubles, and was seriously sorry when the cd came to an end.
She put it on repeat and grew excited at the prospect of learning all the lyrics when a knock on her bedroom door interrupted her. A knot of fear made itself evident in her chest as she opened it to find her mother standing there, angry.
Without asking permission, she walked in and looked around in Danielle’s room for something. She seemed to find it when she knelt on the floor and picked up the shoes. Danielle blushed, as she hadn’t had a chance to tell them the news, but someone else must have.
“So, while you were out doing whatever the whole afternoon, the phone was ringing off the hook. Ashley and Megan wouldn’t stop calling and I finally asked what was up. And they told me your shoes were ruined.”
Danielle opened her mouth to speak, but her mother continued, clearly not wanting to end her rant just yet.
“They tell me that someone named Melissa came up to you and threw a slushie at your shoes, ruining them. Care to tell me what you did to make this girl so angry she did that?”
Tears threatened to spill from Danielle’s eyes as she stammered, “I didn’t do anything!”
Her mom pursed her lips, clearly not believing her, but threw the shoes at Danielle, one of them bouncing off her cheek and landing on the floor next to the other one. Her cheek burned with pain, but she knew better than to cry out. Her mom left her then, and Danielle finally let the tears flow.
That night she cried herself to sleep, the Jonas Brothers crooning through her stereo.
--
Weeks later, Danielle was studied on everything Jonas. She found the song she connected to the most was “Goodnight and Goodbye.” To her it symbolized everything she wanted to do with her current life. She wanted nothing more than to leave the crazy place she was in and never return.
Since the shoe incident, Melissa and her crew hounded Danielle every chance they got, and though Ashley and Megan were there for her, she felt alone. It was only when she was sitting by her creek, the Jonas Brothers playing through her cd player, that she felt secure. They were her escape. Even in a life as full of pain and sadness, she felt as if they cared and through them she felt as if she could do anything.
She imagined her life if the Jonas Brothers knew of her pain. What they’d do to stop it. She imagined Kevin, her hero, come to save her. Putting Melissa in her place, and making her parents understand that sometimes she was the innocent victim. How he’d hold her when she’d cry, and wouldn’t think she was stupid for wanting to escape. He’d help her do just that. Steal her away in the night and tell her he loved her at the creek, and kissing her gently.
She wanted nothing more than for that to be real, but she accepted the fact it would never happen. It was a good fantasy, and it helped her get through her rough days. It helped her be herself. With the Jonas Brothers in her pocket, she felt as if every day was a better day. That nobody could control her, that she could be herself. No bad times, it was a love that was all hers. They were her pocketful of sunshine in a dreary and overcast life.
And as she looked to the sky, and heard the birds chirping over the music, she was grateful she found the cd lying on the ground that day. She’d never be broken, she’d be alright.
Don't worry, awesome skedan, I know it sucks. That's why I'm writing you a fluffy romantical one to apologize for the suckfest that is this one-shot.
