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"This is all your fault" Vanessa hissed at me as we sat there on the plastic chairs outside of the office waiting for the principal to call us in.
I completely ignored her. I'm too tired to continue bantering with her. If I knew this was how the day would end up, I would have just faked being sick to avoid school.
"Vanessa Lim" the principal called out for her to come in and she complied, but before walking in she kindly stuck up her middle finger at me. Real mature. So I stuck my tongue out at her.
After the wicked witch left, I sighed slumping in my chair. "Well, there goes my chances into a good university". I thought looking at the ground as I felt tears well up in my eyes. Once Mama finds out there's no telling what she will do to me.
How could I let things get this far? This is the worst day of my life.
I was too caught up in my self-pity that I didn't notice someone taking a seat beside me. "Is this seat taken?" I heard a familiar voice, instantly taking me out of my thoughts as I could feel my heart skip a beat thinking of who it could be.
I looked up and my suspicions were right but now that our eyes met, I was so caught off guard I started choking on my spit.
I cough like a choking duck as I try to get the logged spit out of my throat. "Hey, are you alright" Alvaro asked, lightly patting my back.
"Holy Moly" was all my brain can think as if I was practically dying from my own saliva.
Alvaro is touching ME!!!. This is not a drill.
Alvaro Freaking Gutierrez voluntarily has his perfect beautiful hand on MY back. This is the best day of my life.
Despite the discomfort in my throat, I try regaining my composure to not further embarrass myself in front of him. I have to act cool around him so he doesn't think I'm a loser...but what do cool people even say?
"Nah, dude. I'm totally super okay man...rock on bro" I nervously blurt out, Completing it with my tongue stuck out and the rock and roll hand sign.
He looked at me as if wondering if I was clinically insane. I don't blame him.
That was all my brain could conjure up when thinking of what "cool people" say. I internally cringed at myself thinking of how pathetic I probably sounded. But I still have to keep pretending. Luckily he didn't dwell too much on it and just went quiet.
"So...what are you in for?" I boldly asked still trying to act cool.
I don't even know if I'm doing it right.
Was that a stupid question to ask?
Did I offend him?
He probably thinks I'm dumb and hates me now
What if he starts a rumor about me and then everyone hates me
If everyone hates me, they might gang up to get me expelled.
If I get expelled, Mom's gonna kick me out-
"I punched a dude" His nonchalant voice brought me back to reality. Huh..he actually answered me.
"I punched a dude too" I blurted out without thinking, making him look at me weirdly. Did I say something wrong? "Um...I punched a girl actually..." I awkwardly corrected myself as if that was gonna make anything better.
Ugh, I'm an idiot, if he didn't think I'm weird now he's definitely gonna think I'm weird now. But to my surprise he started laughing "Really? you punched someone?" his laughter grew "you look too much like a loser to hurt anyone".
I just awkwardly laughed along even though he insulted me. He insulted ME. The fact that in a world with more than eight billion people, he decided to specifically call ME a loser. I consider that a win. He practically wants to marry me.
"Mia Ingrid" my name was called by the principal as Vanessa was walking out.
Oh fuc- fire truck. Whatever, let's just get this over with. Before I could stand up to go in, I was stopped. "Hey wait" Alvaro called out "You're kinda interesting. We should hang out sometime". I just nodded and quickly ran inside the office.
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As soon as the door slammed shut, I screeched as loud as I could, not caring about the weird looks I was getting from the vice principal behind the office desks.
"Are you oka-" I interrupted her mid-sentence "Alvaro freaking Gutierrez wants to hang out with me!!!!" not able to contain my excitement, I excitedly shouted at the vice principal who was still staring at me like I'm a runaway insane asylum patient. "He thinks I'm chill!!!" I yell followed by more dolphin screeching. I couldn't believe it. First, he touched me, then I had an actual conversation with him and now he wants to go on a date????. I could already picture our wedding and the three kids we're going to have. Am I dreaming?
I got the answer to that real quick, because if I was dreaming then I wouldn't be sitting at a desk in the office while the principal shouts at me
"I'm very disappointed in you Miss. Ingrid. You were one of our very few normally functioning students. I had high hopes for you, but now you turn around and pick a fight with Miss Lim" Mrs. Arlook shook her head to show her disapproval "What would your mother say about this". I just sat there silently, staring at the floor.
"You're a senior Mia. This is the year where everything Counts. With your grades, You were on track to go to a great university towards a respectable job like your mother's...but now you ruined it"
She continued with her lecturing but long story short, I was suspended.
But just because I was suspended didn't mean I was free from work though. So there I was on public transit heading to work at Tim Hortons
As usual, the bus was pretty crowded due to all the students heading home. I was lucky to even find a seat.
Being too tired to carry my head's weight and wanting to be alone. I laid my head on the glass window and stared out of it as if I were in some kind of melodramatic music video. It was a long bus ride anyway so maybe I could just close my eyes for a bit...
Never mind. The constant rattling of the bus made it impossible for anyone to sleep. It felt like my head was being repeatedly bashed by the window. I'm probably going to get a headache from this but whatever, these are the least of my problems.
I wonder if Mama found out about my suspension yet. Kinda hope she did already so I wouldn't have to tell her myself. But either way I'm getting my butt whooped when I get home... Maybe I should ask to work overtime.
I let out a deep sigh as I slumped further into my chair. "This is all Vanessa's fault" I mumbled, kicking the seat in front of me in frustration. If that wicked witch of the West didn't open her mouth to speak about my father, then maybe I wouldn't have whooped her butt.
I mean the audacity of that girl. She knew it was a sensitive subject. She was there when I cried and asked her to keep it a secret. Then she turns around and uses his passing to taunt me in front of the whole class. I know we aren't friends anymore, but that's low, even for her.
I kicked the seat once more.
I was so angry I just wanted to hit someone...but I decided against it. Getting suspended is enough for one day. I'm not trying to end up in jail. So I just sat there trying to calm myself down. Nothing good ever comes from being angry. I already learned that today.
"Happy thoughts" I repeated to myself "think happy thoughts". Come on Mia, think about puppies, Rainbows, and throwing Vanessa in a landfill.
Ugh. This wasn't working. My so-called happy thoughts kept being interrupted by the witch. I know I shouldn't have let her stupid words affect me this much...but I don't know, I Guess It's a wound that hasn't fully healed yet.
It doesn't help that Mama won't even tell me what actually happened to him. During the time of his passing, she kept up the story that he hanged himself. That's even what I told Vanessa.
But then She started changing the story. First, he hanged himself, then she said it was a car accident that killed him, next was a drug overdose, with the latest reason being he died of a heart attack. I know all of the stories she came up with were just lies, especially when they didn't add up and contradicted her other claims. That's why I stopped asking her about him altogether.
I love my mother, and she's a great woman, but sometimes I can't help but feel like she's hiding something. I just wish she'd tell me the truth. The only thing I do know for sure is that he died in the night when I was asleep and right after his death, mama suddenly told me we were moving from America to Canada without any reason. And once again, if I try to ask her about it now, I never get a direct explanation.
Though I'm more curious about the death of my father. It was like one minute he was there, then the next he wasn't. I didn't even get to say goodbye.
I was around five when he died, so I don't have a lot of memories of him, but I still miss him. Sometimes I wonder how my life would be if he was still alive. Mama says he was a good man, so I think things would be better for me and her. Then she wouldn't have to work such long hours at the lab to provide for us or be so lonely all the time. I try to be there for her, but I don't think that's enough.
I would see my friends and other people hang out with their dads, bragging about what they got them or all the cool places they took them to. They make it sound so nice to have one, but All I can do is hold on to the hazy memories and pictures I have of him.
"Next stop: Hudson's Street". The automatic speaker on the bus said. That was my stop. I got up to get off.
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~At Tim Hortons~
After putting on my apron I headed to the counter where the rest of my coworkers were. I purposely only take afternoon shifts, not only because of school, but it's also way less busy here. Unlike the mornings when it's practically filled to the brim with people trying to get the morning coffees before work
So we usually just lounged around, especially when Linda, our cranky manager, was out. Today was no different
"The wicked witch of the west strikes again and it's worse than ever!" I said, whining and dramatically throwing my arms around Farahana's shoulders. Being my work best friend who I told all my school dreams to, she knew who I was talking about as soon as I said "The witch".
She simply laughed, throwing an end of her chiffon light blue Hijab back preparing to listen to whatever long, crazy story I had to tell.
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