Chapter 2: New Friends
The next morning, Tanya just sat in front of the dining table, resting her head on the table and mentally going over the facts of a rapidly growing problem.
Something is wrong with her mother Tia, and she knows it. Lately, her mother has always been sitting outside her house every night for the past two weeks now. When she first began showing signs of that odd behaviour, Tanya usually shakes it off, thinking it's just some slight problem happening to mother, that's all. But after she kept noticing that she has been doing that every night, Tanya knows something's not right. Something was wrong with Tia. And that's something Tanya can't ignore anymore.
But what was her mother's problem?
"What's wrong with you, mom? What's wrong?" Tanya whispered to herself.
"Tanya, you're gonna be late!" Tia's voice yelled from the living room. Tanya went back to reality, then turned to the clock. It's almost 8 o'clock!
"Oh no! Gotta go!" Tanya said as she quickly got up from her chair and dashes into the living room where she sees Tia standing next to the door holding her school bag.
"Tanya? Where were you? You do know your school starts in 45 minutes, right?" Tia scolded.
"I know, sorry mom."
"Aw, come here." Tia laughed as she hugged her daughter. "Just don't do that again, okay?"
"Okay." Tanya said with a grin as she and Tia let go of their embrace. Tia then hands over Tanya her school bag and Tanya quickly carries it on her back and rushes out of the house. "Bye mom!"
"Bye! Come back by 2, you hear me?" Tia yelled back.
"Okay!" Tia couldn't help but smile as she watches Tanya runs out of her house and makes her way to school. After Tanya is out of her sight, she closes the door and sits back onto her armchair. But soon, her smile dropped and she sighs sadly. She then lays back on her armchair and closes her eyes. And soon, a vision came into her mind.
Flashback:
Two figures were sitting together on a bench in a park at Genesis Stadium. One of the figures was Tia, in her youth where back then, she has short blonde hair, wears an orange jacket, yellow and green long-sleeved shirt and blue pants. The other figure was a familiar figure. He has dark skin, long black hair in dreadlocks and wears a green coat and white pants. His name was Rocket. They both watched the beautiful sunset and feel the comfortable winds blowing them.
"Rocket, wouldn't it be great if we could see this everyday?" Tia asked happily with a sigh.
"Yeah, we never get to see something like this everyday back in Akillian." Rocket replied. He smiled as he felt Tia placed her hand on his.
Tia turned her head to Rocket as she said, "Rocket, you're the one I want to be with forever and I would like to be your wife one day."
Rocket turned to her as he said with smile. "Now that would be something." They then both close their eyes and kissed passionately.
End of Flashback
Tia soon woke up back to reality after that vision. She groans as she rubs her forehead. Damn it, not another one of those visions.
'Why? Why can't I just stop thinking about him?!' She thought in frustration. But soon, she sighed in defeat and whispered, "Oh Rocket, why do things have to be this way?"
Tanya was walking her way to school. So far so good, she hopes nothing would happen on her way to school.
"Hey girls, it's Tanya." A voice said from behind. Tanya groans as she recognised the voice. The voice came from Cindy, her biggest nemesis. She and a group of girls with her and following her from behind as Tanya walks on.
"Hey Tanya, did your mother gave you a nice kiss on your cheek before you leave your house?" Cindy teased. The others girls giggled madly. Tanya narrows her eyes as she fastens her pace in an attempt to get away.
"What's the matter? You need to rush to the toilet or something?" Cindy continues teasing, the others continued their laughter. As Cindy kept insulting, Tanya sniffled a bit and tries her best not to cry.
"Aww…what's the matter, you're gonna cry? Come on baby! Cry!" Cindy hissed. Tanya continues walking faster, however, she failed to notice that was a rock on the way and she accidentally tripped over it, causing her to fell onto the ground flat, much to Cindy and her cronies' delight. As their prey lay where she fell, ready to die of embarrassment, the gang broke out hooting with laughter.
"Heeheehee!" Cindy sniggered in delight. "What's the matter? Your school bag is too heavy for you now, you-"
THWACK!!
"OW!" Cindy shrieked as a well-aimed snowball hits on the side of her head. Before her cronies can turned to see where it came from, more snow balls rained down on them, making the group erupt with wails ans screams.
"OUCH!"
"Who threw that? OW!"
"YEOW! My ear!"
"Hey, quit it! Quit it! OW! Knock it off!"
"OW! OW! Stop it!"
Despite their desperate pleas for mercy, the mysterious attacker's barrage continued on, swiftly throwing every snowball on the group. "Let's get out of here!" Cindy screamed.
She and her group quickly retreat in embarrassment, making Tanya watched them in astonishment. A few seconds later, someone cried worriedly from nearby, "Oh jeez, are you okay?"
Tanya jerked her head back around just in time to watch her rescuer step out from behind the cluster of bushes from where he had launched his bold assault. After taking a moment to wipe his hands on his pants and to brush a few leaves and snow from his hair, he hastily jogged over to where Tanya still lay sprawled upon the ground.
"Hey, are you okay?" The boy repeated in concern. Tanya only nodded as the boy helped her back into her feet. Tanya examined the boy. He has dark skin, short blonde hair and wears a brown jacket, blue shirt and dark green pants.
"Yeah…yeah, I think I'm okay…" Tanya said. "Th-th…th-thank you for-"
"It was nothing." The boy replied calmly. "My father always says bullies are usually just a bunch of wimps anyway. He just says you have to show them who's boss, Tanya, and-"
"Huh?" Tanya said in confusion. How does this boy knows her name?
"Tanya…that's your name, isn't it?" The boy asked as he cocked a brow.
"Oh…oh!" Tanya gasped. "That's right, you're in my…my…uh…oh, my math class, aren't you? Yeah! You're…you're…your name's-"
"Hey hey calm down, calm down." The boy said to Tanya. Tanya took a deep breath and sighed.
"Yeah. Thanks." Tanya said. The boy just smile as he put a hand on Tanya's shoulder.
"Just call me Rodney…"
END OF CHAPTER
Ryo: Looks like Tanya has made a new friend. What will happen next? Stay tune and read and review!
