A/N: Yay! New chapter! I didn't like writing this one for some reason :/ Well, read and review! Enjoy!
Ever since the assault that happened to me, I've been skipping school. Almost a week to be exact. I was afraid that if I went back, Nori and her girls would jump me again, everyday until they get bored of me, until graduation, or when I'm dead. To be honest, none of those options sound good to me.
Also, on some nights, when my Mom is working at the hospital and while I'm sleeping, Nori and her girls (I suspect it's them) vandalize my house with eggs, tomatoes, and shaving cream. What a lovely thing to wake up to in the morning and all the fun of cleaning it up the whole day before Mom sees it.
I wish I could call the police, but what would I say to them? I don't have any evidence proving that it was them who did the vandalism. It could be just be kids from the neighborhood pulling pranks. And what if they plan something more disastrous than egging my house if the police do find out it's them? And would the police even do anything? Would they just be let off with a warning? I run all the questions and possibilities through my head and in the end, the outcome will still suck.
Aside from the vandalism of my house, I've asked Emi to bring all my homework assignments to me after school and to pick them up for me next morning before school starts. Everday, she asks me when I'll get better and I would lie to her saying, "Soon. Just need to rest a little bit more."
Finally, the school called my Mom and asked how I was doing and when I'll be coming back. Confused, my Mom said that I'm well and I have been going to school. After a few minutes of arguing on the phone, the school told my Mom that they have my attendance records and for the past week I haven't gone to school, but completed my school work in a timely manner.
Mom finally confronts me at dinner.
"I don't get it, Serenity. Why are you pretending to be sick?"
"What difference does it make? I finish all my homework and I'm keeping my grades up. I can miss a couple of days."
"There's a big difference, Serenity. When you're actually sick, the school will excuse your absences. But since you're not sick and technically been skipping school, they might charge you with truancy. Now, starting tomorrow I want you to go back to school please. The school will call me and let me know if you attended or not."
"Mom, I can't go back to school." I whined.
"Why not?"
"You wouldn't understand."
"Oh, I wouldn't understand being a teenage girl? Enlighten me then."
I didn't know what to say to her. I can't tell her what between me and Nori.
"Well, then. If you can't give me an explanation, I expect you to go to school tomorrow."
"Mom, I'm eighteen. I can make my own decisions." I say with an attitude.
Mom replies back, "You may be eighteen, but when you're living under my house, you follow my rules. So follow this rule: starting Monday, you're going back to school. Got it?"
I let out a frustrasted sigh. "Whatever."
"Why are you acting like this, Serenity? Is it your time of the month? Are you riding the cotton pony?"
"NO! My period has nothing to do with this. Can you not treat me like I'm a child?"
This is probably the first time Mom and I have really had an argument, a small and silly one, but an argument no less, and it's all because of a lie I started.
I excuse myself from the table and start walking upstairs to go to my room, but stop midway, turning around to speak to Mom again.
"Mom, you said that since I'm living under your house, I have to follow your rules right? Well, what if I moved out? Will you accept and support my decision?"
The look on my Mom's face was a mix between shock and heartbroken.
"If that what you decide, then I'll support you no matter what. You're my daughter and I love you, but please think things over. You might be saying these things because you're upset right now."
Mom gets up from the table, picks up the dishes, takes them to the sink and begins washing them. I continue my walk upstairs to my room and close the door.
I take a couple of breaths to calm myself down or else I'd start crying and I've done enough crying this whole week to flood Domino City. I take off my shirt and pajamas bottoms that I've been lounging in all day, standing in just my undergarments. I walk over to my full-length mirror and look at my body.
The scratches that Nori and her girls gave me are almost gone. They look like straight, even stretch marks. The cigarette burns, however, are still apparent and the size of a chocolate chip. I'm just hoping everything heals fast so no one, especially Kaiba, notices them. I run my fingers over the scratches and burn marks, feeling the low bumpiness and ridges.
I decided to lay down on my bed and check my phone and laptop. No texts, calls, or emails from him. I keep on wondering if I should reach out to him. I just want to be able to read his messages over and over, hear his voice, feel his touch. But would that make me a nuisance? He is on a business trip after all and what if I called him when he's in the middle of negotiating a deal? Ra, I must learn to not be so dependent on Kaiba, but I miss him so much.
I close my eyes, trying to not think about the pain from my wounds and the pain of being apart from Kaiba.
Saturday, I met up with Emi at a coffee shop so we can catch up. To my surprise, Kumiko was also with Emi, waiting for me.
"Hey, Serenity! We've missed you at school! It's been so boring at lunch without you!" Kumiko said, hugging me while Emi smiled and nodded agreeingly.
Even though I've only known Kumiko for a couple of days and through unfortunate circumstances, I'm glad Emi and I are attempting to befriend Kumiko.
We enter a small coffee shop and sit at a booth. I sit on one side by myself and Emi and Kumiko sit together on the other side. We all order the same thing: iced caramel macchiato, with soy milk and chocolate croissant for each of us.
After the waiter, brought our coffee and croissant, Emi and Kumiko were telling me what happened in school. About classes, homework, tests, who's dating whom, fashion, make-up. Normal things high school girls talked about. That's when I chimed in and asked the obvious question.
"Have you guys seen or heard anything from Nori?" I ask.
They both looked at each other.
"Well," Emi started. "When you were gone, she'd come up to me and start saying how you're scared to come back to school because of what she did to you. I brushed her off, but I did want to ask if she did do anything to you?'
I semi-lied. "The day when I declined the two of you to accompany me to my house, she did push me around a bit. That's why I'm taking a break from school, so I could rest from my injuries."
"What did she do?!" Emi asks, almost yelling.
The tone of her question made me jump in my seat in surprise. I lied again. "She didn't do much to me. Things got a little physical, that's all."
"You're lying," Emi said. "If it was just a little catfight, I'd understand that and believe you. But it has to be something big if it's causing you to skip school."
I can never seem to hide anything from Emi. She can always see right through me.
"It's no big deal, really." I said and quickly changing the subject. "I'm also looking for my own place. Seeing what it's like to live by myself."
"What?! Really?!" Kumiko asks, excitedly.
I nod and gave a half smile.
"Why?" Emi asks.
"I feel like Mom and I aren't getting along lately. So maybe a little distance will help with out mother-daughter relationship. I have some money saved up from working and if I find a decently priced apartment, I can pay rent with what I'm getting paid at Akira's and still have some money left over to put into savings." I didn't want to tell them the truth that I also wanted to continue a little bit more of school skipping and hoped that Nori would stop messing with the house if she knew I didn't live there anymore.
Emi and Kumiko kept asking questions regarding what's going on with my Mom and I. I try my best to not reveal the truth and quickly change the subject whenever I can.
After we finished our coffee and croissants, Emi and Kumiko were hitting up the mall for a sale. I politely declined and told them I needed to get a headstart on looking for an apartment. We said our good-byes and they wished me luck on the apartment hunting.
I walked block after block, going into different apartment buildings asking for availability and pricing. Some places were full and told me that they'd have a few apartments available in a month or two. Some told me how much rent would be, and once I found out the rent was out of my range, I bolted out of there!
I let out a disappointed sigh, for my apartment hunting failure. As I'm walking, I noticed a couple of blocks away, the orphanage I volunteer at and realized I haven't visited in awhile, so I decided to stop by and see how the kids are doing.
I enter and greet the caretaker and the other volunteers. I go out in the back to where the playground is, where the kids are playing, screaming and laughing.
A little boy notices me, and runs towards me at full speed.
"Serenity!" He squeals.
I pick him up and hug him tightly. All the other children come running as well and I pick them up and hug each of them, telling them I missed them.
"Serenity?" a male voice called out.
I turned out.
"Mokuba?"
"Yay! It's Mokuba! He's here!" The children yelled and cheered.
"Hey, guys! I'll play with you guys in a minute. Can you give me and Serenity a couple of minutes to talk?"
The kids nodded and ran off in different directions towards the playground. Mokuba led the way to a bench under a tree.
"Hey. So how have you been?" He asked.
"Um... good?" I replied.
"Why doesn't that sounds believable?"
I let out a light laugh because, in truth, I'm not fine.
"How about you? What are you doing here?" I ask.
"I came to drop off a check for the orphanage. Seto and I have a soft spot in our hearts for orphanages since we've been in one. So we do our best to help out financially and we sometimes visit the kids."
I'm trying to imagine Kaiba playing with the children and it brings a smile to my face.
"Have you heard from Kaiba?" I ask. "I know he's on his business trip so he might be busy or it might be difficult to get a hold of him."
"Yeah, I talk to him everyday since he's been in Dubai. Granted we only talk for five minutes everyday, but at least we keep in touch to make sure we're both doing well. How about you?"
A little bit of hurt and jealousy hits me, but how can I be upset? They're brothers after all. They're bound to talk. "Um, we haven't talked as much as you guys have. Actually, it's way less than that."
I don't know why, but I could feel my eyes begin to water and I begin to take deep breaths to control my spontaneous emotions that just overtook me.
"Serenity, are you okay?" Mokuba asks.
I turn to look at him to tell him I'm okay, but as soon as I blinked, the tears falls and slides down my cheeks.
"Whoa! What's wrong?" Mokua asks, genuinely sounding concerned for me.
That's when I tell him everything. Everything that I couldn't tell my Mom or my friends. About how Kumiko was hired to slap me, how I slapped Nori, how Nori assaulted me, how I was skipping school because I was scared of Nori, how our house gets vandalized, how Mom and I got into an argument over my skipping school, how I wanted to move out and get my own place just so I can try and stop Nori from messing with my house, but also needing some space from my Mom.
"Wow, I'm really sorry you had to go through that. Why don't you tell Seto what you told me? I'm sure once you explain everything, he'll come back on the next flight home."
I shook my head. "No, I don't want him to drop his work just to take care of me. I can't explain it and it probably doesn't make sense, but I don't want to depend on him, but I also need him at the same time."
"I know what you mean." Mokuba said.
"Mokuba, please promise me you won't say anything to Kaiba. Promise me, please."
Mokuba looked me in the eyes with seriousness. "I promise. I won't say anything to him."
More tears start pouring out. "Thank you, Mokuba."
We sit in silence for a few minutes.
"What are you going to do about school since you're scared to go?" He asks.
"I don't know." I reply, sadly.
"Why don't you transfer schools?"
"Transfer?"
"Yeah, that way she won't have her sights and mess with you all day."
I scoff. "Sounds nice, but where would I go? Besides Domino City High School, the other nearest high school is thirty minutes away and that's from my house. What if I find an apartment that's an hour away from the school? That'd be two hours of commute everyday. Thanks for suggesting the idea though."
"Why don't you transfer to my school?"
"Your school?"
"Yeah, Domino City Private School is only twenty minutes away from your house. No one, not even Nori, could touch you in there. You have to be a student to even take a step onto the premises. And if you're adamant about finding an apartment, maybe you can find one near the school?"
"But Mokuba, I can't afford private school. I have to go to a public school if I want to be able to afford my own apartment."
"Hmm, why don't you move into our house?"
"What?! Mokuba, I couldn't!"
"Why not? I know Seto wouldn't have a problem with it. I can cover your school costs and you can live in our house rent free." He says, smiling.
"Mokuba, I appreciate your help, but I don't want you or Kaiba to keep paying everything for me. I'm not used to letting people doing things like this for me all the time. Please understand that."
"I understand." He said. "How about this? How about you move in, but you pay for your school costs? I know the cost of going to Domino City Private School is the same as paying rent, maybe even a little bit higher, for an apartment per month. And just think of moving in with us, sort of like being in school housing that we'll be providing for you to go to private school. If you transfer right now, you can probably start attending the following Monday. Come on, Serenity. What do you say?"
The way Mokuba thought it out and explained it, the idea seemed very, well, ideal.
"I don't know, Mokuba." I reply, still a bit uncertain.
"Well, if you're still unsure. Take a couple of days to think about it." He says.
I didn't have to take a couple of days to think about it. Because I knew this was possibly the only way I could live a normal life again and to somewhat protect Mom and the house if I left home. Because I was the target, not her. I knew she'd be distraught and upset once I told her, but she did say she'd support me. I know I'd have to pray to Ra for forgiveness for being a little bit selfish right now.
"I can have all my stuff packed and ready by tomorrow evening."
A/N: Until next chapter, readers! xoxo
