Funkypinkhightop: thanks for being the only one who reviewed the last
chapter!! I guess that's my fault..for not updating in nearly a month. I'm
glad you like this story.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
My eyes opened involuntarily, but were immediently shut again to block out the glare from the newly risen sun. I had just woken up from the single deepest sleep of my life. I turned away from the window, and pried open my eyelids. Wow, I actually woke up before the alarm. Has that ever happened before? Not that I can recall.
I had an emotional hangover from the night before, all the thoughts and memory flooded my head. Gordo, my mother, the ring, everything suddenly cluttered my mind and battled for the forefront of my thoughts. I wanted nothing more than to just forget everything that had happened, it was just too much emotion to deal with.
I couldn't think about it when I'm sleeping, I guess, but it was much too late to go back to sleep. I'd just end up being ten thousand times more tired. I could here my mom clinking around in the kitchen trying to get breakfast ready without making enough noise to wake up my sisters, a task she pulled off four mornings out of five.
I realized, for the first time, that I had never helped my mother make breakfast. I was perfectly capable, but the thought just never occurred to me. I felt like a selfish ungrateful brat as a wave of guilt flushed over me. I had an excess of time this morning, I decided that I better help her.
I made the short walk down the stares, anticipating the look on her face when I asked her if there was anything I could do. Would she be annoyed that I was interrupting her normal routine? Would she keel over in tears of joy that I was finally acting like I appreciated all I did for her? Would she even care?
Before I knew it I was standing in the kitchen doorway, my mother hadn't noticed me yet. She was extremely preoccupied with trying to find the right pan to cook eggs with, it was like she was in her own little world that I was too nervous to break.
"Um, mom, is there anything I can do, to, you know, help you. With breakfast, that is." Ha, I did have the courage to get her attention.
I couldn't quite decode the look on her face, it was a mixture of reactions. But there was relief, oddly, definitely relief. "Oh sure, Mija! You can start by reminding me where the pan I always fry eggs in is at."
The ghost of last nights conversation hung in the air as I reminded her she had placed it in the top cupboard, but we didn't speak much except to ask petty questions and for her to assign me my next task.
I did what I was advised in an emotionless daze, not quite ready to know what emotion I was feeling at the moment. I knew someone would have to mention what happened last night, but I prayed that it wouldn't be me. I knew in my heart it would end up being my duty, but can't I live in denial for just a little while?
Eventually we finished, and we started transporting our creations to the table. Everything seemed different for some reason, maybe because now I knew the story of how everything gets on my plate, the plate that I don't touch every morning. A pang of guilt rushes through me, she waked up every morning to cook for this family and I don't even notice.
We sit down, and then I know I'm going to have to say something. She's done enough for me already. "So mom, did you really mean everything you said last night?" I said it slowly, as if giving my self a chance to decide whether I wanted to go on in-between each word.
She stared my straight in the eyes, as if I had just brought up something as random as the ideals of Chinese socialism. 'Well, honey, um." Suddenly a blood-curling scream cut through the anticipation and tension, one of my siblings had woken up. My mother jumped from the table and I was left all alone in the dining room, left to contemplate everything.
Suddenly I felt angry, angry at my sister for interrupting the conversation, angry at my mom for responding to her crying, though I completely understood how a mother needs to respond to her babies cry.
I quickly finished what was left on my plate and carried out my normal routine, as if nothing had ever happened. It felt so odd, it was like the first ordinary thing that had happened in twenty four hours.
I sat at the bus stop, hoping and praying with every cell in my body that by some unearthly amount of luck on my part that arsonists had burned down the school overnight and now school was cancelled until they rebuilt it, but my hopes were squashed when I heard the bus come rolling down the road to greet me, fully loaded with Gordos and Lizzies alike.
The bus stopped in front of me and the doors swung upon. I held my breath as I walked the wimpy three steps up to the isle. The same familiar faces that had been there every morning since I could remember where staring back at me. I took a deep breath and walked down the isle, past Claire and Kate's sneers, past Larry doing who knows what disgusting thing, and even past Lizzie and Gordos spot. I could see them looking up at me with faces of half sympathy and faces of half "it was bound to happen sometime" thoughts. I didn't sit next to them, I didn't talk to them, I walked by and took an empty seat towards the back, all to myself. Suddenly it was like I was seeing everyone from a whole new light, I had never seen them from this angle before. It seemed strange, like I had never seen this side if them before. I could make out much more of Kate and Claire's conversation, while I would never again have any idea what Larry was talking about.
I had not even noticed we had stopped again before a girl I had never seen before sat next to me. She was African-American, with curly black hair I was instantaneously jealous of, but in a good way.
"Hi, I'm Melinda. Do you mind if I sit here?" Her voice was polite, but not fake. The best combination, I decided right then and there.
"Sure, I don't mind at all." I turned back to staring out the window again, getting lost in my own thoughts. Deciding, then and there, that I was going to be all right.
A/N: That's the end of the story!! It was shorter than I'd planned, but I was getting a craving to concentrate on some other stories. I hope you liked it! Read and Review.
My eyes opened involuntarily, but were immediently shut again to block out the glare from the newly risen sun. I had just woken up from the single deepest sleep of my life. I turned away from the window, and pried open my eyelids. Wow, I actually woke up before the alarm. Has that ever happened before? Not that I can recall.
I had an emotional hangover from the night before, all the thoughts and memory flooded my head. Gordo, my mother, the ring, everything suddenly cluttered my mind and battled for the forefront of my thoughts. I wanted nothing more than to just forget everything that had happened, it was just too much emotion to deal with.
I couldn't think about it when I'm sleeping, I guess, but it was much too late to go back to sleep. I'd just end up being ten thousand times more tired. I could here my mom clinking around in the kitchen trying to get breakfast ready without making enough noise to wake up my sisters, a task she pulled off four mornings out of five.
I realized, for the first time, that I had never helped my mother make breakfast. I was perfectly capable, but the thought just never occurred to me. I felt like a selfish ungrateful brat as a wave of guilt flushed over me. I had an excess of time this morning, I decided that I better help her.
I made the short walk down the stares, anticipating the look on her face when I asked her if there was anything I could do. Would she be annoyed that I was interrupting her normal routine? Would she keel over in tears of joy that I was finally acting like I appreciated all I did for her? Would she even care?
Before I knew it I was standing in the kitchen doorway, my mother hadn't noticed me yet. She was extremely preoccupied with trying to find the right pan to cook eggs with, it was like she was in her own little world that I was too nervous to break.
"Um, mom, is there anything I can do, to, you know, help you. With breakfast, that is." Ha, I did have the courage to get her attention.
I couldn't quite decode the look on her face, it was a mixture of reactions. But there was relief, oddly, definitely relief. "Oh sure, Mija! You can start by reminding me where the pan I always fry eggs in is at."
The ghost of last nights conversation hung in the air as I reminded her she had placed it in the top cupboard, but we didn't speak much except to ask petty questions and for her to assign me my next task.
I did what I was advised in an emotionless daze, not quite ready to know what emotion I was feeling at the moment. I knew someone would have to mention what happened last night, but I prayed that it wouldn't be me. I knew in my heart it would end up being my duty, but can't I live in denial for just a little while?
Eventually we finished, and we started transporting our creations to the table. Everything seemed different for some reason, maybe because now I knew the story of how everything gets on my plate, the plate that I don't touch every morning. A pang of guilt rushes through me, she waked up every morning to cook for this family and I don't even notice.
We sit down, and then I know I'm going to have to say something. She's done enough for me already. "So mom, did you really mean everything you said last night?" I said it slowly, as if giving my self a chance to decide whether I wanted to go on in-between each word.
She stared my straight in the eyes, as if I had just brought up something as random as the ideals of Chinese socialism. 'Well, honey, um." Suddenly a blood-curling scream cut through the anticipation and tension, one of my siblings had woken up. My mother jumped from the table and I was left all alone in the dining room, left to contemplate everything.
Suddenly I felt angry, angry at my sister for interrupting the conversation, angry at my mom for responding to her crying, though I completely understood how a mother needs to respond to her babies cry.
I quickly finished what was left on my plate and carried out my normal routine, as if nothing had ever happened. It felt so odd, it was like the first ordinary thing that had happened in twenty four hours.
I sat at the bus stop, hoping and praying with every cell in my body that by some unearthly amount of luck on my part that arsonists had burned down the school overnight and now school was cancelled until they rebuilt it, but my hopes were squashed when I heard the bus come rolling down the road to greet me, fully loaded with Gordos and Lizzies alike.
The bus stopped in front of me and the doors swung upon. I held my breath as I walked the wimpy three steps up to the isle. The same familiar faces that had been there every morning since I could remember where staring back at me. I took a deep breath and walked down the isle, past Claire and Kate's sneers, past Larry doing who knows what disgusting thing, and even past Lizzie and Gordos spot. I could see them looking up at me with faces of half sympathy and faces of half "it was bound to happen sometime" thoughts. I didn't sit next to them, I didn't talk to them, I walked by and took an empty seat towards the back, all to myself. Suddenly it was like I was seeing everyone from a whole new light, I had never seen them from this angle before. It seemed strange, like I had never seen this side if them before. I could make out much more of Kate and Claire's conversation, while I would never again have any idea what Larry was talking about.
I had not even noticed we had stopped again before a girl I had never seen before sat next to me. She was African-American, with curly black hair I was instantaneously jealous of, but in a good way.
"Hi, I'm Melinda. Do you mind if I sit here?" Her voice was polite, but not fake. The best combination, I decided right then and there.
"Sure, I don't mind at all." I turned back to staring out the window again, getting lost in my own thoughts. Deciding, then and there, that I was going to be all right.
A/N: That's the end of the story!! It was shorter than I'd planned, but I was getting a craving to concentrate on some other stories. I hope you liked it! Read and Review.
