On the road to the forest, we were listening to one radio, then to another -- unable to stay on one station. Alex turned out to be very picky, so I just skipped the fact that I had my favorite songs on a Flash drive in the car.Our trip took about forty-five minutes out of town. I was thankful to Linda because she found a topic suitable for my date's taste, so we could chat in the car. We talked about strange things that people in Europe were doing. Like they had a lot of walking places. You had to leave your car and go on foot to reach many destinations. "That is just normal for them." Linda explained."Do you know they make you pay for water in the restaurants?" Alex asked, and we just laughed.The truth was that our maid slash cook was Bulgarian. She seemed pretty cool to me. Her dishes were amazing, she was very polite and hardworking too. Sometimes she told me stories about her country, but that was pretty much all I knew about Europe -- her tales.I had never been to Europe, so I
We were staring at each other. He was grinning, and I was testing the strength of my will to resist him."What?" I asked, feeling the heat warming my cheeks."Nothing." He smiled even wider, and I turned to look at the waterfall again.It wasn't high, but the giant red rock it was falling from, was at least twenty meters high, separating the water to fall like many small rivers. It was crashing in the pond under the bridge, creating tiny waves, and causing the pink and white lilies to slightly dance. The edges of the pool were arranged with oval-shaped red rocks. Tall willows were dipping their green leaves into the clear water.It was working. A sense of serenity settled in my heart, making me dreamy, and waking my creative side."I will paint this place one day." I whispered with glassy eyes."Okay, shall we keep going? I want to look at the view from up there with you in my arms." Alex stated, like I was his or something.He was really getting on my nerves, jealous or not! I guessed
When I turned around, it was hard to understand what was going on. Thomas and I immediately made our way to the bench, where Gregory and Alex were holding Tina on both sides, helping her to walk. Titi had a frightened look on her face, panic clear in her voice, as she stood there not knowing what to do."What happened?" I yelled, but it was futile.The boys just helped Tina to sit down on the bench, answering neither mine nor bimbo's questions. My eyes moved to my step-sister for answers. Her always perfectly combed hair was messy and had dry grass tangled near her ear. Dirt was covering her red cheeks. With a concentration on her every move, she turned her left leg from left to right and let out a small scream, cutting it short by biting her bottom lip."What the hell happened?!" I repeated in panic."She was somewhere near the bench, but somehow she fell." Titi started, waving her hands around. "I don't… I have no idea how, but she managed to grab something. Oh my God, it is so high
Startled, I turned around with my mouth open in surprise. He was a tall guy, wearing clothes a couple sizes larger for him, hat with visor turned to his back. His shoulders were bare, revealing the muscles of his arms.Was he talking to me?“You better take that back!” Alex pushed closed the door of my car behind him, as he walked to stand next to me.“You are not scaring me, mama’s boy,” the guy spat back.“I am entitled to my opinion. It’s not like you created those songs.” I bravely stated, but my hands were beginning to shake.“Is this scaring you then?” Thomas appeared with a bat in his hands.This was a nightmare, right? Someone, please wake me up!Two other boys spawned from the bumping car, walking to stand on either side of the rude guy. All three of them were dressed alike and had a sassy attitude. Were they high or something? I don’t think what I said was so offensive. Maybe they were looking for a fight, and I was just here?“You sure have a lot of boys around your finger,”
Father placed his big hand on Thomas's back, to give him a gentle push through the front door. Not that the famous boy needed it. He invited himself into my life with his sassy attitude and charming smile. If I knew how things would have changed after I sat with that blond guy outside the dean's office, maybe I would have waited just a little more before going there.Did I really want that? For him to never meet me? I doubted that, but I would never admit it even just to myself."I will go and tell Ivalina to cook something for all of us." Father said, leaving me with Thomas in the living room.I looked around for Steven or Limping Tina, but it was quiet and empty like even the furniture was gone. It was just us two. I scratched my forehead, wondering how to end the awkward moment. I was supposed to be under the shower now or in bed, flushing away this day from my mind."I didn't know you were rich." Thomas spoke first, making a circle around himself, all the while inspecting his surr
Annabeth Andrews was talking to the class, her eyes were on mine, while her lips were slightly up at the corners, revealing a dazzling smile. So she knew I was standing here?Her hair was dyed black and its volume amazed me. It fell a little under her shoulders, curled at the edges. Big golden earrings in the shape of a triangle and circle were in her ears. A long, multicolor flower dress was complimenting her tall, skinny figure, and comfortable, bright red flats were making her mobile. Her lively eyes were exactly like mine, or mine were like hers. I swallowed, a futile try to remove the dryness from my throat.She started the lesson and acted like any other teacher, not even saying some sort of greeting to her daughter. Suddenly, I felt nauseous. I closed my notebook, grabbed my stuff, pushed them in my backpack, and stormed out of the room, ignoring the stares of my classmates.I started running in the hall, and did not stop until I reached the schoolyard. Not sure which way to go
Climbing down the stairs was my mother, my new teacher, the person who was responsible for half of the bitterness in my character. The woman who felt comfortable leaving her two-years-old baby girl and traveling the world.The same one who was standing before me now, when I no longer had the need for her hugs and kisses when I fell and hit my knees, or her advice when my body changed into the shape of a young woman. Her job to do my hair in the morning and pick my clothes for school was now in Tina’s hands. I had Linda to share and comfort me in hard moments, like this one. I had my art to express myself. I was now able to take care of myself.I didn’t need her anymore. Right?“Can you two leave us alone, please?” Annabeth asked Thomas and my best friend, and I glued Linda’s hand to mine.Thomas just stared at our new teacher and then at me, also not leaving. Good boy.“They are not leaving us alone, mostly because there is no us.” I said through my teeth. “We are leaving!”I got up
“Did I forget my homework or something?” I said sarcastically to no one in particular, while leaning against the door, not wanting to go any closer to my new teacher.“Alice, I need to talk to you. I kno-” Annabeth started, but I raised my hand to cut her off.“Sorry, school hours are over,” I said, pretending that I was leaving.I knew if my father was involved in her being inside our house, I wasn’t going to be left alone until she said what she wanted. I just had to show them how uninterested I was in this whole ‘mommy is back’ thing.I didn’t hate her, or at least I did not hate her until she showed up like this at my class today. Many times I imagined how she would return and show up at our doorstep. We would talk on the porch, and she would tell me some giant reason why she was not able to visit me sooner. Other times, we would be walking on the beach next to our house, and she would tell me how she missed me and everything reminded her of me. I even thought she could tell me she