< Nina >
You can say I’m not really that lucky. True, I may be lucky to have a kind-hearted mom who worked three or four jobs to support me and a great supportive best friend.
But I’m far from being fortunate, really.
Earlier at school, I was easily caught by my bullies and locked me up in the janitor’s closet room. I kept banging the door, calling for help so loud to interrupt nearby classrooms. Fed up with the noise, one of the teachers told the janitor to unlock the room and I was finally free!It wasn’t being called brave or smart or anything. Nope, it was far from it.
I’m just really claustrophobic, that’s all.
Then when I came back to class, I had already missed four periods. Apparently, the teachers took this opportunity to give surprised pop quizzes during my confinement. They didn’t believe my excuses and just threw four consecutive Fs in my face.
Well, not that it matters. I mean, I would still get an F even if I showed up.
And in the afternoon, there was a dodgeball game during PE, the same bullies who locked me up, were on the opposite team!
With their eyes gleaming with mischief and their obvious sniggerings from behind, I knew that I was screwed.
“Have some balls, Caulfield!” My ever-supportive coach grinned as he patted my shoulder, real hard that it might break. “If you want to survive in this world, you gotta have the balls to fight them! Now get back to your position!”
As expected, my fate has been sealed and I hopelessly sighed before doing what he said.
Not long after, I was bruised all over from a visibly swollen black eye, arms and stomach, which they loved hitting there, seeing that I squirmed from the pain.
I knew I wouldn’t leave this gym unscratched.
“Better luck next time, Caulfield!” My coach bellowed as I limped myself out of the gymnasium.
And with that PE class is over.
You could say that I was a victim of abuse and no one really cared in this school. After all, in this small town known as Freedomville where everybody knows everybody, I am known by the given nickname as “No-good Nina.”
I am terrible in both academics and sports, I struggle to understand any lectures given by my teachers and well, the only time my PE teacher actually complimented me was my ability to run fast.
Yeah, if it weren’t for my years of being chased by bullies, that is.
So, I resigned my fate to being a failure in life from the get-go.
Besides, today’s events are nothing new to me as I’m already used to it. In fact, I wonder why my bullies would never get tired of the same old pattern over our time in school.
But right now, what worries me the most is my best friend, Gene Sullivan.
He is the only friend I have in this small town.
But since coming back to the classroom, I haven’t seen him all day. I was already worried when he didn't show up. So the moment when the bell rang, I immediately rushed outside the classroom, looking for him.
If only I didn’t lose my phone weeks ago, I could have called to check up on him. A gut feeling has been telling me that the bullies are responsible for it.
He’s going to be fine, right?
As I pass by the abandoned lockers on the fourth floor, I hear a loud bang at the end of the hall.
“Eek!”
Then it continues to keep banging and I walk slowly with each careful step. My imagination runs wild as I gulp, praying that it was all in my head and my injuries are just making me feel dizzy.
Speaking of which, I haven’t realized that my bruised eye has been acting up or even the bruises on my body. But I couldn’t care less as fear overtook me instead of pain.
“H-Hello?” I call out, now that I am facing the locker.
Then I can hear the muffling sound instead and I unconsciously squeak again. I hesitantly open it, seeing that the handle doesn’t need a code and all and my jaw instantly drops.
And there he is, tied with adhesive tape all over his body. His feet are pressed tight and his whole body is taped all over the toilet. His mouth is also covered with tape and his eyes show relief when he sees me.
Well, at least I know where he is.
His eyes look down on his taped mouth, nodding to tell me to remove it.
I did as I was told.
“Hey, Nina, happy birthday,” Gene says with a smile.
My jaw drops again, trying to process what he said.
“My birthday?” I mutter to myself. Oh right, I didn’t realize it since I only care about counting the days when high school is finally over that I didn’t know that it’s already October.
That means I’ve reached eighteen, just like that.
Still bullied and unsure what to do in life.
I shake my head, ignoring the negative thoughts as I start to take out the paper cutter. “Hold still, let me get you out of here.”
<<<>>>
We headed to the nurse’s office right after he was untied from the tape. The bullies tied him real tight so that I could see the marks all over his frail skin.
Fortunately, I don’t see any fresh wounds. I sigh in relief that he remains unscratched away from the daily beatings. What is present is the bandage on his right cheek that needs to be replaced by fresh ones and the band-aid that has been sticking out from his nose bridge.
Old wounds that need to be healed.
Wounds he already got from his foster family.
Without the present of the nurse since she’s rarely around here, we start tending our wounds.
We are both in total silence, busying ourselves with the basic knowledge of first aid. For years, we grow accustomed to knowing how fast the injury heals and what painkillers are most efficient for our bodies.
I take the ice pack and place it on my bruised eye. The sting hurts a lot and I hate my lack of pain tolerance.
“I’m sorry,” he starts speaking, looking at the dark bruise. “I wasn’t there for you.”
I just laugh nervously. “Don’t worry, they didn’t hit me too hard. Besides, it’s just part of dodgeball.”
“But your eye,” he continues, warily. “It will take two or more weeks to heal.”
“I’ll tell my mom that it was just an accident, no worries.” This time I lean to check on him. “How long have you been there, Gene?”
He shrugs. “Before the first period. They caught me by surprise and tied me in the lockers. They have forgotten me there and left me until you found me.”
“So you haven’t eaten anything, huh?”
He nods.
“Shall we grab a bite? It’s my treat since it’s my birthday,” I say with a sheepish grin.
“Ah, about that…” he takes out his phone.
Unlike most Gen Zs, Gene has the flipped phone which his older foster brother just handed it to him.
“Your mom messaged this morning. She said we should come to your house after school for your birthday.”
“Wow, this is new. I m-mean…” I pause for a while. “I thought she has work for the whole evening?”
“It’s because it’s your 18th birthday, Nina. It’s a special occasion, after all.”
But my mom has never been around during my birthday. So how is today any special?
Oh well, if it means she’s making a huge feast, then I think we need some of that.
After all, with everything that happened today, we deserve some good news .
But boy, I was wrong.My birthday doesn’t have to be a big occasion. My mom feasted us with my favorites and she even put party hats for the three of us. I feel flustered at her grand gesture since we rarely had this opportunity to celebrate my birthday given how heavy her workload is. It felt normal at first, she keeps chatting on and on about her work and occasionally teases me with Gene since she sometimes calls us “love birds” to my embarrassment. I love my mom but sometimes she’s jumping to conclusions with my relationship with Gene. We’re friends, that’s all. And when she reveals the news during our meals, my jaw drops, no longer interested in defending myself from her teasing. “Y-You’re getting married in Spain, mom? T-To Rodrigo Gomez?” Of course it has to be him. Rodrigo Gomez, her long-time boyfriend of eight years has finally decided to kneel on his one knee before proposing to her. I thought their whirlwheel romance is just a phase, since she hasn’t mentioned him a lot recentl
There is a sound of a spoon drop on the table as Gene looks at my mom, completely stunned.Surprisingly though, Gene has been handling it so well that he didn’t speak his own thoughts like he normally does.“I was opposed to it at first of course because I don’t want to bother Luca.” Has my mother ever thought that this is actually the LEAST of the problem? Sometimes I’m envious of my mom’s ditzy nature.“Does he mind at all?”“Of course not, Elina said he would like to see you again soon.”I sure doubt Elina even knows her own son.“Besides, you will be staying there until the wedding. We tried inviting Luca but for some strange reason, he doesn't have time to attend."Oh for the love of God. My mom can be oblivious to situations like this. My stepbrother (can I call him that?) is probably being forced to do his mom's bidding. Otherwise, he could flatly say no and we can all just live alone in peace, thank you very much.“Also, Nina, honey, you will be staying with him in
“You want me to stay over?” Gene blinks, unsure of what he heard.“It’s getting late, Gene,” I answer, with a sheepish smile.Besides, I don’t want you to stay outside for the whole evening while your family locks the door. I thought.He only nods as he mutters to me a thank you.I think I must be crazy to ask him to stay. But after the events that happened earlier, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking that I will be moving away.“Well, I have nothing against Gene staying here since I trust him. But as your mother, it’s my responsibility to say that he has to sleep on the floor,” my mom says after I told her about the plan.She was busy washing the dishes when I told her about my plan. It’s been a while since Gene had any sleepover. The last time he did come over to sleep was… when we were eight.“Sure thing, mom.”“Also,” she quickly adds after she turns off the tap water. “Make sure to be extra careful unless you want to give me a grandchild,” she says with a wink.“M
It’s strange really. At first, I was worried about my future predicament and Gene’s as well. But here we are chatting about the most ridiculous gossip we’ve heard from school. “I didn’t know that Mr. Roacher writes poems.” “Apparently, he has a huge crush on the cafeteria lady and he thought women like poems.” “We’re in the 21st century, you know?” Gene arches a brow. “Well, old-fashioned romance isn’t that bad. If Mr. Roacher finally marries, he won’t be so cruel to you anymore.” “Nah, he’s probably worse, knowing the cafeteria lady’s temper. Besides, I’d rather if he gives me the toughest equations because I’m starting to question his ability to teach.” I turn to his direction with a frown. “Sometimes, you’re harsh, Gene.” In return, Gene just looks at me with a deadpan expression. “He started it.” We keep talking about random stories we’ve heard from school, more like Gene just listens and asks questions as I talk about the most random things. Occasionally we gigg
It was a spur of the moment and regrettably, I almost made her trip when I pushed her inside the bus. A part of me thinks that I shouldn’t let her go. In any case, she just moves on and finds better friends in Dawn City.Another part of me, my selfish side that I had secretly been hiding from her, handed over my cross so she will keep it as a keepsake.A reminder of me, even if it’s just a bit.But I should have known Nina, she is too unselfish and prioritizes her loved ones over her own sake.You will be safer there than here.This line has been in my mind for these past three days like a replay button is being pressed repeatedly.I shouldn’t involve Nina with my problems anymore. She has suffered enough already and every time I looked at her bruised eye, I knew that I couldn’t protect her all the time.Yet, regardless of what I thought, I still handed over my cross.Have I regretted giving up my brother’s cross? Nah, I entrusted it to her no matter what.“Move aside, kid,”
“This is 12 Quartz Square Bound C Express train. The next stop is Dawn City. Stand clear of the closing door, please.” Just one more stop. I have been moving from one train to another and it’s the very first time I’ve been in many places. The last two trains I’ve ridden are packed with people like sardines in a tin. For the entire trip on this last train, I’ve been standing and holding the pole, while my other hand is carrying my travel bag. My hand is getting numb thanks to its weight. Mom and I didn’t go around a lot since she’s busy working a lot of jobs and I don’t go out often. It’s a new experience for me. It was no joke when Gene told me an eight-hour trip tires anyone out. I feel really tired but my mom told me not to sleep in the train alone or else I’ll definitely miss my stop. And it’s just a few minutes till I’ve reached Dawn City. All throughout the trip, I keep wondering if Gene is going to be fine. It keeps me awake, thinking about his safety. As soon a
“Do you mind eating Italian pizza?” I shake my head, my thoughts are more focused on finding a payphone. As we enter the pizza parlor, my eyes are scanning for a payphone in this area. “Are you looking for something?” I hesitate, looking down on the helm of my hoodie as I say, “I’m just looking for a payphone so I can call my friend.” “Well, why didn’t you say so?” he chuckles, and then he hands me his phone. “You can just call your friend using mine.” “B-but, I can’t do that! What if you have some emergency calls from your job or something?” Like Luca checking up on us or something like that. “Don’t worry, it’s just a phone call.” “Are you sure?” I ask reluctantly. “If you are going to be Luca’s family, then I’ll treat you as family. So, be a good kid and just take it.” I smile and give him a thank you before accepting his phone. “You can call and wait on that available table there,” he says, gesturing to the table farther from the cashier. He is definitely being c
Funny how fate works. I was hoping that we would never cross paths again. I thought that his threats were proof enough that we weren’t supposed to see eye-to-eye. Sigh, why does he have to live eight hours away from my small town? I mean, he knew that I live in the US but then again, I’m aware that the country is vast with greener pastures. A part of me is hoping he would rather stay in Italy there for good.But here I am, just one door away to finally reunite with the man who almost made me pee on my pants. Yu doesn’t seem to notice my anxiety as he slowly and gently knocks on the front door.No response.A few knocks.Still no response.“Tch!” Yu grimaces, his eyes glaring towards the door. His clenched hand trembles and I stare at him with anticipation.“Y-Yu?”The usual cool and kind Yu won’t get mad, right?Right?Then he starts banging the door.“LUCA! OPEN THE FUCK UP!”This is the side of him that I didn’t expect. I instinctively backed away from him.Is it normal