Diligent | alessia russo

College and meetings

"Hey, sweetheart. It's time to get up. We have a flight to get to."

I was awoken by the voice of my dad as he stroked my face with the back of his hand gently.

With a groan, I pull the cover over my face, effectively swatting his hand away as I mumbled a sleepy, "5 more minutes."

He chuckled with a shake of his head and swiped my dark curtains away from each other, the light blinding me, forcing me to open my eyes.

"You always say that. 5 ends up as another 5, then another, then another. Then you end up late for school."

"I mean, I didn't lie though, did I? I said 5 minutes. Just not how many 5 minutes."

"Get up. We're gonna pass by getting some breakfast before we head to the airport. I think all your stuff arrived at over there already. I'll send over some more of your stuff when I get the chance."

With a simple nod I stood up and shoo'ed the man away so I could change.

True to jill Ellis' words, I was allowed to graduate early. I had all my credits and good enough grades to get accepted into Ramon llull university.

I was a tad bit nervous about the whole move. I was headed to a new country in a language I barely spoke at 17. On my own.

My mom is from Mexico and my dad is American. I know a lot of the language but I'm not confident enough to speak it.

Hence why everytime a word comes out of my mouth, it sounds mumbled.

Plus, Spain Spanish is not the same as any other Spanish.

"I wish mom could come with us." I said to my dad as he helped carry my suitcase.

"I know, honey. Me too. But she's working right now and she wished she could be here to say goodbye."

I hummed in acknowledgement and raised my eyebrows, The tall man having noticed the expression, "what?"

"I don't know. She's working all the time. Never has time for me- us. She never has time for us. Nevermind. Forget it."

As I walked out the room, his gaze followed my every movement. Unbeknownst to me, a saddened expression taking over the more he thought.

I walked over to my sisters room that was right next to mine and knocked on her door before slowly opening it and peaking inside.

Val was sat on the bed, dressed in a yellow flower dress as she stared off into the wall. At the sound of the door creaking, she blinked to regain consciousness and turned to look at me.

"I think the wall won the staring contest."

She let out a small laugh through a forced tight lipped smile.

"You okay?"

She hummed with a nod as she stood up and walked in front of me, "Yes. Just tired"

"You look pretty, by the way. Yellow is really your color."

"No im not. No it's not. You're just saying that because you're moving and don't know how to say I'll miss you."

Outsmarted by a 12 year old.

"Hmm. I'll miss you, definitely. But will I miss the constant blabbering? Well..." I trailed off as I pretended to ponder.

"You know you'll be crying like a baby when you leave."

The girl retorted with a smirk etched on her face. I rolled my eyes with a small smile and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her towards the car.