Melting Hearts | ✓

i c e ║iii

i c e ║iii

                                                                         ♦  ♦  ♦

I awoke exactly at seven and not a moment later. I shuffled over to where I'd left my kitten pajamas the night before and put them on, just in case my mother suspected anything. I pulled open my curtains and let the light consume my room. It gave me that happy morning feeling as I exited my room.

When I walked into the kitchen I found my mother smearing jam on a croissant she'd pulled from a package. I don't think I'd ever seen her bake. She was already dressed to, in a blouse and slacks. I knew that I'd inherited my father’s unhealthy sleeping patterns and not the early rising ones of my mother.

"Good morning." I smiled fakely. The good was a grave understatement and so was the morning as if it were the weekend, I wouldn't be even close to awake. She looked up and slowly acknowledged me. I thought for a moment she'd reply with a simple "good morning" as well, but I guess you can't always get what you want.

"Where were you last night?" She snapped, letting the knife she was holding fall on the counter and make an echoing clink. She put the steaming croissant to her lips as she waited for my response.

"Nowhere." I shrugged "In my room."

She rolled her eyes at me and beckoned me to her with a long fake nail. I walked stiff to her as if being called upon by the devil himself.

"I know you went somewhere darling because the front door was left unlocked." She smirked sarcastically. I muttered shit under my breath. The easiest thing to remember and I'd forgotten. I bowed my head and nodded, accepting whatever punishment she'd give me.

"I hope you were sneaking out to be with a guy-" She began, but then stopped. Not because i interjected or something happened, but because she thought about what she was saying. Me? A guy? Never.

I slipped past her to the fridge and pulled out the bag of bread. I took the first slice from the package and popped it in the toaster. I pushed down the button with my thumb and turned to face my mother again.

"I'm sorry." I concluded "I won't do it again."

She headed out of the kitchen, half eaten croissant in hand. "Good."

                                                                           ♦  ♦  ♦

The first few classes of the day were boring, Maths, Biology and PE. I'd sat, or stood, at the back and kept to myself. I did my work quickly without a peep and secretly pulled my sketchpad from my bag to start again on the perfect drawing I needed for that competition.

Macy greeted me at the begging of lunch and blabbed on about this new pair of shoes her father was buying her. I pretended to listen, and care, but really I was zoned out. At lunch we sat in the noisy cafeteria, near the back, and ate quickly.

"The shoes are pink." Macy explained after chewing a bite of baloney sandwich " and they have rhinestones."

I nodded, only processing half of what she said. "Cool."

My head bobbed around frantically looking at each table. My eyes saw couples sitting together, holding hands, friends laughing, people doing homework and people sitting alone. I wasn't sure what my eyes were looking for, but they didn't want to stop until they found it. But he was nowhere to be found.