I Know I'm Bad (A Teacher-Student Love Story) **UNDER RENOVATION

I Know I'm Bad | A Stranger Moves Into My House

Staring out my window was something I'd always do at night. Tonight was no different. There were no stars this time, no moon either. Probably on the other side of the sky. I folded my legs, clenching it to my chest. Maybe the sky was mirroring the state of the house—maybe even how I was feeling. Empty and alone.

Earlier today, my parents left for Thailand. They weren't always around. In fact, they were almost never home. Always out to travel the corners of the earth, since we didn't have any problem with money, they thought that it would be such a waste not to see the wonders of this planet. They call it 'Living Life' or even sometimes 'Honeymoon 1o1' since they never had one.

They loved each other dearly, which was a good thing, I guess. At the end of the day, I realized that having two parents who loved each other too much and always spending time away together was better than having ones who spent time away from each other. So I still considered myself pretty lucky. And besides, I had my friends.

And just then, my phone went off. The screen said MOM. With a small smile I couldn't help coming, I pressed the answer button and held it against my ear.

"Hi, Honey!" asked Mom. "How are you?"

"Fine." I responded. "I'm having takeouts for dinner so I managed to keep the house from burning... again."

"Just keep doing that, you'll be fine."

"Gee, what a way to encourage your only child." I said flatly. "Talk about great parenting."

I heard a sigh on the other line and I knew Mom caught up with my flat tone. "I know you're mad at us sweetie, but what could I do about it? I told your dad you- "

Before they left, I asked if I could get a car which they turned down rather adamantly with a lot of sighs and a really long list of reasons why they wouldn't—most of it coming down to me being undeniably and unrelentingly clumsy. I mean I wouldn't even be driving the thing seeing as how I didn't know how to but it was something to save me from fifteen blocks worth of walkathon to and from school everyday.

"No, it's okay mom." I cut her off. "I don't necessarily need a car. I don't need another thing to endanger myself. Where are you anyways?"

She sighed before surrendering, knowing I wouldn't want to talk about it. "We're in Bangkok already. We'll be crossing over to Cambodia by next week and work our way up to 'Nam."

"Cool." Right then, images of different architectural designs flashed in my brain. If I had come, I would've seen them all. "So what's up? Why did you call?"

To other people, I must've come off as a snob daughter who didn't care about her parents, but the truth was that my parents called me five times a day. So it wasn't like there's much 'missing' going on between us. They'd call every after meal to make sure I had eaten and also video call whenever they'd see any stuff that was on the souvenir list I gave them.

It wasn't like they wanted to leave me here on my own. I was the one who insisted that I stayed behind. Of course there was school. And I wasn't about to ruin the lovey-dovey bubble that my parents were in. I wanted them to have fun and be happy and traveling did that to them.

"No band practice tonight?" She asked, a little twitchy if you'll ask me.

I frowned a little. "Finished about half an hour ago. Errol dropped me home so I didn't have to walk."

"That's nice of him." She mumbled. "I swear to God that kid—"

"Mom!" I cried. "What is it? You never ask about my band practice and we both know you beat around the bush whenever you're anxious... So what is it? Is there any problem?"