Lena's Love

Mall Friends

I have only three more days until my first day at Ivywood High. The term hasn't even begun and already it's keeping me awake! I groan aloud and turn over in bed, frustrated as my lilac sheets get knotted between my legs and I have to kick free, effectively waking me up even more. Birds are chirping and children are playing noisily outside, but I am trying to ignore it and rest. As soon as school starts it will be back to early mornings and having to motivate myself to learn and work. I have hardly done any studying over the summer which is really stupid and lazy of me, although I have been busy helping my mum pack up our house, ignoring and thus pissing off my dad and babysitting Adrian.

Suddenly there is a bouncy knock on the door and my moms voice calls out after it.

"Come on Val, you need to get up!" She calls out and I slide further under the covers with a frown, trying to preserve my sleepiness. "Valentina?" She calls out in a sing-song voice and knocks even harder.

"I'm up!" I call out with my face buried into my pillow.

"No you're not, come on you need to do something today! Go to the mall, make some friends!" She exclaims as she barges into my room, tutting under her breath as she sees I am not as unpacked as I claimed to be... "I'm taking Adrian to meet his new teacher and get used to his school so he will be prepared for Tuesday, and I want you to tidy up and go outside." She instructs as she rips the curtains open sending fiery bright light raining into my room and opens the window.

"Nooo." I groan and hiss at the obtrusive light.

"Oh Valentina you are so messy." She tuts, and I hear her collecting the plates and cups I let mount up in my room.

I feel a bit bad as she shouldn't be clearing up after me – she has enough on her plate - so I uncurl from my bed and rub at my eyes tiredly. She overworks herself cleaning and scrubbing away at things as a coping mechanism for what happened with Jonathon, so much so that her hands were always an angry red and raw for a few months.

"I've got it mom." I speak a little lazily as sleep still clings to my brain.

"Thanks love, now please get up and get dressed. You look beautiful." She says as she reaches forward to kiss my forehead.

"You're the beautiful one mom." I insist but she laughs it off, saying she'll be back later this afternoon.  

My mom was seventeen when she had me, and married my dad right after high school. I think my grandad forced them into it. She stayed at home caring for me whilst my dad went to college and probably whored around with a load of girls. She has never been bitter or blamed me for her dull housewife life, but I have always felt guilty that my unexpected arrival stopped her from becoming a vet. She could have done it later in life, but my dad insisted that she stayed home, as he didn't want her to have the stress of working. I think his true reasoning was that he wanted to cage her in and stop her from being able to leave him. I am used to his blackmailing ways, as he tried to convince me to stay with him after the divorce by using my car as a bargaining tool, so I left it behind for him to do whatever he pleases with it. He wanted me to stay to make him look better in our old community, but there is absolutely nothing he could do to make me willingly want to live with him.

After tidying up a little and folding my clothes into neater piles, (I still haven't finished my drawers yet) I get dressed and wash my face, deciding to eat healthier today as I have had a few mountains pop up on my chin. I nearly have a heart attack as I meander back into my room and see the insufferable Tamiko's son - Ajax - standing with his back to me. I quickly drop to the floor, as I still haven't spoke to him since the 'incident' two nights ago. Perhaps I over-reacted a little, but they were in the wrong. Ajax keeps calling out for his window neighbour, and yesterday he had the cheek to come into my house and charm my mother! Apparently he asked for me but I stayed hidden in my room as soon as he heard his deep husky voice. I am still too embarrassed to talk to him, and he does cross my mind a little too often, so I think distance is the safest thing for us. His undeniable hotness is rather frustrating.