Peach & Lemon

Chapter 8

"Twyla, we specifically talked about this!" My English teacher is scolding me. "You promised me you would come to every single class until the end of the school year."
"I know, teacher, but I have an excuse this time."
"You do?" My teacher looks surprised. I showed her the letter I wrote during the weekend.
"I wrote you a letter. It's quite long and I know this is not a valid excuse in what comes to the school rules."
"Can you give me some information in advance?" Her tone has changed from angry to interested. I sigh.
"I met this girl... She's really smart and sweet." I blush. "We had a fight on Thursday and I was feeling guilty since it was all my fault." Gulp. "And on Friday she got really sick. I wanted to apologize and take a little care of her but I couldn't do it after class or I wouldn't have a chance to apologize to her in private." My teacher is staring at me, encouraging me to continue. "So I went to her house, made tea and made sure she took her medicine. I apologized and she cried a lot, some minutes after her fever got worse so I helped her. She could barely move so I thought that going to her house was the right thing to do." Pause. "I'm very sorry for missing your class and I know that my love story is not an excuse according to the school rules. But if we could just keep this between us..." She grabs my hand, smiling with her lips.
"Thank you for being so thoughtful and for writing me a letter." She's not grabbing my hand anymore. "And it's no surprise I know the school rules, I'm a teacher after all." My chest burns. Is there any hope? "I'll read your letter carefully. Tomorrow I'll write you an answer. Until then, consider your mistake covered."
"So... You're not going to fail me?" I can almost feel my eyes sparkling.
"Not yet. I'll read your letter and consider your feelings. I hope you wrote an emotional letter." She gets up from the chair.
"Can I go, then?"
"You can. And tell your... friend to get well soon."
"I will, thank you so much, miss." I ran to the bus.
Autumn went to school today and she texted me on Sunday telling me she was alright. I sat next to her and it felt like nothing happened between us. She's writing in her diary again but I don't dare to pick. Not anymore.
"So... About that date you talked about." I smile.
"You mean the treehouse one?" I blush with shame. She already knows I read it so there's nothing to hide anymore. Except the way she feels about me.
"Yup, did you go to IKEA?" Autumn giggles.
"I did, during the week. It kept my mind busy when I didn't know where my diary was." She wasn't blaming me, she was actually trying to avoid that. "My dad helped me clean it. He and my mom said they wanted to know you."
"Wh-what?" I stutter, embarrassed with my own thoughts.
"They want to know you. You just need to promise you won't like them more than me."
"Why would I like them more than you?" I give her a funny smile.
"Because my friends usually like my parents more. They're cool and fun, in contrast I'm quiet and shy."
"Those are both things I love about you." She blushes, smiling. I feel like we're always smiling when we are with each other, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
"But still... All my childhood friends, except for Ollie, only played with me because they liked my parents and they weren't strict like theirs. I realized that when I got to my teenage years, so I stopped being friends with them."
"Now you have me." I assure her. "I will never like your parents more than you." I put a strand of her orange hair behind her ear.
"You better keep your word."
"I will." And I smile once more.

🍑🍋

School ends on Wednesday, June 17th, and I haven't touched Hamlet yet. I decided I would start reading it today but I'm not sure I can finish it within two days.
"Mom." Mom is making dinner and dad just came from work. I'm trying to read but I can't focus because of the noise coming from the pressure cooker.
"Yes, sweetie?" She turns to me.
"Autumn's parents invited us for dinner." My dad coughs while drinking his water. He was not the biggest supporter when I came out to him. I'm giving him time to assemble it.
"Your friend?" My mom smiles. I don't know what hurts more: my mom telling me she's my friend or my girlfriend. The "friend" approach hurts because she's not my girlfriend, on the other hand "girlfriend" hurts because she's just my friend. "Friend" is more realistic, so I stick to it.
"Uhum." I look at my father, who's pretending to read his newspaper.
"If your dad agrees, we'll both go. If not, I'll go with you." My dad cleans his throat but doesn't speak for himself. "Do you want to go?" She asks my dad.
"Let me think about it." He's really cold when it comes to love. My mom told me he was a gentleman until their third month of marriage. I think he just wanted to make sure she was his, and when he realized there was no more competition, closed himself a little.
"Please, dad. I really wanted you to be there. She's not my girlfriend yet and I don't know if she'll ever be." His eyes get distracted from the newspaper. The attention is all on me. "It would mean the world to me. Take this as a friendly meeting."
He looks at the newspaper again. Then, to me. He's confusion is killing.
"Tell your friend I'll be there." The newspaper got his eyes on it again, but not his attention.
"Thank you so much!" I hugged him.
The next step is to tell Autumn!

🍑🍋

"It will be on Friday."
"Okay, I'll tell my parents to be there." It's still Monday but I finished dinner an hour ago. My mom is super excited to meet Autumn and her parents. I called her to tell her the news.
Now that I stop to think: I've never called her before.
"Changing subject, are you still coming with me to the volleyball games?" Shit. After I returned her diary, I completely forgot about Olive's volleyball tournament.
"Of course!" I try to sound excited.
"We usually grab dinner after her games, would you like to join us?" I didn't know her games would last until dinner.
"Sure, should I bring money?" She stays silent for a second.
"Don't worry about it, it's all on me." Her voice looks slightly less childish than her real voice, through the phone. She yawns.
"Are you tired?"
"No, not really." I don't say anything. "Okay, maybe a little bit."
"You can go if you want, you need energy for tomorrow!"
My phone buzzes.
"I guess." She yawns again. "Okay, I'm going. Good night, Twyla!"
"Good night, Autumn. Sleep well!"
When she hangs up, I check my notifications: My teacher sent me an e-mail as a response to my letter. She seems really excited to see the development of our non-existent relationship. Also, she wrote that in any case, I fainted during lunch break so I couldn't come to school.
When I'm about to put my phone down to go to sleep, my phone buzzes again. I check the notifiaction, maybe a P.S. from my Teacher's e-mail. However, I come across something even more unexpected:
«Instagram: Dylan has requested to follow you».

I'm sorry for taking soooo long 😅
I went to the book fair and the three books and four mangas I bought are really time-consuming. I think y'all understand 😂