remember when I knew

CHEN AZALEA

"HI, darling."

Chen Azalea sighed. "Cherry."

Cherry gave her a look. "Look," she said, her hands smoothing her dress. "We may not have the best relationship in the world-"

Azalea snorted. "Right."

"But I am still your mother."

"Not sure about that," she muttered. "But keep going."

"I don't want you to think that I'm abandoning you."

Azalea gave her a flat look. Seriously? "I've been living on my own since I was fifteen."

"You weren't! I just had a lot of missions for work! But that's the past. I told you when we moved here. It's a new beginning, and I'm going to invest myself in my mother job."

"Because you're only sixteen years late..."

"I'm serious," Cherry insisted. "My job may have taken me away from you but-"

"May have," Azalea repeated. "Understatement."

"But it's not like I've been having fun while you were alone! My job just-"

"I know," she spat.

Azalea hated Cherry for a very good reason: she couldn't protest when she had to go to a country. Because that job taking her away was humanitarian researcher. And how selfish would she be if she wanted her mother to stop helping people in need so she could come and be there at Christmas.

"And I sent you that beautiful scarf I bought in Ethiopia for your birthday last year, remember?"

It was currently in a 'to give away' box in the attic.

"Darling, I love you. I wish I could be there for you more. And I decided to do more paperwork and be less on the field to be here with you. But we both have to try."

"I've tried for the past ten years."

Cherry's eyes wandered on her daughter's face and she looked away. "I-" she stopped and looked at her watch. "Let's go. You're going to be late for school."

"That would be a shame," Azalea let out drily.

"You've been doing great at school, though," Cherry smiled. "I'm proud of you. Always have been."

Azalea just walked away and slammed the door, walking to school angrily. She was pretty sure that she'd finally be alone after that. She was wrong.

"HELP ME! FOR MY BALLS' SAKE!"

Wasn't that a lovely thing to hear a Monday morning when you got to school?

She turned to see Lucas running messily in the hallway, a red-headed girl chasing him. He hid behind Azalea as the girl glared. "Help me, please. I beg you."

She found it funny that he didn't look smarter sober than he did completely wankered.

Azalea looked at the girl and then at the boy. "I'm sure she has got a good reason for trying to kill you and honestly, I don't want to disturb her job."

"He cheated on me!" The red-headed cried.

"I did not!"

"That's not what I heard!"

Azalea looked at them as they argued. She already knew that Lucas wasn't lying. He wasn't the kind of person to do that. Plus, you need to be two to cheat, and no one in their right state of mind would agree.

The girl wore a blue skirt, a white tank top and she had some matching blue makeup on her eyes. Her frizzy hair, red like fire, was falling freely over her white shoulders. She didn't look like she was lying.

"I swear Fiona. I didn't."

"That's not what Bellary said."

Lucas blinked. "Bellary told you I was cheating on you, and you believed her?"

Fiona seemed to back away a bit. She frowned and looked sheepish. "Well... Yes?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Of course. You're aware that Bellary once told everyone that Reyna was a street fighter. And that Reece was a drug dealer."

"I mean, Reece is a bit scary and creepy and dark and-"

"I think I got it, thanks." Lucas then walked away.

"Where the hell are you going?" Fiona asked him.

"You said it yourself, we're done. If you believe Bellary over me, that's your lost."

Fiona's eyes widened as she watched Lucas leave. "I can't believe it," she whispered.

Azalea shrugged. "Well, I'm sure you can get better than that."

"But he made me laugh," the girl murmured. "I missed laughing like that."

"Alright."

Azalea didn't know she had 'free therapist' written over her forehead. Couldn't people just leave her alone for one day? Just one bloody day would be darn great.

What else was she supposed to say? Something like 'he'll come back'? or 'he was an idiot anyways'? Whatever, that Fiona girl probably had tons of friends she could cry with.

"You should befriend Reece," the red-headed commented. "I think you'd get along."

"You think I'm a bit scary, creepy and dark?" Azalea asked, listing the words the other had used to describe the boy a few minutes ago.

"Well... You're both weird."

"Weird?"

Fiona smiled. "You have a shirt with 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' written on it."

And? "Oh. I get why I'm weird now."

"Oh!" Fiona shook her head. "Not a bad weird! I just meant that-" she trailed off awkwardly. "Well, you're a change. A good one. I think you're pretty cool."

"That's... Probably very nice of you."

Fiona just shrugged. "Oh well. See you later?"

"Sure," Azalea lied smoothly. You can always wish.

"Aren't we in the same music class?"

She spotted Jai and decided she could use him as a distraction. "Yeah, I kinda have to go. It was a pleasure talking to you." Not.

It wasn't anything personal. She just... was a person. And Azalea didn't like people.

"Hi," Jai smiled when he saw her.

"You didn't sleep," she commented, looking at his eyes.

He ran a hand through his hair and had a guilty laugh. "Not really, no."

He was acting weird. Something was off. She narrowed her eyes and tried to find out what exactly had changed. "Aha."

He looked away and shrugged. "It's kind of Sasha's fault. She made me read Alice In Wonderland all night long."

"You accepted."

He just grinned. "See you at lunch? You should come and eat with us."

"I'll see," she told him honestly.

He nodded. "Cool. Cool, cool. Cool, cool, cool."

Azalea rolled her eyes. "I have a class to attend. Later, Jake."

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A/N: Hey! So... It snowed this morning! And now it stopped and there's nothing left! Yay!

I might sound weird but... I hate Christmas... I mean, I just don't like the idea of celebrating a day supposed to be a day of 'love and forgiveness' with presents and food. But I don't blame you if you like Christmas of course! It's just my own opinion and I'm not saying I'm right and it's the best.

I hope you have a good day!

Question: What's your favorite Shakespeare play?

I just looooooove Hamlet!

Biya! (Still not a word...)