Dyani

Part 7

Sadly I didn't get the length I had wanted, but as promised it is longer than last chapter. I try even harder on the next part!  I promise!

Enjoy!

I woke up when my alarm clock went off, I had to go to school. It was friday, the funeral would be on monday. Even though we could stay home, I really needed the distraction, besides, that’s where I could see Gabriella. She was one of my best friends, but I could only see her at school, because her parents weren’t fond of outsiders. No one but her family would come into their home and Gabriella couldn’t come to my house, because she had to do all her homework the same afternoon and when she had finished her mother usually had several tasks to do at home. In the beginning I had tried to convince her to come by sometime, I even suggested a sleepover, but they were all denied by her parents. I had given up, but now I was glad I could see her at school. I arrived and she immediately came towards me, taking over my bike and hurriedly placing it in one of the racks. She came back to me and hugged me tightly. She shouldn’t have done that, is was my cue to start crying. I buried my face into her shoulder and tried to limit my sobbing to a minimum. I was sure people would notice my crying, because my shoulders had to be moving while I was sobbing.

‘Come on, lets go to class,’ she said, soothing.

As we walked over to the doors, Gabriella stroked my back, to comfort me.

The school day went okay, but this was one of those days I would have liked to go with Gabriella to her home. I just didn’t want to face my father, I was sure it would be awkward. Suddenly I remembered it was friday, one of my working days. I worked wednesday till saturday from four till closing time. I guess that would have to change for a bit, otherwise my family wouldn’t be able to eat. Sadly it meant I would have to cycle all the way to work, to ask if it would be okay to start after six, so I could cook dinner for my dad and brother. Gabriella had left for home some time ago, I stepped on my bike and went to work. I arrived there some time later and immediately walked over to Jennifer.

‘Hi Dyani, how are you?’ she asked me.

I restrained myself from starting to cry again and tried a smile which failed miserably.

‘My mom.. she ehm.. she passed..’ I muttered, looking at the ground, trying to find support in the solid block of concrete.

No words came, just a hand on my shoulder. She didn’t hug me, which I really wanted to thank her for, because then I would certainly have started to cry again.

‘Is there anything I could do?’ she asked after a few silent moments.

‘Well, my father can’t cook and my brother has to be picked up from school, I wanted to ask if maybe I could start a little past six instead of four?’

‘I think that could work, most customers come in around seven and eight, so we’d cover that. It’s settled,’ Jennifer stated.

‘Thank you, Thank you so much!’ I said, relieved.

‘Could I call home, to ask what they want for tonight, maybe dad just orders something in?’

‘Sure, take the phone in the office, let me know when you finished.’

Walking to the office, I felt a little relief, it was nice to know she tried to help me like this. I stepped into the office and picked up the phone, dialing my home number. Dad would be off work till wednesday and so would Thijn at school. I could have had the same days off, but I had really wanted to go for the distraction. Dad picked up the phone.

‘Evans,’ he said, noticeably annoyed.

‘Hi dad, its Dyani.’

‘Dyani, where are you honey. We were worried when you didn’t show up after school.’

He genuinely sounded relieved that I called him.

‘It’s a work day dad. That’s what I wanted to talk about,’ I knew I was sounding a little formal, but I was still feeling a little awkward.

‘Go ahead,’ he said, he sounded like my daddy again, sweet and caring.

Maybe it had just been the booze last night, I mean, his wife just died right. You can’t blame a guy for missing his wife.

‘Well because you hardly cook and because you’re home past five, I asked Jennifer if I could start late, so I could get Thijn from school starting Wednesday and then cook for everyone and then start work around six. She agreed, but I was wondering if I have to come home tonight or if you would order in with Thijn, so I can work tonight.’

‘That’s great! I hadn’t even thought about that. Nice work honey. I’ll see you after your work.’

‘Okay dad,’ I started a little nervous. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too, sweetheart.’

I placed the phone back on the stand and sighed in great relief. We were fine now, dad wasn’t angry at me and I did something good. With a little lifted spirits I went back to Jennifer, announcing I could work tonight and went straight to work.