Not Seeing The Obvious (NSTO)

Chapter 3

Malona is Lincoln's older sister. I forgot that she was just 2 years older than us. I also forgot that is was very likely for me to bump into her due to the fact of the non-existent age gap. I thought I would never see her anywhere near learning vicinity. Last I heard about her was that she was travelling the world and living life to the fullest, but I guess everything has to come to an end. I really am shocked by her presence and I do not engage. It has been a while since I last saw her and I am surprised that she remembers me, especially seeing me from behind. If I saw her in a crowd I would not have recognised her because she has changed quite a bit.

She has ditched her long blond wavy hair for a fiery red sleek bob and bangs. She is much taller; she must have reached her growth spurt really late in her teenage years. Gone are her bright colours and floral print clothing because now she is rocking all black with numerous piercings. I notice she has a tattoo on her inner right arm. I can't make out what it says but I decided to better stop staring at her or she might not get the right impression. She has also picked up a few pounds, which is normal with growth. Even though I remember her as this ultra girly girl, this rock-grunge look also suits her rather well. So she decides to rush over in an attempt to break the silence. It is really awkward because even when we did go to school together about 5 years ago, I also disregarded her after the accident.

When I relocated I did not make it public, so it was confusing for a lot of people. Here today, gone tomorrow. I never explained to anyone the reason I left and I made sure no one could contact me. I discontinued all my social network accounts in exchange for new ones. I changed my cell phone number making it clear that I wanted the past to be history and nothing more. People must have suspected I was probably pregnant and dropped out of school and moved very far away to raise my teen mom child. The runaway act I pulled running to the girl's bathroom to go puke after the announcement couple of the year did make a lot of eyebrows rise. The rapid weight gain due to depression and stress I experienced during my last few months at Queue School College (QSC) must have served as evidence enough to be convicted. All the factors stated could have really made anyone believe I was pregnant.

The fact that she is attempting to start a conversation with me right now is weirding me out. I thought she would hate me because of the past. To not make a complete fool of myself and make her aware that I do know who she is and I say,

"Malona?"

"Yes, it's me! In the flesh. I know I have changed a lot since I last saw you, even I can't believe how much I have changed. It has to do with finding yourself while traveling the world. I feel like I am who I am meant to be now. Enough about me. I want to know more about you. I am really excited to see you. It's been a while."

It turns out after her year of fun she decided to study Tourism and was coming out of a Marketing exam when she saw me and could not believe it. I see that she really is pleased to see me. There is nothing more I would like to do than run away again, but I thought carefully about what happened last time I ran away and decided to stay. I am not as fit as I used to be so running would not be the best option and I hated running after that incident. I was a pretty good runner for my age and size at 12 years old because people think the fatter you are the more you can't do. I proved all those losers wrong. I was one of the best people in long distance running. I even made the track team, this was all thanks to Lincoln coaching me and pushing me really hard to get to the number 1 spot. Most days I hated Coach Lincoln but he always reminded me why I was running to even begin with.

"Lincoln, I run obviously to prove all those losers wrong."

"No. You are missing the point. 'If you truly believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything' and 'Faith can move mountains' ".