The awakener (bxb)✔

TA 4

Minutes later, I stood up from the toilet seat. Just as I exited the cubicle, the bell rang, indicating lunch time. I walked out of the bathroom. I had to go through a bunch of guys trying to enter the bathroom. I frowned; I would not be surprised if the guys were suffering from a runny stomach with the food they served us at the dining hall. I walked lazily to Spanish class, remembering that I had left my schoolbag there. As I entered, I noticed Mrs. Montez sitting on her desk, paging through her book. I shoved a chair out of my way and she raised her eyes.

"Can you pick it up?" she asked.

"I don't know how to", I replied indifferently.

I finally arrived at the seat I had vacated fifteen minutes ago, but my bag was nowhere in sight. I took a deep breath.

"Mercedes, where is my bag?"

She looked at me from the corner of her eye. She could not be more than 27 years of age. I admitted to myself, she was beautiful. The moment she started talking however, that notion disappeared. She talked non-stop and I had always found that, she bored me more than Mr. Winslow.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? Maybe your friends took it for you!" she said.

She said a few more words I had no hope of understanding in her native language. I flinched, they sounded like curses.

I shrugged. She knew very well I was not good in Spanish. On my way out of the room, she shouted,

"Why do you have a Spanish name?"

I turned.

"None of your business", I said through gritted teeth.

I walked out before she could say anything more. She had definitely struck a chord though. She had asked me a question I had asked myself not so long ago. I had not been able to come with an answer and when I had asked mother, she had retorted,

"There is no reason, it is just a name!"

She had walked out before I could ask who gave it to me, her or Margaret. I grit my teeth again. I hated thinking about Margaret. I did not know her and I wished to never meet her. Mother had told me about Margaret about a year ago. She said she had been working at an orphanage when Margaret dropped me off. I had been only a few weeks old. Margaret had not given a reason as to why she was abandoning me. She had merely walked in, put me on the counter and said,

"My name is Margaret. This is my baby. Please take care of him".

She had run away before mother could say anything. They searched for her, they checked hospital records, but they could not find her. It was like she had disappeared or had never existed. A few weeks into my stay at the orphanage, the orphanage had to be closed down for financial reasons. Some of the kids were adopted and some had moved to other orphanages. Emily Linley had decided to adopt me. She was 57 years old and many had thought she was unfit to raise me. She was childless and had no husband or partner. She was staying in a rundown house with no source of income. No one else wanted to adopt me though so Emily was given a chance.

I willed myself to stop thinking about a past I seemed to not be a part of. I had merely been a baby; I had no recollection of any of the events.

I entered the dining hall and scanned the room for Logan. I found him sitting at the far right side of the dining hall with Casey and the new girl. Logan and the girl were facing Casey and a vacant seat. I walked straight to them, ignoring the lunch lady eyeing me. The kitchen would be closed in a few minutes and if I wanted any food, I had to get it then. Thinking of my drawing notepad, I shrugged. I would just have to wait until after school to eat. Anyway, no one cooked better than my mother. My notepad was more important than food. It contained drawings I cherished. In fact, it was the most important thing to me.