sk8-hi | sor

four

"what's wrong?" i asked, as he slumped back into his chair and ran a hand through his hair.

"well, first off, it's the twenty-seventh thursday of the year," he explained, and i simply let out a small and quiet 'oh', before he continued, "and i don't want it to seem like i'm taking advantage of you. if you don't want this, we don't have to."

"kissing isn't such a bad thing, zach," i said, giving him a comforting and reassuring smile.

"how would you know? ever kissed anyone, tomika?"

"in fact, yes. i have. freddie, from our band. drummer, and a complete asshole when it comes to relationships," i told him, and he laughed a little. that eased the tension quickly, and blanketed the fire that was slowly rising inside of us.

"well, i certainly haven't."

zachary kwan, of all people in the school, has never had his first kiss.

"well, trust me. i'm definitely worth it," i smiled, leaning in slowly and pressing my lips against his. it was a short, simple and sweet kiss. the very best kinds of first kisses.

"woah," he said, and i giggled at his melodramatic reaction as he started screaming and jumping around like some goofball.

i couldn't hold back my laughter but i really wanted him to stop. it was embarrassing.

"zachary, what in the world are you doing?" a slender lady with a floral patterned dress and some fierce stiletto heels.

he immediately shot up into a pencil-straight position and greeted, waved and smiled awkwardly at his supposed mother as she walked away with curious eyes, disappearing into one of the halls of the kwan residence.

"not going to introduce me? i see. i'll have to do it myself, then," i gave a cheshire cat smile and skipped into his majestic home, and led my self to the kitchen. surprisingly, thanks to my instinct, i managed to find zach's mom in their kitchen, doing some work. i've heard she's a lawyer, a doctor and even a professor at one of the ivy league schools.

"how may i help you?" she asked, putting down her reading glasses and tucked a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear.

"i'm tomika morgernstern. i'm a friend of zachary's, i felt appropriate if i had introduced myself to you, mrs kwan," i smiled politely, slowly walking up to her as she gave me a quick body check with her eyes. she narrowed them at the sight of my funky socks (which my pen pal, spencer, from seattle, sent me a few weeks ago).

"mrs rachel kwan. a pleasure, dear," she introduced friendlily, shaking my hand.

"mom! i see you've met tomika. tomika, my mom," zach came into he kitchen screaming my name before noticing his mom. "i was just uh, talking about some projects and schoolwork with tomika. some experiments we have to do."

"that involve kissing, zachary? you know the ground rules your father and i set in this house, you'd better follow them," she scolded.

"yes, mom. tomika, why not i give you a rise home? we could do our project there, i think there's too much disturbance here," zach placed his hand on my back and led me out to his car.

i felt his mother's eyes burning through his hand on my back and piercing through my skin. i looked back to glance at his mother and saw the most terrifying and serious look i'd ever seen on a woman's face. her eyes were narrowed tightly at his hand that was slowly fallinnf down to my waist, her face so red i honestly thought it was about to explode. i sensed that she was trembling, gripping onto her expensive Mont Blanc pen hard.  If one touched her, she was probably going to implode.

"what just happened back there?"

"nothing," i saw his face change into a frown as i brought the subject up. he opened the car door for me and walked over to his seat.

"don't lie, zach."

"well, i like you and all but we're not that close. i don't want anything about my family to leak, especially if its from the girl i really, really like," he asked for my hand and kissed it as we drove off to my house.

as we pulled up to the house, i noticed my a silhouette of my parents in the house. then, the sound of a plate pierced through my ears. my eyes widened and my heart skip a beat. i ran out of the car and into the house, zach following closely behind me.

"so you're saying that you're tired of me? is that it? that you were using me this entire time?"

"that's not it, melinda. after tomika was born i couldn't bear to leave you and i—"

"you only stayed because of tomika? if it wasn't for her you would have left?"

"yes! okay? i would!"

"you pretended to love me all this time. i really loved you, michael. loved," my mother said as she sat down at the dining table. i was watching the entire scene from the doorway.

"mom? daddy? what happened?" i whimpered quietly as i made myself known.

"tomika, dear," my mother began, swallowing hard. "how much did you hear?"

"i hate you, dad. i hate you, i hate you, i hate you!" i ran up. i didn't care if zach followed me or my dad grounded me for twenty years for bringing a boy home. he isn't my father. i was just some child he pitied so he stayed. i hate him now. who knew it was so easy to hate someone but so hard to love them?

"wanna cry?" zach said as i lifted my head from my bed and fell into his arms. i starrted sobbing to no end, crying and crying as if my tears were from the sea. zach's so nice. he just sits there, barely on my bed so that he wouldn't disrespect me. holding me in his arms, letting me cry on his shoulder. "do you feel any better?"

maybe it isn't that difficult to fall in love with someone.