Reel or Real

Chapter 6

"Good morning, Ms. Moore, Mrs. Elaine... Good morning little me" Jasmine, the bigger one, greeted all of us with an enchanting smile as she stood by the car lent to us by Mr. Moore. Instantly, the grim looks on our faces were removed as we greeted her back with a smile of our own and a quiet 'good morning', but, little Jasmine ran up to her with an squeal and jumped at her; making the other Jasmine laugh in pure joy. "What are you doing here?" little Jasmine asked as she slid off the bigger one and stood in her own feet.

Jasmine's head looked up at me as I stood few steps from them and her eyes immediately locked with mine. I discreetly shook my head and, fortunately enough, she was able to understand as the driver went up to us and took our bags from us to place it on the trunk. I decided to help him. "Oh, well, Alex here told me that you're moving to another house, but, don't know the way, so, I decided to help" it was an obvious lie, but, since she's telling it to a child, it seems quite believable since the said child squealed in delight again. "Would we be able to see you often, then?" she asked and, when the other one nodded her head in confirmation, the little one started jumping up and down.

"Come on, let's go" I told them when all the bags have been placed and I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering to my mother to see her with a still hesitant look on her face. I walked up to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder; making her look up at me, so, I gave her a small smile which she returned. She entered first followed by little Jasmine before I entered as the bigger Jasmine sat in front, next to the driver. It was quite a long ride and, once we entered the richer part of the town, Jasmine quickly moved to my lap so she could look out of the window and she couldn't stop herself from gasping at almost everything she saw. She was even fascinated at how there were no cracks at the pavements since, in our place, the pavements consists of 99% cracks. I was slightly dozing to sleep, I barely had any sleep last night, when little Jassy tapped at my arm, the one that's holding her. "Lexie, will I still go to school?" she asked. I opened my eyes to look at her to see her looking at something out of the window, so, I looked out, too, and saw that we were passing by an enormous school with countless of children and teens entering either by school bus or their own vehicle.

I tore my gaze away from the establishment and looked at the bigger Jasmine through the rear view mirror and saw that she was already looking at us. "Actually, Jassy, you need to be home-schooled for a while" she said. Little Jasmine looked at her questioningly before turning to ask me. "What is 'home-schooled'?" she said. "Home-schooled is when you don't have to go to school to learn and answer assignments and seat works. You can do it all at home" I told her simply and, once again, she gasped. "I could do that?" she asked with eyes widened. "How come you haven't home-schooled me before? I could've spent more time with you and mom" she thought out loud as she looked out of the window again. "Well, being home-schooled has its downsides, too" I told her while gently running my hands through her hair. "Like?" she asked, her tone was similar to a challenging one.

"You won't get to meet other people. You won't be able to have new friends... Don't you like having new friends?" I said; leaning forward a little so that I could look at her. She looked at me, her eyes wavering a little and she looked like she was contemplating on what to answer. But, when she opened her mouth to give me her reply, I felt my heart tighten and my eyes couldn't stop themselves from wandering to the woman sitting beside me. Her eyes was looking forward, but, the way tears started to pool in her eyes, I knew she was moved as I was by the words given by the little girl sitting in my lap.

"I do. But, I get to spend more time with you. I like that more"

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The rest of the ride was a blur after that, but, I was sure it was spent in silence. Little Jassy kept looking out of the window, but, Mom and I were left quiet with her words. The look in her eyes as she said those words was pure happiness, but, for me, and I'm sure also for mom, it was sadness.