No Good In Goodbye

Five - Talk You Down

- P A S T - 

I woke to the sound of my mum’s voice instead of my alarm. It turns out I forgot to set it this morning but she was passing my room and decided to wake me.

My room wasn’t cold today, only a slight chill that would evaporate as the rainwater had from the street. Outside my window the clouds loomed over the sky like a blanket over the town. But there was a hole in the cloud blanket and through that, sunshine was seeping in.

Happy that I wouldn’t freeze today, I quickly got out of bed and went to my old chest of drawers. I rummaged around for my black skinny jeans and loose, light-red-and-white striped t-shirt. I dressed before popping to the bathroom to brush through my tangled hair and put on perfume.

Just as I was leaving, Leilani bounced into the room without an ounce of sleep on her. Her hair looked like a birds nest as she pushed me out of the bathroom, claiming that she needed to get ready. Sometimes it felt like I had an older sister with the amount of time she spent getting ready.

I retrieved my phone and bag from my room before heading downstairs. Mum was sitting at the counter with a mug of coffee in front of her, the lack of sleep evident in the purple shadows under her eyes. I had no doubt in my mind that she hadn’t slept; she was probably up all night doing reports for the bakery.

I was about to make a cup of tea when Mum cut in, her voice tired. “I’ll make that for you.”

Surprised by the gesture, I sat down on the other side of the bench. As Mum made me a chai latte, she cleared her throat.

“Lena, sweetie,” she started in a voice that told me what was coming.

“You want me to work at the bakery tomorrow?” I asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

Our family owned a little gourmet bakery in the middle of the main street. It was famous for its berry muffins and pesto, pumpkin and béchamel croissants. Recently it had been awarded the number one bakery of the year which led to the increase of customers; which was a good thing until Mum started asking me to work.

I didn’t mind if I could stay in the kitchen or on coffees but it was bad when he made me take orders and even worse; wait. 

She cleared her throat. “Well, yeah. Would you mind? Pete’s gone on a holiday and we are really understaffed. You can just do coffees. I’m pretty sure Patrick is working as well.”

Patrick was one of the best guys that worked at the bakery. Don’t get me wrong, all of the staff were great but Patrick respected my silence and we worked really well together, especially on coffees. Although I think Mum thought there was something going on between us. She always used him to get me to work but the truth was we were just good friends.

“Sure,” I agreed. She handed me my chai and I thanked her before drinking it. I then said goodbye to him and my sister – who came screaming down the stairs like every other morning – and was on my way.

When I got to school I was greeted by an ecstatic Anna who had just been asked out by her all time crush; Jason Teller. He seemed like a nice enough guy but was part of the popular group, so I was always a bit iffy around him. I had to be happy for Anna though, who chattered my ear off about him all the way to lunch.

Needless to say the day went by excruciatingly slowly. I really couldn’t have been happier when I arrived in the Arts building for sixth period Photography.

“We’re starting a new assignment today!” My teacher exclaimed, making up for the enthusiasm my class lacked. “It’s a portraiture assignment,” he continued. “You are to pair up and take four to ten photographs of your partner. Please stay inside the school grounds or else there will be trouble.” He pointed his finger sternly at a few of the rebels in the class. “Be creative, be different, and make sure it’s done by Thursday week.” He finished, taking a seat in the chair behind his desk.