I can hear some noise that is filling my ears. A really awful noise that interrupted my beautiful dream. Ugh. It is my alarm. I stretch my hand to take my phone which slipped from it and I open only one eye enough to see where it writes dismiss. Then I turn my head to the other side, laying it on the soft pillow and closing my eyes, while my phone falls from my hand, adjusting to my comfortable sheets, joining me in sleep.
I must have dozed off because I bounced from a short dream when the door slapped and scared me. I open my eyes and snap my head to see my mother marching through my bedroom and before I can process what is going on, my blanket is taken away from me, leaving me only in the black boxers.
"Borise, ustani! Zašto spavaš go?"
(Boris, get up! Why do you sleep naked?)
"Mama, molim te. Zašto me pitaš to? Spavaću kako ja hoću."
(Mom, please. Why do you ask me that? I'll sleep however I want to sleep)
"Ne pričaj tako sa mnom! 'Ajde ustani!"
(Don't talk like that with me! C'mon, get up!)
"Još pet minuta. Please." (Only five more minutes)
"Ne može. Zakasnićeš. Moraš da stigneš ranije tamo kako se ne bi izgubio u novoj školi."
(No. You are going to be late. You have to arrive there earlier, so you don't lose yourself in a new school)
A new school. See, I forgot about that. And now when my mother mentioned it I got anxious once again. I had trouble falling asleep last night because of nausea in my stomach and when I finally managed to do that, boom, my alarm wakes me up and here I am, forced to get up.
"Spava mi se", I admit, yawning.
(I feel like sleeping.)
"To je zato što si sinoć kasno stigao."
(That is because you arrived late last night.)
"I was practicing, okay?", I switch to English, not realizing I did so before my mom start complaining.
"O, molim te ne želim da pričam engelski od ranog jutra."
(O, please I don't want to talk English from the very morning.)
"Kako hoćeš." (However you want)
I shrug and sit, rubbing my eyes and adjusting them to light, since my mother is now removing the curtains letting the brightness enlighten my previously dark room. I try not to close my eyes, even though they're rejecting to wake up and only want to stay closed.
"Ne spavaj više go, prehladićeš se."
(Don't sleep naked from now on, you're going to catch a cold)
"Mhm", I murmur, getting up and heading to the bathroom, leaving my mom in the bedroom where she's picking some chaos I left.
"Obuci se!", I hear her voice yelling after me as I close the door of the bathroom.
(Dress yourself!)
While I'm peeing, I try to think positively about going to a new school.
Why am I transferring to a new school? Well, my family moved here, to Seattle, where my father got to be a secretary in a firm which is a new part of the one he used to work in Washington. He gets a bigger wage here, not that in the previous firm he wasn't earning a lot of money. He was. But, actually, he accepted this job just because this is mom's favorite city and she always wanted to live in Seattle. She always wanted to visit it, and when they would she'd just be talking about how amazing it would be if they lived here, but they never got a chance since everything they earned and built in was in Washington and they wanted a secure future for their kid. I mean me.
When they were kids, they used to imagine how one day they were going to leave Serbia, and live in a beautiful big house in America.
Yeah, they are from Serbia, from a very small village close to Belgrade, the capital city of their native country. If you don't know where that is, that is a country in South Europe in the peninsula called Balkan. Back in the time of my parents when they were living there, a lot of kinky habits and traditions were popular, though in a couple of villages there are still those traditions that forbid you almost everything.
My dad and mom had to live, respecting many rules and not being able to be happy and free like teenagers nowadays are. Mom was promised at a very young age to marry a very old man, that would provide her family with money and protect them from the bills they got into. She was a quiet and innocent girl and she had no choice of speech. She was thought that if she disobeyed her parents then she was a bad educated, ungrateful and spoiled daughter.
Instead, she had to be sacrificing and help her family, by getting married to an old man whom she didn't even know. There came my dad, as a hero who rescued her. How that is a little bit foggy to me since mom hates talking about it and told dad not to mention it to anyone, so he avoids telling me about it, just the basic facts that he thinks I deserve to know about my own mom.
What I don't really have to mention since you obviously already connected the dots is that they escaped. When I asked dad why they had to flee in America and not stay in their native country, because I figured out that had to be really hard to live everything yours and just disappear, leaving your family and the place where you got born and grew up, he said that was the only way because their cousins were really powerful and they could find them anywhere in Serbia. So the only solution was to get out of Serbia and go somewhere where their families didn't have any access, nor acquaintances, so they can't ruin their lives and try to take mom from him.
They built this life they have now, they earned money, they bought a house, they found jobs and got citizenship and all that from nothing. Their hands built all of this, all I have now and with blood and sweat they earned the money we are living from now. Nothing made them separate. They sticked together all those years through all the thick and thin they had been, and their love isn't getting weaker day by day like someone else thinks it happens in marriage. No, actually I think that it's growing bigger if that is even possible. It's strong so much that I think nothing will ever tear them apart and I can just long for that kind of relationship.
They learned me to be proud of my heritage and to never hide that I'm from Serbia, that I'm Serbian. They learned me to fight in life and to know how to settle anywhere. To earn everything by myself, and never ask from others when I have two hands and I'm capable of working. Work is everything they say. It always pays off, no matter how hard it may seem to you, no matter how long you think you have been working, eventually it always pays off.
But, yeah, we are now in Seattle. A firm gave dad this really big house, which is actually bigger than one we had in Washington. But that is exactly what we need since mom is pregnant. I'm very excited to have a brother or a sister, even though I'm 17 now.
It's a little hard to move to another place after living seventeen years at one place and leaving all your friends. But, I don't really mind. I mean, yeah I'm nervous since I'm not really... Well, how to say this... I'm kinda a shy boy and I get anxious with strangers and I am not really good with giving good first impressions since I only stand quietly and be awkward. Huh, yeah that's me. But my dad says that I have to be tough and not so naive and shy because there will be moments in my life where I'll have to be demanding and bossy, fighting for myself. Unfortunately, I can't really see myself like that. Like my dad.
He is my idol. And I hope that one day I can be like him. Tough, serious when it comes to his job and his goals, hardworking and successful at everything he does, giving an impression as he is the boss, even though he isn't, but at the same time sensitive about his family, caring, and loving.
When I brush my teeth I go back to my bedroom to find my bed made and neatly fond. Mom. What would I do without her? I smile to myself and quickly take the clothes that I prepared before I went to the tennis court last night. Oh, yeah I play tennis. My parents say that I'm really good at it. And I'll love to believe them. I have been playing it since seven when some club came to our school and presented themselves as people who were trying to make others love this beautiful sport, too. And they managed to make me love it.
It is my passion, and the second thing after my family without I'd be lost in this world. But, when I play it I have a feeling like I know my purpose in this world. So, yeah whatever.
I change, I mean, I get dressed into a pair of black jeans and a white Lacosta T-shirt with a collar. I really like this type of shirt. I own them in every single color. And, no, I'm not kidding when I say that. Even in pink. Actually, I really like wearing bright colors like pink, orange, yellow, green. My friends always used to say how I look like I'm gay when I wear pink or orange, but I don't really care. I just miss them, calling me gay or not.
I take a digital clock that counts my calories and wrap it around my wrist, grabbing my Puma backpack. Gosh, how I love their things. Their shoes are the best, amazing for training and their equipment is extremely comfortable. I brush my curly hair, wondering if I should use a gel, but decide to go naturally today. My hair sometimes really gives me serious problems. Girls seem to love it, but it takes me an eternity to actually style it. Whatever. I make sure that it is not totally messy, more like I woke up like this style, but I kinda like it today, even though I was super stressed that it is going to be disastrous on my first day of school. And with that, I scurry downstairs to have a healthy breakfast with my father.
Every morning my dad and I have a healthy breakfast which mom makes us. It's either egg with bacon or smoothie depending on what we have to do and how much energy we need each morning. Sometimes fruity porridge, and depending on what my mom feels like making. Father and I never complain. Actually we are always excited to see what she is going to prepare us.
"Hey, Mimi see who decided to wake up", my father says as I come down sitting next to him. He's wearing a white shirt which sleeves are rolled to his elbow, showing the elegant clock and his veins. Elegance with no effort. He always manages to look so perfect without making zero effort. How I do not know.
"Bilo je i vreme", she mumbles while putting a plate in front of me and dad. (It was high time.)
It's scrambled eggs with bacon and toast. Mmm.
"I thought that you were never going to come and that I would go to job hungry", dad tells me.
"Zašto za ime Boga pričate engleski od ranog jutra?", mom asks, annoyed.
(Why for God's sake do you speak English from the very morning?)
"Ne znam, draga. Izvini." (I don't know, darling. Sorry.)
"Da, izvini, mama", I apologize as well knowing how grumpy mom can be, especially in the mornings. And no one can deal with it except dad. Well in actuality dad is the only one who can deal with her constant mood changes.
"Kako god. Idem da se obučem", she says and leaves us.
(Whatever. I'll go dress.)
"Važi", dad and I say at the same time. (Okay.)
"I see that you are all dressed up, boy." Dad pats my shoulder before he starts eating. He must be really hungry. "Did you shave?"
"Dad! Of course, I did! I did it yesterday, why?" I start eating the eggs and cutting bacon.
"You look nice. My handsome son." I grin, putting eggs in my mouth. "I like that outfit. Don't forget to put cologne so girls fall at you", he winks, while taking a sip of his orange juice.
"I don't need girls to fall on me or in me." I roll my eyes, while thinking did I say that well at all. Sometimes my English isn't that great, even if I have been living in America for 17 years. But you would never guess that I don't really speak Serbian well, either.
I mess with the things that English doesn't have, but Serbian does. But you can't really blame me. Your native language fades while the language of the place you're living in starts to sew in your mind. Unfortunately, that is how it is. And that is the reason why I always use English when I'm not around mom. Dad understands that so he always talks in English when he's with me.
At the end that is my native language, since I was born in Washington. Though sometimes when I'm really pissed off, I cuss at Serbian so no one can know what I said. But, shh. Don't tell anyone.
"Why you don't want to have a girlfriend? C'mon, Boris don't tell me that this is the moment when you confess to me that you are gay." He leans in his chair, drinking juice. He finished breakfast, while I haven't even started. That is how hungry he was.
"C'mon dad!", I exclaim. "It's too early for jokes."
"Okay, okay", he laughs, lifting his hands in the defense mode. "I just wanted to cheer you up. You seem nervous."
My dad is really hardworking person and serious whenever he is working, but when he comes home or when he's with his friends he is a funny man who likes to joke about everything. He is such a teaser and no matter how many times mom says that she hates that, I know that actually, she enjoys his dumb jokes. It's one of the reason why she fell in love with him.
He is on the bright side, always positive, while she is more negative and always concerned about everything, worried and nervous. But when she is with dad he knows how to relax her and the light in her shines bright because only he knows where that light hides and how to turn it on. And she can be relaxed only when he is around.
Sometimes it's hard to put up with mom's moods, as I've already mentioned, but I try my best. She must be traumatized from everything that happened in her town, from everything that her parents made her do, against her will. Dad once told me when mom yelled at me, that she was just scared, and always had fears that something bad was about to happen and that was the reason why she always tried to control me and wanted to know where I go, with whom and who were those friends.
Thanks to dad I know mom better than she gives me a chance to. She tries to hide her fears and pretends that they don't affect her. Dad says that she is sometimes fighting with her struggle to settle and is scared of amens and predictions, since she is the kind of person who believes in them. Always living in fear and having nightmares from the bad pictures that had engraved in her mind and as well in her terrified, but a kind heart.
So, I and dad always try not to ići na živce (go on her nerves) and dad said he can't find the perfect translation for this, but it's what describes mom the best. To not temper her so she doesn't get angry, and whenever we see that she is nervous, we just try to show her that we love her and that everything is going to be okay because she has us. And he is right, because every time I hug her or dad kisses her she softens and it's like the nervousness vanishes immediately.
So, that is the most important things to know about my parents. Without each other, they'd be lost. My mom wouldn't know how to control her anger and nervousness, how to relax and dad wouldn't have anyone to tease with, to love, and care for. They are each other's better half. And I'm not going to lie, but I do want to find my better half, too. But in today's world seems like all girls only care about money and popularity.
I only had two girlfriends briefly and they just wanted to how my dad says natrljaju na nos (rub on someone's nose) how they are with the most beautiful guy in the city and how I'm theirs.
My dad was the one who told me to stand up for myself and break up with them. If it wasn't for him I would probably continue giving them money every time they'd ask for it and go with them whenever they want, which was mostly at the shopping mall. I didn't think that they were using me, but my dad opened my eyes with struggle, but managed to do it and told me that what I was trying to say myself wasn't true. That I was just being nice not wanting to break their heart when in the end they broke mine.
He came up with a plan to pretend that I was sick, and then the girl with whom I was at that time, didn't call me the whole week to ask me how had I been, and dad said:
"See, Boris, she doesn't care for you, she only cares for your money. Now you are sick and you can't give her money."
When I got out (it was summer break so I could pretend that I was sick for a whole week), I saw her with another guy and I felt like a fool. Like a betrayed fool. She tried to explain that it wasn't what I thought it was, but I finally realized that my father was saying the truth and I broke up with her. She tried to call me, to talk to me whenever she'd see me on the street and when she realized that was indeed over, she scratched a new car parents bought me when I passed my driving test.
My father called her kučkom (bitch) thinking that I didn't know the meaning of that word. And I wasn't angry. I was sad, feeling dumb and stupid for believing that she liked me. I was such a fool and I felt exactly like one.
So, after her, I haven't dated anyone. And I have a feeling like that is going to be the case for a long time. Well maybe forever. I just feel like there is not a girl like my mom. Who is loyal and...
"What are you thinking about, son? Boris? Hey?" Dad snaps his fingers in front of my face and I come back to reality, without my fake girlfriend who just wanted my money and not me.
"Nothing, I was just thinking how foolish was I to be with Emma if you remember her." I put the fork in my mouth, realizing that the scrumbled eggs are cold. Great. I take a sip of my orange juice careful not to spill it on my white T-shirt.
"Of course I remember that kučka", he frowns on the mention of her name, elbowing himself on the table and focusing his brown eyes on mine. "Why were you thinking about her?"
"I don't know. I just did. I don't need a girlfriend if every single one of them is like her", I admit, bowing my head and playing with the food.
"Oh, my dear son lost faith in love even though he never fell in love", he laughs, holding his stomach.
"Dad", I take a sip of my juice, locking eyes with him, "please."
"Sorry. I h-had to", he says in between laughs, while I just roll my eyes at his sense of humor. Seriously how can he have it this early in the morning? "Oh, whatever. Son, you are young, of course, you are going to have a girlfriend. And of course, there are girls like Amy.."
"It's Emma", I correct him.
"Whatever, that chick doesn't deserve for her name to be memorized, at all", he waves his hand with the clock on it through the air. "But there are girls like your mom, too. They are just hiding and waiting for you to find them."
"How do I find?" I nibble the toast. This one is cold, too. Great everything of my breakfast cooled off.
"Well, certainly not if you just say oh, I don't need a girlfriend", he imitates me and I swear I'd punch him with something, but there is nothing I could use.
"Boys", mom's voice snaps us from our conversation and we look at her. "We are going."
Dressed up in a pair of baggy ripped jeans and with a white shirt, all decored with golden necklace and bracelets, along with a couple of rings on her hands. She's wearing black loaves with again golden details, to match her jewelry choice. She looks gorgeous, classy, but chic and all that without any effort, just like her husband. What is with my parents being able to long so elegant with zero effort and a couple of classy things to sugarcoat their looks, I have no idea. And why can't I do that, too is one of the mysteries I can't solve either.
They always look stunning, especially together, because it always seems like they matched their styles when actually they just took the first thing they found in their wardrobe. Just like I said, elegance with zero effort.
"And she speaks English", dad teases her, getting up and kissing her on the cheek.
"Don't do it, Marko." She moves and takes her black jacket and frowns, but I can swear that I managed to catch her smiling when dad kissed her.
"Oh, no I shouldn't do it. What if I do this?" His hands wrap around her waist and without any warning, he puts her body on his shoulder. Mom's perfect blonde curls bounce as she screams, with her body turned upside down.
"Spusti me, Marko! Spusti me!" (Put me down, Marko! Put me down!)
"Neću, neću!", he laughs and turns to me, while carrying mom. "Boris, take her purse and come with us." (I won't, I won't!)
"Going, dad!", I yell after him, putting plates in the kitchen and taking my backpack from the ground and mom's purse, while storming from the house and making sure to lock it, because dad is busy teasing mom. I swear, sometimes they look like kids or some teenagers in love. Big love.
"Spusti me, bre! Znaš da mrzim ovo!"(Put me down! You know I hate this!), mom's screams echo through the neighborhood and I glance to see if someone is watching them while dad slowly walks to the car. I bet the neighbors are sleeping, but that mom's screams are going to wake them up.
"Ja znam da voliš!" (I know you love)
Once we are at the car and dad is starting the engine I can see that mom is smiling, hiding it while looking through the window and not frowning anymore. Oh, I know that dad must have kissed her while I wasn't looking. They are so cute. But, they make me feel so single.
"You packed everything, son?", mom asks me, turning to face me at the backseat, while she is sitting at the passenger one.
"Yeah, I did."
"I know you are nervous, mili (honey), but I promise you that everything is going to be okay. That is what you and dad tell me when I... Ugh, I suck at giving advice", she groans, turning her head to the road and dad places his palm on her thigh, and I see her smiling at him as he wants to tell her that it is okay.
"Oh, dad told me to give you this!", she exclaims, startling me and I see her handing me the bottle of the perfume.
"Trust me, that's the best fragrance on the Earth", he says, dragging the last word, "it's Ferragamo." I glance at his eyes that are looking at me through the rearview mirror.
"Ugh, dad, okay." When I'm done, I hand it back to mom, who opens it and uses it, spraying her neck. Dad just glances at her, cocking his eyebrow.
"What? You know that I love male fragrances." She shrugs, putting it back in the glove compartment.
"Mmm, yeah I do." I just roll my eyes, trying to pretend as if I wasn't here and we fall in the silence, while dad slowly drives to my school. But soon I break the silence, feeling nervousness in my body and nausea at my stomach, tightening it.
"What if they think that I'm boring? O-or weird?"
"Why would they think that?", dad asks, frowning and trying to glance both at me and pay attention to the road.
"Boris, you don't have to be funny like your father so that people think that you aren't boring", mom tries to calm me down. "He was always at the center of the attention, but you don't have to be like that to have good friends." She shoots a look at dad and he just grins, cocking his eyebrow. I swear to God these two...
"She's right, though", dad speaks. "Just be you. Please, son, don't try to act like someone else. Trust me, that never ends well. Be you. You are an amazing person and everyone who can't see that is losing."
"Surprisingly, I agree with you father. You are an angel and if someone doesn't like you, they're idiots." I catch dad's chuckling, but he hides it, by pretending to cough.
"Thank you", I smile at mom, but quickly remember something. "Wait, mom have you had breakfast?"
"No, of course, I haven't", she fidgets in her seat, "you know that I never have breakfast."
"No, she is going to have it, don't worry, son", dad's stern voice speaks. "I'm taking her to eat after I drop you at school."
"No, you are not!", she snaps at him, frowning and sending him a death glare, but he doesn't even glance at her.
"Milice", he looks at her briefly and she immediately bows her head, "you have to eat for the baby." She rolls her eyes while playing with her bracelets.
"Yes, mama. You have to feed it", I join.
"I'll have lunch. I'm sick now. And what your father did beforehand, didn't help with the sickness."
"No. You'll have breakfast. End of story", Dad says sternly and mom just sighs, glancing at the window, leaning on the glass.
"Living with two boys sucks," she complains, mumbling, "I just hope that this baby is going to be a girl. I need a female in this family." Dad and I burst into a laugh, while she groans, yet we can all sense her smiling as well.
"But know that we love you. Seriously." She looks at me, then at dad. He lingers his gaze on her, but when the traffic light becomes green, he starts driving again, recultanty.
"I love you, too, mom. Mama."
"Kiss me then. And don't feel embarrassed for doing it." She turns to me, closing her eyes and putting her cheek close for me to kiss it.
"I'm not", I assure, while I place a kiss on her soft cheek, and she kisses mine as well.
"You got this, okay? Moja duša." She cups my cheek and I smile. (My sweetheart)
As much as I'd love to lie, I can't, I love to cuddle with my mom. I love when she caresses my messy hair and kisses me all over my face, while I pretend that I'm complaining. I know that I can be in her arms whenever something goes wrong and that she is going to be there no matter what, trying to help me solve anything.
"And I don't get a kiss?", dad asks, making a pouty face. Mom rolls her eyes, her lips tugging in a smile and she quickly kisses his cheek. "Yay!"
I laugh, joining mom and dad and then I see my new school coming in sight, as dad pulls over, near the schoolyard.
"We are here junače." (hero)
"Good luck."
"Rock that outfit! Remember walk straight, like you own everything! Kao lav. Kao da hodaš džunglom, kao da si njen kralj." (Like a lion. Like are walking through the jungle and you're its king.)
"Got it! Bye!"
I get out of the car after I greet them, stepping on the pavement, with my white sneakers. I adjust my Puma backpack on my shoulder and sigh before I join the group of students of this school. My new school. I just hope that everything is going to be alright. That everyone is going to accept me as I am. And to like me. And I hope I'll like 'em. That is also important, right? I hope I'll like my new school.
NOTE: Yay, you made it through the first chapter! I know that it is a long one, but it is how I wanted it to be. Well, not like I wanted it, but yeah, I hope you liked it. What do you think of our sweet guy Boris? I covered almost all of his characteristics.
His parents? Checked. The past of his parents? Checked. Boris' favorite colors and labels of clothes? Checked. His girlfriends? Checked. But.... there is a lot of other things to know about our boy, so don't think that this is everything. I know that it is a lot to memorize and I hope that you will at least try.
The next chapter is going to be an interesting one. Why? Because our moon girl is about to show up. Any theories?
When the next chapter is going? When probably next week on this same day. I don't know I still didn't figure out my schedule. Do I post once or twice a week?
And, yeah if there are any mistakes that is because English isn't my native language, so try to bear with them, or point at them so I can correct them.
Also, I have to thank @laeeqalmfao for making me this banner for Boris' pov. Thank you so much!