Kina's POV
"So what really happened last night?" Gale questioned when we reached our first lesson of the day. I couldn't fight the smile that crept its way onto my face. Gale and Cassie looked at each other before looking back at me.
"Don't look at me like that. We just went on a date that's all" I pulled their minds from the gutter. They looked at each other again.
"Yeah you totally just went on a date and then you went to her house and slept in her bed" Cassie wiggled her eyebrows at me. I covered my face with my hands as I felt it heat up.
"Stop" I scolded them. They continued to laugh at the expense of my dignity.
"Okay but lets be real here. What was your argument about this morning? You usually agree with everything Erika says" Cassie poked. I rolled my eyes at her.
"We have a competition this week and I really want to slow things down with my duet with her. I want to combine our talent of presenting sex appeal in our solos" I confessed. Cassie's eyes widened.
"Why are you doing all this again? Like I get the slow things down and sex appeal but why?" Cassie raised an eyebrow at me.
"I also want to know because something isn't adding up here" Gale chuckled. I rolled my eyes. My friends could always read me like an open book. I definitely had ulterior motives to my suggestion.
"You remember Aspen right?" I began. Gale and Cassie groaned simultaneously.
"The one who's obsessed with Erika right? The one who has your dad's surname?" Gale refreshed his memory. I winced at the second question. My dad had always been a sensitive topic. I refused to speak about his death or his existence for that matter. It always brought me too much pain.
"That's the one. Well he looks at Erika a little too lovingly for my liking" I confessed. Cassie nodded before bursting out in laugher. Gale joined in on the laughter. I mentally face palmed at their childish behaviour.
"Jealousy makes you crazy Kina" Gale commented once he and Cassie had stopped laughing. Cassie high-fived him.
"How do we get tickets to every studio session where you, Erika and Aspen have to interact?" Cassie teased. I pushed her playfully and she fell into Gale.
"The three of you in the back. Stop talking and do your work" our substitute teacher scolded us. We turned back to our work and spent the rest of the lesson in silence.
Time seemed to drag at snails pace today and I thought the school day would never end. When the final bell rang, everyone in my English class quickly packed their bags and made their way to the door.
"Students sit back down! The bell doesn't dismiss you, I do!" Mrs Pine, our English teacher yelled after us.
"Attention to all students. Please go to the auditorium. NOW!" an announcement sounded over the school P.A system There was an audible groan through the hallways as everyone put their stuff back into their lockers. People quickly piled into the auditorium and sat down to avoid getting in trouble.
Naturally Gale, Cassie and I sat together as we awaited what would happen here. The principle walked out onto the stage with the vice principle and the head of the PTA.
"Good afternoon students" The principle greeted us.
"Afternoon Sir" the whole auditorium responded. I looked at my friends who looked back in equal confusion.
"I heard they were bringing back the random drug tests and the random searches" Gale whispered to us. Cassie gasped and looked at me.
"Please tell me you don't have any of it on you" she whispered. I put my hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
"Relax. I don't keep it on me unless you two ask for it" I reassured them both. They sighed in relief and we took our attention back to what was happening on the stage.
"We have been made aware of some very serious disciplinary infringements taking place throughout the various grades" the vice principle spoke. There were audible murmurs heard from everyone in the room.
"In grade eight we have had multiple reports of girls breaking dress code so as punishment, the grade eights will be required to wear the school uniform every single day instead of just on uniform days. This will be until further notice" the principle announced.
"That's bullshit" someone yelled. Cassie stifled laughter beside me at the outburst.
"A reminder that the school uniform for girls is the white blouse, the red tartan school skirt with white knee high socks and black school shoes with a heel or sensible black court heels. For the boys you are expected to wear your white collared shirt with your tie, black dress pants and black dress shoes. Blazers are to be worn on Mondays and Wednesdays. Sports uniform to be worn on Fridays" The head of the PTA announced.
"That's bullshit for real. How much do you wanna bet that the girls who were dress coded probably just wore a skirt that was half a centimetre too short" Gale complained. I hummed in agreement.
"Now for the grade nines we had some complaints about many students being late for lessons and for that reason the whole grade will sit in Saturday detention" the vice principle announced. My eyes widened at the punishment.
"Surely that's a bit much isn't it? Detention for a whole grade just because a few fuckers were late?" I commented. My mind was baffled as I couldn't determine a reason why the punishments had been so harsh so far.
"In grade 10 we have had some very serious allegations of underaged drinking as well as drug use. It is for this reason why a letter has been sent out to your parents notifying them of the infringements and we will now be implementing random drug tests starting with the compulsory one you will all take when you get home this afternoon" the principle announced. I looked at each of my friends in turn.
We were royally fucked.
The rest of the assembly dragged on with the grade elevens who were now technically seniors, losing their senior privileges until further notice because of the boys taking advantage of the senior bathrooms and using them to smoke.
When we left the auditorium all of the grade 10s were given a drug test to be administered at home by their parents.
"Kina what kind of test is it?" Gale asked as soon as we were outside and away from all the ears.
"These ones look like the tests that detect everything. Alcohol, weed, the hard drugs. I have a feeling these are likely to detect what's been in your system for up to thirty days" I ran a hand through my hair. The last man my mom dated was addicted to drugs and she used to make him take the exact same drug tests when he would come to the house.
"What the fuck are we going to do!?" Cassie whisper shouted. I sighed and thought for a moment.
"Stop smoking weed?" I joked. Cassie hit me playfully on the shoulder.
"Well that's helpful to us right now isn't it? What are we actually gonna do?" she asked again. I ran through the list of sober people we could ask to take our drug tests for us.
"Why don't you ask Erika?" Gale suggested. Cassie hit him hard on the back of the head.
"Tell me you're an idiot without telling me you're an idiot. Kina can't do that to Erika. That's her girlfriend you pabo" Cassie scolded him. I stifled laughter.
"Wait! Fake pee. Don't you remember Jae used to do it all the time when his parents used to bust him for going to parties. We just need warm water and yellow food colouring. Then we pull a Rue and pass the drug test" I suggested. My friends contemplated it for a moment before agreeing.
"Meet at my house by 3pm. Jump through my window I'll have everything ready" I instructed. The real solution to this problem would be to stop smoking weed but that definitely wasn't going to happen because it made me feel better about life.
My mom pulled into the parking lot. I walked quickly to the car and got in, putting my school bag down on the backseats. I handed my mom the drug test and she looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you clean?" she asked me. I sighed and leaned back against the leather seat.
"I literally smoked yesterday. I'm fucked" I groaned.
"Language" my mother scolded. She pulled out of the parking lot and drove us home.
"Well I'm not going to pretend that this isn't hilarious because it is. But right now we have to focus on passing that drug test. My god I am such a bad mother" she groaned. When we reached the house my mom went straight to the kitchen and pulled out the yellow food colouring.
"How did you know-" I began but she cut me off.
"Kina I don't think you realise how much you're like me. Zara is so much more like your father was. She's feisty but she was never very rebellious. You on the other hand are exactly the same as I was when I was growing up. Always running off, causing mischief, smoking weed and underaged drinking" she paused as she filled a jug up with warm water.
"When you came out to me as lesbian I was incredibly relieved because I knew you'd been sexually active and I was so relieved that you wouldn't end up like me" she admitted. I pulled her in for a hug.
"You're an amazing mom and I love you" I whispered. She placed a kiss on my forehead and I released her from the hug. She got to work quickly on mixing the food colouring into the water. I ran quickly up the stairs and into my bedroom to find Cassie and Gale climbing through the window.
"Come downstairs" I instructed. They followed me downstairs and into the kitchen. My mom split the mixture into two empty saline bottles.
"I knew we'd be expecting you. You should run home with these. I have a feeling these are temperature detecting tests" my mom said. My friends looked at each other and grabbed the bottles before sprinting towards the door.
"Thank you Ms Song!" Cassie yelled as she ran out the door. My mother chuckled and filled my test cup with the fake pee before placing the test inside. We sat in silence until the timer on my phone went off signalling for us to check the test. I took the test out of the fake pee and inspected it carefully.
"All negative" I finally spoke. My mother sighed in relief and pulled me in for a hug. I felt all the tension from the past few days fade away as we embraced each other.
I hated how vulnerable it made me feel.
"I hate fighting with you Kina" my mother whispered. Her words triggered a reaction in me and feeling of vulnerability took hold of my senses. My mind rushed back to the events that had led up to this moment. Ditching school. Doing drugs. The argument with my mom in the car.
The argument. The argument. The argument.
I couldn't breathe.
"Kina are you okay?" I heard my mother's voice but it was way to muffled over the sound of my struggle to get air. My heart began to race and my mother held me at arms length with concern plaguing her features.
My mother was quick to spring into action. She quickly sat me down before rushing to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
"Kina you need to breathe" she tried to calm me down. My hands began to shake and I tried my hardest to shut off my emotions. I hated this feeling more than anything in the world.
I felt dazed and disoriented as I struggled to return my breathing to normal.
The last thing I heard was my mother scream before everything went dark.
When I came to, I felt my mother gently stroking my hair and whispering reassuring words to me.
"Mommy" my voice was raspy when I spoke. My mother shushed me and continued to comfort me.
"You had a panic attack darling" she tried her best to keep calm. We were silent for a few moments before I tried to speak again.
"I'm sorry" I apologised. My mother placed a soft kiss on my forehead.
"Don't apologise it's not your fault. How are you feeling now? Strong enough to go upstairs to bed?" she asked. I nodded and she stood up before helping me up. We walked slowly up the stairs until we reached my closed bedroom door. My mother opened the door before helping me into bed.
Once she had covered me with the blankets she shut off the lights and turned to leave.
"Can you stay?" my voice was barely above a whisper. My mother shut the bedroom door and sat down on my bed beside me. I allowed my body to relax into the mattress and sighed in relief. My mother stroked my hair gently and I felt my eyes slowly slipping shut.
For the first time in months I dreamt of someone other than Erika.
For the first time in months...
I dreamt of my father.