Chapter 19
The first thing I saw in front of me was a golden rose, and I immediately remembered. Jarell. I got up from my bed, then went downstairs, expecting him to greet me like every other morning. He was nowhere to be found — but I definitely smelled burning coming from the kitchen. I closed my eyes and sighed as I made my way there, to find Carrie making breakfast. I turned to the source of the smell. The eggs in the pan were charred. When she turned and saw me standing there, she glared at me, as though her burning up those eggs was my fault. I returned it with a blank look.
"I'm almost done with it. You can use it later," she muttered indifferently as she moved around the kitchen, getting bread into the toaster.
This was common occurrence now that I wasn't their maid. The past few days, Jarell had told me to ignore them, to let them get a taste of their own medicine, let them know how unappreciative they had been, but something had been nagging at my mind constantly. If I continued to stay here, it would only be right if I did my part too, wouldn't it? Plus, it wasn't like Carrie had left me to die. She did give me an allowance. So I went forward and chucked those eggs into the bin before Carrie could stop me.
"What are you doing?" she hollered furiously, then pulled the pan from my hand. "Don't you go thinking you can do anything you want now. The twins may be terrified of you, whatever you've done, but I am not, and I will not succumb to any of your threats."
I remained mum as I moved to pick up four eggs from the carton and washed them under the tap before putting them in a bowl. With enough force, I yanked the pan from Carrie's hand, and moved to the stove.
"I'm going to make breakfast, one egg for everyone of us in the house, okay?" I eyed the overgrowing basket full of clothes uncomfortably. "And I will do any housework two times a week. If you want the house to be cleaner, tell the twins to come home early everyday to do their part. The way I see it, it's about time they learnt how to care for themselves instead of becoming freeloaders."
"How dare you!"
I poured some oil over the pan. "And we can take turns to make breakfast. Let's not trust the twins just yet with cooking. The house might burn down. So, here, we wait for the oil to be a little hot, and then we put the eggs in. You have to constantly check the underside of the eggs. Once it's brown enough, turn off the fire and remove them." I demonstrated it to her. Carrie watched silently by the side. Considering her personality, I assumed she was learning quietly.
The rest of the morning went on quietly, apart from the twins' usual complaints, and for once, they were reprimanded for it. When I took the toast to my bedroom with a smile, finally, it was for an entirely different reason.
~*
I headed off to school eagerly, wanting it to be over. I yearned to see Jarell soon. Life had turned a little boring without him around, although I did better appreciate my alone time now and again. I could collect my thoughts better as I saw the twins eating at a canteen table all by themselves. Simon had gone on to join the others yesterday, and although the others had been unwilling to accept him at first, they finally let him into their group. I decided to leave the twins be for now. Times like these, it would be good for them to learn from their mistakes properly, and if what Jarell said was correct, that their once-friends had matured, it shouldn't take long for them to approach them, to give a second chance. Or better yet, for the twins to have the courage to apologise to them, and ask for a second chance.
After school, I rushed to the hospital. The nurse at the counter saw me and gave me a smile, allowing me to head in. I took the smile as a good sign.
When I reached the door, I took a deep breath and knocked. Almost immediately, Mrs Anderson opened the door with a wide grin on her face.
I returned the smile and asked brightly, "Is he... awake?"
She nodded her head then went ahead to hug me. I could feel the relief rolling off her, like a strong wave out in a calm sea. I returned the embrace, then sighed. Everything was turning as well as I had hoped. All my worries were for not. That was all it mattered now.
Mr Anderson appeared behind her, wearing the same smile. He laid a gentle hand on his wife's back and said, "Come, Petrina, let the girl in. She must be dying to see Jarell kicking." He chuckled.
"Right." She let go. "Sorry about that." Then, putting a hand around my shoulders, she led me into the room. It was a lot different from before. Sure, there was still the smell of antiseptic and the heart monitor, but the whooshing of the air ventilator was gone. Jarell didn't look that alien to me anymore now that he was sitting up and blinking at me, although he did look slightly tired.
I walked a couple of steps forward before saying, "Hi. I see you've woken up." Something felt different.
Jarell smiled. "Hi."
"We'll let the both of you talk. We have to see the doctor," Mrs Anderson said.
"We do?" There was a pause and some heated whispering. "Oh, yes, we do. We'll leave you both be," Mr Anderson said, then both of them left the room.
When they'd closed the door behind us, I still stayed where I was, staring into his eyes. We were like that for a while before I decided to move to sit beside him.
"Well, this is awkward."
Jarell laughed weakly. "Still as honest as ever."
"How are you feeling?"
"I regret telling you to come."
I frowned. "What?"
"Don't take this the wrong way. I meant, I should have told you to come a few days later, when I'm feeling a lot better and have the strength to walk around rather than be bedbound." He grimaced. "Anyway, since you're here, tell me what happened today."
And so I told him about Simon, about the twins and Carrie. Just as I expected, he showed his disapproval that I had told Carrie that I'd like to take part in the house chores, but grew delighted when I mentioned having the twins be part of it as well. He grew even more so when I told him how the twins got reprimanded for the first time today by Carrie.
"Well, at least, it's my first time seeing them get scolded."
Jarell scoffed. "About time." He sighed as he leaned against his pillow and closed his eyes briefly.
"You should get some sleep. You look really tired," I said gently.
"Sorry about that. I think... it's better if I see you in school."
"Soon?"
He smiled. "Soon."
When I opened the door, I found the Andersons standing outside the door. My eyes widened, wondering if they had heard anything about my family. They didn't seem to give away anything though, because the only thing Mrs Anderson said was, "Oh, leaving so quickly?"
I nodded. "I thought I should leave him to rest."
Mrs Anderson looked at Jarell behind me. "Sorry about that, but do come again, okay? You know, the first thing he did when he woke up was to ask for you."
"Mom!" Jarell shouted. At least, he did, because all it sounded like was a groan.
"Oh." I blushed. "Well, I'll take my leave first. Bye." I walked briskly away, feeling myself grin stupidly.
~*
It was about two weeks later when I finally saw him. My heart thudded harder than ever when he walked through the door to the classroom. He looked loads better, although still a little skinny. The colour was back to his cheeks, and his eyes were brighter, more alert. But looking at his demeanor, he looked exactly like the Jarell I knew before he came to haunt me. That made me a little nervous, but I kept telling myself that was part of who he was. I stayed in my seat, watching him silently. Lilla and Lina were the first to go straight to him, but he ignored them, leaving them confused more than ever. Simon took that as a good sign to go over to him.
"Hey, Jarell! Long time no see!" He put out a hand for him to high-five. Jarell hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting to mine, before giving his hand a light slap. "Good to have you back."
"Really? Because I didn't hear my parents say you came over to visit me at the hospital."
My classmates who had arrived before him stared in silence, then started talking among themselves. I could almost imagine what they were discussing. Liars. All of them are liars. Lilla and Lina looked around them nervously as they pressed against each other, insecurity and fear clear on their faces. As for Simon, he looked like he'd just gotten a tight slap across his cheek.
He chuckled lightly, almost mirthless. "Sorry about that. I didn't have the time to. So many things happened! I've been dying to tell you everything that happened since you were gone!"
"It's okay." He looked back at the twins surreptitiously. "I think I know what happened." He lifted his head to look at me. What was he trying to do? With ease, he walked towards me, then came to sit beside me. Sure, there was no fixed sitting arrangements but...
"What the hell are you doing?" I whispered.
"If they aren't going to apologise to you in person, I'm not going to hang out with them."
"But still..."
The buzz in the classroom was getting louder by the minute. Although I should be used to having everyone look at me, I felt strange, because this time, the attention was on me for a whole new reason. Jarell Anderson, who had been gone for more than a month, had suddenly changed his viewpoint about me for no apparent reason. At that time, I couldn't help but feel he was dealing with things a little too badly. I sighed and covered my face.
~*
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked angrily, frowning at his form sitting opposite me during lunch.
He looked genuinely confused. "What?"
"You're supposed to act as though nothing's changed, and then slowly change. What's wrong with you? Who in the right mind will actually tell the teachers that they're able to understand everything they taught today when they started the topic only a week ago, which, I should remind you, that you weren't there to listen? I thought you're supposed to be smart. Now everyone's going to think the accident did something to your brain."
"I just don't want to waste time. I've lost enough as it is." He looked down at his fried noodles, then started giving some to me.
"What are you doing?" I asked, now almost hysterical. I pulled my plate to myself.
"I forgot I'm not supposed to be eating so much yet. My stomach's still not quite used to it. So, seeing as how there's a glutton in front me, I thought I should make use of that." He grinned mischievously.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Right, I just remembered. I thought you said you weren't ever going to eat out with me."
His eyes widened innocently. "Did I?"
I sighed, giving up. "Do what you want."
"Yes, I think I will. Thank you for the useless comment."
I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, you haven't told me what exactly happened when you disappeared. Were you able to meet my dad?"
He shook his head. "It just felt like that time during the accident. I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I found myself in the hospital bed. My mom's face was the first I saw. There was... this moment when I forgot the time I spent as a ghost, but the memory slowly came back."
"Even so, you still called my name?" I teased.
He pointed his chopsticks at me, blushing heavily. "You were not supposed to know that."
I hit his chopsticks away with mine. "You must have been surprised when you couldn't remember."
"Of course. I was so relieved."
"Relieved?"
He stared into my eyes. "Of course," he said again. "It scared me to wonder what would happen if I actually forgot everything. I've wasted enough time."
"Why are you talking about education now when we're on another topic?"
He put down his chopsticks, then looked around him. I did the same. As usual, there was barely anyone around this table. When he was done, he turned back to me.
"What makes you think I'm talking about education?"
I blinked, wondering for sure now if he had hit his head too hard during the accident. "That was what you said when I was talking about the way you acted in front of the teachers."
"The 'time' I'm talking about is the time spent with you. I assumed you were also talking about how I refused the company of any of my 'friends' in class just now."
"Where are we going with this?"
"I'm saying, I've wasted more than half a year trying to make your life miserable, and my biggest mistake... was not to get to know you better since the very beginning."
I leaned back slowly, not knowing how to react. I had wanted this, hadn't I? So why was it that I felt like running away right this moment? I mentally shook my head, trying to suppress the urge, feeling proud of myself when I succeeded. I knew how hard it must have been for Jarell to say those.
"Is this the reason why you were jealous of Oliver? Because if it was, then there wasn't a need to. In case you're too blind to see, he likes Becca a lot."
Jarell's eyes widened with understanding, but otherwise kept his mouth shut.
I leaned forward, smiling shyly. "And if that's a confession, I accept it."
"Beetroot alert," he whispered. I could very nearly see the admiration and wonder in his eyes.
I giggled. "Same to you."
We gave each other our secret smiles, then continued eating in silence. I didn't know what he was thinking about, but for me, I was beginning to wonder what it would be like if I finally managed to convince him to go to Madam Clar's. And when I did, I'd help him get over his fear of dogs. I'd help him get through life like he had done for me. For every second of my life after this point, I would appreciate whatever my dad had done for me, and for having Jarell come into my life, because believe it or not, I might just have had a miracle like Cinderella, just like the time with her fairy godmother — except mine came in the form of dad's soul, Jarell Anderson and our golden love.
THE END