Christy brought over over fried rice which she made. It was garnished with a lot of good stuff and Mariah ate more than she had in a while.
Christy had cleared out the plates and was washed them off in the bathroom that adjoined her private room.
Her father walked in the room as she was sipping her drink from the twirly straw that made her feel like she was an absolute child.
"Mariah." He called pulling a chair to sit beside her bed.
"Father" She said
"Haha" He chuckled dryly
"Yes daddy?" Her said with fake enthusiasm
"I love you" he said
"What?"
"I don't want you to ever think that I don't love you or I don't care about you. Or that I wish that you were someone else"
"But you wish I was more like Sarah" Mariah stated finally dropping her cup with the twirly straw on the bedside table.
"No. No. " he said shaking his head. "You go through so much. I just wish I could take away some of the pain for you. And sometimes i just wonder if maybe it would be easier for you if you were more like Sarah."
"Aww... Pops" she said, "You almost sound like you're trying out new lyrics on me"
He chuckled. "I wouldn't never do that bear. It's awful not to mention corny"
"Ah" Mariah nodded in understanding
"Did I use the word corny correctly?" He asked
"Yes Pops"
"Okay good. You are smart so smart and you want to be a doctor... I don't even know... "He trailed off running his hands through his hair. He rolled his chair even closer to the bed and placed his elbows on the mattress.
"I wasn't exactly the brightest in school" he said
"I know Pops" She said almost chuckling
"No I'm serious... I was one of those guys that used to sit at the back and draw in their notebooks. Except mine wasn't drawing, it was lyrics. Songs. And this wasn't a case of me not even applying myself... I was just dumb when it came to school work. I used to feel so lost but when it came to music... Any kind of music, I understood it perfectly. I used to be one of those kids to make fun of the smarter ones... Because we couldn't be like them we sat at the back of the class and coined ridiculous nicknames for them. When my daughter grew up to be even smarter that the guys I used to bully in school... I just thought how much harder your life was going to be. That's why I made you leave Surefoot ...to this school for the gifted you now currently attend. Being smart is okay there and I like that"
"I'm not that smart." Mariah shrugged, "I couldn't figure out that JJ was eventually going to kill me"
"Ugh... Don't remind me" Her father winced
"Pops"
"Hmmm" He hummed
"What are you going to do with JJ? Momma said they arrested him"
Her father nodded, "Kill him is what I want to do. But probably not. I don't know, what do you want to do? I recommend locking the guy up for life"
"Psychiatric hospital"
"What?" Her father blinked
"He's crazy. He needs help, you can take him to court but I recommend psychiatric evaluation. And I don't want to be part of the trial. I don't want to see him"
"Of course. No one will subject you to that" he said holding her hands
"Pops"
"Hmm"
"What if I don't become a doctor"
"Why not?" he asked
"What if I don't go to university?"
"What's going on in that big brain of yours?" he asked, "Because you shouldn't be worried about whether or not you would get in. You should be worried about how many schools you'd have to pick from"
"I wrote my first JAMB when I was 14. I scored a 281. This year I scored a 312. Out of 400. They withheld my result for months! What do you think I would score next year?"
"400 out of 400?"
"Pop-pop!"
"What? I am proud of you. Can't I say that? "
"I don't want to be a doctor."
"What do you want to study then?" he asked her
"I'm 15. Most of the people in my class are 17. I feel like I've been running through my life too quickly and I just want to breathe finally"
"Those are good lyrics now"
"Haha" she said rolling her eyes.
"So what to you want to do? Travel? Take a vocational class? Anything you want to do is okay with me."
"You do know that other parents would have yelled at me by now right?"
"Mariah... I don't think you realize. You are a miracle. I was so dumb in school and your mother was a C average student. Her family weren't even able to send her to complete secondary school so she joined pageants. She got told about that she was beautiful and tall so she did the pageants to make money. The chances of both of us... Having someone as intelligent as you... Slim to none. But see... I trust you. And it has a lot to do with that fact that I'm pretty sure that you are smarter than me even as old as I am now. So... I trust. I worry for you... And you get me scared a lot but I trust you."
"I want to travel a bit. Help momma with the company. I really enjoy working with her."
"And that's not bad at all. See? Like I said smarted than me"
A knock on the door caused their attention to shift to the door. Mariah hadn't even noticed that it was almost four o'clock.
"Hey Mariah" He said
"Hi Harrison" she replied
"Good afternoon sir" Harrison said to her father.
"Pops, Harrison" Mariah said to her father.
"Harrison. Nice to meet you. You didn't come with Kami today I see" he noted
"She's on her way sir, I have somewhere to be and I just thought to drop by and see Mariah before I leave.
"That's okay." Her father said standing up "How tall are you?"
"POp-pop" Mariah rolled her eyes
"6'1. Last I checked sir"
"I'm leaving." he said raising his hands in the air. "I have to pick Sarah from the studio and bring her here anyways." he said heading for the door
"Bye pops" Mariah called after him and he waved her off. "Sit" she said and Harrison obliged her dropping his bag onto the tiled floor
"I'm sorry this happened Mariah. Are you okay?" Harrison asked
"Well my shoulder hurts badly and sometimes it feels like my head is going to split in two but asides that I'm good. How was the competition?"
"Mariah... Really?"
"Just tell me" she whined
"Fine" he said "We won"
"Are you lying to me?"
"We won, Mariah. We're going to Akwa Ibom for the Nationals in February"
"Why are you not happy about that?"
"Maybe because my girlfriend is in a hospital bed in pain and unable to walk"
"Don't forget that I'm seeing double"
"Mariah... " he whined
"I'm sorry. So what happened? How did Micah find me?"
"Well, her waited a while for you and I was starting to get worried since you only said you were going to get your bag. I told Micah. And he claimed we could do without you and that I should get into the bus and that he was going to get our allowance from the principal. The next thing I know he's yelling that we should call the ambulance and holding JJ by the throat so he could stop hitting you. It was pretty epic"
"I never knew Micah had feelings"
"Me neither. Did he come here? He left school pretty early I thought he was coming here."
Mariah shook her head. "What of Kami?" Mariah asked. She couldn't help it. Kami was her best friend and even if she was being a butch Mariah still loved her
"To be honest, she's been pretty down since... Well... You know. I haven't talked to her much though... She was here when I came in yesterday. She lingered by the door for a few hours and left."
Mariah talked to Harrison for a few more minutes and then he kissed her and left. He had to go to church with his parents that evening. Mariah sat in her bed bored out of her mind flicking through TV channels and Wishing that Christy hadn't left and neither had Harrison.
She hated hospitals.