Don't Leave Dad Waiting!

📻🎤👑

Blondy was panicking after I told her the time, but I didn’t see what her deal was. Did she have a date to get to? Who was the unlucky guy? And more importantly, what made that guy so special when I was right here?

Suddenly she bolted off and ran without warning.

“Hey, wait up!” I uttered my order, but paused when I noticed she’d left her notebook teetering on the edge of the balcony.

For a second I considered leaving that thing here as a consequence for hitting me with it, but I couldn't do that. Such an artifact had been sanctified by the aggressive touching of my flesh, and now I needed to make sure she took care of it for future generations to venerate.

“Don’t forget your book! Especially after you hit me with it!”

I chased her down on the almost non-existent sidewalk. Blondy wasn’t much of a sprinter, but she got a head start. And one of my few, miniscule shortcomings was this unathletic body. The gods took all my stamina and put that strength into my throat. It's a wonder how I kept in shape on a chicken nugget and ramen based diet.

Back to Blondy, the girl was a hazard if she couldn’t hear anything coming from behind. Fortunately, her uniform was bright and reflected a little moonlight, but her light colored hair was practically glowing, which really made her stand out since I knew what to look for. If she hadn't gone and attacked me, I might have said she was the most majestic maiden I'd ever laid my beautiful eyes on.

Even still she was hard to spot out in these dimly lit streets.

My fears increased as I heard a car coming up on the road. I got anxious and picked up the pace. Once I caught up to her I made sure to block her path so she didn’t go right into the street. Then I used her book as a shield to block her pouty rage.

“Hey-listen…” I uttered, putting emphasis on my lips so she'd look at them. “You’re gonna’ get hit by a car if you run off in the dark like that,” I said, which she seemed to understand. Her anger eased into a guilty grimace. “What’s got you worked up like this?”

Her lips quivered and she began to raise her hand. I thought she was going to slap me, but it was probably to sign her thoughts. She did that downward double finger gun gesture and raised it up twice, but stopped when she remembered I didn't understand sign language.

“M-” she uttered. “Mahmah…”

“Mama? Is your mom waiting for you?”

“Eah! Mah-” she slapped her sides in frustration, then started pointing to the right “B-baah! Baabah!”

“You need to feed your sheep?”

Alright, I'll admit, that was a wild shot from me. She understandably gave me an absolutely abhorrent expression of disappointment, like she couldn’t believe what I just babbled.

“O-onoan!”

“O-ono-oto…” I finally figured it out. “Your dad…” And if I had to take a guess as to why she’d be freaking out about him, he was probably waiting for her back at the school, since that was the way she was heading. “He’s coming to pick you up, isn’t he?”

“Ahayuya!” she cheered to the sky.

No wonder she asked me for the time before. She probably either was late to be picked up or going to be soon. At this rate she’d never make it to school in a reasonable amount of time, since she was heading for an intersection with a broken crosswalk light. We called it ‘Thousand Years of Wait.’ No pedestrians ever used it, so nobody ever found an excuse to fix it.

I had a different path in mind. Not as direct, but it would get us there in time if we hustled.

“Hey, why don’t I take you on a shortcut back to school,” I suggested. “It’s the least I can do for scaring you earlier.”

She backed away, seemingly worried of my intentions.

“I’m not gonna’ hurt you or anything…” I pointed to my bruised jaw as a reminder of what ‘she’ did to me. “If anyone should be worried, it’s me. You almost broke my beautiful face.”

It still stung a lot, especially whenever I talked an octave above a whisper. Did I need to get that looked at?

Given her time constraint, she submitted and decided to follow me. With my help she not only safely got back to school along a bike path tunnel most of us used, but I got her there before her dad showed up.

So, we actually didn’t make the five minute mark she was gunning for. It was 6:04. The reason she got here before him was because a long line of cars were at the front of the school, picking up each extra curricular student as they approached the building.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief as we snuck past the cars and quickly ran inside. She didn’t notice her dad among the ones in the parking lot yet, but he was probably toward the back of the line of traffic. There was time for her to get packed up.

I continued to follow her inside, but she kept turning to death glare at me every few seconds.

“What’s that face for?” I held up her book. “I’m trying to give this back.”

She pointed up to the wall, where I noticed the sign for the women's bathroom plainly planted in pink.

“Oh…” I blushed. “Well, there’s some places in my own kingdom I’m not allowed into, yet.”

“Ogog-” she laughed in disbelief as she snatched her book from me and entered the bathroom. “Ogogoo… Maka…”

There she went again, calling me stupid! Blondy sure had an attitude. I didn’t like that one bit. This girl needed to be tamed of that temper. But how was I going to do that when she couldn’t hear the glory of my voice?

Nah… She wasn’t worth the time. If this girl couldn’t even thank a superior for helping her get back to school in time, and called him ‘stupid,’ Blondy truly was just a lost cause.

I debated waiting up for her to tell her off, but instead I figured it was best to head home. Or maybe I needed to see a doctor, because my jaw was killing me!

☄️🔭📘

Baka’s not waiting for me outside the bathroom like some sort of needy puppy? I’m so relieved! I ‘do not’ want to be around that stupid narcissist anymore. He’s so draining!

Well, that’s what I thought at first. I never did thank him for helping me get here safely before dad. He even got my journal for me too. That himbo was dumb, but I guess he’s helpful too.

Maybe I was too mean to him…Oh, who am I kidding? Dude probably thinks himself Amatarasu’s descendant! Hopefully I did him a favor by knocking some sense into that head of his! Still, I didn’t come from a family who ignored people who helped us.

If I run into him again later, I’ll say thanks. Should I get him a gift as an apology for hitting him too? Maybe some card or candy?

Eww no! He’ll think I’m giving him tribute or something stupid and want me to join his cult as a sacrificial bride!

But even so, maybe I can stop somewhere after school tomorrow and see if there’s something small that would make a nice reward. Mutts needed positive affirmation, after all. There’s a cute antique place in town I want to look at, and a candy shop right next to it.

Whatever. I'll get Baka some candy. But the hard stuff that grandmothers always seem to spawn in their purses, or even a dog biscuit would do fine, because chocolate would give him the wrong idea and is poisonous to dogs!

Oh, dad’s finally here. He only texted me a hundred times about it! YES DAD! I SEE THE LIMO OUTSIDE! AND SO CAN ALL THE OTHER KIDS SILENTLY JUDGING OUR HIGH SOCIAL STATUS! GEES!

Well, that pretty much does it for my freedom today. Time to go lock myself up in my bedroom and pretend to study easy math problems while the rest of the world forgot I existed…