I AM BACK!

I was lying on my bed. It was good to be home

“It is good to be with you, buddy” Johnny slapped my stomach

“Ouch!”

Knock! Knock!

“That must be your mom, hearing you talking to us again,” Johnny said and Mina shook her head to agree with Johnny's statement.

“Shhhh!” I interrupted

I asked through the closed door “Mom, anything? I’m up to bed”

“OPEN THE DOOR!” Mom demanded angrily. “No locked door in this house. You know that right!”

I opened the door and said “I am not a kid anyone. Everyone needs privacy.”

“If you want privacy, wait till you recover” Mom passed a bottle of medicine “I heard a sound like talking to someone. Are you? Who are you talking to?”

“I was talking on the phone with my coursemate, Leslie" I explained but Mom seemed not believe my white lies. 

“What!” I replied angrily “I don’t understand, why out of a sudden you become so concerned about me?. You have stopped caring about me since Dad left. So you don’t have to” I stopped talking as I saw watery on mom eyes. It was just an emotional outburst 

“I was…..,“Ok! Don’t forget the medicine” Mom walked to her room

I expressed great regret and said “Mom, I didn’t mean that”

Mom stopped without turning back and said “Rest well” Mom walked directly to her room.

“Your mom is crying,” Mina said

“Your mom was depressed at that time. You know that” Johnny said, raising his voice a little

“I know. I was….” I closed the door! “I already said don’t talk too loudly. It will scare Mom”

“So now you are blaming us?” Johnny asked as he got so emotionally flooded

“I didn’t mean it,” I looked at Mina and said, “You know I didn’t mean it right?”

Johnny pulled Mina to his side “Don’t drag Mina in. She is my girlfriend”

“You guys stop!”  Mina was trying to be wise as she did not want to indulge in any kind of emotional outburst

“Alright!” I tried to stop things from spiralling out of control so  I took out a pill of medicine from the bottle. “I think we need to cool down"

“Are you going to take that pill?” asked Mina

“If you take that, you won’t be able to see us” interrupted Johnny

I looked at the pill for a second and said “No worries, I won’t,” I threw the bottle of medicine into the trash bin. "I'm sorry for my outburst"

"I'm sorry as well," said Johnny

"Start now, No more arguement. If either one of us vents or piss off. Others must remain silent and let them vent. It is to prevent any emotional comments that will provoke an outburst of anger"

We shook our heads to show our agreement.

“Gerrard!, I heard your mom calling Joanna,” said Johnny

“Joanna, The therapist?” Mina asked

“Start from now, we need to be careful,” I said

“Ok!” we all noted 

“I’m tired and sleepy” I whispered

“Fast get to bed and tomorrow can see your sweetheart, Leslie”

“Leslie! You must be joking. She is way too far from my type”

#

Ring! Ring! (Alarm)

“Wake up,” shouted Johnny

“Schooling time!” shouted Mina

“Arg! 6.30 a.m. How I wish I was still in the Hospital”

“Fast get your ass up”

I ran down the stairs “Mom! Why didn’t you wake me up? I’m late for class”

“Sorry my dear, I thought you wanted to rest more. Your breakfast”

“I’m good. I have skipped too much class. I need to pick up where I left behind. No worry, Mom”. I hug and kiss Mom on her cheek. Then, I grabbed a sandwich and a milk bottle and ran after the bus.

#

Everyone seemed happy to see me, especially the gossip girl. Business account 2 subject is way too boring. How I wish the time flies faster. Looking at Leslie ‘What are you doing?’

“Mind your own business” She covered something with the textbook

I removed the textbook and saw a paper with a drawing on it. ‘Did you draw it?’

“Ya, does it look handsome? Guess who am I drawing|?”

“To be honest, I can’t figure it out. Who are you trying to draw?’

“Guess”

“No idea. Don’t tell me you are drawing me?”

“Of course, not”

“Don’t be shy”

Leslie passed a mirror to me

“Why pass a mirror to me?” I looked in the mirror and said ‘I love my today hairstyle. Don’t you feel so?’

“Mirror creates the illusion that you are seeing a parallel world that agrees you are handsome” Leslie joked “Give me back my mirror’

I gave back the mirror to Leslie and asked “Actually, who are you drawing?’

“My idol, Andy Lau”

Tutor Ms. Liew took the drawing and said ‘who drew?’

Then Leslie raised her hand

I interrupted “She drew me. Doesn’t look like right?’

‘Hmp” Ms Liew looked at Leslie “A bit”

‘Ms Liew, it is not”

‘Not? Then?’

‘I was drawing my brother for his birthday present”

“Ok. But I wish that personal stuff could be done during personal time, not during my class”

“I’m sorry. I will take note of it”

After Ms Liew walked away. I whispered “You are so smart in finding excuses”

“Class Dismissed” shouted Ms Liew.

Beep ! Beep! ( Car honk)

I turned to face the driver and it turned out to be Leslie, “Whoa!, Nice car” I’m begged “Could you give me a drive home?. I miss the bus”

“Get in the car!”

Leslie drives in the correct direction where I live without my guidance. Out of curiosity, I asked her “You live nearby?’

“Just live nearby on this same street”

“Never see you before”

“Because old-fashioned girl never in your sight”

“I am really sorry for the remark. After what has happened, Feeling is most important”

“It is ok. Everyone has different tastes”

“You are such a considerate person”

“I will drive past your house. I can carpool to class every day with you. If you don’t mind”

“Of course not. Give me your house plate number, I will direct to your house then so you don’t have to wait for me”

“No 69. Actually, just the same street and I don’t mind waiting”

“Say something!. It is way too silent. Arg! I can’t stand it” said Johnny

I gave Johnny a death stare.

“I have to go. It is way too boring” whispered Johnny “Mina, Let go”

“Wait for a while” replied Mina

“Then ok. Can I play a song? ” I asked Leslie

“You can get CDs from the glove box of the car. But you may not like it cause most of the music is oldies songs”

“I’m okay with Oldies songs. For me, Oldies song’s lyrics are more meaningful.”

“Great to hear that! Between, are you trying to break the awkward silence?”

“She feels it too! Haven’t I said that too?” Johnny said excitedly

“Arg! It is too obvious? Actually, I kind of scared of awkward silence” I turned to Leslie and rested my hand on the driver seat armrest.

Leslie laughed “Ya too obvious but kind of cute”

“She said you are cute” whispered Mina

I turned to Mina and smiled.

“Leslie, you are too straightforward”

“Straightforward is good. I don’t have to speculate and wonder”

“But it has good and bad points. Brutal honesty tends to be purposefully offensive. Sometimes too direct will scare people away, especially your crush”

“Ya I know. I have tried my best to be as honest and clear as possible at the same time, I still try to protect other people’s feelings. But if didn’t have feelings, I prefer to be direct rather than wasting each other time”

Our personality was way too different. Luckily, we are just friends.