The Cassette Tape

Meeting Mum

School was over in a blink and I had to go home. I got on the bus and sat in the back seat with Dan and Luke. I took out my phone and watched Videos of cats barking when I got a text from my dad. It said he needed help cleaning and lifting heavy objects. So I got off in the next stop and walked my way to the shop. I got inside and put my school bag aside in a corner and started dusting the shelves. The door opened and wind gushed in making the wind chimes clink and a woman entered the shop. She walked towards the counter and asked if there were any globes on sale. My dad said "yes" and showed her the way to where the globes where present. Following him the woman turned around and looked at me and at that point I knew who it was. It was her! The woman I saw in the news article. She was also the same person I had bumped into the other day. We stared at each other blankly for a split second which felt like an eternity. My face started to feel hot and immediately I realised I had started blushing. I quickly turned my head towards the shelf and started dusting. I don't know why I couldn't stop blushing. I mean she was pretty but it was something else. I kept looking at them from the corner of my eye. From time to time when our eyes met she would smile. It was quite strange that she didn't think I was weird, moreover her smile felt very friendly and almost as if she knew my and was very close to me. Nearly ten minutes later she walked out of the store. After making sure she had in fact gone out I sighed in relief. I leaned against the wall and took in a deep breath. I didn't do much except stand there dusting, but I felt tired I would have fainted if that went on for any longer. For some reason she felt really familiar, like I've seen her before. I didn't feel like that because of the picture or having bumped into her earlier it felt like Deja Vu, the way she walked in the shop, the way she smiled it all felt oddly familiar."Are you okay?" My dad asked. "Yeah I'm fine, it's just the dust making it hard for me to breathe." I replied to him trying to hide my blushing face. He seemed relieved by my answer and walked the other direction and started organising the shop. I put my earphones on and started listening to music. My brain started to be filled with questions and thoughts. I've always been easily distracted but this time I got distracted by my own thoughts. Although she is suspected to be the new owner of the group that has gotten a terrible reputation due to Mr.Hajime, She sure sure has the guts to come outside her home. She doesn't seem all that worried about the rumours going on about her. Although she might not be the group's new owner isn't she afraid of people trash talking about her. The door opened again beam of lights rush in through the entrance that was closed by the doors covered in blinds. I reflexively hide my head thinking it was her again.  A hand slowly grabbed my shoulder. It was not who I thought it was. It was my Mum. You see my Mum and dad got divorced two years ago. My mum went to another country to pursue her passion and she comes to visit me once every few months. My dad and mom are on good terms now and I'm really happy about that. Nervous I say "Hey Mum!" Desperately trying to hide my cheeks that were blushing from what happened earlier, because my Mum might ask me if I have a typical high school crush, which I totally do not! "Sweet pea what happened to you? Your face is red. Dou have a fever? Are you sick?" She asked. I quickly put my hands to my face and replied "Huh? Oh this. I was dusting earlier that must be why my cheeks are red." I was really hoping she'd fall for it. "Max! Are you seriously making Eric do your work! Poor guy, he already has tons of homework and he said he hasn't been able to get sleep lately." She said to dad "Eric hand me the duster. I'll do the work so you can go rest for a while." I hesitated to do so since my mum just got here and she might be tired and unable to do the the work. "It's alright mum I was the one who volunteered in the first place." She put her hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. I knew it right then that she wasn't going to give up. Not wanting to humiliate myself in front of my dad I said "Fine! I will give up but on the terms that you come visit me at home later today." I pouted and crossed my shoulders while looking down to increase the chance of success. "Sweet pea did you really think I would go without coming home? Don't worry I will meet you later" She held my warm hands and said reassuringly "Well if that's the case I will go home and complete my homework. See you later!" I picked up my bag and walked to the door to the nearest bus stop. After few minutes of riding on the bus I got down and walked to my home. I open the door threw my bag across the room and layed on the couch. "Man! That was a long ride." I mumbled when the lifeless living room got filled with noise. I jumped up in fear and held a book in my hand trying to look intimidating. I slowly tilted my head down and looked at the couch. I saw the remote control of the TV. I then realised that I had turned on the TV. "Ugh! Will I ever stop being a loser"
I yelled. Suddenly my phone beeped. I took out my phone from my pant pockets and turned it on. It was from the group chat that our class had made. Everyone were texting about how to complete our assignment which was due on Monday. Shoot! I really have to get to work. The assignment is due in a few days I really have to work hard! I quickly settled in my room and started writing my essay. After a while I got bored since how much quieter the room my was with my dad staying at the shop with my mum and I die to me having nobody to talk to. I find it hard to concentrate when my surroundings are silent hence I decided to play some music but then my mouth started moving on its own and started singing the lyrics, even worse I started writing the lyrics in my essay. I knew this was bad I cannot listen to music and I cannot concentrate if the room was silent so I decided to take a break for 10 minutes at the least. I thought I will atleast make some use of this free time rather than just eating and watching TV or scrolling through my phone. I decided to play the cassette tape I had gotten earlier in the cassette player. A million questions flooded my mind. The girl's mum said this was a family tradition, but if they were going to be recording for every single day that takes a lot of space. If what I think is correct then there must be much more tapes somewhere else. Julie and Yoshimura seemed to be on awkward terms but I'm really rooting for then to be friends. I pressed play and just like before the sweet voice started talking.
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Hey! It's me. I doubt anyone is going to read my story but there were some things to share so here we go.
I am not a native speaker so my english may be a bit off. If you have any suggestions then please say it in the comment section or message me directly. I would really appreciate it. I don't really have a plot for this story because I am mostly doing this to improve my English. Please bear with me if the plot is bad. This is most likely going to get discontinued as I have better ideas but I will still try my best to keep this going. Please let me know if you want this to keep going. If I don't upload in the future for a few days it is mostly because I have exams. Please check my profile if the story is not updated regularly the reasoning is probably over there. I am currently working on another project just for fun. If you play roleplay games on Roblox then you might wanna check it out. Anyways thank you for reading this. I will see you in future parts. Bye!⊂(◉‿◉)つ ☺️.