The Darkest Swan

Chapter 5

-𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮-

"Wait," My aunt blows stray curls off of her forehead. "He accosted you at the studio?" I laugh at my aunt's use of the word 'accosted'.

"He didn't accost me, aunt Wanda." I shrug. "He was just very stuck up. He basically acted as if he knew everything about me."

She scoffs in bewilderment. "They even manage to mansplain your own life to you." I smile, letting out a laugh.

She takes a long drag of her cigarette, blowing out the smoke and slouching back down into her chair, man-spreading her legs in a show of tired irritation.

"And he's your teacher?" She queries.

I nod my head, shrugging.

"Well, then I guess you'll have to deal." She says wistfully, taking a drag of her cigarette. "At least until the end of the year."

"Eh, he's probably just one of those narcissistic attention seekers. I'm just gonna ignore him."

She shakes her head sitting up straight when someone opens the door, ringing the chimes in their wake. Lionel follows Tomas into the room helping Tomas carry boxes of books. "Oh hey, I thought you were going straight to the studio today?" I phrase the question at Lionel as he puts the books down where Aunt Wanda points.

"I ran into Tomas on my way to the bistro and he looked like he needed help." He looks to Tomas.

Tomas nods his head in confirmation. "Thanks again, it would've taken me forever to get all these boxes into the van." He rubs the back of his head nervously.

"No problem."

Awkward tension much?

"Anyways." I break the silence. "We gotta get going, class starts at 7." I explain to Tomas.

"Right." He says waving us off. "I'll see ya later."

"See ya later." I wink at him.

Once the door shuts I immediately laugh. "What was that about?"

Lineol shrugs defensively. "Guy doesn't know how to have a conversation."

I link my arm in his. "He's nervous around new people, he has to warm up to you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"You're vibrating." Lionel comments.

"Huh?"

He reaches into my jacket and pulls out my phone. "Vibrating." He jiggles the phone in front of my face.

I groan into his shoulder. "She's just gonna keep calling." He taunts.

I snatch the phone from his hand and I accept the call putting it up to my ear.

"Genevieve,"

"Yes, mom."

She asks me to lunch and I have to physically force myself to say yes. If I don't she'll ask me tomorrow and then she'll complain that I'm too busy for her now that I'm in school.

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Mom sends the car to pick me up on my lunch break.

We have a 45-minute interval for lunch. I asked Lionel why it's so long, and he said it's because they keep us there for so long, that the breaks are required to be longer. It's a state regulation or something. But today I'm thankful for it. I'll even have an excuse to leave early.

The driver parks on the side of the street next to this really fancy Turkish place my mother and I have made a habit of visiting.

I find her sitting down at one of the outside tables, she's reading the menu even though she gets the same thing every time we come here. A salad. Duh.