Daydream Believer

lxxxix. memories and life lessons

lxxxix. memories and life lessons

I was listening to music in my room when Shonali found me. I told her that I was doing homework, but I really just wanted to get away from the craziness of the house.

"Are you alright, McKenna?" she asked me.

"Yep, I'm fine. Just doing my homework," I said, even though I was obviously listening to music on my phone. Justin had recommended a few bands to me earlier that day, and I was listening to them now. Some of them weren't all that good, but the one I was listening to now seemed to be really good.

Oh Memories
Where'd you go?
You were all I've ever known
How I miss yesterday
How'd I let it fade away?
Where'd you go?

"Are you sure you're actually doing homework?" Shonali asked.

"Fine. I'm just listening to this awesome song," I said.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked.

"Uh, sure," I said. Shonali found a chair in my room and sat down, which meant that she was probably going to stay for a while. Dang it. I was hoping to have a quiet afternoon.

"Your dad proposed to me last night," Shonali said.

"Oh. Okay. That's great. Congratulations!" I said. I wasn't quite sure what to say. In some ways, it felt like Dad had moved on way too fast, but I tried to be happy for them anyways.

"Thank you," Shonali said. "I just kind of realized that I'm close with Noah, but I barely even know you."

So that's what this was about? She wanted to get to know me? I should have just told her to leave right then, because that would never happen. Then again, she was just as much of a mystery to me as I was to her. "What do you want to know?" I asked, even though it came out far angrier than I intended.

"Oh, I don't know. Whatever you'd like to tell me."

I shrugged. "You know enough. I live in this miserable family in this miserable town, I'm fourteen years old, I like bowling and reading, and I don't like being asked awkward questions. What about you?"

 

Shonali sighed. “Well, you know I was born in India.” Actually I didn’t. She spoke English so well that I didn’t have any reason to doubt that she had lived here her entire life. I nodded anyways. “I moved to New York when I was twenty two. My sister was already living there. My parents were furious.”

 

“My parents would be mad too if I ran off to another country,” I said, even though I didn’t care too much about Shonali’s story.

 

Shonali nodded and continued on. “I lived there for a while. Manisha said that I adjusted well. I got involved with some bad people though, and the next thing I knew, I had a baby. I named her Brooklyn, after where she was born.”

 

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked.

 

“I wanted you to learn something. Even when things get difficult, you can always be sure that everything will be okay in the end.” Shonali smiled and I smiled back. We kept talking for a while until Dad got home. I found that Shonali was easy to talk to.

She was another person that I could rely on.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comment if you know what song McKenna was listening to at the beginning!