THE LEAF

THE LEAF(2)

Chapter Two

  I, like any ordinary person, hate Mondays, especially the mornings, everyone is always so glum like some fairy spread sad dust around the world. Hugo made chocolate chip pancakes again, it was getting kind of irritating now. I felt like we'd eaten them everyday since mum was gone, at least she always knew what to tell Hugo to make. Though it was still annoying because he is a professional chef and is supposed to know what to make himself. I couldn't really tell if I was annoyed with him or still scarred by mum, or should I just call her Susan now? Susan's untimely abandonment. Tammy wolfed down her pancakes like they were made of air or something. How could she even eat at such a time? She was probably just too young to understand that mum wasn't our mum anymore.

  Dad was driving extra carefully as if Tammy and I had 'Fragile' stickers on our foreheads. Ever since mum left he's been driving us to school everyday this week probably as an attempt to make us feel more loved. I hated that mum had to make dad feel like he was obliged to fill in her space of loving. Dad even tried cooking last night and it wasn't pretty at all. There was always this sick feeling I got when I saw the large signboard written 'Brookhouse International', my stomach always got bloated and I got nauseated. The time now was half past ten so I was late for first period and it was Chem. Mr. Frankfurt always hated a latecomer which was quite ironic because the man had like two baby mamas, the loser didn't even know when to come himself.

  Good thing my dad had a quick word with the old fart for me and he let me in. He gave me an acid glare as I walked into class. Today we had to do group work, this meant I had to sit with Stacy and Odven again, shit! They always had so much to say about how they were out in Prague during the weekend and how Boris Johnson was at Stacy's dad's hotel and all that. I got seated on our table opposite them and gave them the most plastic smile possible. I really hated niceties, formality was so hypocritical. All I could think about was mum during class. How could she just leave? Did she even think about me, about Tammy?

"Psst! Yo Joe, look outside. Lengest gyal that's ever stepped in our yard this year, damn! She's coming towards this class, hope she's in our class bro."

Cole had just watched 'Drillin', a UK gang film, over the weekend, now he was already speaking UK slang, he was such a wannabe my best friend.

"Shhh! I was already late, are you trying to get me into more tr..."

"Mr. Shiluha, do we have a problem?" Frankfurt interrupted.

Just as I was about to answer him the class was disrupted by a light knock on the door. Mr.Frankfurt opened the door revealing a medium height man with a dark stubble on his chin. He was dressed in a black suit and wore white gloves. He spoke briefly to the teacher and then shook his hand. What followed was the entrance of the most gorgeous girl I'd ever set eyes on. She stood at a height of about five-six, her skintone beige and extremely fair like the ones you saw Dove models on TV with. Her hair was brown and silky and combed to perfection. She smiled displaying her perfectly white teeth. Cole was right, she was the most beautiful girl that stepped into our school this year.

  Mr.Frankfurt welcomed her warmly into our class, she was going to be joining our Chem class. Today was the best day to have a free chair next to me. She came and sat right beside me.

"Hi," she whispered in a low tone shyly.

"Hi," I replied a bit too fast making me look really awkward and uncool.