Unrequited II F4 Thailand

High Expectations

TW: Panic attack

Present Day...

I chewed my nails nervously as we drove closer to the house. Sure enough, my mother's car was in the garage, her white Alfa Romeo Stelvio in all its glory. I carry my bag from my seat, as Uncle Ken opens the door for me. The night breeze was chilly and uninviting as I stepped out of the car. I sent him a nervous glance, and he points his hand for me to go in front of him. Here it goes. I swallowed my anxiety as I rang the doorbell.

Ali, one of our housemaids, opens the door, and she gasps at my appearance, "Ms. Nova! Why are you all wet?"

I try to shush her but my mother appears behind her, looking at me with her analytical and intimidating dark brown eyes. "Nova, you are late...why are you wet?" 

I look at my mom for the first time in two days, wearing a white button-down and black slacks, with her Gucci leather slippers. She had her wire glasses on and her black and gray bob tied back into a low ponytail. People say I looked like my mom, I just have got my height from my dad and his warm brown eyes. 

Ali closes her mouth and sends me a guilty, sympathetic look as she steps aside, opening the door wider for me to come in.

I brush my hands against my damp skirt and cleared my throat, "Hi mother, I-um." She walks closer to me and looks into my eyes as if she's psychoanalyzing me, "Why are you wet?", she repeats in a monotone voice.

I gulp and smile at her, "Mom, the thing is, at school..." She listened as I explained, "There was this group of boys. They were very bad mom." She doesn't reply except cross her arms, waiting for me to finish. I blink before continuing, "Anyway, I was late because they pulled a fire alarm as a prank on the teachers. Gorya and I. W-we stayed at school because we wanted to go home together. Well, we tried to leave before the sprinklers turned on but, we got wet because the sprinklers were obviously faster than us."

She looked me up and down, clearly not believing my cover-up, and clarified, "At night? They did this prank at night."

I gulped and nodded, "Yes." She shook her head, "This is what I told you about Nova. Stop hanging around those people. Who is this Gorya anyway?" 

I scrunched my eyebrows confusedly and say, "Mom, you've met her a couple of times during break. Her and my other friend Kaning? Do you remember her?" 

"Oh...those girls. Yes, I remember them now. I didn't expect you to befriend those types of people," she says condescendingly. 

"Do you have to be so rude when you talk about my friends?", I say frustratedly. She turns to me and says with a stoic face, "You need to be hanging out with people who can make you better. Not make you show up at home, past your curfew, wet and dripping on the floor." I looked down and saw my skirt was making a small puddle, I quickly scrunched it in my hand to stop it from dripping. Mom continued, "You should hang out with people such as Ren. You two were best of friends growing up. He is very intelligent too. Someone who can help you reach your fullest potential." 

 I roll my eyes, "I don't want to befriend your boss's son. Please stop mentioning him. My friends are just as great, even better," I said flailing my arms in the air. 

"They empower and encourage me to grow every day," I contradicted. She shakes her head and narrows her patronizing eyes at me, "You're a junior now, Nova. Your top priority is your education. I expect you to prioritize that. You should stop hanging around with them and take your schooling seriously." I tapped my foot, pissed out of my mind as my mom waves me off like a dog saying, "Change, we're having a late dinner." 

I scoffed, "I'd rather not be demeaned and reprimanded by you. When this is the first I've seen you in 2 days. You can have dinner by yourself." I run up the stairs, straight to my bedroom, and locked the door.