What you mean to me

chapter six

“ So how old were you when you started riding? ” asked Amber when they got to Bailey's house.

“ I was fifteen. I used to rent and borrow till I got my own motorcycle. Story over. Why are you interested? ”

“ Um.... Nothing. The childish recklessness still shows. ”

Bailey chuckled. She motioned her cousin to drop the shopping bags on the couch while she went upstairs to her mother's room.

She opened the door. It was empty and surprisingly neater than ever. Hell, neater than hers.

“ Mom? ” she called. No reply.

Bailey's head began to swim. Her mind became dizzy as fear gripped it. She felt sweaty and heavier as she thought of where her mother had run to.

They made a promise, Her mother had broken.

Or had she come back a little too late that Griselda got worried and set out to look for her?

Her mind raced and a small familiar but worried voice almost made it crash.

She turned to see Amber, holding a note.

“ I saw this on the table in the living room. Your mom is nextdoor, it says. ”

It was as if everything reversed back to normal. Bailey calmed down.

“ Thanks. ” she sighed

Amber took a look at her cousin. She looked as if she just recovered from seeing a ghost.
“ Everything okay? ” she asked.

Staring at her cousin, “ Yeah. Just panic attacks. ” she said cooly not to put out her already worried cousin.

“ Do you always have them? ” her cousin asked queasy but curious.

“ I thought I'd out grown them. ”

“ Sorry. ” Amber whispered but immediately regretted remembering how her cousin hated that word.

Bailey always saw it as a word of mockery.

The teachers always say that to her back in elementary. Her cousin will just nod, then she'll excuse herself only for her to go cry.

Amber had seen her once in the toilet in a pool of her tears and more were still flowing.

Not only that, her cousin cussed at people who also told her that word. She always said they were not being genuine when Amber reprimanded her.

And what passed the message clearly was when she beat up Randy Dale, a bully in their elementary school. The dude looked twice his age or was actually older than them. No one knew.

But Bailey didn't care. Randy was their senior and also a huge pesky bully and his favorite victim was Amber's cousin, Bailey. He always teased her about everything including her family and the last straw was when he said the word, sorry, in one of his insulting, mocking, statements.

Bailey lost it. She let loose like a barbaric demon and trashed him, even broke some bones and she didn't stop even when the teachers intervened.

The whole school and Amber witnessed the downfall of the school's biggest bully at the hands of the most scrawny, shitty, bullied kid. Amber saw the merciless coldness in her cousin's almost obsidian eyes.

Since then her cousin earned a reputation. Feared. Though, she got suspended.
Even Amber feared her since then.

Snapping out of it, she saw her cousin already halfway the stairs.

“ Thanks. For the help. ” Bailey said carrying the bags past her into another room.

“ You have a very rude way of dismissing someone. ”