Bitter Hope

Chapter 18 - Mara Rizzo

I finished the exam a little over an hour ago. Kiko and I were sitting on a bench that was in the hall. Dad and his crazy loud blonde friend were in the classroom grading the exam. The two of us sat in silence while my leg was practically vibrating off of my body.

"Calm down, I'm sure you did fine." Kiko told me as she bumped her shoulder into mine.

"Well then why is it taking them so fucking long?" I asked.

"It was a big test. It's going to take some time." She reminded me.

"Or the two of them are in there trying to figure out how to tell me I suck!" I snapped at her.

"Dad isn't really the give it to you easy type." She told me.

"I guess you know him better than I do." I replied as I started to bite my thumb nail from the level of anxiety I was experiencing.

I havent bit my nails in two or three years. I was so worked up and I didnt even know why. I haven't been to school in years and I had no intention of ever going back. What was the point? I had survived for years taking care of myself. School wasn't something I thought I needed until this point. Until I came here. The only question was, was it something I wanted? Or was it something I thought I needed to do for them?

The loud thumping of my heel repeatedly hitting the floor was the only noise in these quiet halls. My heel hit the floor, again, and again, and again, then I felt a slight tremor that spread from the heel of my foot outward from me. I stilled instantly, my entire body tensed. The fear that ran threw me as I feared the disaster I could cause.

"You felt that too?" Kiko asked.

I snapped my attention to her.

"What?" I asked.

"The tremor." She answered.

"You felt that?" I asked her, realizing it was stronger then I had realized.

"Yeah, I figured you felt it too because of how you froze." She told me.

"Doesn't that scare you?" I asked her.

"Hell no, that was barely a tremor, we have earthquakes here more often then I would like. That was nothing to be worried about." She told me.

The thought of an earthquake scared the shit out of me. It's terrifying when I lose control and cause a disaster but I had never been stuck in a disaster that was completely out of my control. One that I didn't cause. I couldn't help but wonder what I would do in a real earthquake. Would I be able to use my power to stop it? Or would I just be scared and possibly make it worse?

"Girls, you can come in now." Dad said from the now open classroom door.

I was so in my own head I didn't even hear the door open.

Kiko got up before I did. She practically jumped out of her seat as if she was the one who was about to find out if she passed the test that would decide her entire future. I got up after her not as perky but I still managed to get to my feet and follow after the two of them.

"Take a seat girls." Dad told us.

Kiko listened without hesitation and I could not help but wonder why. She was not the one on trial here. I sat down a few seconds after her.

"So we graded all your exams and I am disappointed to say that you scored under where I thought you would be." Dad told me.

"I failed?" I asked him as I felt like I was going to vomit.

"Shota, what's wrong with you!" Yamada yelled as he smacked out dad in the back of his head. "You passed with a 75% overall grade." Yamada told me.

"With the tutor I hired you should have at least got a 90%." Dad said but I didn't care what he had to say at the moment.

I'm sure later on it would bother me that he did not think I did good enough but now all I cared about was the fact that I passed.

"I passed!" I yelled as I jumped up out of my seat.

I did not think for one second that I was going to pass the exams. I was sure I was going to flunk out of school before I even got the chance to try.

"I told you, you would." Kiko jumped up excitedly and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Don't let your dad bring you down, you did great." Yamada told me.

"Thank you." I replied, I was starting to think he wasn't as bad as I thought he was when we met a few hours ago.

"Can we go out to eat to celebrate?" Kiko asked dad.

"Of course." He answered.

"Yeah! Where do you want to go?" She asked me.

"You can pick, I don't care." I answered her.

"We can figure it out in the car." She told me.

"Are you coming uncle Yamada?" She asked the loud blond hero.

"When have I ever been known to turn down good food?" He asked as he jumped up and joined the three of us.

He placed one arm over my shoulder and the other over Kikos and I instantly remembered why I didn't like him in the first place.

"So are you ready for the entrance exams this weekend?" He asked as he started leading the two of us out the classroom door.

Dad followed slowly behind us.

"The exam is the only thing I know I'm ready for." I answered him.

"I like your confidence!" He yelled as he removed his hand from my shoulder and looked back at my dad.

"Reminds me of someone." He said as he detached himself from Kiko and wrapped his arm around my dad's neck, dragging him forward to join the three of us.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." My dad responded.

"Sure, you don't. Mara, I have so many stories I could tell you about your dad when he was your age." He said excitedly, and I swear I could feel dad roll his eyes.

"Tell her anything and you're not welcome in our home any longer." Dad told him.

"I'll tell you when he's not around." He whispered in my ear causing me to jump away from him.

I really wish he would never do that again, but I doubted he could stop himself and I really wanted to hear about our teenage dad.