These past few days my mother was unhappy about the excessive spending as well as the time out with my friends. She became agitated at the fact that I was out every weekend, at restuarants with friends or on club excursions and never had the time to spend with family. I knew that it had affected her but I couldn't decline the many activities because I wanted to be part of every outing.
"You need to study, Diane. Exam month is coming and I don't want you to get overwhelmed by the work," my mother said as she roughly placed the hair pin in my hair. "This is the last day going out, I promise you." I smiled at her usual words before I left the house. She always thought that she would scare me about the hectic exam schedule that I've been turning a blind eye to these past few days to cancel the plans that I had.
"Don't worry, I'll study first thing tomorrow." My mother gave me a pointed look before looking down at the dress that I wore. We both knew that it would never happen since I would be so disorientated from the spring cleaning and helping out in Miss Sithole's restuarant to even consider opening my history textbook.
"I need to go," I said after I looked at the vintage clock that was on my bedside and slowly stepped away from my mother who tried to fix every component of my outfit. I loved my mother but it was sometimes tiring that she continued to dress me even when I've reached the age where it was supposed to be something from the past but I couldn't help but depend on her to do such tasks since it was the norm for me.
"I made cupcakes so you can have some." My mother had a sweet tooth. So much so that she couldn't eat anything without something sweet like a cold drink or some sweet side dishes. She also preferred to drink sweet champagne because she believed that her tongue shouldn't be cursed by bitter alcohol. We both had our own sections in the kitchen where we could keep the different types of sweet snacks for whenever we felt stressed or lacking any energy for the day. "I'll see you later."
"Be back before 9, Diane." I sighed when I looked at the time to see that it was just 6 and that would mean that I had to come back after 3 hours. I wouldn't even get the time to breathe since I would need to leave extremely early but I had to agree nonetheless or else she would give me hell for the next few days, "and don't do nonsense. I'll know."
"I won't," I smiled and rushed out of the house, praying that my father wouldn't be seated in the living room because he enjoyed asking a thousand questions and meeting people that I had to go to places with. Since today was date night with Myeol, I hadn't wanted my dad to even think of that notion or else Myeol and I would be dead in less than a minute.
I walked towards Myeol's car with a large smile. "Hi," I greeted as I entered the car and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You look good," I complimented as I looked down at the graphic baggy jeans and the colorful sweater that he wore.
"I know right. I couldn't allow you to take up all of the attention of the people around us," he said as he inched closer to my cheek and planted a delicate kiss on my cheek that had me blushing like crazy. "We need to go now if we want a good spot at the movies."
I smiled and turned towards the full roads that were filled with children running around, others skipping and others sharing a meal on the sidewalk. I wished I could be that age all over again, where I would drink alot of water after a long day of playing outside and spend the whole day just listening to my friend's crazy stories that they promised was real.
"My mother said that I should be home at 9," I said as I played with the small necklace that surrounded my neck. He nodded at my words and started the car before driving off to the outdoor movie theater that he had promised would be much better than the indoor movie theaters where you could smell people's horrid summer stench and could hear their loud chewing from the bunch of popcorn that they shoved into their mouths.
