How Does a Daffodil Survive in Winter?

xv | Apparently I'm a Good Person

I didn't know where 50% of my DNA comes from. Not knowing who my father was had resulted in very lopsided family tree drawings.

Aunt Kathy told me that my father was from the richer part of town. She said when he got my mother pregnant, his family moved away to avoid the gossip threatening to rise. They wiped away any association my father had with my mother. And they did a hell of a job because I don't even know who he was. People who knew who he was, like my grandparents and my mother, never told me anything. They hated me anyway so of course they decided to keep the identity of my father hidden away from me.

That's pretty much all I know about my father; he was one of those posh pricks who got away with everything. Leave it up to my mother to fall for somebody like that. And it's not like I ever tried to know who he was. What's good about having another terrible parent when you already have one?

Anyways, there's a bunch of posh pricks everywhere and I had found myself meeting one.

It was Friday, the end of the semi-eventful week which involved our chemistry teacher getting sick and us making cards for him every day. I had been sitting with Theo for the whole week with no signs of Julie getting better.

She texted me everyday, flaunting her lazy lifestyle that included surfing the internet for attractive males. Kind of weird opening up your phone to pictures of strangers with the same curly hair. Some of them were much older than her but I knew she wouldn't want me criticising her in her sick state.

Everything was calm and I was just a few hours away from the weekend where I could eat all the pizza in the world and watch movies all day. I was already fantasising about laying in my bed and the delicious smell of chips and pepperoni pizza...

"Are you free this weekend?" Theo asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"I will be busy doing nothing all weekend as usual," I mused. "Why?"

"Sorry to ruin your plans but my parents still want to meet you and my Dad's only gonna be free this weekend."

"That's the first time someone is actually persistent in wanting to meet me," I remarked, trying not to sound sarcastic.

"So is that a yes?"

"Yes," I huffed.

"Okay, so tomorrow, pick you up at 5?"

"Alright," I agreed. I quickly added, "Nothing fancy, right?"

Theo rubbed the back of his neck. "Nope, just don't show up in what you are wearing now, no offence."

"None taken," I retorted, looking down at my outfit. I was wearing an old band shirt and jeans with an even older jacket; it was too casual for any occasion, really. Other than for painting stuff or anything involved possibly ruining the clothes you had on.

"I mean, nothing wrong with what you're wearing. I actually quite like the shirt. Are you a Beatles fan?" Theo wondered, looking at my shirt.

"Eh, they're alright, I guess," I answered honestly. "The shirt's a hand-me-down by the way."

"Only alright?"

"Did I just offend your inner fangirl? I am so sorry."

"Not offended at all. Everyone has different tastes after all," Theo chuckled lightly, a small puff of breath came out of his mouth and disappeared into the cooling air. We were the only ones outside in the freezing atmosphere.

"So, you like music, huh. See I actually remembered you saying that."

"I guess I do."

"I'm always open to new stuff so you can be like my personal DJ," I joked, spreading my arms out as if to make room for words in the air. "DJ Theo."