SEASON 5 - LUKANETTE VERSION PART 2 OF 2

REACTION (Dhar Mann Inspired Story) - PART 2

ANN-MARIE’S POV

After school finally finished I was exhausted. I couldn’t believe Marc sat next to me at homeroom this morning. I always thought I was invisible to most people, I never thought he of all people would even notice me.

I do have a crush on him, but I’ve seen the way he looks at Nathaniel who is a grade above us. Marc looks at Nathaniel the way I look at Marc. I want to be friends with him at least, but it’s complicated at the moment. Let’s just say my family is going through a rough patch. And by family I mean just me and my Dad. And we don’t exactly have a home at the moment....

*

Four months ago, my best friend Anastasia was in my homeroom. I was doing well at school and was getting pretty good grades. Anastasia really got me. She’s emo like me and loves reading Harry Potter like I do. We saw all the movies together too. And both our dads even worked at the same company. But then, one fateful day, they decided to promote Anastasia’s dad and send him to the La-Roche Posay office. A whole two hours away. Which meant Anastasia would have to move and change schools. We were both so sad.

But to make matters worse they decided to downsize the Paris office. Which meant they gave my dad two weeks notice to find other work. But due to his age he was finding it difficult. So after a month or two we fell behind in the rent and got evicted.

The only thing dad had was his car, so we had to leave all our furniture and basically fit all our clothes and important possessions into the car backseat and trunk. Dad moves it around every few days or so, so that nobody thinks the car is abandoned, and finds newspapers in cafes to read the classifieds to find work. Yep, he’s still looking. And I know he’s doing the best he can. I got a part time job from 5-7pm after school to deliver groceries to the elderly folk around the local neighbourhood. It doesn’t pay much, but I ask for cash in hand and each week the money goes to my Dad. My choice, not his. I want him to spend it on himself, to be able to look presentable for interviews. But lately it’s becoming harder and harder for him to do.

‘Sweetie, this is your hard earned money’ he’d say to me. ‘You should use it for food for yourself. I feel bad having to send you to school without much to eat for breakfast.’

‘No Dad’ I’d say. ‘I want you to use this, to spend money on yourself, to prepare well for interviews. I know you’ll find another job Dad. And I won’t stop helping you. You need this money. We can’t be caught, or social services will take me away from you. And I can’t bear the thought of being separated from my only family member.’

‘Oh sweetie’ he would say and hug me. ‘I am so thankful to have such a sweet, loving daughter. I promise I’m going to do everything I can to give you back the life you deserve.’

‘I know you will Dad. I know you will’ I answer him.

We do have other family, but they live abroad. My mother passed away in childbirth when she had me, so Dad is the only family I’ve ever known. I have seen my aunt, uncle and cousins, but not for some years. And we don’t have phone services or any way to really reach them, since money is really tight at the moment.

*

I go back to the car, having to write in the back of my school workbook where it is to remind me, since we move it around so much. I couldn’t live with myself if my crush saw how I lived. He would probably be disgusted and wouldn’t want to be my friend.

I unlocked the car with the second set of keys my Dad gave me (lucky the car came with two sets) and found a note on the front seat from Dad.

“Hi sweetie,

Gone to 3:30pm job interview. Will help you with your homework when I get back before you go to work at the grocery store. Will try to find something for dinner too.