A FACE LIKE MINE

Four

My phone. My baby. My brand new Samsung. I hurried to pick it up from the floor. Unfortunately, I was too late. It's once flawless screen was decorated with a massive crack, running from one corner to the other.
Of course, my clumsy self had to run into something - or someone. I looked up from my cracked phone to the culprit who clearly lacked sense of direction.

Everything I'd planned to say and the insults I wanted to hurl didn't make it out of my mouth as soon as I looked at who it was.
Instead, all I could say was, "you again?"

"Me again?" The brunette scoffed. "I fucking told you never to show yourself in front of me again. But here we are. Are you blind, or what?"

"That's all you have to say?" I scowled and waved my phone at him. "Look at my phone. It's cracked. Cracked."

"It wouldn't be cracked if you watched where you are going."

"Same goes for you," I scoffed back. The nerve of the guy for blaming me every single time. Thousands of people in the university and he was the only one I kept running into. "You should watch where you're going too."

"I'm wasting my time talking to you. I won't be this nice next time." He pushed me out of the way with his shoulder and walked ahead.

"As if there will be a next time. I'd rather die than be in the same room as that asshole. He broke my phone!" I further inspected the damage. The crack wasn't so deep, so, the phone was still in a a good working condition. But at the same time, the phone meant so much to me. It was a gift from dad. My first phone. And the asshole who'd flung his car door at me had to go and break my phone too. What made it worse was that he didn't even look remorseful. Almost like he had something against me, like a desire to see me in pain. That twinkle in his eyes when he saw my distress had to surely mean something.

But why? He didn't know me. I didn't know him either. Was he a sadist?

"Maryland!" I heard Alice call as she approached me from behind. "There you are. I thought you'd left me."

"I would never! What happened? Did you do it?"

"You bet your ass I did." She extended her hand for a fist bump. "We should get a signature handshake, fist bump or something."

I ignored that. That could wait. "How did it go?"

"Really well, actually. Chase Johnson is way too nice for a popular boy," she swooned. Nice? Exactly my type. He got the looks and the personality. What else could a woman want? "I didn't need to say hi. He looked me dead in the eye. I repeat, he looked me straight in my eye and called me by name."

"No."

"Yes! Chase Johnson knew me by name."

"But how?"

"Fuck if I know. He greeted me first. Said he was happy to meet an old schoolmate and that we should hang out some time."

My jaw went slack. "He really said that?"

"Now, why would I lie to you?"

"Uh, to make me feel better?"

"I can think of other ways, Maryland. Don't underestimate me."

Suddenly, I was so glad that dad thought ahead of me. I wasn't going to be so busy anymore. I had time to hang out with Alice after lectures. And Chase Johnson of course. The stars were aligning in my favor and I couldn't help but squeal.
"You did it, Alice. You did it. Thank you!"

"You owe me a favor, remember. Don't be so happy."

"As long as the favor is legal and in my reach, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Oh my goodness. You have no idea how much you've done for me. I should text Jenna about it-"

"Who's Jenna?"

"Oh. That's my twin sister."

"You have a twin?"

"We're identical." I explained. "She's at a uni in the city though."

"I don't have siblings."

My smile fell at that. "Oh, Alice. I'm so sorry. I'll stop talking about Jenna if it helps. I'm sorry I didn't know."

"No, no. That's not what I meant. I'm kind of curious actually. How does it feel to have a sibling?"

"I wish I could answer that accurately, but I can't. Honestly, Jenna and I grew up separately. She was raised by our aunt in the city. I was raised by dad here. She's very different from me. She's a city girl. She loves shopping, loud parties, TikTok trends and stuff."

I heard Alice exhale. "What about your mum, if it's okay to ask."

"I haven't seen her physically since I was four. She video calls sometimes and that's it. I don't mind though. I'm not just close to her."

"I was close with my mum," Alice said after a long pause. I knew she'd lost her mum. Everyone knew. It was all over the news. "I miss her, y'know. She'd have loved to meet you. All my friends."

"I'd have loved to meet her too. But y'know what? I'm gonna introduce you to Jenna and my dad. Today. My dad is awesome."

"I'd really like that," she said and squeezed my arm. I thought I heard her sniffle too. "Thank you, Maryland."

"You know that you can call me Jean, right?"

"Nah. It'll be weird. I'm used to calling you Maryland. But hey, I can try."

Classes went by and the day ended pretty fast. I couldn't wait to introduce Alice to my family. We were on the fast track to becoming best friends. I was excited, walking with a spring in every step. Alice was following behind me, occasionally asking what was making me so giddy. She didn't get it. It would be the first time I'd be introducing a friend to my family. A first time kind of thing.

I opened the door to the printery and immediately called out to my dad. He wasn't the one I saw first. It was who was standing next to him that caught my attention first.

What was he doing there?