The Diaries Of Liz Davids: Secrets Uncovered (Book One : Complete)

Chapter 2

September 2, 2010

Dear Diary,

I cried myself to sleep last night. No matter how much I tried not to think about it, I just couldn't help it. Even right now, I can't help it...

I'll never be able to let go of the fact that Mum will never tuck me in again, or help me with homework or boy problems, or make delicious meals or tell me stories of her childhood. I can't accept that Dad will never again help me with projects, make me furniture, buy me gifts or twirl me around in the air like I'm still five years old. 

And no matter how much time passes, I'll never be able to let go of the fact that I could have saved them. I could have attacked the robbers. I could have caught them by surprise and bought my parents a little more time. A few minutes' diversion would have been all it took. I could have unleashed all my fury on them for attacking us.

Better yet, I could have stopped myself from going to that pub. 

   I decided not to write anymore. This was my first day of official school after the summer holidays, and I was going to try and make the best of it. If I wrote anymore, I would cry the whole day through, like I did in the week that followed that night. 

   So I wiped off my tears, turned my pillow over so that no one could see that I had been crying, stuffed my journal under it and put my pen away. I had not brought my parchment and quill, because I was afraid that I might lose it.

   No one was awake yet. It was still dark outside, and classes were only due to start in an hour. Nonetheless, seeing as I could not fall asleep again, I got up and got ready before getting back into the woolly warmth of my bed, curling up, and started reading one of the books I had brought with me. 

   As time passed, my roommates woke up one by one. When Jess had finished getting ready, she winked at me as a sign of comfort, and I forced a smile. Today my smile will convince everyone that nothing was amiss in my life, like I was just like the rest of them, with parents and a home and that my biggest worry will be the pile of homework at the end of the day.

   I kissed the photo of myself and my parents before following Jess and the rest of my roommates to our first class, Math. There, at least, I felt a little more comfortable. Other than the fact that I could actually do Math with ease, the teacher simply explained the work and immediately gave us our homework. I finished it all in the class, and then helped Jess.

   Kayla was in every one of my classes. She would shoot Jess and me dirty looks and then giggle with her friends, as though our existence was some huge joke. On a good day, I would have glared back at her and used her own tactic against her, but today, I just did not feel like it. It took too much effort already, just keeping my facade in place.

   Thankfully, Mekisha also shared mine and Jess's classes. The two of them managed to get my mind off things, and I managed a sincere grin when Mekisha told us of her dog, Max, and how he would wake her at five in the morning with a drooling mouth because he wanted to go outside and play.

   She told us about her home in London, and from what I gathered, she was quite rich. She had two dogs and a black Umbrella Parrot, named Gary. She only taught the bird to swear so that, whenever anyone entered her room, the bird would swear at them. Jess and I roared with laughter as she did an accurate impression of the bird saying, "Screw you, bitch," and joked about bringing it here and placing it beside Kayla's bed.

   At recess, we went to the lunch room. The food was a little disgusting, but I forced it down and pretended not to have a problem with it. I thought about Mum's delicious cooking but, luckliy, Mekisha made a joke again and the thought was erased from my mind.

   The rest of the week passed equally uneventfully. The pile of homework at the end of each day was enough to keep my mind of everything, and when I did not have homework, Mekisha would make a joke and cheer me up again.

   I learned that she was very blunt and always spoke her mind, even to the teachers. She did not take nonsense from anyone, least of all Kayla. She could not stand the honey-blonde girl, and they got into verbal fights daily, all of which Mekisha would win. Even though Kayla had four or five giggly girls at her disposal, none of them could think of something clever to say on her behalf.

   I had expected the fat girl named Angelina to be greedy and unlikable, but on Saturday, when we were all comfortably dressed in what the Matron called 'mufty', or home clothes, she invited all three of us to sit beside her bed and shared her snacks with us. It turned out that her mother owned a bakery, and that's where she got all the sweets.

   "Me mum makes the best Chouxpasta that you could ever lay your tastebuds on," she said in a strong English accent. Thinking about the accent made me realise that my own had adapted to the strong English environment. "I'll ask her to bring some 'round on Christmas, then you can all taste."

   "Wouldn't it be a better Christmas present if she brought you a salad and an exercise machine?" Kayla remarked. We had learned that she was a very snobby, American girl.

  "Shouldn't you be waxing your ass or something?" Mekisha asked bluntly. "Isn't that the type of thing American sluts like you do?"

   We all snorted with laughter. I could practically see the gears running in Kayla's head as she tried to think of a catchy comeback, but arrived at none.

   "Yeah, not so tough without your friends, are you?" Mekisha said, "Keep your trap shut unless you want it bashed in."

   More weeks passed, and Jess and I decided that we made another best friend. Mekisha had abandoned the group of people she had hung out with on the first day, because she found out that they were spreading lies about her behind her back. We did not ask for details, because we could tell that, even though she hid it between a mask of jokes, she was very hurt.

   In the first week of October, Jess got a letter from her father saying that he had gotten a job as an assistant to a well-known engineer, and he had sent her a beautiful necklace with an angel charm to celebrate. Mekisha and I contributed to the letter she had sent it reply, congratulating him and wishing that everything would go well at work, and I also sent love to her mother.

   More time passed, and the Christmas holidays drew near. None of us could wait any longer for it. The homework was reaching a ridiculous level, and I could not even really keep up with Math. It took me more than two hours each day to finish everything, because in the last two months, the temperature had decreased lower than a regular winter in South Africa. My normally tan skin appeared as white as Mekisha's in the dismal light shining through the clouds, and I trembled more than I wrote.

   Before I knew it, it was no longer rainstorms that plagued my sleep at night, but snowstorms. I had not seen snow since I was four years old - it had snowed for a few minutes one morning, and I remembered those few minutes as though they had been yesterday - but this horrible weather was making me regret ever liking the little white flakes.

   Kayla tried getting all of us in trouble on a daily basis. Here, if one of the roommates misbehaved, the rest were also punished. She would lie to the teachers by telling them that we tried to copy her homework, or that, ironically, we spread untrue rumours about the teachers, or that she caught Mekisha smoking behind the building - which was absurd in itself, because even if Mekisha did smoke - which she didn't - she wouldn't do it in public, and behind the school was pretty public.

Since we arrived, we'd already all gotten detention for Kayla's 'incorrect school uniform', and for her attitude toward the teachers. We had gotten back at her for that, though. Mekisha had glued the tips of her silky honey-blonde hair together while she slept. Her reaction the following morning was simply priceless. For her attitude toward the teachers, Mekisha had slapped her in the face and threatened her. After this, she kept her head low when she was near Mekisha.

   I, being good at drawing, helped the others with their Biology sketches as well as their Math while they, in turn, helped me with language homework, which was something I just could not get, especially poetry. It was the most ridiculous thing: always had been and always will be.

   Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the last day of school arrived. Mekisha's parents had helped to sneak in a small bottle of champagne, which we did not share with Kayla.