Luna
"To hell with this homework," I slam my notebook down, dropping my pencil in the grass.
"You will do a better job this time," Moriko says with a trace of melancholy in her voice as she scribbles stuff in her notebook. "I can help you if you want."
"What happened to you?" I turn to her, crushing a few ants involuntarily, "did you drink from a bottle of sadness, or you just love having a blue tone?"
Moriko looks at me and nods, "Good line."
I scoff, blowing a few hairs away from my face in the process. "But seriously though what happened? How did your presentation go? I wanted to hear it."
"My presentation?" Morkio sounded like she was longing for something. "It was okay. I think I got an A."
"Aww lucky," I reply leaning against the tree more. Poor ants. After a silence I say, "I wanna hear your poem."
"Not if I hear yours first."
"Aw, but I'm not even done with mine."
"Too bad," Moriko closes her eyes. "I'm listening."
"Okay well here goes....the sky is blue, clouds float, the sun is high, everyone looks down at the ground, missing the sky's beauty," I stop, because it's horrible.
"Is that it?" Moriko opens her left eye slightly.
"No, but I don't think it's good," I turn search the grass for my eraser and start erasing the first few lines that I have.
"No!" Moriko snatches the eraser away from me, quicker than a rabbit running. I try to get it back, but she ends up sitting on it.
"Now, I don't know whether to use that anymore."
She just laughs and tells me to keep going.
I continue, "They look down, afraid to get sun in their eye. Up is the sky, up is hope, hope is high."
Moriko hands me the eraser, "That was good. You have a gift."
I shrug, I don't really think it's a gift, "Thanks, your turn."
She hands flips through her notebook and then hands it to me. After I finish reading, I hand her notebook back to her and say, "Who's he?"
Moriko puts her stuff in her bag, and shakes her head. "Who gave you that?" she points to my ankle.
***
I need money. The fridge is empty. The cabinets are empty. My stomach is empty. The only meal I have is lunch, which is at school. I have no choice but to go into my aunt's room. She's sleeping. Hopefully. Or just drinking away her life (as usual).
Peeping through the narrow crack of her door, I hear her ragged snoring. I step in. The floor creaks. My aunt stops snoring. She moves slightly. A frozen silence passes, and her snoring begins again.
The strong scent of tobacco and alcohol hit my nose. Her room is littered with trash, bottles, and a few empty cigarette cases here and there. Clothes are strewn everywhere and shards of a bottle remain on the floor. Her wooden dresser is in front of her bed. Hanging on the headboard of the bed is a silver necklace that looks strangely familiar. A few wispy cobwebs linger in the corners of the ceiling. They move like smoke as the moving fan rotates. I approach her dresser stepping over an empty bottle, expecting her wallet must be in one of the drawers below. I look at the first and second drawers. No luck. The last one...aha! There's the wallet, a few pennies, nickels, and a gun...
Okay, now I'm freaked out. This is scary. I stare at the gun, and begin to enter a trance. Suddenly my aunt's voice snaps me back to reality, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
I gasp, turn around and put the wallet in my pocket, closing the drawer with my legs. "Gotta go, bye!" I run out of her room, not caring about the broken glass.
She (tries to) chase after me like a zombie, but she's too drunk to run. As I run out the door into my car, I hear her leaning against the doorway screaming words that any child is not supposed to hear.
***
I'm at the park, sitting with my right knee up against the tree where Moriko and I usually hang out. I feel the prickly but soft grass. There's a nice breeze that cools the sweat off my forehead, and the smell of churros in the air from the churro stand down the street. I see a family walk into the library with two laughing children. Clouds drift and a ladybug flies by, flashing its red and black colors. I look in the sky and see a duck flapping its wings. Everything is calm. Everything is nice, compared to the chaos at my house. I see a young couple walk by, holding each other close. I sigh, and remember Levi and Katherine. I wonder what's up with them. "Hey." Levi's head pops out of the side of the tree. Wow, thank you mysterious force for making me have closure with someone that I'm currently done with.
Not wanting to talk, I just glance at him and try to go back to watching happy people.
"Look," he pauses to sit down where Moriko usually sits.
"That spot's taken."
"What?"
"Move." I don't want that son of a bitch sitting in her spot. Plus, she might come.
He moves to sit on the other side of me, on the left. "Okay well..." he trailed off as if he is nervous.
After a silence, I'm sick and impatient of people who are such jerks. "Spit it out."
"Okay, okay fine. What I wanted to say is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Katherine, okay? I didn't know you were like mortal enemies. I thought you guys were best friends." Levi took a deep breath and starts talking again, but in a more quiet voice, "I'm sorry Luna. But, um...Katherine...she told me to..."
"Told you to what?" I say, ready to punch something.
"Told me to get together with her...like she made me..."
I look over at him. His eyes are full of regret.
He continues, "She said being together with her would help me get to know you better. So I could trust you."
"So you don't trust me?" I retort.
I could hear him hesitating.
Surprisingly I can't stop the words from flowing out of my mouth, "It's fine. Many people don't. I forgive you."
Levi let out a big breath, "Wow, um, wasn't expecting that. Thanks. And by the way, I don't actually like Katherine, I just--"
"I know, okay?" I interrupt. "It's fine. Forget about it." He lingers a bit, and I feel like I'm holding him back. "You can go, dumbo. I don't mind."
Levi's laugh fills my ears.
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long chapter. Bug me if it gets too chunky or too short for you. Thanks for reading! :)
