Those Three Little Words

Chapter 2: Freeze

 

First day of school wasn’t quite what I expected. It was rather disastrous. After reaching home, I was faced with mom’s appalled face. I covered my right eye with my hand, feeling rather embarrassed. Mom walked towards me, her face clearly horrified.

 

“Hon, what happened to your face?”

 

“Its nothing mom, I just walked into a pole earlier,”

 

“Like you’ll get away with that. Now tell me the truth,” Mom pressed on.

 

Knowing I couldn’t get away with a lie, I sat down on the couch with mom and explain everything to her. I had to ignore Hunter’s peevish voice ringing through the entire house. He was screaming “Sissy got punched!!!” the moment he saw my eye. Mom occasionally told him to shush but that little guy just wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t blame him though, for I too agreed that I looked like I had been punched in the eye by some sumo wrestler.I didn’t expect a basketball to give me such a bruise but ugh. Mom decided to drop the topic after noticing how reluctant I was to actually talk more about it. She sighed and went into the kitchen and emerged with a cold ice pack. She gently placed it on my right eye and patted it gently. God. How was I going to school tomorrow? I bit my lower lip, trying my best to push that ugly thought away. As if she read my mind, Mom asked in a gentle tone,

 

“Do you want to take a break from school or-”

 

I cut her off by shaking my head rather violently. I looked forward to school to be honest, excluding the fact that everybody would be laughing at my swollen eye. Zander was going to be in school. I don’t know why but it just gives me the motivation to go to school, and amazingly not dread it like I usually do when it comes to high school. After assuring mom that I was fine and that I could manage things myself, I picked my bag up from the floor and made my way up the stairs to my room. I flung my bag onto my bed and laid on it, thoughts of Zander crossing my mind until, that one special memory of today crossed my mind. I shot up from my bed, unzipped my bag and took the teddy bear out. I narrowed my eyes as I stared at it. I took a deep breath and called out,”Hunter!!!!”

 

I heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, light and fast. It was Hunter. Just then, my door creaked open and Hunter strolled in, his chest puffed up. I stared at him.

 

“Just what do you think you’re doing?”

 

“You called for me, Mi’lady”

 

Upon hearing that, I threw the teddy bear into his face and screamed, “That’s because you placed your stinky bear inside my bag!!”

Hunter glared at me with tear-filled eyes.

 

“M-Mr Snuffle ain’t Stinky!” He managed to stutter and scampered out of my room.

 

I giggled. Same old Hunter. What a cry baby, really. I laid down on my bed once again, staring at the plain white ceiling. I was thinking about the events that happened earlier today and in retrospect, Zander was actually sweet and caring. Just as I was thinking about him, my phone beeped.