❝ she was ethereal, for me,
in a way that she saw me in a
different circumstance that no
else might have. but then again,
i was a broken, fragile child who
had no such thing as a future. ❞
My mother placed the cooked chicken on the wooden table. She took off the kitchen gloves from her hands, my father took off his hat and placed it on the floor. I readied my hands with the spoon and fork; Camila imitated my actions. My mother sat across my father as I st across Camila.
“Dig in, everyone,” my mother said. We did. My father sliced some chicken for Camila and I. Both of us got mashed potatoes, too. It was our favourite side for our food and we ate hastily.
My mother began the conversation. “So, Camila, how is school?”
Camila's mouth was full of mashed potatoes and I tried to muffle my laugh and I also came to the realization that my mouth was full of chicken and mashed potatoes, too. Camila saw me and we laughed together but we prevented the food from inside our mouths coming out.
She swallowed first. She turned to my mother. “It's great. Really, really great! We had a few activities last week!”
“That's nice to hear, hun,” my mother said kindly and took a bite of her chicken.
Camila glanced at me for a second and faced my mother again. “Y/N should be my classmate!”
I looked at my mother and my father, their faces shocked. But it washed away as quickly as it was shown.
My mother gave a pity smile to Camila. “I'm sorry, Camila, but you know that Y/N can't go to a school like yours.”
“Why not?” Camila asked, confused.
“Because we don't have enough money to make Y/N go there, Camila. We're sorry. But at least the two of you get to meet each other,” my father replied and wiped his chin with a cloth. I noticed that he was already finished eating.
Camila stared at him. “My parents can make her go there. We have money. I think. Then we can be classmates!”
“It's okay, Camila. We can still play even if we are not classmates,” I butted in before my mother spoke again. She gave me a puzzled look as if she didn't foresee me talking like this.
Now Camila gave me that strange look.
“It's okay. I don't have to be your classmate.” After that, the two of us ate in silence without making our own inner jokes with each other. I could tell that she was disappointed with me for not standing up for myself.
