Me, My Notebook & I

Chapter 01

            Sometimes, words aren't written to be analyzed. It is written to inspire without reason, to touch you by reminding you of a previous incident perhaps or for you to follow without understanding. These words can lead you to find out who you really are. They might even lead you to your happiness. For me, I always considered myself happy. Till one day I was not. One simple notebook was all it took to change my life forever. You want to know what the worst thing is? It was not even my own notebook. It was someone else's and I never ever expected to read it.

I was a senior in high school and it was the day before my exam. I remember everything very clearly as if it just happened yesterday. I was wearing my yellow Pikachu sweatshirt and just about to finish my favorite bowl of ice cream. I remember feeling very optimistic for my exam because I couldn't wait to pass, get good grades and get my dreams to come true. A typical teenager's thoughts. That morning, my mum was at work. She teaches at the local high school just over 15 minutes from home. One thing you should know about Mum is that she is kind of superstitious.  Her name is Merselia but if anyone dared to call her by her name you will see hell on earth. She absolutely despises her name and believes that if anyone called her by it then that means that a disaster is on the way. So, for your own sake, just call her Selia.

However, my dad, Paulo, was present that day with me. He is a policeman which I guess automatically makes him a bit more strict than other parents. Strict as he is though, he is a big softie inside. All it takes to get in his good graces is to get good grades and stick to the curfew. One thing you should not do, ever, is lie to him. Seriously, he hates it. He always believed in this quote he read which is basically, "No one can lie; no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone's eyes". And that's how he raised me. He taught me to always maintain eye contact to show that you're confident and to show that you are sincere in whatever you're saying. He would just look at me and I would be unable to lie making the truth always spill out.

That day, I was very worried and stressed over my exams and trying so hard to focus. I was sitting in the desk besides the window in my room when dad called me. "Lucina!"

I went downstairs to see what he wants. He was in the garden but on my way to him, the telephone rang. I picked up the telephone and it was my best friend Susan saying that she wants to study together. She's my best friend and I really do love her but I was trying to think of any excuse to tell her that I can't study because dad refuses to let me study with friends. He always says that studying with friends means you talk about anything and everything except for studying. And let's be real. He is right. I'm starting to think he's always right but don't tell him I said that.

"Lucina!" Speaking of dad, I had completely forgotten that he was the reason I came downstairs.

"I'm coming dad!" I yelled as I made my way from the telephone in the living room towards the backdoor in the kitchen that leads to the backyard. We had a two-story house that is overly spacious for just mum, dad and I but it works for us. The walls of the entire house are painted soft colors because my parents say it is soothing. Exiting the house from the backdoor, you have the patio with a little table and 6 chairs for when we have guests. On the right, there is the pool and at the end of the house on the far left is the driveway.

I saw dad sitting by the pool and once he noticed me standing there he said, "Get your books to revise for the exam."

Dad always helps me study because he knows I get easily stressed. I love him even more for that. "But what about your work?" I ask.

Dad looked up from reports he was looking at and said, "I took a day off from work to revise with you; make sure that you're ready for the exam and everything."