Cleopatra

Chapter 9 - Excuses, Excuses

C L E O 

Getting up for school the next day was the ultimate struggle. As soon as my alarm went off in the morning I immediately regretted going to Màlika's house last night. That was really irresponsible of me, I think my dad knew that I would feel it in the morning because he said I should go if I think I should. He didn't really say yes or no.

"Cleopatra, get up now." My dad's voice came through the door.

"Mmf," I groaned into my pillow. "Daaadddddddd...."

"No Cleo, you're going to school. I really hope you enjoyed yourself yesterday, now you understand why I don't let you go out on school nights." He said and I don't know whether I was dreaming but I'm pretty sure I heard him stifle a laugh. "I'm going to work, don't be late Cleo, I'm serious."

I crawled out of bed at an astonishingly slow pace and made my way to my bathroom. My shower somewhat woke me up but I was still exhausted. I did my usual hygiene routine, cocoa butter, underwear, shirt, skirt, socks, and blazer. I brushed my hair out before putting it into a ponytail. Then I applied mascara and eyeliner before packing my school bag of all the books I needed for the day. I knew for a fact that if I didn't eat I would be falling asleep in all of my lessons so I made some toast and ate in front of the TV. Once I was done I made my way to school.

In nearly all my lesson I seriously couldn't concentrate. The whole situation with Jamal and Reuben was so frustrating I actually couldn't deal. Throughout my R.S lesson I had my head on the table not really listening to anything that my teacher had to say which made Naomi look at me funny throughout the whole lesson. In English we had to do group work but I couldn't even be bothered to contribute to anything. I had a rubbish sleep because I kept thinking about the ultimatum that I knew was coming.

"Cleo, que hiciste el fin de semana?" Ms May asked me in Spanish. It was the last lesson of the day and I had done a pretty good job in avoiding Jamal. Just thinking about him and what he said pissed me off. As soon as I get out of here I plan on not talking to anyone for a very long time. It's called study leave not a holiday.

"La semana pasada fui al cine con mis amigos." I answered fluently then I zoned out because I knew she wouldn't want me to answer a question for the remainder of the lesson.

"Have you spoken to Jamal yet?" Aiya asked me. Once her lesson had finished she came all the way to my lesson just so she could ask me this question.

"Ask me in Spanish and maybe I'll answer." I told her.

"Sorry, no hablo espanol." She tried.

"Your Spanish accent is terrible." I said laughing.

"Everyone knows that," She said in a duh tone. "Don't be changing the subject."

"No I haven't seen that dickhead and I don't plan on it."

Aiya stopped walking. "Uhm...Cleo."

"What?" I asked turning to see what she was looking at. Or rather, who she was looking at. "Oh."

"Cleo, lemme talk to you real quick!" Jamal said coming straight towards us.

I rolled my eyes as Aiya evacuated the building leaving me and Jamal by ourselves. I started walking to form like he wasn't even there.

"Oh okay, so you're giving me the silent treatment."

I rolled my eyes and then brought out my phone and began to play candy crush just to prove that I didn't want talk to him.

"Cleo."

"Cleooooo."

"Legs."

He only got a reaction out of me when he grabbed my phone out of my hands. "Jamal give me back my phone."