Blameless ✔

Chapter 12: ❝And so it begins❞

Chapter 12: ❝And so it begins❞ 

♡Evelyn's POV♡ 

Walking into my home, I wasn't even fazed when I saw my dad standing there in the darkness, eating his favourite ice-cream from the immutable pastel-coloured tub.

"Welcome back, sweetie," he spoke through a mouthful of mint-chocolate chip.

I glanced at the tub, then at him in this weird, elated high through blurry, liquid-stained eyes caused by the harsh winds I had no choice but to bear on my journey back home.

I laughed hysterically while switching on the light so I'd no longer need the aid of the stars and the moon outside which was, at that moment, giving the hallway a nice silver hue. "It's a little too chilly to be eating ice-cream, don't you think, dad?"

He scoffed incredulously, the ridiculous sight made even funnier due to the burnt-orange lion onesie my mum and I had given him for his birthday last year. "Ice-cream is limited to no season," he said, the mastery in his voice capable enough of starting an army that would mindlessly follow the lead of his verbal slogan.

I giggled, the corner of my eyes wrinkling in pure joy. Everything looked funny and I couldn't stop beaming regardless of whether my cheeks were turning numb, howbeit, the happiness I felt was beyond the ambit of a cheek-splitting smile. I now knew why most teenagers were so keen on ecstasy. They could obtain this feeling whenever they wanted to.

"Whatever you say, dad," I responded, hanging my jacket on the gold hook of the wooden coat rack perched on the yellow wall to the left of me. After completing my task, it was then that I heard my dad utter words more than true.

"You seem to be very happy for someone who just came back from a two-hour walk," he commented, putting direct emphasis on the duration of time I had spent outside.

"Do I?"

He nodded. "But unfortunately, I'm going to have to pop your euphoric bubble."

My grin faltered slightly as I stared at him, halting my action of ascending the carpeted stairs. "How?"

"Your mother got a call from one of your teachers when you left," he began, pausing to take a scoop of his midnight treat. "It was an English teacher and she wants you to tutor someone."

I gaped at him, feeling my entire mood switch. Everyone at school utterly despised me so I didn't know who would be dumb enough to agree to allow me to tutor them. I didn't think they realized that in order for one to be tutored, it meant having to spend majority of their free time in one cramped space with books that would separate us from our interactions with the outside world. If they had missed out on that large factor, it was no wonder to me why they needed tutoring to begin with.

I was almost scared to ask, "who?" but I did it anyway, clutching onto the oak stair railing in the hopes that that would help me cope with the foreseeably terrible news. 

Sliding the ice-cream filled spoon into his mouth, my dad finally answered suppressed and indifferently, "oh, just this fellow - Mark Jones, I believe was his name."

My eyes widened into saucers as I tried to process the information that had slapped me uncharitably in the face. The pounding of my heart wouldn't cease - only worsened at the thought of spending majority of my free time in one cramped space with books that would separate my interaction from the outside world with my love. My crush.

"And so it begins."

But honestly, that didn't sound so bad.

-

And so it begins indeed.

;)