Camilla

six

G I L L I G A N

It's nice to finally be home. After the day I've had, it's comforting when my mom pulls me into a tight embrace, something I usually try to worm my way out of. She always smells like sage, probably because she always burns the stuff. My mom is known as a hippie across the planet, but I never really thought much of it. If my dad, who's a lawyer, could love her, anyone could.

"How was your first day?" She asks.

"It was okay," I say honestly.

"Oh? Did you see any pretty girls? Or guys, I don't judge."

I roll my eyes and back out of the hug, plopping down on the couch. She sits next to me. "Well, yeah. One. Her name is Camilla."

"Oh, a pretty name! What is she, Latina?"

I nod. "Super aggressive, though. I don't know why. She looked like she was ready to kill anyone who even breathed in her direction."

My mom sighs. "Ah. She's a rebel, I see."

"Yeah, scary as hell," I laugh. Mom swats me. "Sorry. Scary as heck."

"Well, don't be too quick to judge her, Gillie," I cringe at the nickname, but she continues on anyway. "You know next to nothing about this girl. You don't know what her life's like, and I'd like to believe I raised you better than to give up on a lost soul so quickly."

"Who said she was a lost soul?" I ask.

"Well, you did. Indirectly, but you did."

I think about it and then shrug. "I don't know."

"Whatever you want to do is fine, Gilligan. But don't make up your mind about her based on one day. That's not really enough time to get to know someone."

She's right, as usual. She's read a lot of self-health book, and now she's kind of like a self-taught therapist. I smile and kiss her cheek before standing up and grabbing my bag off the floor. "Thank you, Mom. I'm going to head up to my room, do some homework and stuff."

I don't have any homework.

"Alright, baby. Love you."

"Love you too."

I toss my backpack onto my bed and grab my laptop from where it's situated on my desk before flopping down next to my bag.

After it boots up, I click on Google.

Maybe I shouldn't do this. I mean, it's kind of an invasion of privacy, if you think about it. She obviously doesn't want me to know anything about it. 

I shake my head and search it anyway.

Arenas near me.