She's Crazy

03 | failure

A week had passed since school started. I still sat in the far corner of the room but Cameron sat beside me. It felt strange in the beginning but I'd grown used to it. He didn't bother me unnecessarily and respected my boundaries so far, and I think Walter was wrong, Cameron was a good guy.

"Hey," I said as Cameron took his seat beside me.

"Good day," he replied.

"It rhymed," I smiled.

"I tried," he said with a smirk.

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes and looked away, failing to suppress my smile.

"Why, what's up?" Cameron laughed.

"I'm not going to say anything,"

"I bet that's tiring," he didn't fail to rhyme my sentence again.

"Oh my God! Cameron, shut up," I chuckled.

"But it's so easy to make you laugh," he chuckled along. Thank heavens, he didn't rhyme this time.

"You sound like that's a bad thing," I pouted. Our algebra teacher, Mr. Steve was late today.

"It's not a bad thing, dove. You look pretty when you laugh."

"Well, thank you," I opened my textbook as Mr. Steve walked in, his protruding belly always a step ahead of him. "And stop calling me dove," I whispered to Cameron at which he shook his head.

***

For Biology, we went to the lab. Ms. Samantha told she will fix our lab partners. Cameron didn't take this class or we would have sat together. Walter and Zoe were sitting in front of me. They were wearing matching hoodies today. It was blue with a crescent drawn in the middle. At the start of the day, I thought being with them will draw a lot of attention, but as the day went by, students got used to it and I didn't feel any more eyes on me whenever I was with them.

"Excuse me?" a boy cleared his throat beside me. I raised my head from the notebook I was writing in.

"T-Theo?"

"Uh, yeah," he rubbed the nape of his neck. "I was wondering if you and I could be partners for this class if that's okay with you."

Holy cheeseballs! That's the longest he had ever talked to me and my heart was already in override. Get a grip, Aldora Brandon.

"Is it okay?" his mouth moved beautifully as he questioned me. And his eyes were just as pretty as they were that day.

"Yes, yeah," I barely managed to breathe. He sat beside me, and I drilled my eyes into my notebook. It was better this way or I would mess this up and he would think I'm crazy. Or I would act crazy and that would mess up everything.

"Aldora," Zoe turned to look at me, giving me a look she shouldn't be giving at such sensitive times. She wiggled her eyebrows, looking between me and the boy sitting beside me. She was going to ruin the moment.

"Zoe," I murmured.

"I just wanted to borrow an extra pencil if you have," she gave me her sweetest smile.

"Sure," with shaky hands, I handed her mine. She took a minute to take it, then finally turned around. I sighed with relief once she did.

Then Walter turned to face me. "All good?" he asked.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Take it easy," he mouthed. "You'll be fine."

I felt like a freak, psyching out over the slightest things and then making Walter worry about it. At least, Theo wasn't noticing anything. He was zeroed in on the textbook in front of him. The rest of the class passes like this. I had difficulty focussing on the topic being taught, and when I finally gained concentration, the bell started ringing.

"It was nice studying beside you," Theo said, getting up from the seat.

"Yes?" He said what? Nice? "Yes, yes, it was good." With a few exceptions of course.

"See you tomorrow," he smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Aldora Brandon."

Perhaps his voice was soothing because my racing heartbeat and panicky nerves calmed down. "See you tomorrow," I gave him a small smile. "Theo Caldwell."

***

I rushed home at my fastest speed. The tires of my bicycle must have worn out. I had too much interaction with people at school and it was exhausting. Moreover, Zoe wouldn't stop telling different scenarios of our future lab classes. She thought Theo liked me. I highly doubted that, besides, I wouldn't like feeding my brain the possibilities that would never come true.

"Welcome home, little sister," Josh, my nineteen years old monster for a brother, waved at me from the living room. Our labrador jumped from his lap and came running to me, licking my legs and feet.

"I missed you too, Safari," I pat his brown skin and walked inside the house. "I hope you did the dishes, Josh. It is your turn today."

"What's the purpose of a week vacation from college if I still have to do these measly chores?" he whined, pausing his video game.

"These measly chores barely take five minutes," I took off my bag, resisting the urge to throw it at my brother's head. "Gosh, you never do the dishes, Josh!"

I walked into the kitchen. To my surprise, it was spick and span. Even the counters were clean.

"I just wanted to test your faith in me," Josh put his hand on my shoulder, smirking like a goof. "And you have failed miserably."

"Whatever, not that this will be the first time I have failed at something," I flicked his hand. "I'm going to change. Will you please heat yesterday's leftover for me? I'm hungry as hell."

"Sure," he agreed, surprisingly.

We were a small family of three. My Dad, Josh, and I. Our Mom passed away of cancer when I was five and Josh was nine. I had little to nothing memory of her. There were just a few pictures of us together. But at least she was in a better place now.

Dad worked from nine to five in the bank six times a week. He was home all day on Sunday. His job was tiring but he cooked breakfast and dinner for us every day. Sometimes, I wondered if his routine exhausted him. I'm sure it did but didn't let it show. Dad didn't remarry after Mom passed away. Not that I'm complaining but he didn't have any romantic partner in his life and I wanted to see him happy too. He often said Josh and I were enough for him and he needed nothing more. I still worried for him.

And Josh, well, he was Josh. He was in his first year of college and was a physics major. As much as he was good at calculations, I was as bad at them and that was unbelievable at times. That reminded me, he had to do my algebra exercises for me today.

I found the table set for my lunch and Josh had even made banana shake for me. Also, he wasn't wasting his time playing video games anymore. He was already doing my homework for me.

"Aldo, this exercise is like a banana shake. Delicious to drink and easy to make."

"Awfully wrong comparison," I sat beside him, taking a sip from the glass. "You're being so suspicious, Josh. You do know that, right? As much as I hate to love you, you don't have to soft-soap me to ask me to do something."

He sighed, looking up at me from the notebook. "I need your help."

"Well, duh," I enunciated. "But complete my homework first."

"Okay," he resumed at once, his expressions changing. "I'm in serious trouble, Aldo. I need you to promise me that you'll help."

"Okay, but, only if you help me with the laundry on Saturday. Dad shouldn't do it every time."

"But, I've to go hang out with my friends on Saturday," he complained. "College starts again next week."

"Then, I'm sure your friends can help you with your trouble too."

"Aldo," he whined.

"Joshie," I dragged.

He took a deep breath. "Okay then. Be ready at eleven tonight. We have to sneak out of the house without getting caught by Dad.

MISTAKE: Thinking that I have a chance with someone like Theo.

***
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