Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 3

KATE

The first thing I remembered when I woke up was that I had to start school the next day and that I had to make a new friend, both of which made me feel very anxious. I reluctantly got out of bed and pulled on a plain white top and black shorts with orange flowers on them. I pulled my yellow Converse out of my closet, before glancing in the mirror as I slipped them on. As my reflection stared back at me, I couldn't help but notice that I looked so out of place in this room that I was supposed to call mine.

My wavy blonde hair was messy and there were dark circles beneath my eyes. I quickly went through my usual morning routine and dabbed on some concealer beneath my eyes to attempt to hide the bags.

I tucked forty dollars and my phone into one of my pockets before I headed downstairs.

The warm smell of toast filled the air and I felt my stomach rumble in hunger. I took a seat at the kitchen table as my father passed me an empty plate and a glass of orange juice. I raised my eyebrow at him and he smiled before passing me my pill.

"Don't worry, it's organic," he said.

I have type two diabetes, which I've had to deal with my whole life. My father was always better with it than my mother was. She'd occasionally sneak me a cookie or buy the wrong kind of juice and I'd have to go to the hospital because my system would go into overdrive.

We ate, quickly and quietly. Once breakfast was finished, I helped my father wash the dishes before we headed out to a school supplies store.

I knew that my dad had a decent amount of money that was given to him to allow him to support me alone, but I still felt like I should get the cheapest things that I can. That way we wouldn't run into money problems later on since my father had been forced to quit his job so that we could move.

I grabbed a shopping cart and filled it with the supplies that I could find. I decided to grab a plain iPhone charger just in case and also grabbed a new computer case since my current one was falling apart.

I then headed over to the backpack section, searching for the cheapest one that I could find. My father noticed this but didn't say anything. I finally found a pretty teal and grey one that matched my new computer case well enough. After finding a lunchbox as well, I started walking toward the checkout and felt my father's arm brush against mine as he tossed something into the cart. I glanced inside to see that it was an AirPod case covered in little silver gems with a hook that could clip onto my backpack. I smiled slightly at him before I pushed the cart to the nearest checkout line.

We reached the checkout counter and the total rung up to $38.49. I handed the man the forty dollars I'd put in my pocket that morning and he handed me the change saying, "Have a nice day," as my father and I walked out the door.

I stuffed my new purchases into the car as quickly and neatly as possible. My father searched the GPS on his phone for clothing stores while I attempted to connect my phone to the car's Bluetooth.

Once it connected, I scrolled through my Spotify playlists until I found the one that my dad loved and I pressed play. My father bobbed his head to the beat of the song while he turned onto a busy road and headed towards our next destination. I sang along to the song quietly and looked out the window, watching as the buildings passed by.

"Thanks for doing this, dad," I said, resting my hand on top of his.

He didn't acknowledge that he'd heard me, but I was aware that he did. And I knew that he was grateful I was there with him, even though he never would have admitted it.

✡ ✡ ✡

Inside the clothing store, I immediately headed towards the clearance section in search of t-shirts and shorts. I found a few really cute t-shirts as well as a couple of pairs of jean shorts. I picked up a pair of white flip flops in my size and placed them into the shopping cart. Unable to find more shoes that I liked in my size, I went to search for dresses.

My father had told me that the school I would be attending required its students to dress up on some days so I found two dresses that I thought would be perfect. Then I tried to pick out a few more that I could wear for other special occasions. I found a couple more cute ones and tossed them into the cart along with the others.

After that, I went to look for more short-sleeved shirts. I walked past all the crop-tops and ignored them since I knew that I would never wear one. I found a few more shirts that I liked and placed them in the cart.

Finally, I walked over to look for shoes again and found a pair of cute sandals, some dress shoes that could go with the dresses, and a cute pair of tan boots.

Once I was done, I found my father conversing on the phone and we both walked over to the checkout counters. The price came out to $48.72 and my father paid with his credit card.

We left the store and walked back to the rental car and my father hung up the phone and turned the engine on as we got in.

"Is there anything else you need?" My father asked, his voice sounding slightly happier than it had been in a while.

"Yes."

He smiled. "Where to next?"

I felt myself blush lightly, and my father immediately knew my answer.

That was the other thing I'd always loved about my father. He was always so intuitive about what I was thinking that I hardly needed to speak. My mother had never been like that - with her, I had always needed to speak in ways I wasn't always comfortable with.

My father quickly found a nearby Victoria's Secret store on his GPS and I turned on the music again as he started to drive. Once we had reached the store and parked, my father handed me his credit card.

"Spend as much as you want," he said.

I nodded, but I told myself that I would only what was absolutely necessary and I could tell by the expression on his face that he knew this too.

I closed the door and left, the song still playing, and I could tell by the way his lips were moving that he was singing along.

I walked up to the door, a large smile on my face for the first time since we'd landed in Santa Monica.