Inola

Back to School Part 38

"Hey," Lyla said. She seemed uneasy and I smiled at her.  "How did the photoshoot go?"

"Good, I'll send the photos to you the moment I receive them from Willy, he is still busy editing it, but it was actually fun. He asked me to look at the window and captured it, then to look at Rona and he took another one when I smiled at her."

"That must be nice, your smile comes so easily, that should be a nice photo."

"Wait! He really made it fun, I laughed out loud when he told me to look at the smiley face on the wall behind him and he captured two photos of that.  Then he asked my mom and Beth to move to his right shoulder and he captured the smile that I gave my mom.  Beth gave me that "go girl, go" glance and thumbs up and I smiled spontaneously at her and he clicked that too.  I think he captured a few nice ones."

"I would love to see them, I feel so bad about my remark the other day and worse about Theo's response, I want to apologize but don't even know what to say."

"Your apology is accepted and Theo only said what he felt, so I have stopped dreaming, I'm not sure how to move on but I will find a way." I tried to help her out of her predicament, but the choking feeling in my throat told me it's not over for me yet.

"Tell me more about your contract," She smiled to try and break the tension.

"Well, I have to write a story a month for the next twenty-seven months.  That's something to look forward to.  I have already one lined up about a stray kitten."

"Awe!  Tell me about him, what's his name.  Did you get your story from Patsy?  Is he real?"

"Yes, I got the story from Patsy, which means he is real and his name is Percy and he emerged from a gutter."

"Awe is that him?"  She asked, looking at her phone when she received the message from me.  I nodded and smiled.

"Are you looking forward to school, Dad said that the schools are opening next week with certain conditions."

"Yes, they are, but we have to sit two meters away from each other, luckily I will be able to see Dave every day."

"Lucky you!"  I yelled too hard to be normal, am I jealous of my best friend?  What kind of person have I become?

"There's something else, my mom wants to give me a birthday party next Saturday, and your whole family in your house is invited."

"Wow!  That will be nice, I'll tell my mom I'm sure she will love to see your mom again and will love to do some catching up with your mom,"  I forced a smile but the thought of Theo being there, made my stomach cramping into a ball.

"I'll see you again next week, I can't wait for my birthday party and to see you again."

"See you Lyla and enjoy school, we are going to zoom on Wednesday to catch up about school, aren't we?"

"Of course we are!  Bye!"  With that, I was left alone with no comforting thoughts about the upcoming birthday party.