It's lunch time and I'm at the cafeteria sipping from a juice box when Chloe sits in front of me with her tray of food.
"I hate my life." She huffs.
"You're telling me." I mutter to myself.
"What?"
"I said what happened?" I sit up straight. "I haven't seen you since I got to school."
At our school, we don't pay for lunches. The cost of our lunch per year has been added to the tuition. And since Chloe's dad is paying for mine, I get free food.
Today, it's a large chicken sandwich, carrot slices and a box of juice.
I really didn't have an appetite, so I'm sipping my juice.
"I got detention this morning."
"How do you get detention before school even starts?" I ask confused.
"Well, it's complicated. I was dared to throw a watermelon on Mr Martin's car from the fourth floor. And knowing me, I couldn't pass up a dare like that. I didn't know he was in his car when I dropped it and he saw me. Gave me a week of detention after school, called my dad, and they negotiated to two full days of detention instead." She explains, not taking a break.
"So that's why I didn't see you when I got to school."
"Yeah. My life sucks." She rests her head on the table.
"Is that why you hate your life?" I ask her gently.
"Yeah." She raises her head. "Is there any other thing worse than this?"
Um.....How about losing your parents and being maltreated for ten years?!
I mentally scream.
"Nothing I guess." I reply and she drops her head back on the table.
After a few minutes, she raises her head and unwraps her sandwich.
"Have you seen my brother today?" I shake my head.
"Do I ever see your brother?"
"True, but he said he'd have lunch with us." She looks around.
"Prolly changed his mind." I shrug.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did, but I saw him before coming here and he said he'd join us."
"Just leave it Chloe. I'll meet him when the time comes."
"But I've known you for over two years. It's not right that you don't know my brother. My twin for christ sake."
"I'll meet him when the time comes." The bell rings immediately and I sigh.
"Back to class." I stand up and dump my untouched food in the trash can.
"And back to detention."
.....
After school, I still had the headache. I got some aspirin from the nurse's office before leaving the school.
She strongly advised me to have some rest when I reach the house.
As if it was that easy.
I decided to walk home to let the afternoon breeze cool my head a little bit.
In an hour, I get to the house. I walk straight to my room, took my clothes off, did what I could do in the house and when I finished with making dinner and everything, I walked back to my room.
I was so tired, I didn't know when I fell asleep.
Which was a big mistake.