A/N:
Welcome to chapter two of my very first book, sorry if I haven't uploaded anything in such a long while.
But here if is.
Chapter2, finally published.
Enjoy reading my dear readers.
I run upstairs to my room, and before I enter my room, I see "Othello," my black and white Scottish cat laying on my bed. He curles up his body as I step into my room and makes a weird noise.
"Hello, goody goody, boi." I say with such an enthusiasm and move to my bed and lay down next to him, looking at each other face to face and then closing our eyes. I take a deep breath and listen to Othello breathing. He has been my very best friend for a year, since when we first bought him. I wanted to adopt a cat, but my mom strictly disagreed.
She said that the cats in shelters are not properly vaccinated, which is true to some extent. And they will carry lethal disease, so we ended up buying Othello when Dad was home last summer.
I never forget that day. That night to be accurate. It was raining, and we were supposed to meet this lady who raised Othello for 45 days in a pet shop. The lady was very nice, and she was holding my cute, little, 45-day-old Othello in her hands when we entered the pet shop. He was so small that he could easily fit into the lady's hand. Now, I understand why she refused to give us the baby Othello a week sooner when I texted her and asked if it was possible for her to just give him to me earlier. He really needed his mother's care before that.
I have bought some stuff from months before I even meet the Lady and talk about which cat I want. I have also chosen his name from when I was 11 or so, when I read Shakespeare's Othello for the very first time. I decided to name my pet Othello if I ever had one. And now I did.
I smile with the thought of that night. A few things make that late june night so special for me. First of all it was raining. I love rain. Second, Othello was coming home. Third, and the most important reason I love that night so much is because of Dad. It was one of those few days in the year that Dad was home, and I was just so nervous and excited. Nervous because I have never had a cat, and I didn't know what to do with him. And excited about having to spend some time with Dad in addition to bringing my little kitten home.
Othello stretches himself by shaping his body in a weird form and then gets up and leaves my room. I get up as well and walk to my bag to bring my textbooks out. I hear my phone buzz, so I dig deeper into my bag to find it. I fail to find it in time, and my phone stops ringing, so I just pull everything out of my bag to find my phone at the bottom of it wrapped in the thin cables of my earphones.
I turn on the screen and find out that I have just missed a call from Jessica, my best friend, and my study buddy. I call her back, and she answers even before the first beep.
" Hey! Why didn't you answer my call ? Don’t say you couldn't reach your phone in time again. "
" I did."
" Not acceptable."
I grab my books from the floor and try to stuff them all in my bag again.
" Can I come over now? I was wondering if we could solve the math problems together. If you're okay with that probably. " Jessica says.
" Yeah, sure, come over. "
" See you in five mins then. "
I hang up my phone and run downstairs again to make some coffee. When I reach the kitchen, I decide to make some hot chocolate. It is a very cold day for October.
So, I take the dipper out of the cupboard and open the refrigerator to find the bottle of milk. I fill the dipper with milk and turn the stove on to heat it. I open the lid of the mason jar with coco powder in it and add two spoonfuls of coco powder to the milk. Next, it is sugar's turn. I add a spoon of sugar, and last but not least, it's time for my secret ingredient. Cream powder. It gives it a special creamy structure that makes the hot chocolate extra delicious.
I turn around to open the fridge one more time to bring out the cream for the final touch when I hear the doorbell. I open the door, and Jessica is standing in front of me with her messy, bushy, brown hair tied up in a pony tail. She is wearing a cardigan over her white tank top with minimal patterns, perfectly matched with her dark blue boyfriend cut jeans.
She pulls her earphones out of her ears and smiles. I step aside and invite her in, even though she doesn't need an invitation. She has been my best friend since 1st grade, and she has come over over a hundred times.
Especially from the beginning of the school year that we've become study buddies as well.
She steps inside and asks if she can go upstairs to my room to leave her bag and come back, and I tell her that I don't mind.
I go to the fridge to get the cream and open a new bag of marshmallows from the cupboard to add them to our hot chocolate.
I see Jessica from the corner of my eye when she comes back down and stands behind the kitchen counter. When I put the 2 mugs of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows and cream in front of her she asks: " Christmas already? "
"Ha! I can't wait to be honest, but chocolate is better than coffee. Less caffeine and even sweeter. Isn't it better, in your opinion? "
"Whatever."
We both grab our mugs and go upstairs slowly. We sit on my window side seat and look out of the window. " Will your father be here for your birthday? " Jessica asks one of a sudden after a few minutes. I have totally forgotten about my birthday which is in 5 days. " No. " I answer. "He is very busy. He has been working for long hours lately so that he can be retired as soon as possible." I continue.
" Oh! I'm sorry about that. " she says. " Any plans for Halloween then? " She continues.
" It's not sooner than 16 days. Don't you think it's a bit early to plan Jess? "
" Oh yeah. You have no plan for your birthday, which is in 5 days. How should you have a plan for Halloween? "
" It's not that I don't want to have a plan for my birthday; I just have to discuss it with my mom. Plus, if you were in my shoes, you wouldn't even have a plan for tomorrow. So don't judge. "
" I don't get you. " Jessica says.
" Neither do I. " I snap back.
" Have you seen Ryan's new Instagram post? " Jessica asks after she takes a sip of her hot chocolate and licks her upper lip.
" Nah. Deactivated my account. Remember? "
" It's not cool, really. I miss sending you memes and laughing for hours. " She gives me a sad smile, and I can do nothing but smiling back weakly.
" Show me his post. " I ask Jessica, and she grabs her phone from her back pocket. " Here. " she says after a few seconds.
" I still don't understand why are you so into him? He isn't even hot. " I tell Jessica firmly.
" Come on. Look at his eyes. His girlfriend is so lucky. She i- "
" Wait. He is in a relationship? " I burst out.
" What the ? Yes, he is. His girlfriend is that seventh grader called; I don't remember her name. Wait, she is usually tagged on his posts. Yes, here it is. Evelyn Moore. She is his sister's classmate. " Jessica says in a flash that I can't catch up .
" Jess, sorry, but I barely care about the boy himself. Let's put his girlfriend aside. " I say when she eventually stops talking.
" If you were in my shoes - "
" You dare use my own spells against me. "
" OK, but I'll wait and see what do you do when you are interested in someone. " Jessica replies, trying to hide her laugh, which is sneaking its way out no matter how hard she tries to hide it.
" I don't waste my time over a guy who doesn't even know I exist. "
" He knows I exist. He almost said hi to me yesterday before his brain-dead girlfriend showed up and pulled him away. " Jessica says enraged.
I was about to burst into laughter when she said brain-dead, but then I promptly remember that Jess is here for studying, not gossiping or obsessing over her crush, so I stand up and pull my math workbook out of my bag and grab a pencil from the pencil case on my desk.
" You've shown enough lack of interest, but this was just too much. " Jessica states, frustrated, when she sees that I am moving towards her with my book.
" Why are you mad? You are here to study, not obsessing over Raylan- "
" RYAN. " She points out now almost shouting.
" Whatever. " I say. " Grab your book and come here. "
She exhales loudly, trying to show her disappointment as she walks over the room to her bag. She bends down to unzip her bag when she spills all the hot chocolate left in her mug all over her white tank top and shouts, " dammit! "
I leave my book on my window side seat and walk towards her. I grab the tissue box and help her clean her hands and dry the floor.
" Awwwwww! I bought this top this summer. It's ruined. " Jessica nags
" I'm sorry, it was very cute. Your mom is an expert in removing stains. Remember that time she washed you white shorts after you accidentally cleaned your hands covered in paint with the back of them, and they were as good as new? I'm sure she knows what to do with this one, too. " I try my best to give her a heartwarming speech, even though I know she isn't even listening to me.
" Do you have anything that I can wear? I have to take this off. It is wet, and it annoys me. " Jessica asks so rattled that I could hear the embarrassment in her voice.
" Sure. " I say as I walk towards my closet. I offer her a lime green tank top, which still has the tag, and I haven't worn it yet.
" What's up with you and all of these colors? I feel like I have stepped in the middle of a rainbow whenever I see your closet. " Jessica asks eagerly.
" It's not bad, though. Is it? "
" Not at all. "
I walk out of my room to let her change her top and get her a plastic bag. I open the drawer on the stairs and pull a clean plastic bag out of it. I go up the stairs and knock on my door.
" Come in, Elizabeth. "Jessica says.
" Beth! " I remind her. Jessica calls me with my name whenever she wants to tease because everyone knows that I don't like my name much. My mom chose this name for me, and it reminds me of queen Elizabeth. My mother wanted me to have a Hebrew origin name, just like her, because she is from Israel, and she wanted me to carry my nationality everywhere.
I open the door and hand Jessica the plastic bag, and she thanks me.
After she puts her dirty tank top in the bag, we both go and sit by my window and open our workbooks.
" I'll do the first five, and you can do the rest of the questions. " I say.
" It's not fair. Three of the questions you are answering are multiple choices. "
" It still doesn't mean that I won't spend time and energy on answering them. " I shrug, and she makes a puff sound with her mouth.
We spend twenty minutes answering the questions before either of us talks. " I'm stuck at the fourth question. It doesn't make sense. " I nag.
" Let me see. " Jessica says with a frown. " Look, you have to simplify it for yourself. It is like the one that we answered today in the class. Did you understand that ?"
"Yeah."
" Then easy peasy lemon squeezy."
" I still don't get it. I'm so dumb and nothing I ever do is enough. I've been studying pretty hard lately. I haven't even slept properly for like a week because I've been studying till 2 am. All I want is to succeed and be that good student with great marks again and hear, "I'm proud of you." from my parents. Is it too much to ask ? " I realise I'm now crying. I've been under a lot of pressure lately, and I finally cracked and let it all out.
Jessica was wearing her sympathetic face and hugging me while I was crying, thinking of those old, wonderful days.
"Beth." Jessica starts softly. " Nothing is easy, and nothing is going to come easy. But this doesn't mean you should work hard. You should work smart. And everything will be understandable at the right time, so let the path let you ride. Don't overspeed. " Jessica says with a smile.
I start clapping and laughing in the middle of my tears. Jessica punch me softly in my arm, and I keep applauding and making fun of her for her wonderful, Motivational, sympathetic speach.
"But seriously, I gotta right that somewhere. It was pretty heartwarming and inspiring. " I said.
"Come on." Jessica says eagerly.
"No, I'm serious. How do you even come up with such an inspirational quote. Have you memorised a book or something?"
Jessica gives me a death stare, and this for sure means that I have to either stop or run for my life if I continue. I rather get back to our homework before doing anything else, so I shut up.
"Now, three exponent four divided by three exponent two. It is easy, look. Four minus two is -"
"Two." I answer.
"Right. Now, three exponent two equals -"
"Nine." I answer again.
Jessica looks at me arrogantly and says, "See? You got this girl, so stop saying you can't because if you do so, then you really can't. Nothing is more powerful than your mind and your thoughts, so focus and use the power wisely. "
I smile at Jessica. "God. What should I do if I didn't have you, Jess?"
"What you already do. I'm not water or oxygen or something that you would die without me. I'm just a one-of-a-kind friend." Jessica laughs, and I laugh, too.
"Are you done?" Jessica asks.
"Yup."
"Shall we trade our answers then?"
"Uh-huh."
We spend ten minutes copying the answers from each other in our workbooks, and we are done with today's homework.
"What time is it?" Jessica asks when she is stuffing her math workbook in her bag.
"Five thirty-three." I answer.
"That was accurate." She says with a teasing tone, but I'm not listening to her. Instead, I'm dialling my mom's phone number because she is late.
"Hey. Are you here or in La La land? " Jessica asks when she punches my arm softly.
"My mom is late."
"Late? What time does she get off work?"
"I don't know, but she usually gets home around five fifteen. So-"
"Wait a damn minute. She's late for only fifteen minutes?" Jessica asks.
"Eighteen." I correct her.
"Whatever. My point is that she might be stuck in a huge traffic jam, or she might have gone to shop groceries, or maybe she just has too much to do at work, and she might be a bit late." Jessica says.
I notice how ridiculously I was worried. "I guess you're right for the first time." I say, teasing.
Jessica ignores me and asks what should we do next.
"I don't know, really. We can watch a movie or something. " I answer.
"We can talk about Ryan." Jessica recommends.
"HELL NO." I say strictly.
"OK, sorry." She shrugs. "Then what?" She asks.
" Dunno." I answer. "Why don't you want to watch a movie?" I ask her, waiting for a logical answer.
"Because I know which movie you want to and will force me to watch." Jessica answered eagerly.
I look her in a questioning look, even though I know that she have already guessed my plan.
"You wanna watch five feet apart." Jessica says in an annoyed tone. "Yup." I answer back.
"Come on. How many times have you watched it? Like, ten?" Jessica nags.
"Are you kidding me? Ten? No. Twenty times at the very least." I say smiling and rehearsing my favourite scenes in my mind. "But it doesn't matter. What matter is that, Have you watched it ?" I ask Jessica, already knowing the answer while Jessica rolles her eyes.
"FINE." Jess says, not showing interest.
I move to the DVD shelf to grab the DVD when I hear Jess guiding me strictly.
"Just, DON'T SPOIL. AND DON'T CRY."
I laugh and give her a thumbs up. I insert the DVD in the player and go to the kitchen so grab some snacks and drink.
I pick two bags of chips and put two glasses on the tray in addition to a bottle of lemonade.
I walk out of the kitchen witg both of my hand full and tell Jessica to play the movie.
And she does.
