Tyler and the Valaholics: The Beginning

Chapter 4

Song of the chapter - 'Survive' by Madilyn Bailey

'Mountains will always need to be climbed,
But we only got one foot at a time.
Our voices, tryna' be more than just noises,
Nobody gets to leave here alive,
Don't just survive (don't just survive)'

"Miss Tyler!" a rather annoyed sounding voice approaches my ears, piercing through the deafening silence I hear in my head.

I move my chin up an inch and quirk up an eyebrow, not trusting my voice not to crack.

"Miss Tyler, I'm talking to you and I am quite sure that requires you to stand up, look at me and respond," the teacher's voice rises in both pitch and volume.

I lift my head completely and stand up, my eyes still trained on the floor. After a couple seconds of silence, someone nudges me. I turn to Ros who points at the teacher. Reluctantly, I look him in the eye and instantly regret not having answered like I would have otherwise.

"I see, you score more marks than the average, you're in a class that's highly advanced for your age, you excel in studies and are the star of the choir and a halo grows around your head, which seems to be floating in the clouds. This is extremely uncharacteristic and arrogant of you, Miss Tyler," he pauses to take a breath and continues his monologue.

"You've got zero worries in the world and everything's at your fingertips. And then, one day, it's your grandmother paying for everything instead of your mother and you can sob. Stop being such a child and grow up. You're here to study, not to sing a sob story," he breaks off when I drop the book in my hand on the floor quite noisily.

I can't believe he just said that! Grandma is in no state to be paying for anything and it wasn't like we bathed in luxuries when mom was still here with us either.

Maybe he is right to scold me for not paying attention, especially when we're this close to the biggest exam we've written so far, but no one can tell me I shouldn't grieve especially when it hasn't even been twenty four hours since I last saw her.

"Excuse me?" I reply in a shaky voice.

"You heard me right, Tyler. If you have any sense, you'd rejoice that you still have a living relative and are not orphans. Stop sobbing over your poor dead mother." Mr. Ertiga says, venom dripping from his voice.

"I am grateful we're not completely alone. That is great but how in the world do you expect someone not to grieve over someone near to them? It hasn't even been a day since I found out and the very least anyone could do is sympathize," I snap, fighting to keep my voice even and to keep the lump in my throat from melting into tears, stopping only when Lau pats my elbow.

"That's where you're wrong, Miss Tyler. The world is not a big sob story. It will not sympathize with you."

I'm quite tempted to storm out but I just pick up my book and stand at stare at the blackboard until I'm told to sit.

The rest of the class goes by at a torturously slow pace. Too bad I almost got through the day without breaking down, and then this happened. I take a deep breath and pull my carefully practiced poker face in place.

I've been putting it on ever since I can remember. I never wanted my parents to know when I was upset back then until dad died. He may not have been Van's and my biological father but he was our dad through and throughout.

After he died, mom was broken. She never quite smiled until about a year ago. Violet was too young to remember him and Van knew him but had never really bonded much with him. I missed him so sorely but the only thing I could do was desperately keep making mom do what she was supposed to.

Finally we had come to terms with it after four long years only to be thrust in worse conditions again. At least Vi and Van won't be feeling the burn too much, or I hope.

Someone shakes my forearm and I look at them. Cynthia asks me if I plan to leave anytime soon. I nod in response and gather my belongings, quickly stacking them inside my bag.

I place a strap about my right shoulder and almost reach the door before I am summoned to the teacher's desk.

"Take a seat, Miss Tyler." he tells and gestures Thia to leave.

"I'll wait for you outside, Val," she says.

"I'm pretty sure Miss Tyler knows her way home, Miss Hill. You can leave," he orders and Thia shuffles out of the classroom.

After ensuring Thia's exit, he turns back to me and speaks, "Now, Miss Tyler, you may have felt I was rude and harsh but it's the way of the world. You have a lot of potential and it would be a shame for a prodigy like you to lose it all because you're busy sobbing over someone who'll never come back."

"With all due respect, sir, if that's what you want to convey, there are ways to tell that without being insensitive and inconsiderate. I may be this prodigy according to you but I'm still human and I still have feelings that I can't abandon no matter what," I tell in the most polite voice I can muster.

"Honestly, if you have the chance to become the first person to go to Mars or wherever, would you give it up if it was a choice between taking care of your sisters and it?"

"If I only had those two options, I would certainly pick my sisters."

"And that is exactly why you'll never get anywhere in life. I'm disappointed, Tyler. Go, throw away your life, no one would care," he shoos me out of the room.

Beyond anything else, I'm human and if he can't get that, then there's absolutely nothing I can do.

I walk out of college to see that the campus is almost completely deserted. Great.

I start to walk home, planning to pick up Van and Vi along the way, when something hits my head hard. The impact disorients me for a while and I can only make out someone laughing raucously while the sound of footsteps near me.

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So hey, I haven't forgotten this! Finally, I updated this! I hope I can update this faster because the story is already so ahead in my head that I'm literally able to think from certain characters' points of view about what I'm writing in the future.

So I'm back to my unhealthy routine. It's 2:30 AM and I've written a chapter of TML, one of this and one of my other book in an attempt to procrastinate writing out this chemistry thing I have to submit today. Great, wish me luck!

Also, I'm obsessed with this song 'Survive' by Madilyn Bailey.

There's also this amazing nightcore version I'm in love with...

Man, she's got such a subliminal voice and the lyrics just hit so hard man (get the cliffhanger reference?). By the way, bad joke ahead, be warned, wasn't the last cliffhanger a literal cliffhanger? I will stahp now.

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