The Maestri Amour (Wattys 2015) - ON HIATUS

TMA || 1

The air outside frustrated me to no end since my hair wouldn't sit still. As I waited for the bus, it blew in different directions, and as disgusting as it is to admit, some of it may have crash landed into my mouth.

The weather had taken some drastic directions in the past week. Just last week I'd had to survive the day with ten bottles of cold water from how hot it was outside, and yet today looked close to a storm. The darkening clouds were a contrasting surprise for the time of day, considering it was only seven in the morning. It was so dark out, one would be tricked into not waking up, thinking that they still had time.

They couldn't be more wrong.

The familiar cough of the old bus reached my ears and I turned to see it driving around the corner, just as the first pellet of water hit my forehead. As soon as the bus stopped before us, the rain poured down mercilessly, and I was grateful for the perfect arrival of the bus.

"Good morning beautiful," Mr Dowson greeted me as I paid him. He's been my driver since I was thirteen, making it a good ten years. His old kind smile always makes my morning.

"Good morning gramps. How are you this morning?" I smiled.

"I'm as fit as a fiddler doll. How about you?" he asked.

"I'm ok I guess. I just can't wait for the day to be over," I said nervously.

"You've got your performance review today right?" Mrs Deans asked.

"Yep! I'm so nervous about it," I sighed as I went to sit in my normal seat.

"You shouldn't worry so much dear. You're a very hardworking young lady, and I'm sure that will reflect," Mrs Townsend smiled, squeezing my hand in the process.

"I can only pray to God that you're right," I returned the smile while my other hand fingered my rosary.

I was born into a very Catholic family, and my mum believed that God will only be good to you if you never forgot about him. I've kept that with me since I was a child, even though I went through a phase when I truly believed that God had it out for me when my entire family died in a car accident when I was only thirteen. I lost my parents, my older brother and my two younger sisters in that accident, all because of a stomach bug that made me stay home and miss church.

I've lived with my grandmother since, and she has kept me on the path of God, even when I refused to see the light. She taught me the most important lesson I would ever learn in life- everything happens for a reason, and God's timing is always perfect, despite it not seeming that way in that moment.

"We believe in you child. You just need to believe in yourself," Mrs Deans assured.

I've been riding the bus with Mrs Deans and Mrs Townsend for ten years as well. The school bus didn't pass by my grandmother's house, so I had to find another way to school, and Mr Dowson took pity on me and found a way to fit me into his route. When I started working at the hotel, it was a blessing to have it still be in his route.

These three elders have motivated me as much as my grandmother has in the past ten years. Mrs Townsend is actually my grandmother's best friend, while Mrs Deans and Mr Dowson were school mates with them. They are the four people that I know I can always come to for advice.

I'm not saying that I'm anti social or anything like that, but I don't have that many friends. I was always that awkward kid at school, and the fact that I skipped two grades didn't make things better. People either treated me differently, or they didn't acknowledge my existence altogether.

When I graduated high school at sixteen, my grandmother didn't have money for me to go to college, and the scholarships I'd received were for colleges that were too far from home. There was no way that I was going to leave her behind, so instead, I started working.