The Nostalgia Diaries

Milkshake

Cathay dropped Hadeza at her new school in the morning. She gave a few words of advice to Hadeza while sitting inside the car. Hadeza stood and listened to her impatiently.

Hadeza squinted because of the blazing sun. She stared at principal of the school once in a while as she listened to her mother. She observed the principal's appearance. He had a big belly which looked funny to her.

"Zee!" Cathay cried to draw Hadeza's attention back.

Hadeza looked at her mother and leaned forward close to the car window playfully. She smirked as her face came close to her mother, wincing her lips like she wanted to kiss her.

Cathay poked Hadeza on her head and chuckled.

Hadeza laughed too.

Cathay stretched out her pinky finger in front of Hadeza all of a sudden. "I want you to make me a promise" She said in a serious tone.

Hadeza glared at her mother's finger. "I don't make promises" She said boldly.

"Don't leave my finger hanging, Zee" Cathay whined.

Hadeza at her young age dreaded the idea of making promises. They always ended in disappointment. She remembered what her Uncle Eze once told her promises were made to be broken and eventually, she usually broke most of her promises just like she was going to break the one her mother was forcing to make right at the moment.

"Mom, I'll be late for class" She said sluggishly and turned and pointed at the school principal. "Look the principal's waiting for me"

"Zee!” Cathay cried happily.

  Hadeza reluctantly raised her pinky finger and locked it with her mother's finger.

"Promise me you won't cause any trouble" Cathay said in a slow pitch.

Hadeza raised up her other hand in the air like she was swearing an oath in court "I promise I won't cause any trouble" She said dryly, barely opening her mouth.

Cathay nodded and yanked Hadeza's finger and gestured at her to go.

For a moment, Hadeza was glad her mother had finally let her go. She saw her mother drive out of the parking lot and stop at the driveway. She wondered what she wanted now.

Cathay clenched her left fist in the air and shouted. "Don't get in trouble, Zee!" She warned.

Hadeza squeezed her face at her mother. She sensed the principal staring her with a quizzical look as she walked past him into the school. She was sure her appearance had him wondering if she was a boy.
After her morning classes, she quickly dashed to her locker in the hallway while the rest of her mates went to the cafeteria for lunch. She pasted her timetable inside the wall of her locker along with a polaroid of herself and her mother. Immediately she locked her locker, she saw a group of not-so-ugly looking boys walking out of the cafeteria.

One of the boys hit a slim looking boy who was heading for the cafeteria on his shoulder. His name was Alex.

Hadeza exhaled as she stared at the boys. She adjusted the loose strap of her denim overall and began to make her way down to the cafeteria with her lunch bag which she held tightly. She was ready to give a black eye to any of the kids that would try to embarrass her.

"Hey, watch it!" Alex said to the boys right after they knocked his notebooks off his hands to the floor. He was the slim looking kid Hadeza was looking at.

The boys mocked Alex as they walked down the stairs.

Hadeza frowned and walked to help Alex pick his books from the floor. She fell on her right knee like a knight and picked his books for him, arranging them in her arms carefully. She handed them to him and gazed at his arms. Gosh he was really skinny! She thought.