The Diary Of Mira Collins

Chapter 12: An Update On Life

"Melanie?"

I literally think my heart stopped beating for a second when I heard him.

I turned around and saw him.

Salleh.

"Apa kamu buat sini?" What are you doing here?

He raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Mungkin awak. Apa kamu buat di sini? Sudah lambat lah. Dan. Siapa Amellia Collins?" Maybe you. What are you doing here? It's late. And. Who is Amellia Collins?"

"That's none of your business. Tapi awak betul. Okey bye."

I stand up and started to walk away when he talked again.

"Saya kenal siapa perempuan yang hang cakap tadi."

I didn't understand the statement much because he probably shortened the words. I turned around and asked him to repeat what he said but with a bit of English.

"Saya kata, I know a girl Amira Collins. She is famous last time in Instagram and I follow her last time."

I gulped not really aware what to do with the situation. "Sorry but I have to go. Bye."

I left and went back home.

At least he talked to me.

********

It's just my second day and I feel so stressed out. After coming back to the house yesterday, I went straight to bed and cried myself to sleep. I actually slept around 12 a.m. since I was full of guilt.

My mother forced me to take therapy again next week.

I yawned as I saw Salleh enter the room. My heart stopped a beat. I had to be more cautious so that I won't get caught.

It's actually hard to hide who you really are. I am forced to be someone I'm not for the past two months. And now I actually want to live this new life. I don't hate my old life. It's just I am having a hard time with everything going on in my brain.

I should just probably let go of my past and focus on the future.

Salleh sits beside me and stares at the blank whiteboard.

"Uh hey Salleh. I need to explain what happened last night. I actually pretend to be Amira's sister because I was a huge fan of hers. Saya mintak maaf untuk semalam. Saya gila." I laughed awkwardly. I just told him I was sorry and I'm weird.

He looks at me then back at the board.

I rolled my eyes and our teacher finally entered the room.

**************

I can't believe that I actually made it. It's October and I am graduating next month. I can't believe that next year I'll be a College Freshman.

The government offered me to study in California which I gladly accepted. I have never been happier in all my life.

I saw Salleh walking over to us and I smiled when he spotted me. I gave him a brief wave and sat beside me.

We started dating 3 months ago. Carmen and Liyana became closer with me as well as Ahman and Devan. They were great friends and never fail to make my day.

Speaking of friends, I found out Violet and Millie were friends again a month after my outbreak last January. Last month, Milliene gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

But when they found out who the father was, I was stunned.

The father of Millie's daughter is Josh.

I know. Weird.

They named the baby Lavender Welsh. Also, Violet started to visit her mother frequently. It was really weird that Violet Diaz is actually the twin sister of Joshua Welsh.

Again, it's so weird. I was actually allowed to talk Millie and Violet on the phone as long as I kept the charade up.

The undercover spy's name was Jenna. Jenna is a cute blondie with blue highlights. She also has the perfect blue eyes. She was pretty and smart.

Of course she is dummy. She's a spy.

I internally rolled my eyes at my subconscious and finally stared at Salleh. I really appreciated his dark black eyes and black hair. He had perfect teeth since he wore braces during Form 1 to 4.

"So, how is my cookie doing." Salleh asks while grinning.

"I'm fine. Please I beg you jangan panggil saya cookie." I glared. I hated that he called me cookie.

He puts his hand up as surrender and chuckles. "Okay okay... cookie."

I rolled my eyes and unintentionally smiled realizing that he really had improved his English. Two week after my outbreak, we had a project in English which was done by pairs. And guess what, Miss Jasmin assigned pairs by seating arrangement. And since I was beside Salleh, he was my partner.

At first, we argued on almost everything. It was like the hardest project I ever did.

But when we presented it together and got the highest mark in the whole Form 6, we actually realized that we had so much in common.

Like eating Laksa but hate the shrimp. We also like biking and we go out biking every Sunday.

Then poof. Here we are right now being a happy couple. Muslims aren't allowed to touch the opposite genders. Well, what I meant was if you're a guy, you can't touch a girl. Vice versa. But what I mean with touch is physical contact like holding hands and hugging.

But there was something about Salleh and I couldn't put my finger on it. It's like there was something he was keeping to himself.

I couldn't blame him. I was keeping a secret too. A big one indeed.

And after familiarizing the faces of different people, Salleh looked different as well.

I respect their culture but when nobody is around when I am at his place, he actually hugs me and kisses me on the cheeks. I actually feel guilty sometimes 'cause I know his parents will be greatly disappointed in him when they find out.

We finished our lunch and went to our classroom. We gathered at Carmen's side and talked.

"I can't believe we're really graduating!" Carmen exclaims. "It was like yesterday we met Mel and hari ni sudah lapan bulan." And today it's actually been 8 months.

I nodded in agreement. Time flies fast.

"Tapi korang pergi kolej mana?" But where will you take college? Liyana asks

"Saya sini lagi. Emak tak nak saya belajar jauh." Devan says.

"Why? Is your mother still changing you diapers that's why she doesn't want you to study far?" Ahman jokes and we laughed. Devan rolled his eyes and ran outside.

I furrowed my eyebrows and look outside.

"Alamak! Cikgu Salawati datang." I shouted as I saw our principal. Oh no! Teacher Salawati is coming.

Ahman races out of the room and we went back to our seats.

Cikgu Salawati enters the room and Jairul stands up.

"Bangun." He says and we stand up. "Selamat tengah hari cikgu."

"Selamat tengah hari cikgu."

"Good afternoon class. You may sit."

We sat down and looked expectantly at her.

"As everybody know, this will be your final month in Secondary School. Our programs for graduating students will be posted next week and I hope everyone will cooperate."

She nods and looks at me. "Miss Melanie. Can you please see me in my office after lunch?"

I smiled and nodded. "Okay Cikgu."

She nodded and left.