Mentor

"Friends"

I have spent the past two weeks learning from Angelina as if my whole school year depended on it, we’d spent almost half the day speaking like friends while each topic came with a lesson but the most amazing occurrence was that we both learned from each other. She has taught me how to be more outspoken while I taught her how to not care about what the world around her said about her and she was getting the hang of it because in our last meeting she had worn a slightly short summer dress that showed off her beautifully toned legs and when she saw me gawking she said “Your opinion about me doesn’t faze me” and we both laughed out loud like best friends would. My mother on the other hand would call to check up on me and most of our conversations ended in a civilised manner because I have learned to be patient with her which is one of the many lessons from Angie. We had gotten comfortable with each other to the point whereby she asked for advice about her teenage daughter, Ruby, and as little as I knew about kids I tried to give her a little advice and the next day she told me that it might have worked because her daughter came to visit her and that’s when I realised that she is happier when her daughter is around her and isn’t fighting with her.

Today is Sunday which means I had nothing to do, I had spent the day cleaning my room, changing my parents bed sheets and getting groceries and as soon as I came into the house, I went straight to the kitchen and made dinner for Candice, it was her anniversary day and every year, for the past three years, I made sure that I sent dinner to her house. She loved that I took the initiative even though she had informed me that it was unnecessary and a little bit over the top for someone who has been married for more than ten years. I spent more than three hours making her favourite dish and waited for her son, Sam, to come and collect it. Sam isn’t the most vocal person but he made sure that he collected the dinner and gave it to his mother hot. Sam rang the bell and as soon as I saw it was him, I collected the picnic bag and handed it to him “Thank you” he mumbled and I smiled as I walked him to his blue corolla. At first I thought that he didn’t like me that much but I had learned that he stopped talking when he was 11 years old and Candice was told that this is a psychological issue which he will get over but it’s ten years later and he still doesn’t speak much, the only worlds he says are “Thank you” and “Bye”. I watched as he drove off and fade with time.

The rest of the afternoon I spent with the television, it has always amused me how a single object can divert a person from the whole world and make you feel like everything was fine when it wasn’t. Sitting alone in this house has become somewhat boring because I have been hanging out with someone else, I wished that Angelina would want to spend more time with me even if we wouldn’t talk as long as I was in her presence. There was something about her that was pulling me towards her, it was beyond her beauty or her beautiful mind and every time I thought of it, I was reminded that I had mommy issues and that’s why I felt like there was some sort of string. I had a mother who was going through something and Angelina was consoling me through it. As I sat there thinking about my Mentor, I heard a knock on my door.

“I’M COMING!” I yelled while cleaning up just in case it is someone of importance or maybe my Mother. I rushed to the door as fast as I could, as soon as I opened the door, there stood a person of importance, my only friend Anna. Anna has been on vacation with her family to South Africa and would only return in a few weeks but somehow here she was standing right before.

“Don’t just stand there, hug your best friend!” she exclaimed but I stood her in complete shock, as much as I loved her I wasn’t ready for her return.

“Aren’t you supposed to be coming back in a few weeks?” as flabbergasted as I was I needed to know why she was back so soon and why I wasn’t told about it.

“Here I was thinking that my best friend would be excited to see me after a month… oh well, I guess I have been replaced or someone is giving you that vitamin D that I have been forcing you to get” she chuckled at her stupid joke. I forced myself out of that trance and hugged her like my life depended on it “Oop, there it is” she said as I let her go.