Lycca

I remember. I remember it like it was just yesterday when mom and I lived alone. Living was hard and although we lived in a very tiny apartment, we were the happiest. Not until we moved. I sighed heavily, leaning my body further into the window nook - a makeshift window nook that consisted of an old metallic trunk - that stretched past the length of the window. I stared at the main house blankly from where I sat. It was a sunny and cloudy day, but I still could not help noticing the darker clouds passing, that threatened rain at any point in time. My thoughts wandered to when I was seven years old, those days before we relocated. I remember spending almost every day at Alonzo's, a small-town Italian restaurant where my mom worked. She worked many jobs, some of which I never knew of. Mom would walk me to the back room for the employees and I would make myself comfortable as she changed into her uniform, tie her hair and scarf it up. "I'll be right out honey" She would always tell me with a reassuring smile. I don't know if she was reassuring me or herself. "If you need me, just come out front" She'd add. She would get my study materials together and, giving me a kiss on my forehead, would say, "Try to stay out of trouble". I wondered why she ever stressed about that matter. I hardly caused any trouble. I was that innocent child that always stuck her nose in her books all day long. I literally had no friends to cause trouble with and wasn't a solo troublemaker by myself. The only child I knew and spent a lot of time with was a girl named Lenora. She was one of my mom's coworkers, Pat's daughter. She was the same age as me and nowhere near a friend to me. Lenora was pretty with long silky blond waves of hair that never failed to bounce as she passed by. even the slightest tilting of her head had that beautiful hair of hers flowing in all the right places. I didn't like Lenora and I figured it was a mutual feeling, considering how she would always make a mess when our mothers were not around and would always point me out as the defaulter. She was the most annoying, sweet, and innocent-looking girl I had ever known. Heck, she was the only girl I ever knew. For some reason, my mother decided to homeschool me. Growing up, I always attributed that reason to not having enough money to take me to school. But I doubt that was the reason, since she and Lenora's mom, Pat, worked the same job. If she could afford to take Lenora to school, why couldn't my mother take me to school? I never questioned her decision. I was only seven, although sometimes I envied other kids for that reason. Lenora was not around today because she had school. Honestly, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I used to spend hours in the backroom studying grade-two notes and textbooks. My mom got our neighbor, Jen, who was sixteen at the time, to tutor me at home and even asked her to babysit me sometimes. I liked Jen. She was smart and studious and did not really have a social life. Whenever I whined to mom that I wanted to go to school like other kids, she would brush it off with the excuse that Jen charged less compared to a school, imparting the same amount of knowledge. The wet substance that settled on my cheek, hard and cold, sucked me out of my thoughts, bringing me back to reality. It took me a moment to register it was raining. "Do you plan on getting soaked?" Mom asks as she crosses over the room to the window I was perched on. She got there just when I was on my feet, sliding the window shut. She helped me shut the remaining two windows, one next to the one I sat by and the other on the opposite side of the room. I then realized she had several drops of rainwater darkening the spots that landed on her gray uniform. The white apron fastened around her waist was stained in tomato sauce and other ingredients of whatever dish she was preparing with the others. "You know what?" She started. "I might as well send you to a boarding school since you are not being of much help in this house anyway.", She said, patting her hair dry with a towel I didn't see her holding some moments ago. A few strands of hair strayed out of her perfectly tucked bun. "So you can call me every day and tell me how much you miss me?" I said teasingly as I flung myself on my bed. She flung the towel at me. "In your dreams, young lady." She said, trying to keep her cool, but I could hear the smile in her voice. "Let's just leave this place, mom." I groaned, lifting my hands and placing them above my head, still resting on the bed.