The rejected mate

FIRST DAY

My alarm rang at four in the morning, even though school did not start until eight in the morning. My mother, Regina, requested that I wake up at that time to cook for her husband. "You know cooking makes my hand wrinkled!" she would always say.

"Argh!" I yelled at the first ring, and after three times of snoozing it, I finally got the inspiration to get out of bed.

I should have known that yesterday’s escapade with Gemma was going to affect my waking time. But despite this disadvantage, I was thankful for the fun we had.

Gemma and I, upon arrival at the arcade, had a couple of beers and played a few games with some boys we could not remember; although I think Gemma danced more with the girls, I was not so sure because we were drunk and everything seemed blurry.

I had not had that kind of fun in such a long time.

I doubted if I was going to have such a good time today because today was my first day of school.

Aware of this, I rubbed my eyelids and cleaned off the mucus on my eyes as I dashed into the kitchen.

I marvelled at the number of chores waiting for me in the house. The dishes Regina and Ken ate with last night were still in the sink, with the floor filled with wrappers from the various equipment Ken got for the new house.

At that point, there was not so much complaining to do, so I got right into it, and before I could finish, it was past eight already.

I quickly got ready. As I dashed out of the house, I prayed to meet the bus because it was past departure time.

When I got to the bus station, the school bus had left, and so I had to trek to the next station in order to take the bus.

As I boarded the bus, I noticed the people on it were mostly people twice my age. They all stared at me. But I was not shocked anyway; my condition warranted that.

I had vitiligo. It was a rare skin condition that made me have rough patches all over my skin; particularly on days when I had chronic anxiety, they turned white. I inherited it from my late grandmother.

At first, I tried so hard to make it unnoticeable by blending it with makeup, but later, after realising that wearing makeup was not my thing, I let it be.

Everyone who entered the bus had begun to avoid sitting next to mine, and even when there were no seats left, the passengers preferred to stand. I guess my face turned white due to the anxiety I was experiencing.

Whenever I was going through an unusual experience, my face often flared up, becoming whiter than ever, and in this case, I was.

It was a new town with new people I had never seen in my life before. The entire change was taking a huge toll on my body, particularly my skin.

Fortunately for me, the ride did not last that long before we arrived at my new school.

"Crestville High School," I mumbled upon seeing the sign board.

.

In the realisation that I was late, I hurried off to the school bursar, who was at the front desk of the school.

"Are you the new exchange student we are expecting today?’ she asked.

"Yes…" I responded in the hope that my being late on my first day would not put me on probation because I had heard about Crestville and how they did not tolerate lateness or any form of misconduct.

"You are late, but since it is your first day... I would overlook it."

The bursar directed me to my classroom, which was down the hallway. I collected my class pass and made my way to the classroom.

The hallway was quiet, as all of the students had gone to their respective classes. I was thankful.

As I walked down the hallway, I decided to check the documents handed to me and my itinerary for the day, only to slam myself into someone who made me drool.

Standing in front of me was a big, heavy boy who looked too big and cool to be in a nerdy school like Crestville. His hair was rough but styled in a very hot manner. His arms were big, his shirt was so tight for his chest, and the buttons were almost ripped from the hardness of his abs. He was wearing a boyfriend jacket, so it was very easy for the state shirt to go unnoticed.

"Umh…" I paused for a second, thinking whether to apologisefor bumping into him or thank the heavens for creating such a beautiful creature.

His handsomeness made me oblivious to the people who were standing beside him.

Before I could say anything, a tall, skinny girl interrupted.

"Watch where you’re going next time... Shape-shifting monster!" she yelled.

I had not noticed her standing before.

Embarrassed by what she had said, I ran quickly into the bathroom to check myself. My skin had turned white again.

I busted into tears, wishing I was normal like other girls like the one I just met in the hallway.

While I was crying, the door of one of the toilets crept open. Someone had been listening to my sobs and the conversations I had been having with myself for a while.

"Who is that?" I asked curiously.

The student flushed the toilet and came outside.

"My name is Joyce. I heard your conversation, and from what I heard, you must have met Ophelia and Asher... It is okay. You’ll do just fine," she said as she opened her arms wide to embrace me.

Joyce warned me to steer clear of both of them, especially Ophelia, as she and Asher had been an item since sixth grade. "They are so close that even the queen knows about their relationship."

I was thankful to have met Joyce. I knew better than to get in their way.

Joyce showed me the way to the next class, as the previous one had already ended.

It was the Math class. I loved Math and was thankful that I could once again escape the realities of my sad life.

All the seats in the front were filled, so I made my way to the back, and to my biggest surprise, Ophelia and Asher were sitting at the back.

"Can today get any better?" I mumbled.