Unexpectedly Bad

6: Me Vs. The Whole Class

                                                                          L   U   N   A

     I hadn't seen Aiden since this morning. Something must had happened to him and his dad. I was starting to get worried so I talked to Tristan after lunch.

     Tristan said that Aiden probably wouldn't be attending school today. He said he didn't see him since first period and Aiden hadn't texted or called him too. I suddenly remembered what happened yesterday.

     "What happened to you? You look awful."

     "It was just my father."

     Maybe he had a fight with his father.

     I had a crush on Aiden on freshmen year. No one could deny that he was really good-looking, he was muscular and charming, definitely every girls' crush. Even though he had always pushed people away and never really talked to anyone, I always believed that there was a reason behind this. When everyone thought he was selfish and rude because of what he had; rich parents and everything he wanted, I, on the other hand, thought that he was broken and lonely. I wanted to help him so bad.

     But, it was a year ago and I was sure that I didn't have any feelings for him anymore. I shouldn't be worried, I had no reason to be worried.

      "Is Aiden Dominic absent again today?" Mr. Lawson said.

     I could tell that Mr. Lawson didn't really like Aiden. Aiden had always messed up at Biology and often skipped Mr. Lawson's class. The hate was mutual, I believed. Aiden seemed like he hated Mr. Lawson too. But, for your information, Aiden always ranked fifth and never lower than that at school. For a messed up kid like him, even ranked tenth at school would really be great.

     "That kid never failed to boil up my anger." Mr. Lawson muttered loud enough for me to hear.

     "He's sick, Mr. Lawson. He's not able to make it to school today." I said to him and the whole students turned their head to my direction.

     "And how do you know that?" A girl in front of me snapped at me.

     "What are you? His new nanny or something?" Caitlyn said in a mocking tone and earned a laughter from the other students. "You clean up his house and cook for the Dominics? How much did they pay you per month?"

     "Um, no. Tristan told me this morning."

     "She talks to Tristan? As in Tristan Mason? How? She's no where their level anymore." Another girl in the class muttered loud enough for the whole class to hear and that, my friends, hurt the most.

     As you know, Tristan didn't actually said that to me but I needed to make an excuse to Mr. Lawson for Aiden unless he was going to have a lot more trouble.

     "I'm sorry, Ms. Lynch, but at least one of his parents needs to call." Mr. Lawson said to me and I wanted to tell him that Aiden had a problem with his father yesterday, maybe that was why his father didn't call but I was afraid Aiden would be upset if I told Mr. Lawson and the whole class about it so I remained silent.

     "His parents never even showed up at parents meetings. Why would they call?" A guy said.

     "Yeah, aren't they too busy working their ass off to get more money and bigger company to even take care of their son?" Josh, the guy's chairmate, said.

     Anger boiled up inside me and I felt like punching both of those guys until all of the digested food from their breakfast came out from their nostrils - and how could that possibly happen? - but, I was going to try to make it happen if I could anyway. But, it was me vs. the whole class, and not to mention I had zero experience in fighting and due to my fragile heart I might as well burst into tears if they bully me.

     "Well, what about your mom who cheated with someone richer than your dad just to get his wealth, Josh?" I snapped at him.

     "Ooooh, burn!" I heard someone in the class said, then I heard a lot of "Ooooh!"s in the class, and then laughter.

     I smiled. Proud of myself.

     The guy clenched his jaw and fist. His face reddened in anger. But, I was not scared at all. He wouldn't dare lay a hand on me since Mr. Lawson was still here in the class.

     "Silence, kids!" Mr. Lawson said as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. "Let's get straight into our lesson. Forget about that boy, he's making me sick and more sick everyday. If he's not one of the smartest students, I might've kicked him out of this school. Open your book page 122!" I rolled my eyes in disgust as he ranted and started opening my Biology book page 122.

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     "This burger sure is the most delicious! This is why love our cafetaria so much!" Hailee said with a mouth full of food.

     Last night I went home at around 7:15 after the talk with Aiden. My mom was watching a tv show in the living room when I entered my house.

     "Did you go out for dinner? You left before dinner."

     I ignored her and went straight to my bedroom. I tried to sleep but I failed. I felt guilty for ignoring my mom. I knew it had been really hard for her these years after dad left us and my attitude would make it much harder. 'I'll try to talk and apologize to her in the morning' I thought to myself. But, she wasn't home in the morning. She left me a note in the kitchen counter.

     "Luna, I need to go to work early today. I made you your favorite chocolate muffin as an apologize for what happened yesterday and it's on the dining table. I'll be back around 7.

     Lots of love,

     Mom."

     I felt more guilty after reading her note. 'I made you your favorite chocolate muffin as my apologize for what happened yesterday'. It was all my fault yet she apologized for it. I didn't mean to hurt her and I knew I should be happy for her and her boyfriend. She had been the happiest after dad left since she met her boyfriend a year ago. Why was it really hard for me to accept him? I wanted my mom to be happy, I didn't want my mom to cry herself to sleep every night. Why was so hard, Luna?

     "What are you thinking?"

     "Huh?" I brought my heads up to Hailee.

     "Are you going to eat your burger or not? 'Cause I'm still kinda hungry."

     "Oh." I looked at my burger that was left untouched. "Nah, I'm not going to eat it. You can have it."

     "What the heck, I'm just kidding. You haven't eat at all. What's wrong?"

     "It's just my mom." I sighed.

     "Aaand?"

     I sighed. "And her boyfriend."

     "What happened to them?"

     "I don't know, Hails, she wanted me to meet him. But, I don't want to, I don't know why."

     "You should give him a chance, Lunie, maybe he's a good guy."

     "I'll think about it." I said before starting to eat my lunch.

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     "I'm sorry for my attitude yesterday, Mom."

     "Oh, it's okay, honey." She smiled. "I know it's hard for you. I totally understand, you know. You can meet him next time when you're ready, okay?"

     We were in the kitchen washing dishes after dinner. The dinner was silent, neither of us started a conversation. I was thinking of how to apologize to my mom while eating my dinner and I decided to just apologize, no cheesy words needed, just "sorry".

     "I'll tell you when I'm ready." I said to her. I could see it in her eyes that she expected me to say that I was ready to meet him now, but, I couldn't. If I let myself meet him before I was ready, I might ruin everything and that was going to make my mom sad.

     "Okay." She smiled again. "Why don't you go to your room and finish your homework? I'll take care of these dishes."

     "You sure, mom?"

     "Yes, honey. Good night." She kissed my forehead and I washed my hand before heading up to my room.

     I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling. I didn't have any homework for tomorrow so I tried to refresh my mind from all the things that had happened; my mom, her boyfriend, and...Aiden.

     I hoped nothing bad happened to him. He was very stubborn and hot-tempered, I was worried that he could possibly hurts himself. I let my thoughts continued for a couple of minutes before slowly closing my eyes and fell asleep.