The Butler

Chapter 5- Terrible Friend

Throughout the weekend, my mom and I were having a blast. Although I was worried about Damon, I believed in him. He was a strong and gorgeous boy. He could get himself out of any trouble, right? I just wanted to enjoy my time with my mom because I haven't had this type of fun with her in years, almost a decade ago.

We painted each other's nails, manicure and pedicure. We sang songs and danced in our living room laughing the whole time. Watching movies was my favorite part because our reaction would be simultaneously similar. We, also, went to parks and strolled through stores. We would earn a few stares which irritated me to an unexplainable degree. What? You've never seen a wheelchair before? You've never seen a stunning bald woman before? She would get a little down when people would glance at her and send pity looks. Despite the few mishaps, we were able to get a full two days worth of amazing mother and daughter bonding time. 

She was finally strong enough to cook me food, however, I could hear her groans in the middle of the night from her stage four breast cancer. I knew she was acting strong for me, but in reality, I could see her in visible discomfort at times. It broke my heart to listen to her struggle knowing that we both chose this. She still rested mostly on her wheelchair, but her fatigue from the medications have subsided a little. 

I would do my schoolwork that was posted online when she had to relax. Tomorrow would be Monday, and because I still haven't heard from Damon, I decided that I would wake up extra early to ride the bus instead. 

When I awoke, it was still dark outside. Wanting to make a hearty breakfast for mom, I chose to make her an omelette with all kinds of vegetables that were available in our fridge. I also cut up some fruits and cooked up some french toast. Call me Chef Ramsey. I kissed my mom on the cheek while she was sleeping and wrote a little note that told her that she better eat my hard work, It was already getting light after I finished writing the note so I hurriedly got ready with minimal effort as usual and sprinted out the door. I could hear the loud, obnoxious yellow school bus around the corner.

The ride was atrocious as usual. The duo bullies were surprised that I took the bus in the morning and decided to make my day terrible immediately. I was excited to get to school and meet my second most favorite person in the whole wide world even if it meant getting bullied on the way there.

As I walked out of the bus, I swallowed nervously. He would be here right? Wiping my sweaty palms on my straps of my bag, I started walking to the entrance of our school.

I ignored the immature name calling from the duo and went immediately on a mission to find Damon. He was going to be in big trouble. I was kind of expecting him to be at my locker or his, but I wasn't able to find him anywhere. As the day went by, I was progressively becoming an anxious mess. Don't call me Chef Ramsey; my new name is psychotic friend. In between classes, I would risk being late and just run around the school which also helped me not get cornered by the bullies. I even skipped lunch to look for Damon and send him spam calls.

The bell rang to indicate school was dismissed. I just zoned out realizing that it's been 4 days since I've seen Damon. What was important enough that he wouldn't message me for 5 days and miss school? Was he in bigger trouble than I anticipated? I shouldn't jump to conclusions so I willed myself to stay calm as I walked numbly to the bus. When I sat on my seat, the duo yanked my hair painfully making me wince.

"Hey, cow. So I've heard your knight and shining armor transferred. I'm looking forward to what Caleb has in store for you tomorrow. Looks like you're going to have some real fun the next month until summer break with us and Caleb," Thing 1 cackled.

I turned my head so fast that I gave myself a whiplash and lost a few hair strands from the hold on my hair. "What did you say?"

"He said that you're done for. You have horrible eyesight and s**t hearing as well?" Thing 2 mocked.

"No. I mean about Damon. Did he transfer?"

Thing 1 looked at me like I was an alien and let go of my hair. "Do you live under a rock? His dad died on Thursday, and he transferred after that."

I could hear the heartbeat in my ear. I could vaguely see that the duo was trying to deride me, but it sounded muffled. I just slowly turned around and looked out the window. I was so stupefied that I didn't care what the bullies were doing to me. I just continued to be lost in thought.

Wow. I am a terrible friend I repeated to myself as the bus took me home.