Not Poor Enough For Pity

CHAPTER 2:ELITE INTRODUCTION

I woke up in a daze, my head spinning with the same feeling of the aftermath of a roller coaster. I looked towards my bedside and found Ashley there sobbing her heart out. As soon as she saw me awake, she lunged at me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I can feel her lips and breath brush slightly on my neck, an uncomfortable and foreign feeling washed over me as I hear her whining.

“WAAAHHHH!!!”

I covered one of my ears as she wailed with choking sobs. It was an odd feeling having someone very concerned for you. I patted her back as I sighed deeply. I opened my mouth to speak but she cut me off mid breath.

“You know you scared me. I thought you died!”

She said as she cupped my face with concern clearly painted on her face. Just then, the school nurse entered the clinic. She was an older woman with brown hair and the most gentle eyes I’ve ever seen. She wore a white coat and a stethoscope hung around her neck like a trophy. She had a sweet smile on her face as she saw the way Ashley clung close to me. But as soon as she uttered the first sentence that came out of her mouth, I felt a cold chill run down my spine.

“Your parents are coming to pick you up—”

“Pardon? ”

The nurse stood silent when she saw my eyes widen with a dash of fear and anger.

How could she. Why would she.

“look! I get to see your father for the first time! It was always your mother coming to parent teacher conferences!”

Ashley’s grating voice filled my ears. I looked at her with that stare of a million stabs and she flinched before zipping her mouth and quietly sitting back down to her chair by the bedside. I gripped the white sterile blanket tightly, my fists turning white and my jaw ached from the clenching.

Why are they coming here. I hate this.

They’ll see me in utter vulnerability. The “perfect quiet child” is now broken.

An hour had passed and the school went dead silent as students filed out of their classrooms. Ashley chose to stay with me for comfort and stability. Resentment turned to warmth and a protective barrier from what was outside. Then, what seemed like forever, the nurse entered the room and stepped to the side like a servant before two figures stepped inside. The room was suddenly filled with cold chill tension as one of them spoke up.

“my dear, poor, disgraceful daughter. ”

“Mother.”