"Mani, breakfast is ready." My Dad shouts from the kitchen. I crawl out of bed and throw on my dressing gown before leaving my bedroom and locking the door behind me.
I make my way downstairs and into the kitchen where I am greeted by the delicious smell of bacon and eggs. I thank my Dad for making breakfast and take a seat on one of the stools around the kitchen island.
"You always make the best food." I tell him.
"It's hard to mess up bacon and eggs, sweetheart." He laughs and I shrug my shoulders. I suppose that's true, but his food always tastes delicious.
"How late were you working last night?" I ask, eating a piece of bacon. "I never heard you coming in."
"I got in about half an hour ago, so much work to do." My Dad shakes his head. "Honestly, we've been swamped at the hospital all night."
"Well, that's what happens when you decide you want to be a Doctor." I laugh, shoving another forkful of food into my mouth.
"Suppose so." He agrees. "Anyways, I'm going to try and sleep for a few hours, I'll be working late again tonight." He says, saying his goodbyes and leaving the kitchen to go upstairs.
I finish my breakfast and start to get ready. It's 6am so I have another hour before I need to get to school to see Dinah. I throw on my cheerleaders uniform, tie my long black hair up into a ponytail then apply makeup to my face, I always try to look my best for Dinah. I leave the house a few minutes after 7 and kick myself for being so late.
I hurry to school, running a few stop signs on my way but arrive at approximately 7.15am. I run through the hallways desperately trying to get to the band room before other people arrive. I only need to catch a glimpse of her, that's all.
As I turn the corner, I see the band room in sight. I'm smiling because I know my girl is in that room, she'll be sitting reading a book or watching one of her friends perform their instruments. I can't wait for the day I watch her perform in front of people, I'll be so proud. She has such a beautiful voice. As I hurry to the band room, I accidently bump into someone knocking them to the floor.
"Fuck!" I yell, pissed off because this idiot has ruined my plan. I'm about to turn around and punch the fucker in the face when I see a blonde haired Polynesian retrieving her books from the floor.
"I'm s-so s-sorry." She mumbles, clearly scared. My face softens as I see the girl I knocked into. It's her, it's Dinah.
My throat is dry, this can't be happening to me. I just bumped into Dinah, I knocked her to the floor causing all of her books to fall. She's currently on the floor picking up everything because of me. I have to help her.
"It's ok." I say in a soft voice. I kneel down and help Dinah pick up the rest of her books.
"Y-you don't have to help me." She says in a voice barley above a whisper. I shake my head at her, of course I have to help, I'm the reason she's on the floor in the first place. It's at the this moment I realize that I'm having my first ever conversation with Dinah. It isn't exactly how I would of liked the conversation to start, but after 3 years, it finally happened.
"I want to help." I tell her honestly. "You have so much stuff."
She nods her head in agreement. "N-not all of my books fit in my locker, that's why." She tells me.
"That's too bad." I reply, acting as if I didn't know that already. Of course I know though, I have the combination to Dinah's locker, of course I know how much stuff she has in there.
"You're at school early." I try to make conversation with Dinah, I'm hoping she doesn't reject me. Please god, don't make her reject me.
"I have band class in the mornings." She says, pulling herself to her feet. I follow Dinah's actions and stand up myself.
"That's cool, do you enjoy it?" I ask. This conversation is going well, I never want to stop talking to Dinah, I could listen to the sound of her voice for hours. I watch her adjust her thick black glasses before replying.
It's g-good. I like being around my friends." Hopefully they're just her friends and nothing else. "Why are you talking to me?" I see her start to become nervous again, she lowers her head and takes one step back.
"Hmm?" I scrunch up my face and tilt my head to the side, I don't understand what she means by that.
"Your a cheerleader, you're not supposed to talk to...someone like me." My heart sinks, hearing Dinah say something like that hurts. I love her, she's my perfect girl, of course I'm supposed to talk to her. This is upsetting. I try to control my emotions, I don't want her asking me why I'm upset.
"Just because I'm a cheerleader, doesn't mean I can't talk to you." I say, hoping she'll agree.
"Oh alright." She steadies the books in her arms and sends me a shy smile. "Well I-I have to get to band class, thanks for helping me with my books, Normani." I can't help but smile, she said my name, she knows my name! I'm not just a stranger, she knows who I am. Dinah knows me.
"Bye, Dinah." I whisper as I watch her hurry into the band room. I wait a couple of minutes before sneaking up to the room and taking a peek through the small window. I can see her sitting in her usual seat, she's reading one of the books she dropped on the floor, oblivious to everything around her. I stay staring at her for longer than expected. I'm so caught up in watching my love that I don't realize the bell ringing, signaling the start of school.
"Normani, can we help you?" Mr. Cowel asks me as he opens the choir room door. I can see all of the band class staring at me, including Dinah. I gulp and shake my head.
"No, I was just passing by." I shift my eyes from Mr. Cowel to everyone in the room. I can see Dinah watching me so I want to act casual, I don't want her to know I'm just here for her.
"Alright." Mr. Cowel says. I'm about to walk away when Mr. Cowel stops me. "I was wondering if I could have a word with you." I frown at him, what does he want to talk about? I reluctantly nod my head and step aside to let everyone past. I inhale as Dinah passes me by, I can smell that perfume again, she smells amazing.
Mr. Cowel gestures for me to enter the choir room, I do so and take a seat in Dinah's chair. I smile to myself knowing a few seconds ago she was sitting here. The seats still warm. For a moment I shake Dinah out of my thoughts as I see Mr. Cowel staring at me.
I clear my throat. "So what do you want?" I ask in a unpleasant voice.
Mr. Cowel stands in front of me and crosses his arms. "You don't have to be ashamed, Normani." What the fuck is he talking about?
"What?" I reply, unsure what he means by 'ashamed.'
"It's no secret that you come here often. Every morning I see you standing outside of the band room. It's obvious, Normani. I know you want to join the band." Oh for gods sake, teachers at this are ridiculous, they think they know everything when really they don't know shit.
"Mr. Cowel, listen. I don't want to join the band and I have no intention-" I stop when something pops into my head. It's at this moment that I realize, joining the band could be good for me. I'll be closer to Dinah, I'll get to see her more and I could even take videos of her singing then add them to my collection, this is brilliant.
"Normani?" Mr. Cowel waves his hand in front of my face, wondering what I'm thinking about. I shift my eyes to him and send the man a genuine smile.
"I'll think about." I say, standing up from Dinah's seat and walking out of the choir room. It's obvious Coach D and the cheerleaders aren't going to be happy about the possibility of me joining the band, but at the end of the day it's not about them, it's about me being closer to my girl. We could take our relationship to a whole new level.
The rest of the school day goes by smoothly. I excuse myself from 3 classes to check on Dinah, luckily she's fine and doesn't need my help. The final bell just rang signaling the end of school. We have mandatory cheerleading practice today so I'm a little upset I won't get to follow Dinah home. At lunch, I heard Camila and Zendaya asking Dinah if she would like to go for some coffee after school and hangout, my girl accepted the offer so I wouldn't be able to follow her home anyways. I'll just drive by later to see her.
I'm currently sitting in the middle of the football field picking at the grass and watching the others do a routine. Coach D is screaming at my team mates for fucking up a few steps which I find quite amusing considering the other day most of the cheerleaders referred to themselves as 'flawless.
"Come out this weekend, Normani." Lauren says, jogging over to me and diving down on the grass. "Don't be a boring bitch." She props herself up on her elbows.
I roll my eyes at Lauren. Just because I don't go out doesn't make me boring. Going out would be so much fun but I'd much rather watch Dinah, it doesn't get any better than that. "Please stop asking me to go out." I beg.
"Then for once actually come out!" Lauren replies, moving closer to me. "I'm sick of people asking why you don't go to parties."
"Who cares, people think I go to all these college parties anyway." I say, watching my friend shake her head.
"Yes because I tell them that!" She shouts, looking around the field first to see if anyone could be listening. "I'm sick of lying to people. The way I go on about you, people must think you're a fucking party animal."
"I don't ask you to lie, you just decide to." I shrug my shoulders, ripping more grass out of the ground. "And for the record, didn't you tell me yesterday that 10 people ended up in a jail?"
"Yes, but still. A parties a party, shit like that happens. Just please think about it." Lauren begs, pouting at me. "Just drop the homework and get drunk, simple."
I laugh. "I'll think about it, ok?" I just can't stop saying those words today, 'I'll think about it', god I really need to stop.
"Good, so what are you doing tonight?" Lauren asks as we continue the conversation a little while longer.
It's now 6pm and I am currently sitting outside of Dinah's house. I park my car in her neighbors drive across the street and wait for her to leave. The one thing I love about Dinah's neighbors is that they're never home. They're always traveling which means they never know how much I use their yard. Another thing I love about this house is the amount of trees surrounding the area. The trees are a bonus, it means I can park my car next to one of the large trees and Dinah can never see me. It's cool how I can see her but not the other way around. I always take my Dad's spare car whilst spying on Dinah, just in case something goes wrong and she happens to notice my car.
On a Tuesday night Dinah goes to the local supermarket to buy groceries with her parents. She loves going shopping with them, she always puts a load of shit in the cart and tries to disguise it all by placing them right at the bottom, I find it adorable. Her parents find this annoying and often shout at her when they reach the checkout and notice the unwanted items. They never make her put them back on the shelves though. The food always goes home.
Dinah leaves the house a few minutes later. I immediately smile when I see my love. I quickly pick up my camera from the passenger seat and snap a few shots of Dinah. I take a picture of her walking down the porch steps. I then snap a photograph of her opening the car door with a key and sliding in. I try to take a few more photos but my sight is blocked by Mr. Hansen. I sigh in defeat and throw my camera back on the passenger seat.
I see Mr. Hansen enter the drivers seat. He and Dinah wait for Mrs. Hansen to leave the house with Dinah's 7 year old brother, Seth. As soon as they are all in the car, Mr. Hansen pulls out of the driveway and down the street. I quickly turn on the car engine and follow behind at a safe distance.
We arrive at the supermarket a few minutes later, I park my car a few spaces away from the Hansen family and wait for them to leave the car. I tug at the hood of my hoody to avoid being recognised before leaving the car and following Dinah into the store.
"I'm just going to the toilet." I hear Dinah telling her Mom as she passes the shopping cart to her Dad.
"Why didn't you go before we left the house? You had plenty of time, Dinah!" Mrs. Hansen replies, clearly annoyed with her daughter.
Dinah shrugs her shoulders. "I didn't need to then."
"Fine, hurry up. Make sure you wipe the toilet seat first, you don't know who has been in there."
"I will!" Dinah shouts as she runs through the aisles.
I chase after her, making sure not to lose sight of my girl. It's hard to keep up with Dinah, she's a fast runner but over the years I've gotten better at it. I sometimes go out jogging on a morning and night to make sure I stay fit and healthy so I will always be able to keep up with her.
Dinah enters the bathroom and I follow behind her. I peek my head through the door and wait until I hear the sound of the cubicle door closing before entering. I stand by the sink and close my eyes, listening to Dinah urinate. I'm guessing Dinah really did need the toilet as her wee goes on for a while. I just stand and listen.
"Excuse me, is someone there?" My eyes snap open as I hear Dinah's voice. I shift uncomfortably, what the hell am I supposed to do? Do I reply? I take a deep breath and speak.
"Just washing my hands." I say in an unbelievably low voice for a woman. I turn to face the sink and quickly turn on the tap so Dinah doesn't know I am lying.
"I don't suppose you can get me some toilet paper? It's just there's none in here." Dinah says through the cubicle door.
"Erm...sure." I say, still using that manly voice. I quickly enter the cubicle next to Dinah and tear some toilet paper off the holder. I then walk to the front of the cubicle and slide it under the door.
"Thank you!" Dinah shouts, retrieving the paper off the floor. I bend down slightly to see her pick it up. Seconds later I hear the sound of the toilet being flushed. I immediately stand up and run into the next cubicle.
Dinah unlocks the toilet door and departs from the cubicle. There's a gap through the door so I squint my eyes and look through the small hole to see her. Dinah is standing by the sink adjusting her glasses which have slipped down her nose. She then washes her hands, using the soap provided and drys her hands on a few paper towels. After one last look in the mirror, Dinah leaves the bathroom.
I quickly depart from the cubicle and go into the one Dinah was previously in. I fix my eyes on the toilet paper I gave Dinah which she didn't use. I quickly pick it up and run it across my face, knowing Dinah has touched it. I then shove it in my bag and hurry out of the bathroom before I lose Dinah.
I easily catch up with Dinah, she's running down the aisles with her little brother standing on the cart. I laugh when I see how much fun she is having. I love seeing her happy, I love seeing that beautiful smile of hers. It's rare seeing her smile without her hand covering her face which I found out she does that subconsciously. As I am so focused on my love, I don't realize Lauren walking towards me.
"Normani?" Lauren asks from behind me. I sharply turn around and my eyes widen as I see my friend.
"Lauren!" I say, startled. "W-what are you doing here?" I stutter, looking around to see where Dinah is. I start to panic when my eyes can't find her.
"Booze shopping, Brad's Dad is buying it for us. I'm just stocking up on the munchies." Lauren tells me.
I nod my head, hoping she'll leave me alone now.
"What the fuck are you wearing?" Lauren's eyes trail down my body. "Fuck Normani, you look like you're going to rob the place.
I roll my eyes at Lauren. "It's only a hoody, relax."
"It's a whole new look for you, that's all. I've only ever seen you in your cheer uniform and really tight dresses." Lauren says.
"Yeah well, this is a one off. Dad asked me to pick up a few things and I couldn't be bothered to get dressed up." I lie through my teeth. "I didn't expect to see anyone I know." I add.
Lauren looks past me and laughs. I frown, wondering what she's laughing at. "You see everyone in here, Normani. Look over there, that freak Dinah Jane is here."
I clench my fists together, trying my best to control my anger. "She's not a freak!" I hiss, scaring my friend.
"Woah, easy tiger, calm down." Lauren takes a step back and furrows her eyebrows at me. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." I say quickly. "I need to get home."
"I thought you came to do some shopping for your Dad?" Lauren asks, confused.
"I did." I reply.
Lauren looks me up and down again. "You don't have any food or anything. Normani are you stealing and shoving things in your bag?" Lauren jokes, laughing out loud.
I shake my head. "Of course not, I wouldn't do that." Unless Dinah touched it of course. I'd still probably pay for it though, not steal it. "Look Lauren, I have to go." I push past my friend and search the supermarket for Dinah.
Where the fuck is she? I can't find Dinah anywhere, it's like she's vanished from the store. Desperate to find her, I keep my eyes open for her brother, her Mom and Dad. Wherever they are, she is. After a few minutes of searching, I give up looking in the supermarket. I run out of the store and search the car park. It's getting dark so I can't really see much but I still try. I hurry to where her parents car was parked and discover it's no longer there. I sigh in defeat. I take my eyes off her for a moment and she slips away from me.
Driving home, I take a detour to her house. I drive past slowly hoping to see her. Unfortunately the curtains are closed so I don't see anything. I'm tempted to get out of the car and go around the back to see if she is in her room, it starts to rain though so I decide to drive home. I will see her tomorrow.
When I get home I pick up the phone and order a takeout. Since my Dad's working late tonight, I make my way into the living room and put the TV on. I watch the TV for a while until the takeout arrives. I then head upstairs into my bedroom. As usual, I lock the door behind me.
I sit down on my double bed with my legs crossed. I turn on my TV and smile when Dinah's face appears on the screen. I begin to watch videos of my love whilst eating a pepperoni pizza, Dinah's favorite. The toilet paper resting beside me on the bed.
Tomorrows another day, another day filled with Dinah.