I put my hand on the rusty jagged fence and pushed it forward. The old hinges gave a loud, familiar creak and I stepped inside, closing the gate back as softly as it would allow me. Bouncing the bag of groceries on my hip, I strode up to the open doorway.
"Aunt?"
A ragged, tired-looking woman in her forties peered up from behind a large cardboard box that was supposed to be the table.
"Oh hello darling, you're back."
I placed the bag of groceries on the cardboard table and went to sit down beside her. She looked older than I've last seen her in the morning, if that was even possible. She was looking at a half-faded photo of my supposed parents, whom I've never in my life met. I was brought up by my aunt since I was a baby; my parents had supposedly entrusted me to her care, saying that they were going on a 'business trip' and needed my aunt to help to take care of me for the time-being.
And they never returned.
I was single-handedly brought up and cared for by my aunt alone - her husband passed away from cancer four years after they were married. Although she didn't have much savings, she has always treated me as her own, taking several jobs at one time.
"Mum and dad?"
She nodded gingerly, before looking at it one last time and sliding it beneath the box table.
I stood up from the ground, not knowing what to say or how to feel whenever my parents were mentioned. I didn't feel angry, sad or even disappointed; I just felt empty. I mean, how was I supposed to feel about strangers who were not ever around but claimed to be my parents?
I started unpacking the staple foods I have bought with whatever little money we had, placing them neatly on another similar cardboard table positioned in the middle of the empty room.
"Seline, I've got something to show you." My aunt called from where she was sitting.
I looked at her questioningly but went to sit down beside her. She pulled out a baby blue envelope from her pocket and passed it to me, beckoning me to open it. I took the envelope from her and carefully removed the seal at the back of the envelope, sliding out the letter and unfolding it.
"Dear Seline," I read. "Twin Academy welcomes you to join our family of staff and students." My eyes widened in shock. This-This can't be! I turned to Aunt Elda with a bewildered expression as I stuttered out, "T-Twin Academy?"
Aunt Elda chuckled as if she thought my reaction was funny. "Yes dear, you're starting college next week." My eyes widened even further.
"B-But Aunt! Where did you even get the money?"
"Ah, I have an emergency fund somewhere."
I pushed the letter back to her hurriedly. "I can't accept this. Aunt, go ask them for a refund."
"There's no such thing as a refund, dear." Aunt ignored my extended hand and stood up. "You're starting school next Monday."
"Aunt..." I stood up slowly. We didn't even have enough money for a proper table! How could Aunt Elda afford my college entrance fee? School... was like a luxury to me.
Aunt Elda just lifted her hand and waved me off, walking into the small bathroom that had a broken door. I stared after her, still gaping like an idiot. Then, she came out of the bathroom, carrying a set of folded clothing on her hand.
"A gift for you, for your first day of school. I know it's not much, but I hope you'll like it."
It was the most adorable red t-shirt with a giraffe print on top, and a pair of faded blue jeans. I hardly had any nice clothes to wear; so those were the best clothes I had ever gotten.
"Aunt..." I had tears in my eyes. I knew how much work my aunt had to go through to get all these things for me. She had to work longer hours, and she being the only staff who actually bothered doing anything, I knew it was more than tiring for her. I pulled her in for a tight hug.
"Thank you... Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me."
Aunt Elda chuckled and patted my back. "I think I do. Now now, no more crying like a baby. You only have two days left till school starts, don't you need to start packing for school?"
I nodded, my face still buried in her hair that smelled of sweet vanilla.
Aunt Elda pulled away from me and pushed the set of clothes to me. "Go out and take a walk dear, and wipe those tears away." She said softly, then smiled and walked away.
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The cool breeze hit me when I stepped out of the house. I've never felt so happy. I was going to college! I mean, sure, it might not be a big deal for others but hell, this was a big deal to me! I had always wanted to go to college, but I couldn't afford it. It was like a dream come true, me being able to go to college. I walked across the almost-vacant road towards the park with a bounce in my step. I closed my eyes and smiled.
"Dude, what the hell?"
I opened my eyes to the voice in front of me and almost stumbled backwards. He was the most gorgeous guy I've ever seen. His sky blue eyes were piercing into mine, with his muscular arms flexing and pointing to... Oh.
His chocolate ice-cream had in some way found a way to my shirt and was smashed to become some brown sticky fluid with a few crumbs of the biscuit sticking out. And it was now flowing down my shirt, forming a thick brown line.
"You freaking crashed yourself to my ice-cream!" His eyes were glazed with anger as he glared at me.
"I'm sorry-"
"I don't give a damn about you being sorry. Do you know how much that ice-cream was? It was custom-made for me with the best ingredients you couldn't find around here. Of course, I don't expect a person of your standard to know what I'm talking about. Just pay me back my 50 bucks."
Forget I said anything about his hotness. I composed myself and tilted my head upwards slowly to face him.
"Why would I crash into you if you were looking at where you were going? Look, I don't just smash into ice-creams on the streets. And my shirt is the victim here. But if you're so full of yourself why don't you just go get another 'custom made'" - I held up my fingers to mimick the inverted commas - "ice-cream?"
"Just. Give. Me. Back. The. Freaking. Money." He glowered at me, his sky blue eyes darkening into a shade of deep blue.
"Sorry, but I don't have the money."
"You'll pay, bitch." With that, he spun around and walked hastily away. I stood there staring after him, my anger building up as I shot daggers at the back of his head.
Then, I did the one thing I would never have expected myself to do. I picked up a fallen leaf from the ground, used it to wipe the chocolate off, and stomped up to him, smacking the chocolate-filled leaf onto the back of his white adidas shirt. And then I made my glorious exit.
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