Sometimes there is certain kind of people who once enter your mind, take a long time to leave or sometimes they appear right in front of you when you're trying really hard to forget them, or sometimes you think about them so much that they become a nuisance to you. And I Melissa Jean Davis is unfortunate to say is dealing with the same kind of situation.
New day. New chance. I think every day brings you a fresh chance to start over and correct your previous mistakes. At least that's what I think.
Anyways moving on, I was really tired and all I wanted was to get some sleep but last night, my brain was too restless and active to get some rest. I should have really got some sleep when I had the time instead of pondering over baseless thoughts because now you definitely cannot afford to fall asleep in your math class even though all you want is to succumb to the desire of closing your eyes and escaping to the land of oblivion. Some of you might be thinking why I wasn't able to fall asleep even though my body was so exhausted that I can fall flat on my face any moment.
The reason behind my sleepless night is unknown. Well, not completely unknown but you do know what I mean, right? I may or may not have stayed up till 3 am(last night) thinking about the 'God-like Amity', who came to our bakery yesterday evening,
Wait a minute, why was I even thinking about him? It's not like I'm going to meet him again. But my main question was - what was a man like him doing in our small town of Jacksonville? Jacksonville is a small town and men like him belonged in big Metropolitan cities like New York or Chicago, not in Jacksonville.
'Stop thinking Mel. Whatever he was doing here was none of your business anyway,' My subconscious reminded me.
Why you are always right? I asked my subconscious.
'That I am and now quickly move your ass from your bed and get ready for school if you don't want to be late.'
My subconscious reminded me once again.
Yeah right, I Gotta get ready for he'll hole.
So then I got ready for school, might I add which was quite dreadful especially when you are exhausted as hell and fellas that's how I'm sitting in my math class right now, ready to pass out of exhaustion any moment.
So I finally decided to pay attention to my math class once again. I quickly checked the time on my watch and only ten seconds left till the bell rings. Finally, 5 seconds left for lunch.
Here it goes.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
Rrrrinnnggg...
The bell finally rang signaling my freedom.
Lord finally answered my prayers.
Thank you, Lord.
I quickly grabbed my things and dashed out of the classroom. I went to my locker and exchanged the books from my previous classes and the books from my next class.
I quickly went to the cafeteria and bought myself a juice box with a chicken sandwich. With the food tray in my hand, I searched for my friends. Well, it wasn't hard for me to find them as they were waving their hands in the air like lunatics to get my attention and they did. Who would miss their antics and now all the students in the cafeteria were giving us weird looks and that made my cheeks turn a deep shade of pink.
I quickly walked towards them and took a seat beside Mia and Ryan was sitting across from us.
"Why do you look like you have just been run down by a car?" Ryan asked me as soon as I sat down.
"Do I really look that bad?" I asked them. Maybe lack of sleep really does that to you.
Mia slapped his arm lightly and looked at me with her concerned motherly face and asked me "are you okay?"
"Just exhausted" I replied to her and rested my head on the table and closed my eyes.
"If you're not going to eat that sandwich, then can I.....?" Ryan trailed off while eyeing my untouched delicious chicken sandwich hungrily.
I mumbled a small okay and closed my eyes once again and drifted into oblivion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone was shaking me.
"Wake up Mel."
"Why is she not waking up?"
"Wake up woman."
I finally woke up from my nap and yawned and stretched like a cat. Wow, I feel refreshed.
I looked at my watch and realized that I was asleep for thirty minutes.
Not long enough but long enough to make me not look like a zombie.
"Gym? Why gym? We have world history now." I asked completely perplexed by his statement.
"The principal had announced that all the seniors are to be assembled in the gym, right after lunch," Mia said.
"When did they announced it?" I asked.
"When you were asleep," Ryan said with a duh tone.
"Now let's hurry if we want a good seat." He said and started to drag us out of the cafeteria.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The gym was full of buzzing teenagers, all eager to find a suitable seat to settle down before the arrival of the principal. Fortunately, we were able to find a spot on one of the highest bleachers, and the view was pretty clear from there. We quickly took our seats and settled down and patiently waited for our principal. Actually not 'we' but but 'I' waited patiently because Mia and Ryan were continuously arguing about who is better - Messi or Ronaldo. I completely tuned out of their conversation and started to drift off into my own magical world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would have stayed in my magical world for a few more minutes if it not had been a certain someone trying to get me back to reality. They are so going to be dead now. I can't wait to kill them.
"Why are you shaking me, Ryan?" I snapped at him.
"Sorry to disturb you tiger but the principal had started speaking so I thought that maybe you wanted to listen as the 'goody-two-shoes that you are," he said while lifting both of his hands as if to signify that he is surrendering.
I gave him one of my ferocious glares and turned my head towards the podium just as to see that our dearest principal is getting ready to bore us to death with his speech.
Don't get me wrong. We all love our principal. He is quite young and laid back and cool but his speeches. His speeches can even make the dead, fall asleep. I guess, giving speeches is not everyone's forte. But still, me being the 'goody two shoes'(Ryan's words not mine), I decided to listen.
"Ladies and Gentleman.... I will not tell you stories but will go straight to the point. The Blackford Enterprises has chosen our school this year for its philanthropic work. Five of the promising students who still have not got their acceptance letters from their respective desired Universities, or for some other reason unable to go because of some financial problem will be sponsored by the company. It will be a full-ride scholarship. The selected students will be provided with everything they need- including books and laptops. And one more thing- collect the forms from our school counselor Mrs. Reeds. You can submit it to her after filling it up. And if you have any doubts regarding the program, you can contact her. And all the best to all of these participating." Mr. Pierce finally ended his speech.
Well, this speech wasn't that boring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'
"What do we have now?" Mia asked us as we(Mia, me, and Ryan) all exited the gym.
"Maths" came Ryan's reply.
" Man...I can't wait for this day to get over" I said.
" Mel too" Ryan added dreadfully.
" So have you two got back your acceptance letters ?"I asked.
"Yeah, I got mine from Columbia University," Ryan said.
"Me too" Mia added.
"What about you?" Ryan asked me.
"I got back my acceptance letter from Princeton, but...
"But what," Ryan asked.
"Princeton is too expensive and going there will cause a major financial crisis for my family," I admitted sadly.
For a few seconds, none of them spoke. And their silence had already started to irk me.
After a long time, Mia finally spoke.
"You do know that you can always use some help-"
I cut off Mia with a simple smile and said "You do know about how I feel about taking help, right, don't you?" I asked her.
"Anyways, I'm going to try and get the scholarship that Mr. Pierce was talking about," I said trying to reassure them.
"But it's not your dream college" Ryan argued.
"But it's still an Ivy League college, and the bright side is- I will able to go to college with you guys." I tried to convince them, slightly glancing at Mia who was silent during the whole utterance. Finally, she opened her mouth.
"I don't know what the future holds for us but I want you to know that I and Ryan will always be there for you, no matter what," she said, her voice filled with sincerity.
"In sickness and in health" Ryan yelled loudly, attracting the attention of the passerby. Mia and I just glared at him and instead of cowering away in fear- like he usually does, he pulled us all in a tight group hug which had both of us suffocated. We weren't even able to move our lips to speak as our faces were totally pressed on Ryan's chest. I patted his back as a sign to let go of us. I hope he understands sign language, fortunately, he did and let go of us.
Upon release, we both smacked the back of his head.
"Oww, what was that for?" he asked while rubbing the 'wounded area'.
"For suffocating us," Mia said with a duh tone.
Ryan just scoffed at her which made me giggle hysterically.
And after our ordeal, we finally decided to go to our next class.
A FEW HOURS LATER.
I huffed in annoyance as I examined the amount of paperwork that I had to fill up to apply for the scholarship. When I visited our school counselor, she just smiled at me and said that she was expecting me to come and she had already prepared the bundle of forms, that I need to fill. Now you guys must be thinking, how she(the counselor)knows me so well even though she's just a counselor. Well, let me clarify, my mom and Mrs. Reeds are really good friends. What can I say? Jacksonville's a small town and almost everyone knows each other, so it's not a big surprise that she was expecting me to come. I can clearly remember the conversation we had.
"Here, these are all the forms that you need to fill," she said while handing,e a packet. I gingerly took it from her hands and opened the zip of my backpack, to keep it there.
After stuffing the packet in my bag, I looked up at Mrs. Reeds and a small smile was playing on her lips.
"Why are you smiling Mrs. Reeds?" I asked her.
"Will it be unfair to the other students, if I say that I really want you to get the scholarship?" she teased me.
"I actually don't know Mrs. Reeds."I teased her back.
"Anyways, do you know the owner of the company is a total hunk," she said.
"Really?" I asked her.
"Yeah I did some research on him when I came to know of this company's scheme," she said.
"Oh really, what do you get?" I asked her taking a seat opposite her.
"Wait, let me just show you," she said and typed a few keys on the keyboard. She continued to scroll the mouse, after few minutes she finally stopped and looked at me.
"Well he's currently 22 years old, lives in New York. He is a typical playboy, he changes girls like you change clothes, he's taste in women is usually actresses and supermodels. He is the sole owner of Blackford Corporation and Enterprises. He owns hotel chains around the world, he is also well established in the IT sector and....." she trailed off.
"What's the matter Mrs. Reeds?" I asked her, looking at her tense form.
"Well, the article also states that he's the leader of the Sicilian Mafia- Costa Nostra, which was established in Sicily in the early 1900s," she said.
After hearing all that I didn't know what to say anymore so I chose to stay silent.
"Mr. Reeds, will it be... safe to take part in the program?" I asked her hesitantly.
"No honey, I don't think that him being in Mafia will cause any problem, you shouldn't miss the opportunity. I know you aren't able to go to Princeton because of lack of funds but God has given you a second chance, you shouldn't miss it," she said trying to reassure me.
"Ok then Mrs. Reeds, I will apply for the scholarship and hopefully I will get it?" I said with a newfound determination burning inside me.
"I should go now Mrs. Reeds, I have to take care of the shop," I said and got up and adjusted my backpack.
"Don't you wanna see his photo, he's a total eye candy," she said.
"Some other time Mrs. Reeds, I had to get going If I want to submit this on time," I said and walked out of her office.
Tonnes and tonnes of paperwork later I was finally done with the application and now all I need to do is submit them to Mrs. Reeds. I will do that the first thing in the morning when I will reach school. I got up from my seat and stretched myself like a cat. I was so indulged in my work that I didn't notice that it had already started raining. A small smile crept on my face. I never knew but the rain has always been my favorite. The soft pitter-patter of the rain always seemed to calm down my nerves. And fierce rain with lightning and thunder is an exotic combination.
I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost 9 o'clock. Since it was raining and there were no customers in the shop so I decided to close early.
I quickly closed the shop and drove away in my car eager to get in the comfort of my comforter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, a sleek black car was parked across the street, right in front of the bakery. A man was sitting in the driver's seat. It was hard for him to see through the rain but he continued to look out from his car's window, waiting for the young girl to come out.
"Why is she not coming out, it's already half-past nine?" The man cursed under his breath. He waited for a few more minutes. His patience had already started to break. Just as he was about to step out of his car, he saw the door of the bakery open, he saw the young girl walk out of the shop, and instead of running off to her car, to take shelter from the merciless rain, she just stood there, looking up at the sky, her arms stretched out towards the sky as if she was welcoming it with open arms, as the rain was pelting down on her mercilessly.
"Why is she not going, she will get sick if she stands there for a few more minutes," he mumbled to himself.
The young girl seemed to break out of her reverie and quickly dashed towards her car. He saw her drove away. He started his own car and followed the young girl's car. He maintained a little distance from her car as he doesn't want to scare her off. He just wanted to make sure that she reached home safely. He saw her park her car in her driveway and rush into her home and he swiftly drove past her house.
He sighed in relief and drove towards the motel, where he was residing temporarily. He parked his car and entered through the gates of the grand hotel. The guard who was standing at the entrance of the hotel opened the gate for him and greeted him politely, the man just gave the guard a curt nod. He took the lift to the top floor of the hotel, where the presidential suite was stationed. He unlocked the door with his card and took off his jacket laying it on the armrest of the couch. Suddenly his phone rang, which was in the pocket of his jacket. He swiftly walked towards the bed and took out his phone from his suit packet. It was his most trusted man and also his secretary.
"Daniel," the man spoke into the phone. "It is done sir, the school has been informed about the competition," Daniel said.
"Okay," came the man's short and curt reply.
"And Sir, one more thing, you don't have to worry about her getting in the top 5 list, she's already an exceptional student," Daniel informed.
"That's good to hear, anything else?" the man asked.
"No, see you tomorrow sir," Daniel said.
"Yeah, see you at work boss," the man replied, smiling lightly as he disconnected the call.
He walked towards the bar in his room and poured himself a glass of scotch, he took the glass to his lips and took a sip.
"Soon my love, pretty soon," the man whispered to himself.