After getting into her room the previous night Mimi Ann didn't leave. When they called her for dinner she refused to come out and decided to look around her new room instead…well, it was more like a suite. The James family was really extravagant. She had a walking closet full of new clothes and new shoes. Her bathroom was huge and she found it absurd that she had a walking closet of the school uniforms too, the school tracksuits, the T-shirts and all.
She had enough at her home but she felt like this was being spoiled here.
She only came out the following morning when she was woken by an alarm and had to prepare to go to school. Today she didn't put on too much make-up and looked like a well behaved student as she walked down the stairs one step at a time in her black pleated mid thigh skirt, a white shirt and striped tie plus a pair of black heels. She was about to head straight to the door when Genevieve rushed to her holding a small white lunchbox. Zach walked out of the dining room with his arm wrapped around Minnie and King followed right behind them holding his bag.
"Mimi Ann, take this. You might like a snack during free period." She had a warm smile on her face and Mimi Ann looked at the lunchbox then at the woman, "Go on."
King scoffed, "Don't force her if she doesn't want it."
Genevieve ignored him and took her hand and placed the lunchbox in it. "Have a nice day at school."
Zach walked to her and was about to place his hand on her shoulder when she took a step back leaving his hand hanging awkwardly in the air but he still smiled, "Have a nice day at school." He said and Mimi Ann furrowed her brows.
"What? Do you just repeat what she says? There is absolutely no feeling in those words you know, Mr James, just responsibility. Work… you think it's your job to say those words, don't you?" she raised the lunchbox then with all her might she threw in on the floor making it break and the food inside fell out on the floor. "Sorry, it fell by mistake." She spoke without any emotion in her voice then turned to Genevieve. The woman seemed hurt by her action but didn't seem like she was about to take any action. "Don't look too sad, mistakes are common. I'm also human." She added.
"Mimi Ann!" Zach shouted angrily seeing her rudeness, "She had no obligation to be nice to you but she is. You better behave and appreciate it."
Genevieve's eyes widened slightly and wrapped her arms around the man's waist as if to comfort him or hold him back from lashing out at her, "Zach, calm down. It's ok, she is just a child."
The man scoffed, "A child? She is sixteen, Gen, she knows better."
Mimi Ann shrugged, "I'm almost seventeen."
"You just turned sixteen in December. I'm your father. You thought if you lied to me about your birthday I wouldn't know? Do you know how say it was to test your DNA?" It was January right now. "I won't tolerate your savage behavior in my house." Zach warned seriously.
Mimi Ann smiled sadly, "Allow me to go back home then because I ain't changing my savage ways, Mr James."
"Fine, try all you want. If you want to rebel then do it. When you get tired we will still be here."
"I just can't find myself appreciating your favours." She scoffed, "Why do people have to find it so hard to break a dead woman's dying wish. Did my mom contact you too, Ms Genevieve? Why are you so nice? Even your husband knows you have no obligation to be nice to me so please just stop. You are making me uncomfortable."
The middle aged couple was speechless and just looked at each other. Mimi Ann scoffed then walked out with her backpack. When she was at the door she turned around and saw the couple was already smiling at their children. Zach pecked on Minnie's cheek, "Be Good, my love. You know I love you the most." he spoke to comfort her as she looked saddened by the commotion.
King scoffed with a smile, "Dad, your favouritism can be too obvious." He held his chest dramatically, "Broke my heart." He whispered as if he was in too much pain.
Zach patted his back smiling, "You know I can even die for you."
King nodded, "And you can kill for your precious daughter. Don't worry I know how the saying goes. You love mom and Minnie more than you love me." He faked a bitterness in his voice and yet couldn't stop a faint smile on his face.
"Take care of your sister." Said Zach and that's when Mimi Ann finally walked out the door. She didn't belong here and she never would. She just had to come up with a plan so that she was able to get out of here.
Seth was waiting for her by the car and opened the door for her. When she arrived at school she heard a familiar sound of music and looked out the window. Two black young men and a Chinese girl were singing and dancing. Her brows furrowed, no wonder no one was even stopping to listen. It made her ears bleed and it sounded more like noise than music. It was like a bad version of one of her mother's songs. She scoffed. Was it a remix or just copying? She wondered.
*
As she walked to class, Minnie was walking between two girls, Chantria and Su and the other students were excited to see them as always since they were on their way to becoming top celebrities. Some even asked for autographs and others took pictures. They were after all the hot new girl band, Snowflake.
The girls were all tall and about the same height as Mimi Ann except Mimi Ann was a bit taller. When Minnie spotted Mimi Ann walking behind her she stopped then turned around. Her smile was as graceful and sweet as ever. "Mimi Ann?" she called and the younger girl stopped a metre from her, "You are no longer in Class A, I spoke to my dad and he said you'll be in Class B from today onwards."
Mimi Ann smiled, "Good job, keep it up."
"Do you know why you were chased out of the class? I think it would be unfair if you didn't know." Minnie took a step closer to her and seeing that other students had started to gather and listen, she said in a louder voice, "Because you are an illegitimate child and I don't want any illegitimate children in my class."
Mimi Ann heard gasps and whispers from other students. She didn't know students could be so mean. It was like in the movies. She clicked her tongue. "You are really playing your part very well." She walked past the whispering students and went to her new class looking unbothered.
Somehow Minnie was left feeling frustrated. How did Mimi Ann seem pleased with her actions? She felt like she had used all her energy to punch soft cotton. It had no effect at all.
Apparently the news had already travelled and now the whole school knew that Mimi Ann was an illegitimate child. The moment she walked inside she bumped into King and stumbled but one of the two boys he was with held her from falling pulling her hand and into his arms. "Hey, micro, be careful." He said in a teasing tone.
Mimi Ann scoffed pushing him away, "Micro? More like Macro." She said then looked up at the guy. She was slightly shocked when she saw just how tall he was. He had to be at least 195cm tall like King and the other guy.
Earlier she had looked up the school forum and knew that these three called themselves Panthers for some reason. She was too lazy to find out their reasons anyway but they were the most popular boys in school.
Mimi Ann wished she hadn't met that guy that caught her just now. He was that guy… she remembered what he had said to her yesterday at the hotel, "In or out? You are letting cold air in." She remembered his arrogance and that smirk on the corner of his lips that looked just like now. He was half naked for God's sake. How could he be so cool in front of a stranger like that? He wasn't even embarrassed at all yesterday.
The boy laughed at how contemplative she looked, "We meet again." he threw a teasing smile at her. "Sorry, being this tall everyone else who is short like you usually look the same to me, Micro."
"Seems you guys have met before?" said King, "How do you know this girl, Tao? Oh, you saw her yesterday in our class?"
"No, we met before that." Tao said turning to Mimi Ann, "Why are you in my class? Aren't you in Class A?"
"Ask him," she pointed at King with her chin, "His family exiled me here. And don't call me 'micro'. It's weird." She ignored them then walked inside and settled on a chair that wasn't labelled a name near the window. She realized that she could see just about the whole front yard from that angle.
When the other classmates saw her sit there they started whispering and two girls walked up to her. "What are you doing here? Oh my, as if one illegitimate child wasn't enough in our class." She scoffed, "What did you do to offend Snowflake? Don't you know that the Penguins will attack you?"
"Penguins?" she was clueless.
The other girl scoffed, "How can anyone not know that Snowflake's fan base name is called Penguins?"
Mimi Ann shrugged, "I didn't even know there was anything else called Snowflake other than flour." She shrugged, "Now I do thanks to the school forum."
"You…" the girl was about to slap her when her hand was held by a tall girl who seemed slightly shorter than Mimi Ann by maybe an inch. "Cleotha?" the girl seemed as if she wanted to fight her but didn't the courage for some reason.
"You can't always bully the weak, she is a newcomer so leave her alone."
The girl scoffed and freed her arm from Cleotha's hold, "You are just an illegitimate child anyway." Still she didn't hang around then turned to her friend, "Let's go."
After they left, Cleotha held out a hand to Mimi Ann, "I'm Cleotha Shen."
Mimi Ann leaned on the back of her chair looking at the slender pink hand in front of her then at her face, "You were singing Mara Jane's song this morning with those guys over there." She gestured on the seats in front of her.
"It's wasn't her song, it was our song that we just released." Said Cleotha confidently .
The girl sneered, "Wow, she is in a group of what is known as the 'school outcasts' and she dares to call me weak? Yet she copies other people's songs and pretend not to know. How shameless."
Cleotha clearly hadn't expected that Mimi Ann would say that. "You could just thank me for saving you."
"Saving me? I don't need any saviours if they don't live in heaven." She said then gestured for her to leave, "Go away now."
When she left, Mimi Ann laid on the table, closed her eyes and soon fell asleep. She barely even slept last night. She didn't even notice when someone sat next to her a few minutes later. Zi Tao furrowed his brows when he saw that Mimi Ann had taken the seat next to his that had always been empty.
When Mr. Ling walked into the classroom he chose to just ignore her and proceeded with his lessons. He though he had such bad luck that he had to have his class changed all of a sudden. In the middle of the lesson Mimi Ann woke up stretching and yawning noisily. "Whoa ah ya ya ya ya." She made an annoying sound, "Oh goodness. This place is not something I like. What are you teaching right now, Mr Ling?" Her eyes drowsily looked at the teacher who was dumbfounded. The girl was so relaxed holding her chin her hand.
The other students couldn't help complaining but she didn't seem to mind.
"This is the English lesson, Miss, open page..."
She waved her hand to stop the man, "Wait, wait, wait...this brother next to me will help me with that." She laughed looking next to her and was stunned to see Zi Tao and he turned away rudely. She sneered in annoyance then got up, "Or I could just walk out. Who would dare ask me anyway? It's not as if I don't know what he is teaching." She got up and walked out of the classroom. She had enough for today.