The unpleasantness I felt yesterday returns. "Dad." I lean on the door and cross my arms. It hits me that I never told my parents that I moved. "How did you know this place?"
He looks at me sheepishly. He points at the necklace. My face goes rigid. The necklace has a tracker in it, I recall. They put it there when I started having sleepwalking fits at thirteen, to protect me. Right now this is not protecting, it's a menacing and outright invasion.
"You can't use that anymore. I'm an adult, right?" I say with annoyance at his omission.
He does not react as I expected, he scratches his ear, a sign he is flustered. "Aren't you going to let me in?" I want to close the door on him. Why is he ignoring my questions?
I move away from the door and let him enter. He takes the whole place in before settling down into an armchair.
I sit across from him, waiting for him to talk. He evades my gaze completely. Me and my father hardly have any arguments, this is as foreign to me as it is for him. "I'm sorry for the things I said." He says catching me off guard, I lean forward in my chair. "I didn't mean any of it. You know I'm a traditional guy, I value marriage so much, like look at me and your mother. I assumed your marriage would- I don't know- be as long lasting as ours. I didn't consider the possibilities." He rakes his fingers through his hair.
I am so relieved to hear him say that, I get up from my seat and hug him. He hugs me back with as much force. "I understand." I am overcome by the moment that without noticing, tears have started running down my face. I try to wipe them away but my dad beats me to it. A smile forms on my lips despite the tears.
"What is it, Lizzie?" He asks in the soft tone he reserves for me, his baby girl, as he wipes my tears with his handkerchief.
I vent out everything that happened with Glen to him. I feel a lot better for having told him and the murderous look he assumes when I am done is quite satisfactory. "That good-for-nothing boy." He says sternly. I know he won't do anything about it, cause as he said, he is a very conventional man, but if I feel good to have dad on my side. He faces me with an even softer complexion, "I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I wish- " He is at a loss for words. All he can do is hug me tighter and mutter sweet words of comfort as any father would do for a daughter in distress.
After a few minutes, he has to go back to work. I escort him to the door. He kisses my forehead and I whisper in his ear, "I appreciate your coming, dad."
"Anytime, big girl." He says while flexing his muscles, to enunciate strength. "You should call your mother. I like this new place by the way."
I'm all smiles when I close the door. The shower that follows might be the happiest shower I have ever taken. After getting dressed, a lot of energy is coursing through my veins. With the summer vacations approaching, exams are too. I plop on my bed buoyantly. As a third year student, my exam will be evaluated based on concept actualization, basically, making my own design and presenting it. I open Digital Fashion Pro and get to work rendering the sketches I made for my finals. After three hours of successful designing, I fall face first into the pillow. I am tired and hungry.
I go to the kitchen to find something to eat. I find some leftover rice, and strips of chicken. Digging further into the fridge produces some tortillas. Burrito, my mind immediately sums up. I grab some hot sauce, mayo and in the process. I throw everything together and heat the burrito in the microwave; not the best course of action, but my stomach doesn't care right now.
I go for a walk after eating and return later to find Jade at home, she looks so engrossed in her large pile of papers, I avoid disturbing her. I go to bed instead. The next morning, I go for the last class of the semester before we get a week off to prepare our prototypes. I take a seat in the middle row, closest to the windows. With the onslaught of heat descending onto the city as summer sets in, I need as much fresh air as possible to stay awake in the Evolution of Fashion class.
"Good morning class," the professor utters upon entering the room. Hardly, anyone answers back. It's a wonder how Mr. Reggie still keeps up the greeting after a whole semester of unresponsiveness. "We are taking a different approach for our class today." He pulls his chair to the middle of the podium and sits down facing us. That grabs all the class' attention. "Let's talk about your future." I want to scoff. Let's get the class over with; or better yet dismiss us. "Where do you want to work when you graduate?" He looks around the room waiting for someone to answer.
"Liza. Can you start us off?" if my soul hadn't evaporated from my body due to heat, it definitely does then. I rarely get called on in class, what today of all days? That moment of hesitation is enough for everyone to look at me, making it worse. I clear my throat as my mind works a hundred miles per hour to produce a less witless version of my answer.
The door to the class opens. I am grateful for that momentary diversion of Reggie's attention. I look down to wipe my sweaty fingers. A girl sitting beside me, Cassie is her name I think, gasps. My gaze goes to her only to see her blatantly staring at the front of the room. My eyes land on Kystan, who is holding a ton of flyers. He is holding a conversation with Reggie, meanwhile I am wondering why he has to be here of all places.
After a few minutes, Reggie returns to his seat. He resumes the conversation where it had halted. All eyes come back to me; one pair in particular bothers me the most. I get up gingerly, "Well, I want to start my own brand." The class becomes dead silent. All fashion majors know that that is literal suicide. The industry is too cut throat; it's pure delusion to think you can compete with giants like Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana and the like which hold all the strings.
Reggie calls on someone else before I can take my seat. My face heats up with embarrassment. Why did I say that? I sit down and try to disappear as much as possible. I chance a glance at the front of the class. I meet Kystan's gaze. His lips curve upwards, I am not certain if it's a smile or he is laughing at me. I look away.
After asking a handful of people, Reggie regains the floor. "Now is the time to think about your future. Some of you are finishing this year whereas others are taking an extra year for the diploma in professional studies. Right?" Most of the class nods. "Taking an internship this year would greatly impact employers and partners," He looks at me, "View your skill base." He motions Kystan forward. "This is Kystan, he is a student at Westminster Business and he will be my apprentice for this summer. He will go around and hand you various flyers for companies you might be interested in interning for, hopefully you will utilize them well." He gets up from his seat and dismisses the class early. Surprisingly, no one leaves. They wait patiently for Kystan to reach their seat before leaving with flyers in their hands.
A group of girls sitting in front of me, keep eyeing him and giggling. The female population of my class is completely whipped for him. Finally, he reaches them. I swear, they almost faint when he smiles at them and hands them the flyers. I am snickering behind my fist. Kystan meets my gaze as I laugh, and I pretend to have been coughing. He proceeds to my row. I am sitting at the edge so he is literally hovering over me.
He skips me and hands everyone else around. He moves on to the next row without even a word. I don't want to play games right now but he is forcing my hand. As everyone is filing out, I stay behind. After the last row is given, he comes back down the way he came. Before he passes by, I stop him. Since I am sitting, craning my neck to look at him, is impossible. I get up but still crane my neck. Why is he so tall?
"Do you want my attention that much?" I put my hand on my hip, looking every bit intimidating.
He ignores my question, "You are quite the optimist." He muses with a smirk on his face. I have no doubt he was ridiculing me earlier.
"So what?" I ask with irritation. It's not anyone's place to laugh at my choices. "I don't care what you think." I no longer want those flyers if it means I have to deal with him.
"It's stupid." He says, completely brushing me off. I grab my bag and shove past him. If he thinks I overreacted, that's his problem. I won't condone disrespect, not from him, not from anyone.
My phone rings as I am on my way off campus grounds. I stop to answer. A couple of high-school kids on their bikes nearly run me over. "Hey." I yell at them. I relocate to a bench nearby.
"Hello." Jade says through the phone.
"Oh, hi."
"Are you still on campus?" She sounds out of breath.
"Yeah. why?"
"Let's meet at the Parlour at 181 Piccadilly." Her shallow breaths worry me. She should be going to a hospital, not an ice cream house.
"What happened?" Naturally I assume something bad happened; a psycho may be after her or she is escaping an assassin. The possibilities are endless.
"Just hurry ok." She says and hangs up.