February 2005...
As soon as Amanda made it to her car, she jumped inside the car and almost immediately, started it. She kept the food on the passenger seat as she took a quick turn to the street that leads to their apartment .
Since the road was free, it was easy for Amanda to drive through and not long after, managed to arrive at their apartment.
She drove inside and parked her car at the same spot where she parked it before.
After removing the key from her car, she sat down for a moment and let out a quiet sigh.
She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering about all what happened that day. Her meeting with Mary and Jacob, learning about how everything works at the café and just the thought of going there and seeing the beautiful environment are just a few things that make her enjoy working there and releases the stress from her mind.
She opened her eyes before taking the food from the passenger seat. With her car keys and food in one hand, she came out of the car and closed the door with the other hand.
She made sure the car door was locked before making her way up the stairs to their flat.
She knocked on the door a few times but there was no response. She got a bit worried so she decided to knock again when Savannah opened the door.
Scratching her eyes, she took greeted Amanda before welcoming her inside.
"Good evening mom". She said before reluctantly taking the nylon bag from Amanda's hands.
Amanda smiled warmly before the both of them went to the kitchen. Amanda wasn't sure why, but she felt like Savannah was either upset with her or tired. And besides why won't Savannah be upset with her, she left the house so many hours ago without keeping food for them to eat.
As Amanda turned to look at Savannah, who was busy bringing out the takeaways one by one from the nylon bag, she noticed something different about her. Amanda couldn't help but notice how distant the two of them are. They barely talk to each other at home and Savannah rarely tells her about how her day went. The two of them never used to be like this. Before when Savannah was still in elementary school, she'd always rush through the front door right after school and talk none stop about her her day went. But now, it seems like the opposite.
Has her daughter grown so mature without her even noticing? Will they continue like this until Savannah and Adam finally move out? Were Amanda's thoughts before she snapped back to reality once Savannah finally spoke.
" Mom? There are only two takeaways, where's the third one?" Savannah asked as she turned to look at Amanda.
Amanda smirked before saying, "I only bought two of them, and besides, where's Adam?" Amanda asked once she noticed that he didn't welcome her when she came.
" He's sleeping in his room", Savannah said before she paused to inspect the food, "But, why did you buy only two, what will you eat?" Savannah said before looking up to meet Amanda's eyes.
"There's already so much food in the fridge, I'd cook somethingto eat. I thought I'd be able to make it in time before dusk but I guess I couldn't ". Amanda said, staring at the food for a while before continuing, "Go wake your brother to eat ". Amanda said as Savannah walked out of the kitchen.
After the three of them assembled in the living room, Amanda lifted up her glass before saying, "I have an announcement" , and putting the glass up to her lips to take a sip of water.
Both Adam and Savannah looked at each other in confusion. What would Amanda want to announce? Was the only question they could think of.
"Tomorrow, I'll take the two of you to Saints Academy to write your entrance exam".
"What" Both Adam and Savannah said in unison.
"But mom, how did you ..." Savannah was cut short by Amanda.
"Don't worry, all you'll have to do is write the entrance exam tomorrow. Make sure you wake up early and try your best in the exam because I'm not going to take on the stress of looking for other schools for you".
"Okay". Savannah said bluntly as she began eating her food. Her eyes were fixated on the food but her mind was somewhere else. The thought of her failing the exam was too much to handle. For a while, she played with her food but didn't eat it.
Adam noticed this and so when Amanda went to get some water, Adam stopped eating his food and turned to look at her.
"Savannah?", he began as Savannah snapped out of her thoughts, "Why aren't you eating your food? Is it because of the exam?"
"Well...kind of. We're writing this exam to get acceptance into the school, what if I don't pass it? I mean, there's a chance of that happening right".
"What are you saying, I mean from what I've heard, entrance exams aren't that bad".
"How would you know, you haven't written one before". Savannah said as she took one french frie and put it in her mouth.
"Once, a new kid came to my class and said he didn't even study much yet managed to pass the exam. And besides, you're in the 7th grade, your exam will be way easier than mine and you don't see me complaining ".
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to prepare for the exam". Savannah said before she took her food pack and stood up before leaving the living room.
...
The next day...
The morning sun shone on Savannah's face, making her blink a few times before waking up.
The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that her mother wasn't beside her.
' Mom's already awake, that's a sign that I woke up late' Savannah thought before jumping up from bed and making her way to the bathroom.
She splashed water on her face a few times before taking her towel from the hanger and entering the shower cubicle.
After a few minutes, Savannah walked out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel. She went to the cupboard and took out a grey shirt and black jeans with a jacket to match before getting dressed in a hurry.
After fully getting dressed, she took a compact mirror from Amanda's purse and using it to style her hair.
It wasn't really a must to look good but it won't be nice to show up at a new school looking like someone that just woke up. After all, she spent most of the night updating Debbie on what happened that day. Debbie told her not to worry and that she should make sure to start the new school life with hope.
Those thoughts stuck to her memory and now she wants to fill her new school life with hope every step of the way.
She put her hair up in a ponytail and using her mom's lipgloss to add a little touch.
After making sure everything looked great, she walked out of the room just to meet Adam also rushing out of his room.
The two of them were cut short by Amanda.
"I hope the two of you are ready, come and eat your breakfast, we're leaving in the 30 minutes!" Amanda shouted as the two of them rushed to the kitchen.
As soon as she walked through the door, Savannah checked her watch, it was already 8:15. If they don't hurry up, then they'll be late.
Savannah quickly grabbed the bowl on the counter and made her way to the kitchen. She knew that whenever Amanda made a statement, she'll stick to it.
It didn't take her long to finish eating so she went to the kitchen and washed the bowl before keeping it in the cabinet.
She quickly got her sneakers and socks before she wore them . She then grabbed her purse and phone and was fully ready to go. Without wasting too much time, the three of them assembled in the living room and was ready to go.
Saints Academy was a bit far from the apartment so Savannah had time to look outside the window and acknowledge every building they drove past. Her thoughts on the exam were a bit tricky because even though she told her brother she was going to study the night before, she was mostly on her phone, chatting with Debbie.
The one thing she couldn't forget about their conversation was the advice Debbie gave her, ' Don't focus too much on your past, just learn the mistakes you made then and promise to never repeat them'. The she couldn't really think of any mistakes she'd made in the past, she wanted to always remember this quote incase it comes in handy.
Savannah's thoughts were suddenly cut to a halt when the car stopped and Amanda said, "We're here".
Savannah couldn't believe her eyes when she stepped out of the car...