Naomi and I took turns to explain to her parents what had come down at the cafeteria earlier today, a factor that had decided my outing away from school. And when her mother had asked why we had decided to come here, Naomi had answered that my house was locked, and that I had forgotten my own key in my room, at home.
She was good. I had to admit. My friend was a good liar, and I liked it.
"Wow, that's a lot." That was Noami's father. This little time I have spent with them, I discovered that he was the total opposite of my own father. Noami's father was kind, compassionate and really listened. Qualities I wished my father or rather fill in dad had.
"Well, Maya…You are welcome to our humble abode. Naomi can show you around later. There is food in the kitchen in case you both are hungry." Her mother supplied. I haven't seen her before now, but I was sure that she would flow with my mother if they crossed paths. They were birds of the same feathers.
"Thanks very much Mr&Mrs Benjamin. I really appreciate you letting me stay over with Naomi." I said, and Naomi's mother laughed, somehow finding my appreciation funny.
"Don't go all formal, girl. You can call me Rebeka. Rebeka with a k." She mentioned, and I nodded, a smile widening my lips.
Where had Timothy gotten his mean bone from? Probably from the triplets of course.
What was that saying again? Show me your friends , and I will show you who you are. And there was this other one. A bad company corrupts good manners? Was it the Bible or some philosopher that had proposed it? I wasn't sure again.
All I knew was that the theory was so right. Evil company had really corrupted Timothy and totally crushed my crush on him.
"Okay…Rebeka…" I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
Rebeka and her mate chuckled at that before getting up from their chairs, their angle of movement pointing toward the door.
Were they also attending the meeting about the cafeteria? I wondered, shrugging later on. It wouldn't be a surprise. Timothy had been one of the forerunners of my bullying. But who would rat them out? Nobody. Rebeka and Benjamin were probably going somewhere else.
"Where are you going, Dad, Mom…?" Naomi asked, obviously having the same train of thought with me. Our friendship was going to be cool. I already have a good feeling about this.
"There is a pack meeting that will be starting soon…just a few minutes from now…we have to be there." Benjamin replied, placing his hand on his mate's waist, not in the list, embarrassed that I was right there even as he dropped a kiss on her forehead, before saying goodbye in French. Was it au revoir or what? I am not a linguist, and not a fan of learning foreign languages.
"Eeew dad..I get the point. You and mom can leave now. You are embarrassing me." Naomi said, unable to cover up the smile on her lips even though she was pretending to be shy of what her parents were doing.
"Okay okay. We are leaving now. You both should take care. Understand?" Rebeka mentioned and we nodded, watching as they both disappeared out of the sitting room, or rather walked out to the front porch. There was silence until the sound of the car's engine was heard.
"I told you that my parents would be okay with you! Not everyone is as stuck up as the kids in school." Naomi stated, smiling widely, her hand hung across my neck.
"Yeah, right." I agreed, nodding my head, my eyes going over the artifacts in the sitting room again.
"My mom is a collector. She loves art works a lot. That's why you see all these here." Naomi said, obviously noticing my fascination with the various artworks in her sitting room. I say it again. This family was rich. I wondered if they would take me in if my father manages to push me away.
Although I don't see that happening with my mother around, I'm beginning to wish for it. At least here, I wouldn't be living under a cloud of fear, sadness and depression. I don't think Timothy would be as bad as he was in school either. Something tells me he would be well behaved at home, a lot more than at school.
"That's great." I finally say, standing up from the chair, to check out one of the artworks.
"Please be careful." I heard Naomi's voice from behind me and nodded. Of course I would be careful. I don't want to fall into the bad books of the only people that I have met, apart from my mother and Noami that didn't think that I was some curse that they needed to get rid off.
The artwork was beautiful. It was a mask, probably African. It looked like that. I touched it lightly, feeling the touch resonating well with my nerve endings. It was a good art. An original. Not the fake ones that Gordon brought home whenever he travelled for work in one of the colonies. This was the real deal.
"You hungry?" Naomi's voice was closer now and I could tell that she was right behind me.
"Not really. Being bathed in food really ruined my appetite. Is there any other thing we could do, apart from eating?" I asked, turning around carefully to face her, not wanting to attempt any kind of error on the artwork. That was how serious I was in keeping my name in the good books of Rebeka and Benjamin.
"Uh…let's see…what about swimming?" She asked me, her eyes twinkling in delight. She was sure hyped about the sport. I noted, remembering that she was in the school's swimming team.
"I didn't come with a bikini." I muttered, looking down at her sports clothes which I was still wearing. I hadn't retrieved any of my clothes from my room earlier because I didn't want to alert my parents of my presence.
"Don't worry about that, Maya. I got plenty." she said, winking at me.