Chapter 2
I stayed in my room unpacking because I was kind of, well, shy to go downstairs.
After, I folded my clothes in the cupboard and arranged my things.
I went to the mirror.
Jeez I looked so small, when I thought of Mera or Val or Chris, I looked too different.
The first thing was, I was short.
Just too short.
Second was I was 13, if only I could increase my age
Third was I looked 13.
Yeah, I think I'm cute, but not as beautiful as Val or Mera.
" Oh Pris stop comparing yourself to others.
I brought out my phone, it had only six contacts.
Daddy, mummy, Jimmy, Jane, Sheena, and Jean.
I sighed.
Someone knocked and I jumped before opening the door.
It was my dad.
" So I'll be going home first thing Tomorrow, tell me if you need anything. We'll send it and… wait, don't you like this place?" He asked as he saw the tears in my eyes.
He sat next to me on the bed.
I didn't know why, but I just got emotional.
everyone was going to be having fun without me, my favorite spot at Brakes Cream and cakes would be taken.
Nobody would buy my favorite chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and they'll all laugh and play and then at school, it would seem like I was never there.
They might not even miss me.
Sheena and jean haven't called since the previous night when I broke the news, and the thought of being alone without everyone I knew was suffocating and kind of painful.
My dad removed his glasses and hugged me, and I broke into real tears.
I couldn't help it.
" It's okay… all would be fine, your cousins won't make you feel lonely here and plus you'll go to school with them, well, they're not in your year, but it's the same school, and you'll make friends"
" I'm kind of scared of making friends. I don't know how to talk to them…" I said, releasing myself from his hug.
" I thought you walked up to Sheena and jean yourself"
" it was a lie. I stutter and blabber when I meet new people" I said, using the back of my hands to wipe my face, and my dad sighed.
" Just the way Sheena and jean walked up to you, people would walk up to you, so you want a new girl bestie?" He asked and I shook my head.
" No, I want a Boy bestie" I said and blushed and my dad laughed.
" You've got one already… Chris is really nice. Don't you remember him back then?"
" Back then, he wasn't nice. He once told me he wanted to share a secret with me, and you know what? He said he always had the image of a dirty pig in his mind whenever he saw me, and he expected me to be angry, but I cried instead!" I said, and my dad laughed out loud and I smiled.
I loved it when my dad laughed.
He was handsome, jet black hair and green eyes with those glass colored fancy glasses that he wore for fashion's sake.
" Well you were filthy back then, I remember"
Only jimmy took his eyes.
Those green eyes and Jane took his black hair, but I was a carbon copy of my mother.
" Dad, why did you choose mum?"
" Because she made me do it"
" How?"
" Back then, wait, do you know what's a playboy?"
" Of course I do, dad!" He chuckled.
" Well I was a playboy and I messed with her sups emotional friend who moved to a new city after I broke her heart and your mum swore that I'd come back to apologize.
" Jeez, every day. She came around, wearing those glasses and church skirts.
" She made my friends her friends and took up all their time, and then I went to confront her, and then she asked me to date a girl called Lara Topper. The ugliest girl in class.
" Always wore ankle long skirts and her shoes… jeez, but she never fell in love, and then I told your mum, to date her, I would need to love her because only love could make me date a girl like Lara topper, and she started to take me love classes.
"We called it ' love Lara topper' where she showed me the good things about Lara topper, and then we got to talk to Lara topper, ask about her life, her preferences, so I could be it, but I fell in love with your mum instead.
"And after playing me like I played her friend, I almost collapsed, and she had me promise I'd never play a girl again, and then she dated me, for my sake, until I dragged her into the pit with me" he said smiling.
" What pit?" I asked
" The pit of love" he whispered.
" Aaaaaagh! So romantic!" I said, blushing and giggling.
" That lady, your mum, has been trying to climb out, but I drag her legs back each time because I've given up on climbing out"
" You know what dad? I want to have a love story like yours"
" Hmm, really? Then you have to date a Green-eyed boy with black hair like mine. Since you're already your mum"
I laughed, but, I never knew, my Green-eyed boy with the dark hair was coming and he surely wasn't Chris.
" Is that why mum always calls you 'my playboy'?"
" Yeah because I'll forever be her playboy"
She said.
" Oh dad you're too romantic"
" And your Green-eyed boy must be"
" Oh he will be…" I said.
When we were downstairs having dinner, Chris, Mera and Val kept looking at me and I kept my eyes on my plate of chops.
I ladled roast potatoes onto my plate and cut some roast turkey too, which was absolutely delicious, but none was as lovely as the salad. The soup also had a lovely taste to it and then for dessert, we had treacle pudding.
It was so wonderful, and I left it only after I had three helpings of it.
After, everyone hung out in the living room talking about experiences together while I stuck to my phone pretending to be doing something fun on it.
I finally said goodnight to everyone and around half past ten, my door opened, and I hurriedly turned on my bedside lamp and I sighed in relief.
It was Val, she came in with a plate of crumpets.
They smelled yummy…
" It's for our girls and Boy all night gisting" she said and then Chris came in with Mera pushing him while twisting his ear from behind.
" I said there are crumpets" she said.
" And I said I'm sleepy" Chris replied.
And she pushed him on the bed next to Val.
" Eyes open Chris, we'll be hearing stories tonight" Val said.
" School is resuming in two days, why don't I get some sleep, so I can look good for my girls" Chris replied
" Oh come on Chris" Mera said
" Alright so let's start, Mera you always go first, I'll come in last" Chris said, and we sat in a circle with the tray full of crumpets sitting in our middle, we all took one and jeez it was delicious.
" Okay, my love life has always been a tangle, but I think all together, I've dated seven guys … one was a senior, another a freshman, a playboy…" Mera was saying.
" A playboy?" I asked with wide eyes.
" Yeah, he played me and I played him back. When he begged to have me back, I blocked him on FB, insta and WhatsApp. I think the fourth was this pizza guy…"
" That always took you to the movies?" Val asked.
" Yeah, he liked seeing me scream when we watched those horror movies, and so I pretended to be scared every time we watched my fave horror movies" she said and smiled.
"Wow" I said in awe. That was so romantic.
"I double dated two guys in 7th grade, and it got into a real problem when I found out they were best friends and next door neighbors.
"I had gone to visit Liam and then Fritz walked in. I spit in my milk and ran faster than a cheetah, it wasn't easy with the two friends…"
My mind flew somewhere else… I imagined me dating two best friends.
" And the seventh one… we broke up yesterday"
" You don't mean it." I said with my mouth full of crumpets.
" I'm damn serious. He's always getting jelly, so I helped him out, we broke up" she said like it didn't matter.
" Don't let Mera fool you, she cried all through last night" Val said
" TSK, but I'm fine now" Mera replied.
" So well I've dated only five guys" Val said and blushed.
" Tell her how many crushes." Chris said and Val blushed.
" Um can't really count" Val said
" Oh come on, everyone knows that if you like another guy, all your crushes will sum up to twenty.
I laughed.
" I've liked about twenty-one guys" I said, blushing, and Chris and Mera looked horror-struck while Val beamed.
" See? It's totally normal! She gets me! We should hang out more Pris" Val said
" Alright, so tell her your boyfriends" Mera snapped.
" Well our next door neighbor was one, Chris's friend's brother was two" she said and blushed.
" Oh Go on Val" Mera said.
" And my classmate at school was third and a senior was fourth and the last was… was… Johnny"
" Oh come on tell her who Johnny was" Mera said smiling.
"My last boyfriend!" Val replied.
" Let me tell you to save time" Chris said and Val buried her head under the pillow with a grunt.
Chris continued. " Her johnny was imaginary" he said and he and Mera laughed loudly. Val came up from under the pillow
" He wasn't imaginary!" She screamed.
" Well, what was he? You imagined his face, didn't you?" Mera said.
" He wrote me letters every day and I replied to his letters and he asked me out, and I agreed because he was so cool, respectful, and romantic, and he had a lovely handwriting unlike yours!" Val said.
" But the problem came when poor Val became frustrated that they couldn't meet, so she pretended to be a delivery lady who wanted to meet and she found out that…" Chris was already laughing hysterically, while Val seemed red, like an almost burnt cake.
" .she found out that… that…that the handsome Johnny of her dreams was … was a …a balding old man of 59 years!" Mera said, and tears came streaming out of her face as she joined Chris in his insane laughter.
I looked at Val and I burst into laughter.
Serious mad laughter, I imagined me sending daily love letters to a balding old man and I couldn't breathe again.
" Okay, okay well Chris has nothing to share, he's dated far too many girls" Mera said.
" Well, how many guys have you dated?" Chris asked me.
" Um…" I had that fierce urge to lie, but I didn't. " Um, no one" I said, and they looked at me like I was crazy.
" I'm serious"I said
" Wait wait wait… you mean as pretty as you are, you haven't dated yet?" Chris said, and I turned pink.
"Well no…"
" Well it's no big deal, you'll have somebody who'll ask you out at archville" Mera said
" Me? Ask me out?" I asked.
" Yeah. You. Guys would go crazy at the thought of a new girl at Archville" Val said
" What's Archville?" I asked
" The school we attend" Chris said
" Are there green-eyed boys there?" I asked.
" There are and there will be lots because we're now at High school. We're officially freshmen!" Mera screamed.
" High school will be fun… Lots more boys and relationships!" Val squealed.
" Can't wait to get back to school for High school" Mera said.
" Archville is one badass school. Full of handsome guys and pretty girls who make the guys choke on their drinks." Val squealed and giggled.
" I want to be one of those girls." I said naively.
" You will surely be. Come on, you're cousins with the Diggs." Mera said and Val yawned…
" It's bedtime, see ya tomorrow" Chris said.
" We'll introduce you to everyone. Let them know you're in town, baby." Mera said and I smiled.
" We'll do things the Diggs style" Val said, and they all left.
Diggs was their surname, while mine was Davids.
Priscilla Davids.
I was finally going to experience a love life.
My own love life…
My very own, and soon somebody was going to be crazy about me.