CHAPTER EIGHTEEN-MILAN
I wake up around 7am and my head is aching and I feel weak. Dad must've definitely used the damn EpiPen again. I try to recall what happened yesterday's incident and how my team got a tie; that's another definition of zero-zero. I still can't believe Real turned my match proposal down. How could she not show up? I push my blanket away, mend my bed and go to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I keep thinking of what dad did yesterday, I change my shirt and storm downstairs.
"Dad! Dad! Dad! Why the fuck would you use the fucking EpiPen on me again?!" I shout.
"Milan, please, control your language." Mom says holding my arm.
"Are you dad? Move let me talk to dad." I say letting go of her hand.
"She's not, but there's someone to see you. Come on." He says looking the other way and Real comes up wearing a grey hoodie and some black jerkins and some blonde braids.
"Hi." Real says smiling at me.
I wanna ignore her so bad, but she looks so cute. Then I decide to just leave without even talking to her. then I hear a sharp scream from, my heart pounds fast and I turn.
"Ouch!" Real screams holding her barefoot.
I turn to look and realize she has stepped on a broken glass on the floor. It is partly my fault as I was the one breaking glasses and that might've been missed yesterday. So I rush down the stairs to her.
"Are you okay?" I say holding her back.
"So-so." Real says.
"Oh God." Misha says.
"That might've been missed when we were cleaning the glasses last night." Alejandro says.
"She needs first aid to stop the bleeding." Mom says.
"Come on over here." Dad says moving towards Real.
"No, I'll give her first aid." I say.
"Make sure you bandage it." Mom says.
"Will you be able to walk?" I ask her.
"I think." She replies.
I help Real through the stairs, but this doesn't make us even. I'm still mad at her for not showing up for my game. I take her to my room and make her seat on my bed and just leave the door wide open. I make her seat on my bed and reach out for the drawers to get a first aid kit. My room is like a pharmacy sine I have a lot of drugs and medical stuff since I used to get injured quite a lot because of basketball, but now I'm in good condition. I take out cotton and add some iodine on it and wipe where Real was bleeding.
"Ouch! That burns." Real flinches.
"It will go away soon." I say as I gently remove the small glass with a tweezer and bandage it. I go downstairs to dispose of the stuff and wash my hands.
"How was your game yesterday?" Real asks and this just sends me off the top.
"Awful, we got a tie." I say getting the box and pressing it back in the draw.
"Look, Lan, I'm really sorry I couldn't make it to your game yesterday." Real says.
"You know what Real, I don't wanna understand." I tell her.
"I know you're quite mad at me right now. Anyone in your place would be, but please just hear me out." She says, I look at her and she looks sorry.
"Fine, what's the story?"
"I had quite a lot to do at Nicole's-"
"Seriously, Real; you gonna be telling me about Nicole?" I ask.
"I was going to the bus, but I ran into Taylor who made me miss my bus."
"Taylor, the brother you didn't even wanna meet. What's going on, Real?"
She asks me to hear her out and I give her a chance. She tells me of how her half brother was telling her of she almost lost her life; if that makes sense.
"Someone tried to kill her and I'm the only one who truly knows the person's true colors. He is a family member and it wasn't the first time he tried to kill someone. He always finds a way to cover it all up and is also the reason my family hates me. Taylor was just ensuring me full support as his younger sister and a shoulder to lean on.
I feel like asking a lot of questions, but I don't wanna invade her family privacy. This must really be hard on her and I can see the pain her eyes.
"With all that I had my own questions and that's how I didn't make it. But I tried coming and the game was over and when I came you had already gone to bed." She says.
"Come here." I say holding out my hands and I hug her and pat her back.
"You tried, Real." I tell her holding her cheek.
"Does this mean you're no longer mad at me?" she asks.
"I'll tell you this quote my coach always tells me, 'Wherever your mind should be, should always be on the game.' So, that was the right choice, that's your game of life Real." I tell her.
"So, you coach is another Aristotle?" Real says.
"I guess." I say and we both burst out laughing.
"I wonder why I like you so much Real, like seriously, yesterday during the game I kept thinking of you and thinking of you kept me from losing it. Do you also like me?" I ask.
"I mean, I've always liked, since the day I saw you." she says.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you're just this cool guy who's able to speak his mind out and you understand me. you're just different." She says.
I like Real and she likes me back, it just feels amazing; it's not like she's the only girl who likes me, but the only girl who likes me and which I like back and that's what makes her special. We seat there; eyes lock and we are about to get even closer.
"Umm…" Mom says and then clears her throat to get our attention, that's when I realize the door was open, damn!
"I brought you some snacks." She says holding out a tray of muffins and she puts them on the table and I just run my fingers across my face.
"How's your leg, Real?" she asks.
"It's much better now, Lan's with me." Real replies.
"I'll be downstairs if you need anything." Mom says.
"Sure." Real replies and mom leaves. Real takes a cupcake and takes a bite.
"Sweet." She says.
"You go crazy with sugar." I remark.
"Who doesn't love cakes?" she says.
"You know what can make them sweeter?" I say holding out a sachet of white powder and I pour some of the powder on one of the cupcakes and take a bite.
"What's that?" Real asks curiously.
"Ain't no telling."
"Addict." Real scoffs.
"Listen Real, I'm not an addict, I just take it for some healthy issues."
I ask her to try it out but she refuses and I just have it on my own.
"So, you hate pot, you hate drugs, what do you love?" I ask.
"Cakes." She says taking a bite.
"You're freaking crazy." I tell her.
Real thinks I'll go crazy taking what I take, I tell her that being wrong isn't my thing.
MONDAY
As always, I hate to meet my school advisor Maria, so after the first classes I go straight to her office. I find her filling out some documents and stuff.
"Hello, Maria." I say.
"Oh, Milan, welcome." She says with a smile.
"May I? I ask pointing at the chair.
"Sure." She says and I take a seat.
"You seem to be in a very good mood today. What happened?" she asks.
"A lot."
"Good, so I heard you had a tie last Friday."
"Yeah."
"Ans how do you feel about that? you're not mad?" she asks.
"Do you want me to be?" I ask.
"No, just that this ain't really like you. you'd even end up getting mad even after winning the game."
"Time has changed Maria, in fact, let's do whatever we want." I say taking out my phone.
"That's pretty interesting. I have some questions though."
"Go on."
"Your mom told me were out of control last Friday, how did that go?" she asks.
"Well, I'm okay now, ain't I?" I ask. I ain't telling her anything about Real.
She insists we talk about Friday and I decide to spare her a few details.
"I was a bit down in the dumps, but dad handled me."
We discuss a few things and call it a day. On my way out I meet Brittney and Nicky, the entertainment directors and they ask me to attend the upcoming school dance.
"Why you inviting me, thought everyone's invited to the school dance?" I ask.
"Yeah, but you don't usually attend such events so we want you to attend this time." Brittney says giving me a card. I hold it in my hand look at it.
"Man, please attend this one." Nicky says.
I look at them both and then back to the card.
"So, what do you think?" Britney asks.
"I'll think about it." I say walking away.
"Don't forget." Nicky says.
"Friday night." Brittney adds.
I go to my locker then my table. Everyone's talking about the upcoming school on the other hand I don't even think I'm attending it. Chloe, one of Sasha's minions asks me if I wanna go to the dance with her and I turn her down because I have a game on the same night. I go for my biology class and find a lot of letters from girls asking me to go to the dance with them honestly speaking, nobody from this school interests me anymore. After classes, I get home, help Daryn with her homework and then I get an incoming video call from Real, I swipe on accept.
"Hello there." She says.
"Hi Real, how's it going over there?"
"Pretty rough. Sh h h pent the whole shooting one scene."
She asks me how my day was and I tell her it was normal, nothing special happened. She talks of how I always normal to everything and I justify it by saying the days spent with her are different, I tell her to come back quickly and she tells me that she'll be here by Friday for my game and how she won't miss it this time of the night. Someone in her background calls her and she says goodbye and hungs up.
I throw the phone on the draw and just lay on my bed. I spot Daryn on the door, carrying her pink bear.
"May I come in?" she innocently asks.
"Sure."
Daryn comes next to my bed.
"What's up, Daryn?" I ask.
"I'm scared." She says.
"Scared of what?"
"I and Stephanie watched a horror movie, now I feel scared." She says.
"What kind of horror movie?" I ask.
"Dracula." She says.
"Come here." I say holding her shoulder. Why would she watch a movie on a Monday and that too; horror.
I ask her why she decided to watch it and she tells me most people from her class have watched it; that's why she thought of watching it. I tell her to go to mom, but she tells me that she's not home as she left after a call around 4pm and that she's been at the neighbor's place.
"She told me to ask you to order Chinese." She says.
"Fine." I say and then place the order. The Daryn just keeps staring at me.
"How can I help you?" I ask.
"Can I stay here with you? I promise I won't disturb you." she says.
I allow her to seat with me and gat her the iPad for her to play some games. She asks if I can invite Real over but I tell her it won't be possible and she later asks me to give Real a video all and I tell her she's still busy.
Not to lie, I'm personally kind of offended she prefers Real more to me. maybe it's because I don't usually listen to her, but Real does. A few moments later the delivery guy brings our food and I and Daryn have it. It talks a lot of time to put Daryn to sleep, since dad is also out of the city for some business. Daryn tells me to stay with her until she falls asleep and I do just that. I decide to wait for mom.
Sitting on the couch, I check the time and it's around 10:30pm, the lights are off and I just seat in the dark and wait for mom. I hear the door open and the sound of high heels.
"Where have you been?" I ask.
"Milan, you scared me. You're still awake?" She asks terrified as she puts her hand to her chest. She then turns on the lights.
"Couldn't sleep without knowing your whereabouts." I tell her.
She tells me there's nothing to worry about and that she's so tired and just wants to get to bed and tells me goodnight. The coming late thing becomes a habit and mom hires a chef for us.
Friday
It's around 3pm and my game is to start at 03:30, I text Real and she tells me that she's already back in the city which just puts me over the moon. Thirty minutes go by and we're now in the court and I see Real among the crowd. She smiles and waves at me and I just smile back. I definitely don't wanna blow this off and I'll definitely do my best in the game.