The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
~Nelson Mandela
We went to a small coffee shop close to the school because Raphael demanded he wanted coffee before we could start our tutorial session and we ended up deciding to have it from there instead because it was quiet.
“Your black iced coffee and blueberry muffin.” The waitress said in a flirty tone while placing the cup and plate before Raphael. “And your strawberry green smoothie.” She put my cup in front of me.
“Thanks.” I mumbled and put the straw in my mouth sucking the content in the cup.
“Do you need anything else?” The waitress asked leaning towards Raphael.
“Yeah, your number.” He smirked in response making her blush profusely. With a big grin she leaned over grabbing the smart phone in his hands and put in her number on it.
“Text me.” She winked walking away.
“Oh I will.” He smiled licking his lips and rubbing his hands together.
“You’re disgusting.” I gagged.
“Says the girl drinking whatever the hell that is.” He gestured to my smoothie.
“If you must now it’s healthier than that.” I scoffed.
“I’ll stick to my less healthy beverage thank you very much.” He retorted and took a gulp. “Soo good.”
Rolling my eyes I opened my bag and took out the books we would be using, he had escorted me to my locker and I retrieved them before coming here.
“Are you ok pigtails?” He asked staring at me curiously.
“Yeah.” I nodded tacking the strands of hair that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear nervously.
“Is that blood on your jersey?” His eyes were fixated on the sleeve of my turquoise blue jersey that had been stained with blood from when I was bleeding earlier.
“No, it’s paint.” I shook my head trying to hide it but I was too late, he grabbed my arm and gave me a pointed look.
“Is that the best you could come up with.” He scoffed and I pulled my arm out of his hold.
“I don’t owe you any explanations.” I glared hiding my arm. I couldn’t fold my jersey because my arm was still kind of red from the rush hence I had no choice but to sit like that.
“Emilia told me what happened earlier.” He leaned back watching me intensely.
“And so?” I shrugged feeling uncomfortable.
“So, are you sure you are alright?” He leaned forward still studying me. “Passing out could-”
“Can you give it a rest, me being fine or not is none of your business.” I snapped feeling irritated.
“As a matter of fact it is my business pigtails, you being unwell equals no tutorial and no tutorial equals Mr. Robertson and my coach being on my neck.” He retorted with the same energy. “Don’t mistaken my asking for me caring about you, I just need you to be well enough to tutor me that’s it.”
“Whatever.” I huffed.
“By the way where the hell were you for the past 3 days?” He asked. “I thought goodie-goodie nerds like yourself never skip class.” He added the last part to taunt me.
“Away.” I responded not wanting to let on more.
I had missed school for 3 days because my flare up was not reducing, a few hours after going to bed, I got worse and my mother had to rush me to the hospital where a spent two nights. The doctor refused to discharge me because he needed to observe me but after making sure the flare up had reduced to a point I could take care of myself he finally let me go home and just to be safe he put me on bedrest for an extra day, he wanted to make it to but I protested against it, I didn’t want to be home anymore. My mother had to call the school and explain to them why I they had not seen me for the past few days.
Earlier while I was in the sickbay Mr. Robertson, after finding out what had happened came to check up on me and make sure I was alright before almost calling my mother to come and get me but luckily I was able to convince him against it just like I had done with the nurse.
“Let’s get started, yes?” I looked at him and he nodded taking his notebook and pen out of his bag. “What topic do you find challenging in calculus?”
“All of them.”
“I’m serious Raphael.” I huffed not finding his joke funny.
“It was just a joke, where’s your sense of humor.” He scoffed. “Stop being so uptight geez.”
“What topic?”
“Parametric equations.” He answered seriously.
“Alright, let’s get started then.”
I started explaining to him and we went through several questions.
“I hope you’re not saying you’ve understood just so you can leave.” I told him after he had told me he had understood all the concepts and formulas I had explained to him.
“Relax, I have understood.” He told me while packing his books.
“Good.” I nodded and packed my books into my backpack before finishing my smoothie.
“What?” I scoffed at Raphael’s facial expression.
“I can’t believe you finished that.” He scrunched his nose with disgust. “You’re so disgusting you know.”
“Says the guy who exchanges saliva with different people on a daily basis.” I retorted.
“It’s not my fault the ladies want all this.” He gestured to his face proudly and I rolled my eyes but before I could respond a group of girls walked up to us.
“Hey Rapha.” The girl who I assumed was the leader of the squad greeted in a flirtatious tone while she played with her long strawberry blonde curls with her index finger.
“Hi.” He responded with a smirk.
She completely ignored my existence and slid into the booth, sitting beside him while her 4 friends stood waiting on her as though she was royalty or something. I stared at her from the corner of my eye as she and Raphael conversed, she was young, probably a year or two older than I was but the perfectly done makeup on her face and outfit consisting of a cute white sweater and mini skirt made her appear slightly older than she actually was.
“So, I’m having a party at tomorrow night.” She told him while leaning closer. “And I was wondering, maybe, you might want to come, it’s going to be really fun.”
“Sure, where’s it going to be held?” He asked.
“My place.” She took her sparkly smartphone out of her bag and gave it to him. “Put in your number and I’ll text you the address.”
Without hesitation he put in his number and gave it back to her.
“Great, see you there then.” She squealed and pecked his cheek. “You can finally get to hang out with real girls like us.” She added the last part after looking at me.
Her friend giggled at the comment and I just looked away not really bothered by it. She gestured for her friends that they should leave and they made their way towards the door with her leading the way.
“The ladies love them some RV.” He smirked proudly.
“You’re disgusting.” I gagged getting up and grabbing my bag.
“Don’t judge me you just finished a whole green smoothie.” He retorted while grabbing his bag as well and following me to the exit. “Besides stop acting like you wouldn’t want a taste of all this.” He gestured to his body but I dared not give him the satisfaction of looking at it.
“I don’t.” I scrunched my nose with disgust. “I’d rather drink my grandmother’s celery and kale shakes for the rest of my life.”
“You’re only saying that now.” He teased.
We walked into the school premises and made our way to the parking lot where could see Arnold’s charcoal grey car waiting for me at a distance.
“Tomorrow we’ll be going through functions.” I told him.
“No can do pigtails, tomorrow is Friday and I have a party to attend.” He shook his head.
“You have a test next week, a party should be the least of your worries.” I stared at him like he had grown an extra head.
“Goodbye pigtails.” He waved and made his way to a red sports car.
Deciding to ignore him I walked over to Arnold and got into the car. As usual I greeted him and he responded before a sunk into the seat and enjoyed the comfortable silence.
You become what you think.~Earl Nightingale As always, the weekend had gone by very slowly, but on the bright side I didn’t have to go to the hospital and get needles poked in my skin or have any intense flare-ups, the worst I had to encounter was the rush on my face which I had worked so hard to have cleared and well as the aching in my joints, overall, I had quite a good weekend.It was Monday and I was so excited to get out of the house, getting up at the sound of my alarm, I got out of bed. I didn’t know why I kept my alarm because having had the same routine for years, my mind was accustom to doing everything I was supposed to at the set time without having to check the clock, I just knew what and when I had to do things, it had become a norm.Entering the bathroom, I stared at my reflection in the mirror set above the sink on the door of the vanity cabinet and relief filled my lungs, the red spots on my face had cleared out and it looked normal, pale but normal.With a smile o
Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward finding the answer ~Dennnis WaitleyAs planned, immediately the bell indicating the end of first period went off, I handed in my quiz answer sheet before grabbing my things and going to the library where I found Raphael leaning against the wall beside the entrance.His back was against the wall and with hands shoved in his pocket and iPod in his ears, the corner of my lips tugged into a small smile as I admired the man before me, he was very handsome, with midnight black hair that complemented his perfectly shaped face, dark lips and hazel eyes.“Hey.” I tapped his arm when I was in his reach.“You are late.” He grumbled while shooting me a glare.“Ungrateful, I’m skipping class for you and that’s all you can tell me.” I glared back. “I’m going back to class.”“Relax Lyra.” He held onto my hand before I made an attempt to walk away. “I’m sorry.”That was a first, from the time we
To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others ~Anthony Robbins Getting through the weekend had been very tough for me, no sooner had I gotten home from school that I got another flare up and I had to be rushed to the hospital. The doctor said the flare up had occurred because of something I had taken earlier and that made my mother furious, she had warned me on several occasions that I shouldn’t take anything I knew was a hazard to my health but here I was doing the opposite and that was not only inconveniencing my life but hers as well. She went on and on for hours on how I was being irresponsible and that was taking a toll on her work and social life. She already had to stay away from work to take care of me when I had been admitted and now this. “I’m sorry mum.” I mumbled. “Your apology isn’t enough!” She exclaimed. “You need to be more careful, you’r
You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you~Brian TraceyThey were here, my worst nightmares.The car came to a halt and I looked over to my mother who shared the same shocked expression as mine. Just like me she clearly wasn’t expecting to see them anytime soon, especially after what had happened while on the family trip.“Won’t you give your mother a hug?” My grandmother spoke immediately after getting out of the car.“Mother.” My mother walked up to her parents and gave them quick hugs. My feet stayed glued to the spot I was in. “What are you-”“Don’t star with your interrogation sessions just yet Patricia.” My grandfather told her. “We’ve had a long flight at least let us settle first.”“Sorry father.” She took a step back.My grandparents ordered their driver with Arnold’s help to remove their bags out of the car into the house while my mother asked the house helps to thoroughly clean the room they used whenever they were h
“The real lover is a man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.”– Marilyn Monroe"What kind of A+ student skips lessons?" Raphael's voice reached my ears and I internally groaned, I wanted to be left alone. "Leave her alone." Emilia warned before opening her arms in an attempt to give me a hug but I was quick to move away. "Please don't touch me." I mumbled pulling onto the long sleeves of the grey and black hoodie I had worn, it was quite warm outside but because of the terrible red patches on my skin I had to cover myself up. She looked hurt by my words but still took a step away from me and thankfully didn't speak about it. "Isn't someone in a mood?" Raphael commented. "A sour one at that." Leo spoke. "Come on babe, she clearly doesn't want you here." He added while glaring at me. "It’s great to see that you're alright now." She told me with a small smile. "I'll see you around." With that she waved and her and Leo w
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. ~Bruce LeeRaphael “Marcus.” I called as we wound up with our practice secession.“Yes cap.” He answered turning to look at me.“I need to speak to you after this.” I responded rather casually so as for him not to think it was a really big deal or something of the sort.“About?” He frowned as our teammates turned to look at us.“Nothing overly important.” I shrugged playing it cool.“Alright sure.” He nodded and we went back to finishing the few plays we had to learn before the game that was happening a few weeks from now.Upon freshening up and changing out of my gym clothes, I stepped into the locker room where Marcus was standing, it was only him and I, everyone else had left.“You wan-”Before he could finish his sentence I punched him square across the face, the impact was so intense he stumbled into one of the metal lockers.“Fuck!” He cursed holding onto his cheek. “What the actual fuck Raphael!” He snapped eye
When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you. ~Lao TzuRaphael As I moved around the big elegantly decorated hall filled with prominent people I couldn’t help but loath my sister even more for putting me in this position. It had been a whole week and I had been doing everything my father had demanded of me, I had attended almost every meeting and because of that I had skipped a few classes, I never even got to see Lyra and that didn’t sit well with me.“Smile.” My stepmother whispered and I rolled my eyes at her.“Go bother someone else mother.” I spat bitterly. I had never fancied this woman and if it were up to me she would have been out of my father’s house long ago.“Your father will not be hap-”“I’ve been doing your husbands bidding since before you came into our lives, I know exactly what is demanded of me, you need to back the hell off.” I whispered back rather harshly. Her chestnut eyes burned with fury but she said nothing, instead, she just curled h
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~Maya AngelouLyra. I hated this gathering, I hated that I was forced to socialize with strangers and most importantly I hated having to have been pulled out of my comfortable bed despite not feeling too well. All three of them knew I was unwell but still made me attend anyways, they claimed that if I could handle hours of school then I could do the same here, after all it was only going to last a few hours.Barely enough second after we had gotten here, even my mother, the woman who was always supposed to be by my side granted my condition disappeared on me to socialize with heaven knows whom. She didn’t even bother to tell me anything aside from the fact that I should behave and do nothing that would embarrass either her or my grandparents, basically, what she did was make sure I never forgot the warning my grandfather had given before disappearing, neither of them wanted to be seen with me and I honestly di