Chapter 5

POV: Victoria

I was right. By the time the next week rolled over, my little barfing incident was already forgotten. The rumour mill had moved on to Carl Stevens lying about his family owning a vacation home in Los Angeles. Even though I felt sorry for Carl, I was glad that the heat was off of me.

That Friday had been rough. Everywhere I went people stared and pointed. Some were even bold enough to call me puke face. Of course I hated that they were being mean but what I hated even more was the fact that the spotlight was on me. It made me very uncomfortable but I got through the day. 

By the time the school day ended, I was in an unbelievably foul mood. I was mad at Mr Finkle for making me do the presentation in the first place. I was mad at my mother for making me go to school and for making me eat breakfast. When she came to pick me up, I sulked the whole way home and refused to talk to her. I know that wasn’t my most mature moment but it was justified.

All, however, was forgiven and forgotten when we got home and my mom ordered my favourite pizza for dinner; chicken and mushroom. We ate our dinner and settled in for a typical Friday evening in the Johnson household. We each had a bowl of ice cream and watched a cheesy romance movie. The cheesier the better. It was my turn to pick so I chose ‘When Harry met Sally’. 

“That was your dad’s favourite,” my mom said sadly.

“I know.” I missed my dad a lot, especially on hard days like this.

Losing him was hard on all of us. He was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer when I was eleven years old. The news was devastating but dad kept a brave face. He and my mom tried to be positive for my sake and I bought it. I didn’t know how quickly my dad was fading. Everything remained relatively normal for the first couple of months after the diagnosis.

We would still have brunch on Sundays where we would make pancakes and we’d have movie nights on Friday nights. I thought everything was going to be okay but then he started getting sicker and required more frequent hospital visits. I even spent my twelfth birthday in the hospital with him. He got weaker and weaker as the days went by.

I kept being told not to worry but I knew even then that we were losing him. It was the most painful thing I had to watch. He fought, I know he fought but in the end he lost the fight. He died four months after I turned twelve. 

 My father was the best man I knew. I know that most people said the same about their dads but I actually meant it. My dad was funny, he gave the best hugs, and he was kind. He always made me feel better after a long day. He knew what to say and made sure that I knew that he loved me regardless of any sort of mistakes that I made, whether it was failing the occasional exam in school or breaking his favorite mug as I was washing the dishes.

He was always there for me; ready with a smile, a bad dad joke and a comforting word. I think my mom missed him more than I do. She tried to keep it together for my sake but every once in a while, she would let the mask fall and I would catch a glimpse of her grief. He and my mom were madly in love with each other.

I’d often catch the loving looks they always gave each other and wish that one day I would find someone to look at me so lovingly; like I was the only one that mattered. Sometimes he would go into the kitchen when mom was cooking and make her drop everything to dance with him. She used to feign annoyance but I knew that she secretly loved it.

She and my dad were made for each other. They were both really goofy and quirky, she was rather shy and my dad was outspoken and extroverted. She had not dated anyone since she died and I couldn’t blame her. No one would ever measure up to my dad. 

After he died, my mom was a shell of her former self. She became even quieter but after a while she got better. She started doing things that my dad used to do again. We started having our movie nights, and Sunday brunch. She kept these traditions alive ever since.

I think it was her way of making sure that I still felt my dad’s presence even though he wasn’t around anymore. She hung several pictures of him all around the house and wore his clothes sometimes. It was rough at first but we slowly went on with our lives. It wasn’t the same and there was the glaringly obvious gap that my dad left behind but we were okay.

I put the disc in our DVD player and played the movie. I snuggled closer to her as the movie began. I felt safe and content in that moment. I was glad to put the events of that weekend behind me and looked forward to enjoying a quiet weekend in.

***

The next week came a lot quicker than I wanted it to. The days were uneventful which I was grateful for. All anyone could talk about that week was the new kid. I had seen him in the hallways and some of my classes. He was tall and lean with brown hair and the kind of face that people wrote songs about according to Sam.

He had piercing grey eyes that drew you in and his smile almost made me walk into a wall. His features were chiseled but somehow still managed to look angelic. I, like, the rest of the female student body had deemed him the most attractive guy in our school. The others didn’t even come close.

All we could do was look at him though since Brianna was always plastered on his side with her long blonde hair and stupid fake smile. I do not know why it made me so mad but it just did. In doing so, she sent a clear message to the rest of us; ‘Hands off, he’s mine’. It’s not like I ever stood a chance with a guy like that.

He was way out of my league. Within a week he had cemented his status as one of the most popular guys in school because of his looks and the fact that he joined the football team as the linebacker. Just when you thought he couldn’t get any hotter, it turned out that he was British. Whenever he spoke in class all the girls, including some of our teachers would swoon.

He seemed like a decent fellow. Then came Thursday, where one teacher’s decision would alter the course of the rest of my high school year. We had a biology lesson in the lab where we were meant to pair up to dissect frogs for an anatomy lesson.

Mrs Kingsley had assigned lab partners prior to the class. On learning this piece of information the whole class was collectively disgruntled. I was too. This was one of the few classes that I had with Sam and I couldn’t even sit with her?

“Whine all you want kids my decision is final. When I call out your names, find your assigned partner and take a seat next to a specimen. Alright then, Alice Cooper, you are with Samantha Lee.”

She continued calling out the names and I crossed my fingers. If I ended up being paired with Brianna, I would scream.

“Victoria Johnson with Caleb Stallone.” What!?

Some of the girls groaned in disappointment. I guess everybody wanted to be paired with Caleb. Brianna even gave me a dirty look. It’s not like I chose Caleb. I went to my seat eager to get the lesson over with. I could practically feel people starring daggers into my back.  I kept my head down and focused on the poor dead frog that was pinned down before me. It didn’t deserve its fate. Caleb came and plopped down next to me.

“Victoria, right?”

He knew my name?