6: New Interest

One thing about Olivia Jean was that if something catches her attention, there is no doubt for her to hold it as much as she can no matter what until she gets sick of it. That trait of hers could sometimes be a flaw or strength; a flaw because people could end up crying blood as a result to her selfish persistence, while it could also be a strength because she could save a person’s life with her power. Olivia was a powerful person, after all.

Exactly seven days ago, she was just excited about going back to school finally as a superior; even though she did not have to necessarily wait until she was in her senior year to feel superior among other students. Hours later, her interest quickly diverted to a little black fluff ball that always wanders around the back of Tulip High. Though she was valid for that since the kitten was objectively adorable with its black fur and shining yellow eyes.

“That’s right, Ethan! You’re finally learning, for fuck’s sake!” James shouted and clapped as he ran backwards right after the new member of the school’s basketball team had his first shot.

“He’s hot,” Lana said as she stared at the sophomore with dreamy eyes.

“I thought you’re interested in older guys?” Mia turned to her with an eyebrow raised.

“Older, younger—sexy is sexy.” She slightly raised her hands with her nails out like she was announcing a philosophical quote.

Olivia let out a silent groan as she roamed her eyes around the gymnasium that did not have a bit of change over the past months. The teacher of their last class got diarrhea just five minutes before the class was supposed to start, resulting to the cancellation of class. A student could intentionally add dairy products in their teacher’s lunch in secret knowing that he was lactose intolerant, but that could not be true unless concrete evidence is shown.

Theodore used the puppy eyes to beg Olivia to come watch him practice basketball with his teammates. No one wanted to go home early so she had no choice but to say yes—and here she was, sitting on the bleachers with her three friends.

Half an hour had already passed and Olivia felt like she could die on the spot if she does not get out of that suffocating place where she could only hear their shoes squeak on the floor and the girls talk about how they want to suck off the new team member. The first thing that came to mind to recover from boredom was Dork, her new little friend.

The blonde then stood up which made the three girls next to her turn to her with questioning eyes.

“I’m bored. I’m leaving,” Olivia simply said as she took her handbag and turned to the basketball court to call on her best friend, “Theo, I’m leaving!”

“What? Why?” All kinds of curse words could be heard in the gymnasium because of the way Theodore abruptly dropped the ball to the floor when he was supposed to shoot it to the ring already as he then casually walked toward the bleachers where the girls were.

“I’m bored.”

“Do you want us to come with you? Wanna go to the mall? Shopping?” Ashleigh asked. Olivia thought she looked pathetic because of how she almost sounded desperate.

“No. I wanna have fun alone today.” The blonde then walked toward the exit without looking back.

Theodore could not think of anything to say as he just heaved a sigh while watching her take steps farther from him. His sad moment was interrupted as a ball came flying toward his shoulder, making him snap back to reality as he turned to his teammates with a glare. “Fuck you!”

***

Like what she planned on doing, the blonde was standing out the backdoor as she looked around in search of a certain black creature while holding a can of tuna. People almost never go to the back of the school so no one, not even Theodore, knew that it was the place where Olivia always went to whenever there were no classes since last week.

“Dorky! Come out, I miss you!” she called while running her thumb over the top of the can as she looked around.

Dorky came from “dork”—which came from “dark”—which was the kitten’s fur.

A crackling sound made her stop walking as she looked down to find a plastic wrapper with a face of a gray cat on the ground. As if she could catch the person who had possibly brought the sachet of cat wet food, the blonde walked away from the entrance just to look around. For some reason, she knew that it was the same person in a black hoodie from seven days ago.

Olivia tried calling for her fluffy friend a few more times until she eventually gave up. Dorky could have still been full anyway.

As soon as she arrived home, the blonde let out a heavy sigh as if she was exhausted from walking back home—she did not. Like what she always does every day, she was about to head straight to the staircase to go to spend the rest of her time in her bedroom when she heard an unexpected voice.

“Olivia.” The owner of the said name turned to the living room with a frown briefly appearing on her forehead.

Though she was confused, Olivia still walked in the living room with a questioning look on her face as she stared at the middle-aged man who was seated on the single-seat couch with a laptop on his lap as if he was an intruder in her house. She was valid for being confused though since everyone in the mansion knew that he rarely comes home early.

“Dad. You’re home early?” It accidentally came out as a question due to her puzzlement.

“What the hell is this?” A frown was the first thing Olivia saw on her father’s face when he turned to her from the screen of his laptop. It had been his normal look since his 30s.

The older man almost threw the laptop as he placed it on the coffee table across him, facing the screen to her. The blonde still had no idea what was going on until she leaned in to take a look at the screen. It was a list of her credit card’s purchase history. For the past week, all purchases were done in the same pet store.

“What about it?” Olivia coolly asked as she leaned back and turned to look at her father who looked angry—or maybe that was just his normal face.

“I let you shop all your stupid girl stuff as long as you study, but what’s this? You got a secret pet now? Didn’t I tell you no pets?” Anton said as he rested his elbows on his knees.

“I don’t have a secret pet. God.” The blonde let out a sigh of exasperation as she looked away. “You’re getting so pissed off as if I’m buying marijuana or something.”

“Are you talking back to me?” Anton scoffed.

“You asked me a question,” the blonde fearlessly replied with no hesitation.

Olivia slightly flinched when he stood up from his seat though she did her best to hide it as she crossed her arms across her chest and stared at the shiny white tiles. She did not know what her father was planning to do next, though one thing she was sure about was that he would not hit her. He never did even though he could be a jerk most of the time.

The blonde secretly glanced at him to see what he was doing as she watched him walk toward the kitchen. It felt unreal that their argument just ended there with Olivia having the last statement—or so she thought.

Anton returned with a shot glass in his hand. It was still four in the afternoon, and he was already about to drink whiskey. The thought of it made the blonde secretly roll her eyes. She hates her father and she hates him even more whenever he drinks.

He downed the alcoholic drink after standing across his daughter and suddenly threw the glass toward the corner of the room, making the latter jump in shock. The blonde widened her eyes as she turned to look at her father in surprise and confusion. It just happened so fast that Olivia started to wonder if she was even in the same room as him because of how she had no idea on what was actually going on at that moment.

“If it wasn’t for your mother, I wouldn’t have to get headaches over a brat like you. I work every day and you do nothing but mess around. You think life’s all fun? All about little stupid cats?” Anton spoke as he glared at his daughter before continuing, “No. One day, I will end up like your mother. You will end up like your mother. We will all end up like your mother.”

Olivia could not understand the connection of anything he was saying, but it was making her utterly annoyed because of the mention of her mother as if she was nothing. One of the traits her father had was talking bullshit, like literally, and it was what she hated the most. It was as if her father was a little child who only knew how to spit gibberish just to piss people off.

“Wow. All right. I’m sorry I didn’t get aborted then.” Olivia let out an angry laugh. “You’re so pathetic over some stupid credit card purchase history.”

Not wanting to extend the argument even more, Olivia stormed off the mansion without looking back even though she could clearly hear her father shouting at her to come back. She knew that she made it worse, which was why she also felt scared to stay there even longer. Anyway, their argument was bullshit. Her father was bullshit.

Olivia hated walking out from home since their mansion was literally enormous that one would need a vehicle to actually go out. Unfortunately, she did not have her driver’s license yet so she could not coolly leave the mansion in a car.

Just when her legs were beginning to throb from walking, the blonde was already far from the mansion as she spotted a convenience store from a distance. Ice cream was just what she needed from the exhaustion of walking and the dumb argument that she just had with her father.

The chimes rang as she stepped inside and the first thing that she saw was a girl slipping chocolate bars inside her army-green windbreaker.