I slowly nodded, my head propped up in the palm of my hand. My wrist was starting to hurt; that's the struggle of having such a big brain. Although my eyes were on Mandy's face, my mind was in another dimension. It started when Mandy mentioned her sibling, I think she said she had a sister, and I got to thinking about my own siblings. Specifically, the twins and how much they love Kiara. Me too, honestly. That was no surprise though; everyone loves Kiki. She was funny, friendly and cute as a button. Kiara was an all-around great person. I still remember the first time I saw her in that park by herself. I just knew we were going to be together forever, granted I never expected us to just be friends but beggars can't be choosers. "So Zack, do you want to?" Mandy's question threw me for a loop. "Oh, I'm sorry I was," I paused trying to think of something to say, "I was completely captivated by your beauty that I wasn't paying your words a lot of attention," She giggled and threw he
"You don't like it, dear? Is the flavour off?" my step mum, or mum as I often call her, asked me from her seat across the table. She was in the process of wiping Van's face when she must have noticed my solemn mood. I have never known Van to eat neatly. "I love it, honey. It's very delicious. It might be one of your best yet," my dad pipped in. He hummed in delight to sell his words. "No one was talking to you," my mum stuck her tongue out at him. "I was talking to our eldest, but I'm glad you like it," she smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. They were so cute. I want that for me and Kiara. "Love it," he emphasised with a wide smile. "I love it too, mummy," Nessa said as she bounced in her seat. Her little fists clutched her baby spoon like a spear. I have never known Nessa to sit still. "Me too, mummy," Van chipped in. "I can tell. Even your cheeks are enjoying it," mum giggled as she wiped off the remaining food that stuck to his chubby cheeks. "I think it's
The following morning, I got up earlier than usual. Kiara and I were the heads of the student council and we held meetings before school started on Mondays. I quickly and silently got dressed and then made my way downstairs. Unexpectedly, Daniel was sitting in the kitchen. His laptop light illuminated his hunched figure. I shook my head; he was going to ruin his eyes. "What the hell Dan? Don't you sleep?" I grumbled and grabbed a slice of bread. "I have exams coming up," he stated. He was staring intently at the screen. I leaned against the counter and ted my plain slice of bread as I watched him. Daniel never asked me to help him study, despite knowing that I could and would help him in a heartbeat. I think he thinks that we're enemies in the academic field. Competition is good and can really help with confidence, so I was rooting for him to beat one of my scores. "What are you going to do about Kiara and that other girl?" his question came a bit muffled as he was chewing on h
Mindy firmly latched on to my arm as I looked around for Kiara. Mindy's grip was tight like she was afraid I would run off if she loosened it a little. If I knew where Kiki was, I probably would have run off. I knew that I wouldn't be able to focus if Kiki was still upset with me. After our fight yesterday, I could barely eat, so before school was the optimum time to air our grievances. "Zacky, walk me to class, please?" Mindy looked up at me through her lashes. Her nails were still embedded in my arm, it didn't hurt but it was uncomfortable. Truthfully, Mindy was such a beautiful person and I could see myself falling for her if I had never met Kiki. "Um," I started and glanced around the sparse crowd walking through the halls. It was no use; Kiara was long gone by now. Perhaps I should call her, there was a high per cent chance that she would not answer me. She rarely answered phone calls, to begin with. The chances of her answering when she was upset are next to nothing. "E
For the first time in the longest while, I was awake during my classes. However, sticking to my original Zack-esque quality, I wasn't paying attention to the lesson; I had bigger things to deal with at the moment. That bigger thing was how I planned to make peace with Kiara. I ran through tons of solutions.Buy her a new scented candle? No, she was strangely very picky about those things. It had to be the right colour and glass shape or she would hide it under her bathroom sink. Take her to see a scary movie? There was one coming out soon, but I hated the horror genre so that wouldn't work. I'll put it on the back burner though. Make peace with Kevin?I couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud. It wasn't even a snort but a full-on laugh which resulted in the teacher sending me a glare for disturbing his class. I covered it up as best as I could with a cough and the lesson moved on like I hadn't just laughed at the death of Martin Luther King Jr. "Hey," someone psst at me. I tur
I drove quietly while Kiara continued to pretend to be asleep. I wanted to say something to her but, over the years of knowing her, I knew she wouldn't want to talk at the moment. The radio created background noise as I took the route to Kiara's and my secret place. While I wanted to respect Kiara's decision to stay silent, I couldn't add another thing for us to avoid on our list. If there is one thing I learned from my parents, it would be that communication is a driver of relationships. "I told Zoa to raincheck on the shopping trip. I hope you don't mind me doing so,'' I said after a few more minutes of silence. It was up to me to take the leap. As expected, Kiara did not say anything. ''Mindy told me she saw you crying. What's that about?'' I tried a different angle. Once again, she kept quiet. Her silence did nothing but, irritate me. Kiara knew I knew she wasn't sleeping and still she decided that ignoring me was the best option. ''Could you please stop ignoring me? It'
"Are you going to stay over tonight?" I asked as we drove to my house. We have been chit-chatting on and off since I drove out of Cave Cream's car park. The random pop song acted as a filler for the silence. "I'm not sure yet. If it's too late then yes," she replied as she held her hand outside the window. Kiara usually preferred to drive with the windows down. I always had to make sure I had the inside of my car clean because the dust and dirt from the outside made their way in. I never knew why she liked to have the window down. I never asked and she never told me; I figured it was just one of those things that don't necessarily have a reason. "Are you going to cook dinner? I'm hungry," Kiki said, turning her attention to me. "Why didn't you say something sooner? I could have stopped somewhere," I glanced over at her. "Don't worry, I'll cook something for you. Do you want anything in particular?"
''Go get them, best friend,'' I said, ''I'm proud of you," I slowly left the school car park, occasionally looking back to see Kiki waving at me. She was so cute. Even though her cuteness could make the sun seem brighter, my mood was slowly going down because I had to go to my mum's house today. Before my dad met and married my step mum, Kristen, we lived close to my mum. Or perhaps she lived close to us. My mum has her own home in many countries but, she chose to live way too close to her ex-husband. Her many houses were the same homes she would either make us run away to or leave me there for hours while she went out. If she didn't do that, she would randomly pop up at our old house, and I knew that her actions bothered my dad; he never said anything about it to me. Since she would show up whenever she wanted to, I saw her at least four times a week. That was during the days when she wasn't off somewhere doing god knows what. When my dad became official with Kristen, she still sh
I listened to Kiara crunching on the bright red apple she grabbed on her way out the door. My eyes quickly took in the neon yellow numbers on the dashboard. According to it, I did not have enough time to stop by Starbucks to get Kiara some breakfast. Of all days I did not have food stashed away in my car, this was the day. Usually, I had at least a granola bar, but when I took my cousins on a joyride the other day Charlie gobbled it up. I don't blame her, they were delicious. Unfortunately, I forgot to replenish my stock. I tried to recall if I had any snacks in my backpack. What about the pack of nuts? No, I ate them one morning when I had to rush out with food. You had a bar of chocolate, where did that go? Oh right, I gave it to Kayla when she was feeling lightheaded. I was truly out of options. I feel so bad. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Kiara would get extremely crabby without proper nourishment. Plus, she would not focus in class and she really needed to focus
I stood outside Kiara's house and just stared. I left earlier than usual to enact my plan. I was going to sneak into her house and make her a feel-better breakfast. If she felt like talking I would listen, if not then I would simply share a meal with one of the most important women in my life. Yet, I could not seem to get myself to move. I was scared. Scared that she would turn me away, just like that night. I was terrified that she would blame me, but nothing made my heart ache more than the thought of never seeing Kiara again. Before I could turn away, my cousin's voice resonated in my head. When she was leaving yesterday she told me such simple words, something you could easily get off the internet, yet coming from her it made sense. "Just be there for her. It may not seem like you're doing much, but it would mean the world to her," Just be there for her. I could do that. I was great at cooking. I would be there for her while providing delicious food. Food made everything bett
I put down my textbook, accepting defeat. There was just too much noise for me to study. Can't a guy relax with some chemical equations in his own home anymore? Where was the humanity? The consideration? The house was extra packed today because my mum's side of the family is in for a visit. Mum has a younger sister named Auntie Abby. Auntie Abby is amazing, she has always made me feel like a part of the family even though I was not related by blood. Auntie Abby has two daughters, twin girls who are just as nice as their mother. Uncle Patrick, Abby's husband, and I also got on since we both loved science. In fact, Uncle Patrick was a scientist and last I heard he was researching a new bacteria that was found frozen in the Arctic. "Where's our little cousin?" Bernie asked from outside my door. "You do realise that I am older than you right," I opened the door and welcomed the bear hug from both Bernie and Charlie. "Shut up," Charlie laughed. They always said they were the older
I looked back at my mum who sat on a bench to the side, naturally, she chose to be seated in the shade. She was texting someone on her phone. It should be anyone, but the one person I really hoped it was not was Uncle Lionel. My parents tried to hide what happened between them from me, but I hear things. Today was supposed to be a good day, I should focus only on good things. With that mentality, I turned towards the beauty. If all the girls at my new school were this pretty then I definitely would not mind moving. Initially, my dad lived close to his family which meant I got to visit my aunts and cousins whenever I wanted. They were the only ones who kept me company when Dad had to travel or be at the office until two in the morning. I also loved our old apartment. It was big enough for me, him and Roger, the dog. It was our only little cosy place. Before my dad got married, he told me that we would have to move somewhere else since the apartment was not big enough for all of us. I
I puffed out my cheek, using a finger I poked each one. In my head, I figured I looked exactly like a chipmunk so what better thing to do than chirp like one. I barely paid attention to my stepmum as she hushed my little brother. He cried a lot. He also slept a lot, but I figured if you spend half of the day screaming you'd spend the other half sleeping. My stepmum, who I call mum, says babies cry because they miss being around us. I do not think I believe her but babies did stop crying when you gave them atention so she could be right. "Hey honey. Are you excited to spend the day with your mother?" she sat beside me on the couch. Daniel's fat little arms reached up to grab her hair. The day he was born I felt so happy because I finally had someone who I could spend time with. My dad sad I'd have to wait a bit longer befoe I could actually spend time with him. "I guess. It'll be nice to see her again after four or so months. What time is she supposed to get here?" I held my brothe
"How long is the cake going to take?" I whined. The sweet scent of the cake permeated the house. This was not helping my craving. Kiara checked her imaginary watch, and with a look of concentration, she told me that the cake had ten minutes left. I had no reason to call her bluff. I would be satisfied as long as the cake was not burnt, I would eat it. After all, Kiara took time out of her day to bake a cake with me. Who was I to disregard her efforts? "Can you turn off the lights?" Kiki asked as she finished straightening the bedsheets. From where I was standing I could already see her pulling up the movie. It did not take long to find it since the page was already bookmarked on her laptop and mine. I turned off the lights as she requested and slid into my usual spot- on the left side of her bed. Within seconds her attention was glued to the opening scene. The very same scene we had seen so many times that I could rewrite the entire script from memory alone. I knew the exact sce
I gathered as many ingredients as I could while Kiara got the bowls and cake pan. I took a backseat while Kiara measured and mixed everything. There was something mesmerising about watching her move around the kitchen so naturally. For someone who did not like Maths and Chemistry, she did really well at creating recipes. I would suggest becoming a food scientist if she were not such a natural actress. "Am I going to need to add vanilla?" Kiara shouted over the sound of the pastel blue stand mixer I got her a few years ago. "What?" I called. "I know you heard me!" she jabbed me in the side with a spoon. "Yes, you are going to need to add vanilla," I smiled at her while she rolled her eyes at me. I dipped a finger into the batter after Kiki had mixed the flour and sugar with the other ingredients. I would risk salmonella any day just for some raw batter. Kiki, on the other hand, was cautious and complaining. She complained about the butter being too cold and the eggs not being warm
I wanted cake. Carrot cake to be specific. Actually, any cake would do. Perhaps it was because I was truly craving something sweet or perhaps it was because I was currently smelling Kiara's shampoo or it might have been one of the products she used religiously. It smelt sweet, yet I couldn't pinpoint exactly what I was smelling but I liked it. It reminded me of cake. I was about to angle my head so I could get another whiff of Kiara's hair when she spoke up. ''Why do you think we're friends?'' she started. She looked up at me with her beautiful big caramel-coloured eyes. She blinked her long dark lashes as she waited for my answer. I wonder if she could hear my heart race as she rested her head on my chest. I prayed my shirt could somehow muffle the sound. I glanced at her laptop which was playing a sitcom we found. I guess we both decided to use it as background noise. I thought about her question. We were friends because I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and wanted to
I glanced over at Kiara. Her eyes were closed. Her hand moved along to the beat of Alicia Keys. Did she know she was humming along? I doubt that she did. I have found that Kiara lacked awareness from time to time, I didn't mind nine times out of ten. I found it cute how she would sing louder at the parts she was sure of and mumble along to the parts she forgot. With Kiara's singing, my mind went back to what happened when I was dragged away that morning. I ended up missing the first session of the day. I would need to ask Kiara and the teacher for the notes because if I knew my best friend I knew she had mostly doodles with a sprinkling of words in her book. I locked the meeting room as Kiki and I watched towards our lockers. I tried to get her to talk about the game, but Kiara preferred to ignore things. That was one thing I wanted to change about her. Discussing what upsets you is a good thing, we don't have to do it the second a misfortune happens, but it needs to be done.Since