SIX-- NORMAL IS HARD

Her package arrived from granny's delivery guy an hour later but she didn't look through it. It was a little pink box beautifully wrapped in pink. "I'll open it later" she said after waving the guy goodbye. She danced and danced while waiting for her mom to return. Her granny called back an hour later to ask about the state of things and Juana told her everything and thanked her for the present. Her dad has still not talked to her, and her mom was not responding to her email. 

After dancing, she went through her phone expecting happy birthday wishes from her former friends, Ivy and Alicia but there wasn't any message from them. She began to wonder "how did we get here? We used to be really close. We were like sisters. What happened to us?" She looked outside her window again. The sun was shining mildly and its rays decorated the curtains and danced around on her bed when she opened the windows. 

Now Juana was tempted to go to her friends' house. The house stood on the other side of the street facing Juana's house. It was not as beautiful as her house but was twice as large. The twins had their extended family with them. Their maternal grandparents, two of their cousins and four boys who were adopted by their mother lived in that house. Juana had never seen Ivy and Alicia's father. When once she asked where he was, Alicia had asked her to be quiet because her mother didn't like to hear or talk about him. And that's how she stopped being curious.The twins' mom was very nice; Juana had had several dinners there, she had even had three sleepovers there when her parents were out of town and didn't return until the next day, but now she hadn't even talked to any of them for several months.

She wondered if their mother knew that her relationship with her daughters had gone sour, or if she actually encouraged her children to stop speaking to her. She didn't understand any of it. Their mother, Jasmine was a very successful woman. She owned one of the biggest and most popular restaurants in town. She also exported jewelry and shoes to Asia monthly.

Her restaurant had been Juana's favorite when she was still friends with her daughters. But now she rarely went there because she didn't know what to expect from doing that.

Juana stared at the old building at the other side of the street. It was not very old but was certainly up to ten years. Jasmine refurbished the outside every year. There were several trees around it. Cashew, Pear and apple trees. And just one avocado tree. They had a large orchard behind the house where Ivy's grandparents grew tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, bell pepper and cabbage. Juana and her friends were not allowed to enter the orchard. 

They had an old sit-out bench outside the house and that's where they played if it was too hot inside. It was a very lively family and every minute was fun there. Ivy's grandparents were some sort of comedians and they both looked younger than their ages. The four adopted boys tended the orchard, cleaned the house and did laundry.

They all went to school, ate Jasmine's meals and lived under her roof, so they usually worked hard to ensure her whole house was clean and well painted. Juana had never seen her friends sweep or cook except once when they baked a cake together for their granny's birthday.   

Juana didn't understand why Jasmine would adopt her two cousins too but she never asked her friends. Maybe she was a very kind type. Juana stared at the only avocado tree few metres away from the frontal flowers. It was tall and huge. Might as well have been planted over ten years ago. The swing that was carved out of it hung low under one of its branches. The avocados were huge and overripe but no one bothered plucking them. Juana had never heard anyone of them talk about the tree. The tree shed its leaves daily and most of the fruits fell daily too. The tree was not significant except for the swing that was made on it for Ivy and Alicia. She looked closely at it and for a minute, her gaze continued on the tree. She thought she was imagining it but she saw something. She looked away from the window and gasped. Flashbacks of the dream about avocado tree came back to her mind. Yes! It was the exact tree she saw in that dream. She turned to face the tree again. It was as though her eyes had a microscope and zoomed the view closer to her. She saw a figure lying on the thickest branch of the tree. It was the figure of an human and it was not moving. Juana stopped thinking deep and looked away from the window. Just then she saw her dad in the corner of the room.

"Dad!" She ran to embrace him. She had been too busy with her thoughts that she hadn't noticed when Baron walked into her room, all six foot five, two hundred and sixty pounds of his appearance.

He was not alone. He was carrying a tray of what smelt like delicious food. She stared at it, it was toast bread, six slices of them. Coffee too, warm and with a nice aroma. Juana looked at her dad's face. It still looked gloomy. Juana didn't understand it.

Maybe I'm no genius after all since I can't decipher this. She thought.

"Breakfast is ready. Breakfast will be in bed". He mumbled under his breath without looking at her face. She sat as soon as he sat too, and they began munching in silence. The toast was too tan. Juana bit into it twice and chewed in silence. 

" Happy birthday " He was still not looking at her. He was not really eating. He stared at the bread for a long time before putting it in his mouth. No stuffed. He was stuffing it in his mouth and he almost choked. Juana put her mug to her mouth to hide the tears gathering in her eyes.And she wished she hadn't sipped it. What she just tasted in the coffee wasn't sugar. She was certain about it. She made a face and ran to the bathroom to spit it.

When she got back to join him, he didn't ask anything. He just took his own cup of coffee and sipped it.

"Dammit!" He spew out what was in his mouth into space. "How on earth...how would I put salt in your coffee? I'm going crazy!" He said standing up. All the while he wasn't looking at his daughter's face.

Juana was beginning to seethe "I thought it couldn't get any worse after you sent me out of your room" she said tearfully

"Don't cry Juana. I'm deeply sorry" he reached for her but Juana swiftly moved an inch back.

"Where is mom? When will she be back? Huh?!!"

"She'll be many hours late I think"

"What do you mean? And why are you avoiding my gaze?" Juana was near screaming now.

"Have a shower and come meet me. I'll be out there at the garage waiting. I want to take you somewhere" then he left the room with the tray.

********************†*********

In thirty minutes, they were on the road. Juana was wearing a pink gown with some boring statement shoes. She checked her laptop again but there was still no e-mail from her mom. Her heart sank. It couldn't be! Something bad couldn't have happened to her, could it? 

Wild thoughts were racing through her mind. She checked her phone for the strange number that called her the night before, but it was not there 

"But he...he called. I received the call" she thought to herself. Her dad was focused on driving and acted like she wasn't even there.

"Maybe I was imagining it" she said out loud, expecting her dad to ask what? But he was focusing on the road before him. If he had heard her he didn't show it.

"No it was real. I'm sure of it. I heard him, I spoke to him, I screamed, I broke my phone's screen" Juana thought and yes there it was before her. The evidence of the incident: her screen was smashed in four places. So she did get that call. She scrolled through her call logs again this time more carefully but there was no strange number there!

She sighed. The headache was returning slowly. 

What now? She bit her lips to avoid screaming. She didn't do it consciously but she just looked at her dad, and what's surprising, she caught him staring. He looked away as soon as he was caught.

"Dad" he grumbled focused on the road. There was a large spa few metres away. 

Juana cleared her throat and tried again "Mom sent me an e-mail today"

With that, Baron lost grip of the steering and almost bumped into a van that was parked in front of the spa. He stopped the car in time.

"Did you hear me?" She said as soon as he grabbed the brakes. He opened his mouth to say something or so it seemed, but before he could, a woman came up to the car. She had a big smile on and she looked really smart. 

"Hi gorgeous. Hi sir, you're both welcome. Please come right in" The duo got out of the car and followed the woman. She looked like she was in her late forties.

Juana suddenly realized where she was, and pulled her dad back.

"What now? What are we doing here?" She shouted

"This is a spa, ma'am" the woman replied with a bigger smile as if Juana couldn't read the big bold red words on the glass door.

"I'm talking to my dad, not you" Juana retorted. She couldn't help it.

"Juana, don't be silly" Baron whispered

"What? I'm silly now?" Juana was about gathering attention to herself

"Stop creating a scene. We're here for your makeover" Baron said with a normal voice. The woman's smile had thinned and she looked as though she had been hit with a rod once or twice.

"M-a-k-e-overrr?! What?" Juana yelled

"You've always wanted one. Twas meant to be a surprise" Baron said looking at her but Juana looked away angrily.

"Well I don't want one anymore!" She screamed and turned towards the car. People were staring at her from nearby but she didn't care.

Baron sighed. "You must be crazy" he said and pulled her back.

"Young lady, I'll have you arrested if you don't stop yelling. Please behave yourself" the woman said. She had a serious expression on her face. 

Juana quietly followed her to the inside of the building. Baron got in his car and drove off, not after saying "I'll come pick you up at 2. Behave yourself" .

The makeover started with facial treatment, manicure and pedicure and hairstyling. She requested for a piercing on her nose and it was given her. Juana looked at the mirror and smiled. Next was the shop place where the woman picked several dresses for her, and then asked her to pick extra dresses of her choice. At the end of everything, Juana was completely exhausted. Her stomach was growling. She hadn't had breakfast after the breakfast in bed was ruined. It was past 12pm when she got a text from Ivy. She closed her eyes and reopened them to be sure she wasn't dreaming or imagining things again. Yes it was a text from Ivy, her classmate and best friend. 

"Happy birthday to you darling friend. Xoxo"_Ivy.

Juana's head was spinning. "Omg!" She screamed. She immediately called back and Ivy picked at the second ring.

"Hello Ivy. Thanks for remembering my birthday" she was giggling with excitement.

"What ill birthday?" The voice on the other end bellowed. It sure was Ivy's voice but she didn't sound pleased at all. Juana's voice was always on loudspeaker and it was on this time too.

"It's Juan, and today's my birthday"

"Sorry I don't know you" she said and hung up. Juana quickly found a chair and slumped on it. She was speechless and her mind thought about nothing for a minute.

She wished the ground would swallow her right there.