September 12

Mum was feeling sick today but luckily she got well after taking some tablets of paracetamol. Initially, I was planning on cancelling my plans with Dad's ex-girlfriend but the thoughts of actually getting to know what she and Dad did couldn't leave my head.

Yesterday, after Dad woke me up to wash his car, I mistakenly came across some crumpled papers in the passenger's seat. Believe me, I saw some weird stuffs about jumping down a bridge or digging up a grave. I don't know what Dad was doing with those kind of stuffs in his car but what got my attention was an address written on a piece of old office papers. It was the same address that Sarah gave to me. Whether Dad was cheating on Mom with Sarah, I was going to find out soon.

Sarah called my Mum's phone back after I called her and told her to call me in ten minutes time. Her voice was as lively as before. Full of a lot of expectations.

"Hello!" I said.

"Hi! What are you doing today?" Sarah asked as if she didn't know I was waiting for her to take me out of my prison yard called home to her comfort zone.

"I am going to spend time with you," I said.

"Where did you say I should pick you up?" Sarah asked.

"Close to the supermarket in front of our street."

"I will be there in an hour."

Dad must have known that I had other plans today except for sitting at home and watching Mum get better, because he kept on asking me who was phoning Mum and I kept on telling him it was my teacher who wanted to ask about my welfare. It worked actually and he stopped bothering me. 

First of all, it is almost impossible to leave my house without being noticed by Dad but I had other ideas in my tiny head.

Before starting today with a breath of fresh air and some yoghurt to warm my stomach, I made some arrangements with my neighbour's son, Clag who was a year younger than me. Merely looking at him, it was obvious he was the kind of nerdy guy who was only interested in games, books and a little charity work.

Clag was born a day after his grandmother visited his parents with some gummy starch. Mum said she has never seen a stubborn starch like that in her entire life. And when Clag's Dad was in distress after being sacked from work, he ate Clag's grandmother starch and got better. When Clag was born, in honor of the starch that comforted him in his time of sorrows, he named his son, Clag which means a glue or paste made from starch. Almost the same situation with my big sister name. Why were they naming their children in honor of things?

That was more than a decade ago so I can say it is history now. What I was more concerned in achieving today was leaving the house and I had to focus on that. Nothing else.

Remember the woman I told you about who was looking for donations for her daughter's surgery? I am sure you do remember. Well, she kind of has an affiliation with a non-profit organization that looks for people who will help out in their clean up projects. And the good thing about today was that the organization was cleaning the gutters of a street not too far away from the street I live in.

With Clag's cheerful face and nerdy glasses, I was able to convince Mum and Dad to let me volunteer. Lucky enough for me, they agreed.

See, the reason I hate hanging out with Clag is not only because he is a nerd. I am a nerd too. Maybe not nerdy nerd but a nerd. Clag doesn't know when something is a joke and he always likes to take everything serious. When he met Sarah, he was pretty much convinced in his nerdy brain that we were going to exchange some greetings with her then leave and join the non-profit organization in digging up the gutters. 

Even though I told him several times that I wasn't interested and that I needed the lie to get me out of the house but Clag didn't seem so moved to believe me. He said he would report me to Dad and Mum if I don't join him in cleaning up the gutters. What the hell!

Now, putting me in trouble was not something I fancied and if they was anyone that I could not accept a threat from, that should be Clag. I told him that I would return the favor he did for me with a bar of Candy and how I would spend a lot of time with him if he actually stuck up with the lie and let me go freely. But Clag wasn't ready for any bargain and I wasn't ready to keep Sarah waiting.

I and Clag finally made an agreement, but we ran into a problem right away. I wasn't comfortable with the idea of him using my soccer boots to play in the rain. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out another possible option but Sarah had already waited for too long for me to be selfish. I finally agreed but on one condition, he brings my soccer boots back before Sunday. 

Clag readily agreed to my terms and he left us in peace. By the time I and Sarah got to the car, I was already exhausted and did not know what else to say or do.

"Are you married or about to get married?" I asked Sarah, knowing fully well that it was a stupid question.

Sarah laughed and told me she wasn't married and if she were to be married, it would be with Dad.

I told Sarah about my idea to constantly sneak out of the house to spend time with her and she seemed rather uncomfortable about it and she told me she was not into younger guys. This is why I dislike women sometimes.

I wanted to tell Sarah that I was not into older women too but I was into any decent fun an older woman could offer me but I didn't tell her.

After that, I asked her about her relationship with my Dad and she told me a few things I can't say for now. 

I kind of wish Sarah had put some more effort into getting to know me rather than talking about Dad as if he was some demigod she worshipped in secret. Hopefully, nobody will know about my adventure today as long as I played my part and sacrificed my soccer boots.