A jovial girl

(Livia)

My eyes were getting blurry by the second. In such cases, one would see nothing but blurred images that made no sense whatsoever, and here I was sitting like a prisoner staring at my phone in my hands as I counted down to the time I would stop hearing that high-pitched unpleasant voice speaking through a microphone.

If I had the power to cry, I swear I'd be on the floor right now sobbing. Unfortunately, I was confined in this huge room full of different people, of all shapes and sizes. 

Both men and women. The only thing I regretted was being late for class; hence I ended up sitting at the back and everyone knew what happened.

“Love is something we all want…a man wants love…a woman wants love…it's the same old story of falling in love and making fake promises to each other” the woman who was making me see fog in broad daylight continued talking. I wanted so badly to listen to her, unfortunately these were the days I just wanted to get up from my seat. Match down to the front and shove my fist down her throat so that she could shut up.

“Has she been dumped again?” a girl sitting next to me was also wondering the same thing. I moved my eyes from my phone and gave her a lazy glance, telling her I was also thinking the same thing. 

My head tilted to the front and yes. She was standing there in a ridiculously long dress. For someone who had an hourglass figure, she had zero sense of fashion.

“Just look at her dress” the same girl whispered again and this time I looked at her with full eyes. I wasn't in the mood to cause trouble, especially with my well-known reputation.

 I decided to keep quiet and listened as the lesson proceeded, unfortunately the girl didn't want to leave me in peace.

“Quit it Syd…we have class” I whispered back for my foolish best friend to keep her mouth shut, and she just shrugged and rolled her eyes at me as we sat there listening to the lecturer speak. There were like 50 people in the large hall and the lady in the front was reciting love poems.

“How is this related to law school…?” my best Sydney muttered to herself, and I had the urge to laugh. The boys behind me were sleeping, so were the people to the sides. 

Nothing bored us to death than having Ms. Gomez for the first class session. She was boring and judgmental, especially about falling in love.

According to her, love didn't exist and men were all pigs. I would have said that was her opinion, unfortunately it was an unfortunate night when she caught me with my boyfriend.

A man she said was too old to be my boyfriend because I was too young, and he was deceiving me. Since then, all she ever did was preach about the unholiness of falling in love.

“Huh” a gasp left my mouth when I felt something move on the floor. I was wearing a short dress with sneakers; hence my legs were exposed, and I felt some feathery caress me.

 The thing was making grunting noises as it moved carelessly on the tiled floor, which was hard for anyone not to hear.

“What is it?” Sydney leaned down and whispered, but I was frozen in place. The entire front roll turned to look at me at the same time, getting Ms. Gomez's attention who stopped talking and adjusted her ridiculously large specs…my throat went dry when I felt a soft little tongue lick me repeatedly.

“Oh no” I mouthed, but the words were audible. By now, the entire classroom was alive as they fixed their vampire-like eyes on me.

“Ms. Altamirano…any problem?” the lecturer asked, saying my surname as she advanced slowly to the back seat. I sucked in my breath and used my foot to shove the thing away or better yet make it crawl back into my purse. 

“No, no…she's fine… actually…she got…a cockroach is in her dress” Sydney was the one who blurted out as she stood up and blocked me by standing in front of Ms. Gomez before she made her way to me. 

In such cases, all I had to do was cry because Homie was about to get me into boiling soup. The last time this happened, Ms. Gomez threw a fit.

“A cockroach… Sydney…do I look like a fool to you?” Ms. Gomez said narrowing her eyes shrewdly, her voice as high as a cackling witch and like every time Sydney came up with a ridiculous excuse, 

Ms. Gomez wasn't so pleased as she shoved Sydney out of the way and the queen of the underworld stood before me with a deadly look. I wondered why her evilness didn't stop, especially with the large specs she wore.

“It's a cockroach…it must have…” I didn't even finish my sen when the thing I was trying to shove inside my bag with my foot finally barked, all because I accidentally stepped on her tail.

*bark, bark.*

“Ahh!” the entire class gasped in unison as if it were a great show to watch, and I was doomed as Ms. Gomez took off her specs and her sharp cat-like brown eyes showed how unpleasant she was

“Ms. Altamirano…do you take your education seriously? ''she spat out and lowered down. I was about to stop her from…but she did it anyway, carried my poor cute little Pomeranian puppy by the tail and my dear Homie was making sounds knowing she was in pain.

“Ms… I mean… I…”

“Your father is a great lawyer…well known for generations to come…but you don't take your education seriously” and the lecturing about my dad continued.

 I know my papa was a great man. A top lawyer who never lost a case and since I decided to be like him and study law. I was the center of the school.

“Bringing to class this smelly thing!” she said bitterly as she disrespected my puppy like it was nothing. It wasn't my fault Homie sneaked into my bag without my knowledge. 

“Mrs.… I mean Ms. Gomez, it's… I didn't” it was useless defending myself when the thing showed itself. Furthermore, I had no idea that my puppy followed me here.

“This is why young girls should focus more on getting a good education, not standing in the corners of men!” Ms. Gomez spat out, preaching to the entire class, that all I did was stand in corners with men.

 As much as I hated hearing criticism, I did what my mother always told me. Let adults speak and never interrupt them, even if what was being said was a lie.

I shrunk in my seat as I listened to what the lady had to say. I knew she would remind me of my love affair with a handsome man and soon-to-be mayor of the town. This was just a one-time thing of trouble… what else could go wrong.

“Olivia! Sis, help me!” like a nightmare, the classroom door opened and the worst thing happened. And as if Ms. Gomez wasn't already angry at me for bringing my dog. 

Another problem came, another fool who couldn't stay a day without bothering me, barged into our class and the lecturer's expression darkened. This was horrible. 

With my parents out of town, I was the mother and father to someone so careless.