The Boy Wearing a Red Cap

Chapter 2

A week passed and Ivy had not heard a word from the school which was weird. Ivy was with her mom in the grocery store, restocking for her father's return.

Mrs Queen wanted to cook a sumptuous meal for Mr Queen's arrival. “What brand of cheese do you think I should get?” Mr Queen questioned her daughter while holding two different pieces of cheese. When she got no reply she turned to Ivy

“Ivy, Ivy are you okay dear” Mrs Queen looked bothered “ I am fine mama”

“ If they do not accept you, it is their loss. I am not saying this because I am your mother” she continued “ besides you could always apply elsewhere to study art”

She dragged the cart along with her leaving Ivy to her thoughts. No one knew about the deal she made with her father. A call brought her back from her train of thoughts. “Hey, Tim what's up”

Tim Rumble had been Ivy's best friend for years now. Ivy was bullied a lot in school by girls, most of the envy stemming from the fact that she got a lot of attention from the opposite sex. Tim defended Ivy at any opportunity he got. Ivy never seemed to understand what he saw in her at the age of six. They did literally everything together. Whenever he was around her, she never got bullied.

When Ivy turned eight, Tim and his family relocated to New York; they never saw each other again, but they found ways to communicate through social media. They got closer as he was her only friend.

Suddenly, Tim stopped all communication for the span of two years. Ivy wondered what she did wrong. The two years he stopped communicating were hell on earth for her; she felt alone, rejected by everyone she loved. She couldn't get through to him on his socials – everything got deleted, not even a picture was left. Tim Rumble was no one on media.

She got a happy birthday text suddenly from the username Tim R. on FriendsGram on her tenth birthday.

Tim R. wrote, "Happy Birthday Ivy."

Ivy replied, "Tim? As in Tim, Tim Rumble? Oh my, where have you been all these years?"

Tim explained that he had gone to boarding school, and phones weren't allowed; however, he didn't anymore. He changed schools, so he had access to a phone now.

Their friendship kicked off again from there, like it never ended. He knew everything about her, and the same for her. He was the first one to know when she got her period. He would send her chocolates and count her cycle for her.

‘Was he gay?’ It did cross Ivy's mind at some point, but she got used to him.

—--

“So, you didn't call. Did you get in” Tim said over the phone “ N-no”

“No? What do you mean no. Did you submit the application properly”

“I didn't get a response, no mail, nothing, maybe I am just not good enough” Ivy responded almost in tears.

“That is just not possible, Ivy. If they even did reject you, you're meant to get a rejection letter” he pointed out as I passed by the flowers section.

My eyes caught a glance of beautiful lilies arranged for sale. It then dawned on me “Lily” I muttered. “Ivy, I am done, is there something you want” Mama asked

“No mama” I told her “I will call you back, Tim” I cut the call.

When Mrs Queen and Ivy got home, mama went straight to the kitchen to sort out all the stuff they bought. Ivy ran upstairs to Lily's room, she opened the first drawer on her left, there was a big brown envelope already opened.

Ivy checked what was in it, she read the letter, she was in, she got in. The excitement almost made her forget about the little anger fueled by Lily's tactics. She did not even make an effort to hide it properly. ‘What a witch’ thought Ivy.

Ivy happily informed her mother about the good news. At six pm in the evening Mr Queen finally graces his family with his presence “Papa” Ivy ran towards him to give him a hug.

“I've missed you Papa”

“ I missed you too damsel”

“ Did you miss us too father” Lily retorts

“ Of course I missed everyone.”

Everyone was having a silent and peaceful dinner. “I heard you got in, Ivy. I knew you would, no daughter of mine is a failure” Mr Queen bragged feeling proud.

“Got in? I thought you did not receive any feedback” Amy asked, glancing at Lily.

“I did, Lily was kind enough to keep it for me” Ivy mentioned as she continued “ How did you know dad”

“You forget I have a wife,”Mr. Queen smiles genuinely. This only made Lily's blood boil the more, father never smiled at her like that before.

That very same night, Ivy packed her load into two big suitcases. She needed to go to the university immediately, so that her spot may not be given to someone else as a week had passed already.

Mr Queen drove Ivy miles to get her to school on time. Ivy was allocated a room of two in the school dorm, she was excited to meet her new roommate. Here, she felt she could start afresh, have a normal life and be happy. She said her goodbyes to her father.

Room 028A, Ivy removed her keys to unlock the door but it was unlocked. Her roommate must have already gotten here. She opened the door, stepped in to see the entire room covered in smoke. She could hardly see through it.

“Oh my, I am so sorry. I didn't know you would be arriving this soon, I wanted to make you something to eat” That voice, Ivy recognised that voice. If they woke her up in the middle of the night, she would still recognise that voice.

That voice was the only thing she could use to recognize him. She had not seen him for eight years now, not even a picture. He refused to send one. They exchanged calls and voice notes here and there but she never saw him. She didn't know how he looked and how he had grown.

“Aaaahhhhh Tim” she ran to give him a hug

“I can not believe it, you are here. You are big now. WAIT. What are you doing here.”

“ I am here to study, just like everyone else”

“ Study what? this is the school of- you can't draw to save your life or mine” Ivy gasped

“Ouch, that hurt. I pulled some strings. Well, my father pulled some strings. If I do not do extraordinarily well in my first year, I would have to study culinary, so no partying, no procrastinating, we would study every day all night.”

Ivy looked at Tim with disbelief, still in awe. He looked very much different from that boy when they were six.

“ I hope you know to study art, you actually have to like or know how to- you know what, okay, as long as this is what you want.”

Tim's father owns a chain of restaurants across New York as I've been told. His restaurants are so hard to get reservations for unless you know people or have connections. They are always booked all year round.

“So how is my favorite person in world” Tim asked “ I was scared when you told you had not yet gotten an admission, I would have dropped out immediately”

“Did you perhaps follow me here”

“Of course I did. Silly, wherever you go I go” he smiled broadly. Too broadly.

“What do you think? I made sure we got allocated to the same dorm, the door to the left is your room, the right one is mine. The middle one is the bathroom. We are going to have to share it.”

The room is really not bad at all. We have a shared kitchen, parlor, and bathroom. As long as the room is for me and me only, I'm satisfied.

“ So, where is my thank you”

“ Hm. Thank you for?”

“ I don't know, me pulling strings with the dorm. You having me all to yourself”

“ Yaayyy what a delight” I said being sarcastic.

“Oh yeah settle in, by two pm we have a freshers orientation to attend. Attendance is mandatory” “what were you trying to cook”

“I was not cooking, I was actually baking us some cookies. They are all burnt now, don't worry if you are hungry, we will get something at the school's cafeteria” Ivy nodded and made her way to her room.

Ivy and Tim got seated in the large hall. Instead of paying attention, they both decided it would be time to catch up on old tales and gists.

“Pardon, hello can you keep it down” A lady standing on the podium said to the already silent crowd. Ivy and Tim were both immersed in their chit chat. They did not notice all eyes were on them.

“The boy wearing a red cap,” The lady repeated. It took a second thereabout, Ivy looked up, noticed Tim was wearing a red cap. She looked around, everyone had their eyes on them. She tapped Tim, who was still talking, to bring his attention to the crowd. He stopped and murmured “ oh damn”

“If your conversation is that important, you can take it outside” The lady said.

“No” Tim blurted out loudly which made the lady raise her brows.

Ivy swapped him on the arm with widened eyes “ are you for real” Ivy murmured lowly

Tim continued “No, though the conversation is important. I am not going outside. Please continue, don't mind me.” She decided to ignore him as Ivy lowered her head in shame. At that point Ivy knew Tim would be the death of her.

“Dude don't you know who she is?” A guy by Tim's right says lowly. “She's Cynthia” he looked at Tim and Ivy “ The model? The famous, gorgeous model.” He shaked his head.

“Oh, she was on the news. I heard she was dating that CEO guy” Tim acted like he was thinking.

“Alexander Donatello” the stranger pointed out.

“I'm Henry by the way”

“Ivy”

“Tim”

Cynthia looked nothing less than perfection standing on that podium but Ivy couldn't get why Cynthia kept glancing at the boy wearing a red cap. He sure did get her attention.