Learn to ignore

"A blaring sound woke me up from my peaceful sleep.

With a groan, I covered my head with the pillow hoping it would block some of the noise. After a while, there was silence in the room, the silence I was waiting for. 

But once again my peace got interrupted with the ringing of my phone. Without opening my eyes, I started searching for my phone and answered it, not bothering to check who was calling me at that ungodly hour.

"Hey, Eleanor. I know it is quite early and I really hope you are not busy or anything, but I was hoping...."

I dozed off before I could process the words completely.

"Hello? Are you there?"

"Yes!" 

"Is it okay?"

I frowned not understanding the words, I checked the name, it was Anna, "What is okay?"

"Were you not listening to me? I was saying something."

"Anna it's 7 am for crying out loud, I can hardly manage to open my eyes."

I heard the sigh from her side, "I am almost at your house."

I was suddenly wide awake. 

"You are here?"

She could not be in my house, my parents would kill me.

"You agreed like a few minutes ago."

I rubbed my eyes, thinking about the current situation, my parents were not at home which meant she could stay for a while. I just had to hide her from grandma or try to convince her.

"Don't knock or ring the doorbell, just text me when you reach here," I gave her the instructions.

Muttering an okay she disconnected the call.

I ran to do my morning rituals, I changed into a lavender sweatshirt and put my wavy brown hair in a messy bun. 

It was when I got Anna's text to open the door, walking like a mouse, I reached the front door and opened it, revealing Anna wearing a silver sheath dress that reached her knees, her smokey eye was messed up and it didn't take me long to figure out she was returning from the party.

I gave her a sign to stay silent, she followed me to my room, looking around with fascination, it was the first time someone was inside my house. And just the thought was making me anxious.

"I know this is not right but I could not think of anyone else and my parents would have killed me if they saw me coming back at this time. I told them I was staying with a friend," she started explaining the minute she entered my room. 

Walking towards my closet, I removed a floral dress for her, "It is fine, just hurry up," I gave her the dress.

She looked at me with confusion in her eyes. "Everyone is sleeping right now," I said with a laugh, hoping she would not think any of it was weird.

"You have the sweetest parents why are you worried," she asked with a scoff.

I pointed towards the bathroom and went to check on Olivia. She was already in the garden, doing meditation. It meant I still had about an hour. 

After thirty minutes, Anna came out of the shower with a grin on her face.

"You have a beautiful room," she complimented, touching the small succulent on my desk, near the window.

I gave her a smile, "Are you hungry?" 

"I am starving actually. Do you have something to eat? That was a stupid question," she laughed.

I still had enough time to send her home before grandma could see her, we walked towards the dining table. I asked her to sit there and ran to the kitchen to get her breakfast. Quickly I put everything on the plate and hurried back to the table.

"Wow," she started eating the food while talking about the great party that I missed.

All my attention was glued to the door which leads to the garden. Then suddenly the front door opened. 

My breath got stuck in my throat looking at the woman dressed in a professional dark blue suit, auburn hair tucked neatly in a hair bun, brown eyes which I inherited from her, stopped at the girl sitting on the dining table eating breakfast, without any worry.

"Mom," I stood up from the chair.

"Nora, honey, I did not know you invited a friend for the sleepover," with a smile she walked towards us.

Anna wiped her mouth and stood up to introduce herself, "I am Anna. Nice to meet you."

Mom gave her a sweet smile and then turned her eyes towards me.

"She just came here about an hour ago," I answered quickly.

Mom chuckled softly, "It is fine dear. I need to see Olivia."

She went towards the garden.

"Wow, your mother is so pretty. She is totally fine with me being here, you have amazing parents. I am jealous."

I did not reply to her and kept thinking about what mom would say.

"What are your plans for the day?" Anna asked sipping the orange juice.

I knew I had to send her home immediately.

"Actually we have the whole day planned out, that's why mom is where. We are actually supposed to leave in a few minutes," I tried to give her a hint.

"Oh, I totally understand."

She made no move and kept sipping the juice, looking at her phone, giggling at something.

"Anna, I really think you should leave now. I have to get ready and mom hates being late."

She turned her eyes towards me from the phone, "Right. Thank you for everything. My clothes are still in your room."

"It is fine, I will give it to you in school, it is dirty anyway."

"Okay, that's a good idea."

The minute she walked out of the front door, my mother and Olivia came inside.

"Eleanor, we have rules in this house young lady. It is a good thing your father is not here right now, do you have any idea how disappointed he would be if he heard about this?" mom asked in a stern tone crossing her arms over her chest.

I tried to be calm, "She just appeared here about an hour ago. Mother, you know I would never invite someone in our house," I replied keeping my voice soft and not loud, I did not want to make her angrier.

"It is not her fault, she is right she would never break the rules intentionally," grandma tried to calm my mother.

"But she did break a rule," mom replied sharply, "it means you can not go to meet your sister this month."

I stayed quiet, it was the final decision, and arguing would make it worse. I only got one chance in a month to see Faith, no matter how upset I would get, the truth was I loved my sister. I wanted to be with her, she understood me as no one else could.

"I understand," I kept my eyes glued to my feet.

"Look at me when you are talking."

I turned my gaze towards her, trying my best not to blink, "I understand," I repeated one more time.

"Go to your room and prepare for the test you have next week."

Grandma gave me a reassuring smile which I responded with a small smile of my own.

I opened the book and started looking at the words in it, it was until I got a text from Faith.

'I heard what happened, I am sorry."

'It is just my poopy luck,' I responded.

'Don't worry baby sis, I will see you next month,'

'Why isn't dad here?' I asked, it was a good thing he was not here but they both went to see Faith together.

'Mom had an important meeting with her client, so she had to leave early than planned.'

I heard the footsteps coming towards my room, 'Gotta go bye, love you.'

Just then the door opened, Olivia was standing with a plate in her hands, "I thought you must be hungry."

"Thanks, grandma."

She put the plate on the desk in front of me, "I know you hate it, but these rules are for your own good."

"Are they? I can not be like a normal person, I can not go to parties, I can not invite friends over. Anna must be thinking how weird I am and I am pretty sure she will tell everyone about today," I moaned burying my head between my hands.

Grandma chuckled, "People will always talk sweetheart, learn to ignore the whispers."

She closed the door gently.

I stared at the clouds taking unique shapes in the sky.

'Learn to ignore the whispers,' I repeated.

Before I knew it was evening. I stretched my arms lazily, I yawned when I realized I fell asleep on the desk.

I picked up my notes and walked towards the garden hoping the fresh air would help me.

I continued walking for a while, but then I felt a tingling sensation on the back of my neck which spread throughout my body, it was the feeling of someone's eyes on me. I looked around the garden carefully but no one was there. 

Suddenly the incident of the park came to my mind and I walked inside in a hurry.

Maybe I was overthinking about it.

I put the book back on the desk and was about to sit on the bed when something on the pillow caught my eyes, it was a purple rose.

I picked it up and turned to look at the open window. I left the rose on the desk and closed the window.