Chapter3

#Chapter3

Hope's POV

The next morning I got awoken from my long, peaceful sleep by the chirping of the choir of the birds that were unknowingly perching outside my window, while freely gliding through the crispy and cold morning air of October. Their song was beautifully composed, every note well-practiced and every voice different from the other, that I couldn't help but let the heart-touching rhythm draw a small smile on my face.

Shortly, I threw my grey fluffy blanket aside, and went into the bathroom. Quickly doing my morning routine, I slipped on some new clothes. Before long, I was ready and headed downstairs.

When I reached the last step I heard the low, yet sharp, clinking sounds of the utensils coming from the kitchen. Eager to know who it was, I hurried into the kitchen.

Once I peeked into the room I saw my mother making pancakes near the stove. Now, this was a sight I wanted to wake up to every day. There's just something about your mother's food. You can never find the same taste anywhere in the world.

"Good morning mom," I said cheerily, a grin automatically etching onto my face. I went over to her and hugged her tightly.

"Morning honey," she greeted me back. I molded myself in her warm embrace that I had miserably missed for the past days. We hardly got to see each other because of her busy shifts.

My mother was a brunette with the exact same shade of hair color as me. She had those rare grey eyes which would lock you under their enchanted gaze the moment you would look into them. She had a svelte figure. Her round face had full pink lips, and a small nose. There were wrinkles on her face due to all the stress she had on her shoulders all the time. A few little grey hairs on the front hairline indicated that she was in her fifties and was growing old. But, I loved her with all of my heart and found her beautiful. Sometimes I wished I had more of her features because she was stunning.

Mom kissed my forehead and I nuzzled my head in her neck. I loved her.

"Seems like you missed me a lot," she said as she hugged me back.

"I hardly see you," I said and her embrace loosened.

"Go, and quickly eat these delicious looking pancakes, and make sure you eat both of them. I don't want you to faint in the hallways again." She ordered, her tone strict.

"Yes ma'am," I said and took a seat at the small island and started eating. Mom chuckled softly and went to wash the dirty dishes.

When I was in Middle school I had deliberately missed my breakfast. I didn't like eating breakfast back then. It would make me feel nauseous.

So one day I went to school without any food in my stomach, as I had missed both dinner and breakfast. In the first two classes, nothing happened. I was in my senses and paying attention to everything. After the third class, my head started aching, and I was feeling weak a lot. Before the lunch break, I fainted in the hallway. This all happened because I didn't eat breakfast. Maybe if I would've eaten dinner I could have survived the school day.

I had to be carried to the infirmary, and my mother came to fetch me. When we got home she spent an hour scolding me on how important it is to eat breakfast. Since then, I have had to eat breakfast daily.

"I won't be home again tonight, Hope. I have to do this extra shift. I'm sorry we don't get to spend much time together. I'll try to make it up to you." I just gave her a small smile which seemed to lessen her guilt just by a fraction but on the inside, I was feeling so gloomy.

After dad left mom, she started working so that she could pay the bills, buy groceries and other important stuff for the house. She had to do two jobs to meet both ends as the pay of the nurses in the town wasn't much. And she couldn't go to the city as it was far, and the commute alone would cost her a lot.

Mom would be out of home for hours, and I'd be all alone at home. There were many times she would come home and just sleep on the couch due to exhaustion. She wouldn't even make it to her room. That's where I'd her in the mornings, sleeping peacefully.

The sight would break a small piece inside of me every time I would look at her. I missed the days we spent together, because now we hardly got time to even see each other.

"Since I won't be here to make dinner, please eat something before going to bed." I nodded my head blankly at her request.

Within minutes I finished the two pancakes on my plate and was going to put my plate in the sink to wash but mom stopped me.

"I'll wash it, you go to school," I looked at the time and reluctantly let go.

I lifted my backpack from the ground. I then kissed mom on her cheek and told her I love her. Waving her goodbye, I exited the house.

The school was a twenty-minute walk from my house. I couldn't afford to buy a vehicle to go to school. The money mom earned was used either to pay the bills, buy groceries, or went towards my fund for college.

Soon enough the tall and wide white building of the school came into my view and I entered the premises. There was hardly anyone at school and like every day I was early again.

I was crossing the vacant parking lot when I saw an black car pulling up into the parking lot. I stopped for a second and stared at the luxurious car that was getting nearer with every passing second. It was shining under the sunlight in a way that it would make anyone's head turn around and look at it in envy.

The car door opened after a moment and Heath got out. He grabbed his black backpack, locked the doors, and started striding towards the building. He was wearing a plain black hoodie with black ripped jeans and the same trainers he had worn the other day. He was dressed simple but still looked great. The only new thing to his look was that he had bruises on his hands which were quite visible since he had fair hands.

At once he abruptly stopped in his way and slightly craned his neck to look straight at me. His eyes bored into mine, and I swear my heart stopped beating and my lungs slowed down. Heat rose to my cheeks and burned my skin.

He glared at me and then walked away. I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts swimming around inside it.

Heath was unknown. No one at school really knew anything personal about him. He intrigued me, and maybe that's the reason why I was noticing him all of a sudden. But I instantly refrained myself because I knew I would get into trouble and besides that, I had to stay focused and fulfill my ambition. And that was to become a doctor and make my mother happy. It was her wish that I become a doctor. She meant the world to me and seeing her doing these exhausting jobs hurt me. Every time I saw her massaging her tired feet my heart would ache and I would get more determined to get into a medical college.

I went to my locker and opened it, collecting all the books I needed. I made my way to my first period; maths. I padded to the back of the class and took a seat.

I liked to sit as far away from the teacher as I could. The more the distance from the board, the less attention you attract.

Miss Sheila elegantly sauntered into the class after two minutes. She was a lady in her mid-forties and was very strict. She had a skinny figure and always tied her blond hair in a tight bun which was making her go hairless from the front of her hairline but I don't think she cared about it at all.

When the students filled in and there was pin-drop silence, she started explaining trigonometry. Everyone was listening carefully to her, while I was drawing weird stick figures in my notebook.

I never understood a word Miss Sheila taught. She would go on and on, and I would never get anything. She made maths sound difficult. Because of this, I had to self-teach myself which sometimes I find difficult but I managed. Asking for her assistance was definitely a big no. She didn't like it when students asked her questions, mainly because she wouldn't know how to answer the questions.

At once, the door slammed open and Heath strode in without bothering to cast a glance at Miss Sheila. She was staring daggers at him but he didn't pay attention to her.

"Mr Travon, so nice of you to join my class," Miss Sheila sarcastically said to Heath as everyone listened to her.

Heath stopped and looked around the room. When his cold gaze settled on me, he strode up to me and took the seat right beside me, although there were many vacant seats in the class.

I was staring at him in confusion when he wrote something in his notebook and gestured for me to look downwards.

"Pay attention to Miss Shell instead of me," it said.