Chapter

They were children everywhere, some were with parents who were talking to each other or with teachers. She did not know who to ask for the way to the assembly hall and neither did she want to interrupt their pleasant conversation or have to pretend kind smiles to infiltrate herself in one.

Therefore she took a deep breath trying to stay as calm as possible, especially with so many small people around her; whenever she was very close to children she always felt signs of a panic attack; of that creep that gives you when you think of a spider perched on your shoulder.

Despite having followed the directions for quite a while now, it happened to be that the assembly hall wasn't as close as she had thought. She walked into a corridor sure that the last one's direction sign was pointing that way, her heels resonating against the floor caught the attention of a woman with the word "Cleaner" illustrated on her green uniform. Without further ado, she asked for her destination to the only person who would not be bothered to start an uninvolved conversation and later on began to walk down aisle after aisle without losing the point between the two floors until she finally reached the ceremony room.

The play was about to begin, apparently, she had made it there at rush hour after having walked in circles; even so, had it been in reverse she wasn't going to be the one to blame either. The school itself was big and the auditorium was not far behind, she half looked at the reddish-toned details of the walls as she descended the steps.

Here she was, attending the play of someone else's daughter after having yielded to her own. She has a seat like the other parents in one of the numerous cushioned Scarlet chairs facing the sort of wooden classic-like stage, making sure not to wilt the flowers and the little pink box she was given for her boss's daughter.

The audience burst in claps as a few disguised medieval-like children came to the scene, Serena hurried to take out the picture that the driver had given to her for the recognition of her objective. A while ago she had refused to look at it but as the play continued she found it more difficult to tell which child she was supposed to be in charge of.

She took a deep breath of air and slowly open her eyes to see the picture she was holding. In the picture there was a girl of about five years with an inordinate joy highlighting her blue eyes and her brown hair in vague slings on her shoulders, her nose was small and she had a wide mouth with plump cheeks. It was clear her life was carefree from the way she smiles at the camera holding a melted ice cream cone in a white vase dress.

Serena continued to watch her warily, she was absent-minded and Without thinking she delineated the shapes of the face she had a feeling of knowing very well but that at the same time was unknown to her, she realized she was looking for similarities with the memory of her daughter vivid in her mind.

Whether she wanted it or not, she was the closest thing to her daughter, hence she looked so familiar for the fact that end of the day, they were from the same father and half-sisters:

They both had very similar eyes, as blue as a calm sea, and her hair was the same, brown, with outlined bushy eyebrows.

Serena kept the photo with anguish when she realized that she Has been staring for too long, she was almost disoriented and reluctantly activated the camera of her cellphone to record the first of many scenes of Romeo and Juliet, her boss wanted to see it after not being able to attend.

She rolled her eyes, how typical of him to cast people aside, she grumbled.

In a few minutes, the little blond Romeo was sneaking under a medieval castle's balcony on which Juliet appeared, and she called out to him with spite despair.

There she was, the moment Serena saw her she realized that she didn't even know the name of her boss's daughter, and surely it wasn't Juliet like in the drama. She held the camera thinking of ways to correct her carelessness without it looking like an abduction, she could just walk up and talk to her; it wouldn't be so bad.

She continued recording until the actors appeared shoulder to shoulder on stage and bowed earning the applause of the audience meanwhile, Juliet smiled and looked around the room like she was in search of something in the crowd.

Serena knew she was looking for her father, she still had hopes that he had come.

She stopped recording feeling a tight grip in her guts. She had also had the hope he had come. Well, she snorted in exasperation, one point less in her favor she was just a substitute of her wishes, and not for the better.

Finally, between whistles and some other loud encouragement, the children went backstage and a teacher appeared to give the last speech about how wonderful they were.

She would have liked to leave as well but it looked like she would have to endure the illusion that made the teacher recite her efforts and achievements with the children for a long time. Each parent listened attentively and the classroom was filled with silence, her voice had already tired her to the extent that running away seemed an irresistible idea.

After her second prayer, the public exposition came to an end and she was free to go in search of Juliet, whom she found talking to two girls. Still a few steps away, she watched her cautiously, she seemed to be upset and frowned while the other girl with black hair in an elegant dress seemed to say something that was not to her liking.

"Nobody has come to see you and they have also forgotten to pick you up from school," said the black-haired little girl.

"That's not true, I have my driver and Héctor is very punctual," she snapped, crossing her hands.

"Your father has not come to see you and neither has your mother, you are nobody's daughter," said the other girl with copper hair.

Serena looked around without knowing what to do about it, this was far from being a pleasant chat between friends.

" yes" agreed the blonde "you don't have a mother"

"I do," Juliet shouted, offended but slightly unconvinced.

What was she supposed to do?

There were no teachers nearby. this shouldn't be that difficult it was only supposed to be picking her up from school.