Chapter 10

The following day Taylor and Mia keep me endorsed in a conversation.

"The detention here is typical hell," Mia huffs.

"How bad?" I ask. They give me a you- do not want to know look.

Mena sees me at the cafeteria but he ignores me. The lavender haired girl umm what is her name again.... Anastasia rolls her eyes at me. What did I do to her? Nothing. She hated me at first sight for no good reason. I pretend to not see Ana, Zeek and him sitting at the back of us.

Within a second I feel a cold liquid spill on my white T-shirt. It is now having an orange stain. The person who spilled it apologizes. She picks up her bag which had fallen on the ground, pulls out a tissue towel and starts wiping off the liquid from my shirt as she said sorry again. I stop her.

"It's ok I'll just clean it off."

I take time to observe her.She has thick brown hair, a pink shade of lip gloss on her lips, her head bowing slightly low as she pulls in the hem vintage shirt and wearing a pair of vintage shorts along with it. I doubt if she is a student here. She seems too kind and innocent to be here but then again who am I tojudge anyway yet I am here under circumstances.

"Sorry." She apologizes once again.

"It's fine. What is your name?" Mena swoops in right in the middle of my question. He gently holds her hands.

"Let's go Ella." He drags her with him. Taylor and Mia's jaws are practically on the ground. Who was she and why did Mena drag her away from us? Could she be a crazy ex who is not over him? All these questions were burning inside me and i doubt if Benjamin would gladly answer them.

"Let's go get that off you," she points at my now stained shirt.

"Do you have a spare shirt?"

"Yes." Mia gives Taylor a kiss on his cheek along with a "see you later babe" then she escorts me to the bathrooms. The large round mirror nailed above the sink shows a calm but curious reflection of me. At least my eyes do not have swellings from yesterday's cryings. My tongue could not hold it in anymore.

"Do you by any chance know the girl at the cafeteria?" I ask not trying to connect her to Benjamin. However, her answer does not satisfy me.

"Don't know, why?"

"She looks so innocent to be here," I respond honestly.

"She doesn't go to this school but you can ask Benjamin, aren't you guys friends?"

"Okay." I say purposefully ignoring her last question. Truth is I do not know if we are friends or not. Mia exists the bathrooms and returns with a black T- shirt. It was a little tight since I was more curvier than her but a beggar has no choice right.

After classes are done, I take the liberty to invite Mia to my dorm. Taylor was too busy to join us.

When I unlock the door, I see Mena sited on Fine's bed anxiously rubbing his hands on his forehead as if trying to soothe his anxiety. He looks up at us as soon as the door clicks shut. Mia walks over to my bed and sits on it.

"Are you ok?" I ask. He does not respond immediately but instead gets up and walks towards me.

"It's non of your fucking business." His voice filled with anger and annoyance. Benjamin storms out of the room shutting the door hard behind him. Ouch! What did I do this time? The humble girl must have put him in a very bad mood. He has mood swings after all.

"Sorry about that. He's moody Becky." Mia consoles me. I offer her a weak smile.

" Yes he is, umm where did Taylor rush to?" she smiles slightly. She tells me that her boyfriend went to see a relative of his who came over suddenly for a visit. Although I am talking with Mia, my mind keeps drifting to Mena. What could have happened?

***

It is a Saturday.A full week of Mena ignoring me entirely. Whenever I found him at the dorms with Fine, he would not even say a simple hi to me. God knows how patient I have been. This pain is not giving me any gain. The girl, Ella is her name. How I wish I could corner her and inquire about the incident only that I will never see her again as she does not study here. The good news is that Mena is not gloomy, I often spot him smiling when his with Fine or when he's reading his novels on her bed. How he's lips slightly parted whenever he read an annoying scene, or when he rolled his eyes at the characters, his fingers gently digging in to his curly hair. He is handsome. Uhh! What am I thinking about? The Netflix film is not distracting enough so I force myself to sleep.

The days go by without Mena and I communicating. I am so sick of the suspense. I am not so close to him but I am willing to listen I mean that's what friends are for. And we are friends, well trying to be.

My phone rings at 2:00 pm on a Friday afternoon.

"Hi dad," I talk to the person on the other line.

"Hey sweetie," he answers.

"How are you? Is Rose with you?" I could hear the five year old's faint giggles over the phone.

"No she's outside playing,"

"Okay," I wait for my dad to speak. Fine lays quietly on her bed swiping on her phone screen.

"Happy birthday, Becky!" I laugh lightly.

"My birthday is this Monday dad," I remind him.

"I know but I may be too busy to wish you. I have this case."

"It's ok dad. I am turning 18 so I'm grown up to understand." I say.

"Is mom too busy to?" I ask my father.

"She will call you. She just needs enough rest, she is one hardworking woman." he says proudly.

"Yes, that she is." My mom is hardworking, loving but she does not show it for example I have not spoken to her ever since she left me here. She does care though. Rose's baby girlish voice sounds from Dad's side.

"Daddy I want candy!" She exclaims to her father.

"I will buy you one Rose." He promises my sister.

"Hey look it's Becky on the phone," I hear some noises in the background as if dad was trying to move the phone to Rose's angle. The phone flashes to video call and I accept.

Rose's fat cheeks are the first things my eyes spot. She looks so excited, her milk set showing widely.

"Hi Becky!" She waves at me from dad's laps. I noticed that they were inside the house. Rose still had on a coat and a scarf wrapped around her neck. Canada, cold and snowy as always.

"Hi Rose." I reply equally excited. I move towards Fine and immediately introduce her to part of my family.

"Hi there darling what is your name?" Fine lovingly asks.

"My name is Rose." She answers in her shy tone.

"And you are?" Rose asks.

"I am Fine." My roommate replies. Rose bursts into laughter.

"I want the name not how you're doing." She states. For a moment I realize the similarity we had. That is the same reaction I had when she first told me her name. I guess we are not so different after all.

"That's my fuc... my name." She corrects her statement after seeing my eyes pop.

"I like it!" Rose exclaims making three of us laugh.

In no time the four us chat like long time friends. Fine is friendly and easygoing so it is not hard for her to freely talk to dad and Rose, of course fighting so hard to keep her vulgar words at bay. Eventually we sat our goodbyes and hung up.

"That was so fucking hard Becky!" She complains throwing her back on her pillow.

"For you it was. Now let's go eat I am starving." I force her off bed. She changes in to her usual outfits and me in a long skirt and white shirt. I make a mental note to myself to not order orange juice. We go to "BITE ME" restaurant. The two of us eat till we are satisfied.