CHAPTER 1“This is so unfair!” I scream
I’m so angry; I slam my fist as hard as I could against the table. It makes my plate and cup rattle. I look across the table to my parents, the reason why I’m this angry. And they look back just as angry as me, but I really don’t care about that. This is one of those times where I won’t keep my mouth shut, even if I disrespect my parents. I go to protest some more, but my dad isn’t having any of that this time. He talks before I could even get a word in.
“We’ve warned you before, Reina.” He interrupts
I roll my eyes. I already know how this talk will end. We’ve done it hundreds of times before. They’ve said this so many times I’m starting to get bored of it. But that doesn’t seem to stop my dad from ranting though and say it again.
“You get into trouble at school again and we would send you to live with your uncle in Tokyo.”
Like I said; “Unfair!” Only it doesn’t seem that way to my parents. For some reason they get this crazy idea that this is something good for me. I guess they think it might change me. I don’t need changing I just need better luck! My dad leans forward in his chair. He’s so angry it looks like a vein is about to burst from his head any minute. I don’t think I’ve seen him this angry before. This might be serious after all. He looks me right in the eyes to be sure I’m listening. I look back at him with the same glare.
“You managed to get into trouble and get expelled in the same day! This is the third time you’ve been expelled!”
I lean back into my chair and fold my arms over my chest. Big deal, three isn’t so much and I have good reasons to them all. Well…reasons that I consider to be good. I frown and shift forward in my seat too. Let’s see if this reason will get me out of it.
“That guy deserved it! He groped my butt!”
See, that seemed like to be a good enough reason for me to sock him a good one in his jaw, but my dad doesn’t seem to agree. Crap there goes my only way out. My dad places a hand to his throbbing head annoyed. This might be his last straw.
“He ended up being in coma!”
I flinch. Ok, so the hit was a little too hard than I intended. And the coma thing wasn’t supposed to happen, but I don’t take groping lightly! That guy was an asshole to begin with. He groped most of the girls at school and there was no WAY I was going to be his little defenseless victim. Not on my watch! So I hit him. I won’t tell my parents that, but I do end up saying something worse. Here I go shoving my foot up my ass than it already is and not thinking.
“He woke up the next day. I don’t see the big deal.”
Me and my big mouth…yep, always making the hole deeper just when it needs to be. My dad is fed up and with both his hands he slams the table twice as hard as me with such a force that some of the dishes fell and broke. I jump back startled. He was beyond angry. His face was starting to go red too.
“That’s besides the point! We moved you to a different school to stop the problem, but it looks like it just keeps coming back.” He sighs shaking his head. Man is he really disappointed. I kind of feel bad. He didn’t speak after that, obviously he was too angry to. We sat in silence for a second.
“Reina,”
I look to my mom. She sat there most of the time next to my dad quietly. She sounds just as sad and upset as him too. She gave me one of her caring smiles before she spoke. I think I’m in for it now.
“We love you and we’ve tried very hard to keep you out of trouble, but no matter how hard we try, trouble always finds you.” I try to oblige, but she raises a hand cutting me off. What is it with everyone cutting me off today?!
“We know you don’t mean to.” She took the words right out of my mouth. All I can do now is listen. “But this is our last option. Try to understand.”
My stomach twists into a tight knot. This is not good. She’s talking like this is my death sentences and I can’t work around it. I don’t like how this is turning out. Please don’t tell me what I think you’re saying. I’m nearly on the edge of my seat waiting for her to confirm what I think she’s about to say.
“You will be living with your uncle for one year.”
There she said it! My eyes open so wide after that they were about to pop out. My mouth is also hung open in total shock. My mom looks down to her plate. I can’t be hearing this right. Did she just say a year? A year as in…TWELVE whole months?! I try to speak, because I feel that I need to say something even if I know it’s hopeless. My dad only comes in again to stop me.
“Don’t you say a word! This was a hard decision for the both of us, but we feel it’s for the best.”
His tone tells me it’s final and I have nothing else to say. Nothing can be done. I look away. I feel that I want to cry, kick, scream, or anything, but all I can do is sit and take it all in. This is for the best? I would like to see how because I can’t see that anywhere! I’m starting to think about this whole situation now. A year is really a long time. I don’t think I can handle a year. Then something accrues to me. It could probably be my only way out. I would have to try it out and see. I turn to my parents in faint hope.
“What about school?” I look to my dad. Let’s see what they have to say about that. I know how they consider school very important for me even if I got kicked out a few times from it.
“We’ve already spoke to your uncle about school and he told us that it’s still early to fit in another student.”
My whole face changes to defeat. Are they kidding me?! They must have been counting on me to get expelled. I start to get the feeling that I’m now unwanted. There’s silence again for a few seconds and suddenly my mom starts to cry. I can’t help but feel guilty knowing it was because of me. I really screwed up. It took me a while to see it, but at least I can see it and then admit it. My dad puts a hand to my mom’s hand to try and comfort her. She composes herself to speak again.
“Please, Reina try to understand this is to help you.” She starts choking up again and I feel even worse. I never wanted to make things hard on them. I can see, they’re really going to do this and a part of me kind of hates them for that. I glare at my dad. I can’t show them how much this bothers me. I feel that even around my parents I have to keep my tough appearance up. Call it just a bad habit.
“When do I leave?” I say that much colder than I intended
“Tomorrow at 10am. Start packing what you need. I’ll drive you to the train station.” He says this just as icy as me. Then he points to the kitchen door for me to leave. I get up in a hurry, fuming. At least it’s good to know they didn’t pack my things for me. And they didn’t seem to be jumping for joy back there seeing me leave so soon. I slam my room door shut, to taking my anger out. I hate this whole situation.
***
I was done packing in about thirty minutes. After that I decided to sit doing nothing, but thinking about this whole thing. I sat on the floor leaning against the bed staring at my wall. At first I was angry about being sent away. I wouldn’t see my friends for a year, but then I felt sad and a little scared when I focused on not being able to see my parents for a whole year. Everything stuck me like a massive brick to the head. I would be alone in a different city, a different school, and a different home. I would be in a place I know nothing about. I would have no friends and I would be living with almost a stranger. I felt myself beginning to panic the more I thought about this.
“Reina?”
I rip back from my thoughts and turn around looking over my bed to the door. It was my mom on the other side. I muster all my strength to make my voice normal like I wasn’t afraid.
“Yes?”
“You have to head to bed. We’ll have a lot of traffic on the road if we don’t leave early tomorrow.”
My feelings come back up again, but I quickly push it away replacing them with anger.
“Yeah I’m going now!” I growl
I know I shouldn’t spend the last few minutes with my parents yelling at them, but consider this my safety system. Just so others won’t know I’m hurt. You learn to use it fast when you’re in a place like me. I get up to my bed and pull back the covers. I hear my mom walk away going down the hall. She didn’t bother to say goodnight to me. When I hit the pillow all I can do is lie on my side and look at my alarm clock wide awake. I’m not angry with my parents anymore. I’m just really scared.
IndexChapter 43
http://pkkame.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/ttcl-chapter-43 (TanaKamei)
Chapter 44.5
http://pkkame.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/ttcl-ch-44-5 (TakaGaki)
Chapter 45
http://pkkame.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/ttcl-ch-45/ (TanaKamei)
Chapter 53.5
http://pkkame.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/32/ (TakaGaki)