• Chapter I


    "Please, come on I’m pleading. I never do that-"
    "No. For the tenth time, I won’t be your date for the prom night."
    '"Okay, don’t be. But at least come."
    "NO"
    I increased my pace, but I can never beat him at speed.
    "But why?”
    AARRGGHHH, God he eats my brain alive, I thought.
    "Oh I know, you've got no dress, am I right?"
    "No, and please Mattia. Leave. Me. Alone."
    "I won’t unless u tells me your reasons for not going."
    I decide to ignore him and keep on walking, but he was still following me. So I decide to end this bulling once and for all. I suddenly stop, and turn around to find him walking on the wall beside us.
    "Get down from there. What will you do if you fall and break your leg or your arm? Try to be considerate."
    He smiles and jumps down, and then he's suddenly right next to me and really close.
    "Oh, so you are worried about me? Really?"
    For a second I feel a bit flushed, and a drop of sweat slides down my neck.
    "n-no, I was just warning you because that wall is other people's property and not yours. Besides, if you happen to fall, I will be held responsible for you, and I don’t need extra responsibilities on my back"
    "Well, if it happens that I fell it would be a pleasure to be one of your responsibilities. And I promise u to be a good patient."
    I turn my face around and continue walking, the plan for ending his harassment failed.
    "Hey, about the prom dress. If u really don’t have one then I’ll buy u one, a really pretty one that will suit u and your style."
    "Don’t you mean 'steal you one’? And no thanks either way. And what do you mean by 'suit your style’?”
    "Umm....don’t know? Nerd."
    "Ugh, Whatever."

    I continue my walk when I realize that I’m rounding my house in the next corner and that if I get caught
    With him, then hell will fall on me. So I decide to end our little chit chat here, But then I heard my dad voice so near that I pulled Mattia to wall with me.
    "Whoa, chill it girl. If u wants me that much, then just say so." he says in his what-so-called sexy voice.
    "Oh would you just shut it and stay still for a while!”
    I try to keep him quiet while concentrating on the conversation that my dad was having.
    ".....yes, I know. I told Sebastian to handle it ...yes sir.......they will be at your office by the morning-"
    It seems to be a one sided conversation, so I guessed he was talking on the phone.
    "What the hell is going on, Rei."
    'Rei' it’s like there isn’t any other nicknames available except that one.
    "My dad is on the other side of this wall," I whisper, "so please go home now, okay."
    Without waiting for an answer I round the corner and see my dad, giving me his back, wearing his suit and talking on his cell. His chauffer is holding the door of his SUV's car and waiting for my dad to ride.
    'Another meeting' I thought.
    My dad turns around and ends his call while looking at me, almost like glaring at me.
    "Reimi" he says while looking at his watch, “You are 15 seconds late. And on top of that I called your English teacher earlier about your test." I winced as he paused. "Your mark was 29 out of 30. This is bad."
    "Yeah, I’m sorry daddy. I will make sure I do better on the next te-"
    "REIMI" he says in a loud voice cutting me out. "You do not say 'Yeah'. It is not an English word. You say
    Yes. Is that clear?"
    I nod.
    "Good. You will be having a re-test tomorrow morning. I expect a good result."
    "Yes daddy"
    "Good" this was his last word as he rode his SUV and drove away.
    A whistling voice startled me
    "That was one heck of a scolding. Wow Rem, your old man is nuts!" Mattia said as walked and stood beside me.
    "What are you doing here?" I say, not even bothered to scold him for calling my father nuts.
    "I can’t believe someone would actually be mad at the word 'yeah', I mean what difference does it make if u 'yes' instead of 'yeah'. And what’s wrong with getting a 29 out of 30 in a test, it just one mark off-"
    "Mattia. Thank you for the feedback, but please let’s just go our separate ways now. I have a test tomorrow morning and I need to study for it."
    "Alright. But you still owe me an answer. U comin' babe or what?" he winks
    "Ugh, just leave. You’ll get me in trouble."

    Slowly, and as quietly as I could, I closed the front door of my house without attracting any attention from my mom or the maids.
    "Reimi? Is that you?"
    I of course couldn’t escape my mom’s sharp ears.
    "Yes mother." I replied.
    "Come here for a bit, Reimi."
    When I went to her, she was dressed in a green gown with a really low cut and a black shall that rested on her shoulders. The dress was a gift from one of my mom’s friends on her anniversary when she went with dad to Galliten city.
    "Who was that boy you were talking to?" she said, while a maid was clipping her hair with one of my mom’s fancy clips.
    'Another late night party' I thought.
    "Umm, someone ...from class?" it sounded more of a question than a statement.
    "From which family is he from? What is he name?"
    "....no family-"
    "You mean a simple commoner...That explains his ragged dirty clothe-"
    "His clothes are not ragged or dir...Well, they are dirt from playing around. But they are not ragged!!"
    "Playing around? Young lady, how could you hang out with a...a guy like him. You know how your father will respond to it, do you?"
    "Yes...I do"
    She sighed then clicked her fingers and said “Maria," a maid came running "see the Reimi has her lunch on time today"
    "Yes, milady" she replied with a bow, and then scattered back to the kitchen.
    "M-mom, will you be home late again?
    "Yes, I will. Now listen here I don’t want you to associate with that boy again, alright?"
    "Yes mother"

    After having lunch, I sat on m study table to get those vocabulary words in my brain but it kept wondering off all time and Mattia's words kept swarming around my mind. 'Of course I had prom dresses, I attend most of the parties that my parents hold or their friends do. Who does he think I am? I am not a poor girl; in fact I may even be the richest girl in school. Yeah.' I walked to my closet and opened. The dresses sat hanging probably since the last time I attended a party which was my coming of age ceremony. My, what-everybody-calls, Sweet Sixteen, last year. I wonder if they even fit me now. Then I realized where my thoughts were leading so I shook my head and slap my cheeks three times.
    "No, no, no. There is no way I’m going to that silly prom night."
    I pushed all related thoughts away and tried to get back to my vocabulary words again.
    "Conceptualize. C-O-N-C-E-P-T-U-A-L-I-Z-E. Conceptualize."
    ~xXx~