PETRA.



I got out of my car, grabbed my bag and headed into the house. Michael, the butler opened the door for me and greeted. I didn’t bother replying and just went up straight to my room. I dropped the bag on the bed and stared at it, biting my lip. I opened the bag and took out my chemistry test. After picking the brains of my seat partners for the test, I managed to score a B.

I was excited to show my dad the result. I could finally show him that I was smart. Well smart enough to read minds for the test but still smart was smart. I laid the test carefully on the bed and stripped off my clothes, dashing into the shower. I had spent majority of the day at Stella’s house and now it was almost time for dinner.

I came out of the shower, refreshed and ready to bask in the praises I was going to receive tonight. I lathered my skin with moisturizer and when I was done with my skin routine, I took out a lavender dress that was silky to the touch and slipped it on then stepped in my three inch heels.

Dinner was a big affair in my house and Dad liked for everyone to always dress fancy. We never knew when he was going to invite any of his friends over and we didn’t want to look shabby in front of them. I certainly loved the principle. I loved looking my best at all times. I put on some lip-gloss and went out of the room.

Forgetting my test, I ran back in and snatched it off the bed. My gaze caught the mirror as I turned to leave and I faced it. I pretended to hand the paper over to my dad and imagined his reaction when he would see the grade.

“Wow! Petra, I never knew you had it in you,” he would say and then I’d go...“I told you I could do it.”

Or he would say. “Nicely done. I’m proud of you,” and I’d reply, “Thanks, dad.”

I turned away and left the room, eager for the real reaction. My family was just sitting down for dinner by the time I made it to the dining room. I kissed my little brother, Logan, on the cheek knowing it would leave a lipstick stain and irritate him.

“Eww! Gross, Petra,” he whined and I laughed.

I took my seat beside my mom and placed my test on the table where it was in my dad’s line of vision. My mom saw the grade and she nodded approvingly. “Nice work, dear.”

“What’s that?” My dad eyed the test.

I gave him a brilliant smile. “It’s my test, dad.”

“Let me see.” He motioned towards it and I picked it up and passed it to my mom, in turn she passed it to my dad.

“Look what she got, Daniel. Didn’t she do good?” she added a little commentary.

The servants set the table and catching a glimpse of the lobster before it was placed down. My mouth was already watering. Our cook, Giuseppe made the best dishes in the world. He was a chef in Italy and dad had hired him to be our in-house chef.

My dad’s countenance didn’t change as he perused the test paper. He looked unimpressed. My heart sank. I knew what was coming before he even opened his mouth.

“It’s a B. Why couldn’t you get an A?” He threw the test behind him and it landed in the flower pot behind him. I watched as the tip of the paper gradually got soaked and tears pricked my eyes.

“What’s the name of that kid who got student of the year last year?” he asked.

My lips turned down at the corners and I clenched my jaw. “Sally Jenkins.”

“What was her grade?”

“I don’t know, dad. She and I aren’t exactly friends.”

“You should be. If you were smart, you’d realise that you should be friends with her. She’s been getting the student of the year since middle school and every year I have to hand her an award and congratulate her while my daughter sits at the side-lines watching. Dumb people need to make friends with smart people in order to make it in life but of course you wouldn’t think of that because your brain cells are dead.”

“Daniel! That’s not a nice thing to say to your daughter,” my mom exclaimed.

“Shut up, Eleanor. I spend a lot of money on my image and I spend a lot of money on that school, the least your daughter could do is be a good daughter and make me look good. I bet that black kid got an A+ and her family is not even as rich as ours.”

He pulled his plate towards him and cut into his salmon. I was livid. My stomach felt full and all I wanted to do was yell at him and tell him to go fuck himself. I pushed my chair back and got out of my seat. It didn’t even get as little as the raise of an eyebrow from him. My mom called after me as I marched out of the dining room. I went up the stairs and straight to my room.

I slammed the door hard, wishing the whole house would shake from it but the stupid structure was sturdy. Then I screamed out in frustration and pulled off my duvet and threw it across the room. Picked up my throw pillows and flung them one after the other too. I hated that stupid black girl. It was always one insult after the other because of her. She always made me look bad in front of my dad and I was sick of it. I was going to make her life so miserable tomorrow she would wish she never came to school.

********************



I heard a sound behind me and wiped off my tears. The sound of footsteps got closer to me and I breathed in deeply to clear out my voice. “I’d like to be left alone.”

The person was either deaf or didn’t understand English. I certainly hadn’t spoken Chinese just now. I looked up at the person and Sally sat down beside me.

Freaking great.

“What are you doing here? I just said I want to be alone.”

“This place wasn’t exactly made for you. I can go anywhere I like,” she replied.

Her reply caught me off guard and I stared at her shocked for a moment before looking away. She’s got balls now. Good for her. I decided not to give her a reply, I wasn’t really in the mood for a fight. Besides, we were at the top of the school, she might decide to push me off the roof.

The wind blew softly, blowing my hair off my shoulder. She took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s so peaceful out here, isn’t it?” she said but I didn’t give any inclination I heard her.

I looked out at Hollister. It was dark, quiet and chilly. At this time of the night, we’d be in bed in my house. Or I would be in Logan’s room playing video games.

“I’m sorry about what I did to you. I’ve never lost control like that before. It was like something came over me and took control of my body.”

I frowned. This girl was weird. I had always been nasty to her, always looked for ways to humiliate her in front of the whole school and she was apologizing to me. She was either too dumb or too nice. Sadly, I knew it was the latter.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for making your life hell in school.”

She snorted. “It wasn’t exactly hell but it was certainly uncomfortable.” She gave me a small smile.

Uncomfortable? That was the understatement of the year. She looked up at the stars and I stared at her. She wasn’t that know-it-all who always managed to make me look bad. She wasn’t the girl I was always in a silent competition with. She was just Sally Jenkins. And this Sally Jenkins didn’t give me a reason to hate her. I realized she never gave me a reason to hate her in the first place, I was just jealous of her.

“All that stuff you said in school back then about you hating black people, was it true?” She asked quietly.
“No,” I answered. I wasn’t racist. I just always said it to make her feel bad. It was really low of me to do and thinking about it now, I wasn’t proud of it. She didn’t say anything afterwards and we both just sat there enjoying the night.

Suddenly, she exclaimed and pointed up at the sky. “Oh my God! Look, it’s a shooting star.”

I looked up and truly, there was a shooting star. “Make a wish,” she said and closed her eyes. I did too and even though I knew my wish wasn’t going to come through and a falling ball of gas had no power over it, I made it anyway.

“What did you wish for?” she asked.

“It wouldn’t come true if I told you.” I smirked.

“Right.” she nodded. “I saw you crying earlier.”

“It’s none of your business,” I snapped.

“Okay.” She faced forward and tapped her fingers on the concrete, swinging her legs in the air. The tapping got annoying and I spoke up.

“I was crying because I miss home, now stop tapping. It’s annoying.”

“I miss home too,” she said sadly and I remembered that her parents had died in that car crash. Shit! A soft sigh escaped her and I immediately felt bad. Way to go, Petra. You made her sad.

“I’m sorry, that was an insensitive thing to say?” I wasn’t really sure. I hadn’t exactly referred to her parents.

She sniffled and laughed a little. “What’s gotten into you? You seem to be apologising a lot tonight.”

“It must be the weather plus it’s kind of cold. It must’ve affected my thinking faculties,” I said and  cracked a small smile, surprising myself.

She smiled too and grabbed my hand. I flinched and remembering how she had taken my power I jerked it back.
“I want to try something,” she said and reached for my hand again.

She closed her eyes and her face scrunched up in concentration. I stared at her weirdly, wondering if her synapses had frozen when I felt a warmth seep into me. I looked down at our joined hands and tiny white lines were moving out of her hand into mine. She groaned, her face squeezed in pain. I was imbued with energy. I could hear the sounds of everything around me once again, the discussion going on in the floor beneath us, the sounds of the couple making out in the chemistry lab– which made me cringe– the snoring of a boy in the cafeteria and I gasped.

Her eyes opened and she looked tired as she breathed harshly, taking in gulps of air. “Did it work?”

“Yes,” I said, surprised that she would do something like that. “You can give it back?”

She smiled tiredly. “It seems so.”

“Why? After everything I’ve done to you, why would you give me back my power and cause yourself that kind of pain?” I still found the whole thing confusing.

“Because it wasn’t mine to take and I’m sorry for doing it. I figured if I could absorb powers I could give it back too.” She fell back on the concrete and took in deep breaths.

I had tried to hurt her. I had tried to use my power to hurt her and she had given it back to me despite how mean I had always been to her. My eyes welled up with tears and I felt like giving her a hug but that wasn’t possible.

“Thank you,” I said instead and wiped away the tears.

“You don’t have to thank me.” She closed her eyes and didn’t say anything afterwards. I calmed myself down till I didn’t feel like crying anymore.

“This doesn’t mean we’re friends though,” I told her. Her face looked tranquil. I thought she had fallen asleep then she whispered.

“I know,” with a little quirk of her lips.