Leaving the Friendzone

Elena Sergio.

Sigh! Another day might be a repeated cycle in my life. It was a beautiful morning like every other day. The breeze blew from the west causing the atmosphere to be cold and fuzzy. It was another day to prepare for school.

The piercing sound of my alarm jolted me up from my slumber. I moaned tiredly and yawned. I was reluctant on going to school but I couldn't wait to be done. I sat back on my bed looking tired. I reached out for my glass of water by the side and took a big gulp. That got my spirit alive and gave me a little bit of strength.

"Honey are you awake? You don't want to be late for school," My mom yelled from the supposed sitting room downstairs since my room was up. She must be making the food I was going to eat for lunch.

"I'm awake mom. I'll soon be ready," I answered back even though I knew about my white lie. I checked for my phone I kept under my pillow. It was already seven in the morning. I needed to hurry.

I grunted and planned on ignoring my mom for a bit but the result will be negative. I needed to get my head back on track. I searched for my earbuds. I needed to hear something energetic, something that'll get me bouncing and I knew just the thing.

My earbuds got connected to my phone in a jiffy. Going through my music app, I searched for my favorite song at that moment; Money by my favorite female artist, Cardi B. She was the best. Her rap songs got me lively anytime I seek for a switch-up in my mood and this was another moment. I needed no softness for I had to rush down to school soon.

Moving my body to the beat of the song, I got into the bathroom to freshen up quickly and prepare for yet another school day. I wasn't even aware of myself singing along loudly till my mom barged into the bathroom.

"Mom!" I exclaimed and quickly got a towel to cover myself. I wasn't comfortable with the fact that she had to see me naked. For goodness, I was eighteen already. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I should be asking you. You're making a lot of noise and I'm trying to work," She replied as she stood behind the bathroom door.

My mom was an online marketing officer. She worked with a very reputable company and handled most of their advertisement online. She also engaged with customers online and answered their complaints. She had been doing this for three years now and she seemed to enjoy it. She had a lot of support from us, my dad, and me even though I kind of got in the way with my silliness.

"I'm sorry mom," I apologized for being silly. It was the least I could do and also the right thing.

"You better be. I'm trying to set a conference call and I don't want your noise getting into my way or else you'll be grounded." She just had to say the last one. She wasn't a disciplinarian but she was a killjoy. I couldn't even have fun for five minutes without her ranting about how I was going to get grounded or other punishment she came up with.

Reasons why I kind of love my dad more. Society has painted it normal for girls to be close to their dads and most times it wasn't the case. My dad was a sweet angel, maybe that's why my mom loved him so much. He pampered me a lot and looked out for me. He does it a lot sometimes which made him so overprotective of me. I couldn't get a place to even breathe without him getting into my business. Things like my school work, relationship life, and also my friend. He was still the best dad ever.

My mom turned back in haste to continue what she was going downstairs when she paused. "And makes sure you get that nonsense out of your ears. I'm not gonna buy a new phone," She said firmly as she warned me, shaking her index fingers in my face. I frowned as she left but nothing was going to ruin my mood this morning.

I got ready in a few minutes and got in my wears. I had a hoodie on and long baggy blue jeans. I was known for dressing in this kind of way. Putting on a skirt looked girly for me. I admired being seen in that kind of dress. It made me look tough and no one was going to make me feel shitty.

I sat in front of my mirror, still shaking my head to the song being played. I dressed my browned perfectly and packed my hair in a ponytail. This was the perfect me.

With an increased pace, I rushed downstairs. This caused my feet to hit the ground, causing the floor to echo. The sound was irritating to my parents' ears.

"Elena?" My dad called out.

"Yes, dad!"

"You need to stop your usual morning noises. It's really disturbing," He complained just like he used to every school morning. I was always eager to stop but it skipped my mind. I apologized. I rushed into the kitchen and picked two slices of bread. I couldn't possibly be leaving school on an empty stomach.

"Bye, mom. Bye, dad," finally took my leave after finishing my meal quickly but yet again I was stopped.

"You could at least give me a kiss on the cheek," My dad was being all sweet again. He always made me do this while I was a kid. Anytime he dropped me off at school back then when I was in kindergarten, he would make me kiss him on the cheek and wave, saying bye-bye to him. Now I was a grown lady, I couldn't be seen doing those stuff anymore.

"Dad I'm very late. I got to go," I hurried to the door with my bag strapped on my left shoulder.

"Elena not even a–" I had to cut him off as I shut the door at him. I hopped on my bike and rode myself to school.

My environment was peaceful. It was relieving. Knowing fully well your actions don't attract attention had this way of making you feel safe. I could ride my bike and my eyes won't be on me.

I arrived at school about twenty minutes times. I stopped at where I planned to park my bike. I sighed. I hated being here. Most of my classmates and people I come across made me feel unwanted except for my best friend, Matthews. We arrived at school at almost the same time.

"Elena, I thought you said you weren't gonna come," He said as he was also parking his bike beside me.

"Yes I wasn't but here I'm," I faked a smile, replying to him in a high pitch. He wasn't ready to let me be. He decided to take a walk with me as we entered the school building.

We have been buddies since kindergarten. We attended the same school and had a lot of similarities with each other. We enjoyed each other's company till the tenth grade. He would always talk about how he would marry me in the future and travel the whole world with me by his side. I always laugh when he brought that up. It was pretty cool for him to have dreams as big as that, it was fun minus the marrying part. I've grown too close to him to see my future with him and besides I was in high school. I needed to get a life first.

I tried walking through the day that morning in school. I covered myself with my hoodie properly, avoiding being noticed by anyone on the school premises. The bell rang for the first period. I headed to my locker to get my books and materials.

The corridor was filled with so much energy. Students are up and about carrying out various school activities. Some with their friends having a conversation and others getting hyper about their next classes. I haven't even seen my classmates yet, probably they were in class.

I was caught up in my supposed fascination that I didn't realize I was about to bump into someone and when I did, it was already too late as I had already dropped flat to the ground. Such a nice way to ruin the upcoming day.

"Hey fire face!"

I could recognize that voice anywhere, even in my sleep. Anabel, ready for her usual torments.

Anabel was the most popular girl in the whole school, known for her vibes and saucy attitude. She carried herself with so much poise and always marked her territory. She believed that no one was above her in looks, personality, and status.

A lot of boys come around like a pest, looking for the next sweet thing to perch on. They considered a relationship with her as the biggest achievement. She belittled anyone who crossed her part and today seemed to be my turn.

She always called me fire face right from middle school. An incident I never want to remember. We were to talk about the solar system as our project with a partner. Lucky for me, Matthews was available to work with me. It was finally my turn to present in front of the whole class when Anabel noticed my sunburn. I forgot to apply my sunscreen to protect my skin that day before coming to class.

My skin was fragile. I was very fair and tendencies of being an albino were present. I was always praised for my beautiful skin till Anabel came along. since then, my hoodies have haven there to cover whatever needs to be protected. I refused to be a topic and I wasn't ready for things to repeat themselves.

"What do you want?" I sighed while I asked, attempting to pick myself from the ground. Matthews assisted by lifting me with his right hand.

"Anabel you don't always have to be this mean! Get something better to do," Matthew faced her with a frown. With his looks, he was ready to swallow her whole and spit her to the ground.

"I wasn't talking to you Jerk face. Mind your business," she hissed at him and looked back at me. "I hope you remembered to apply your sunscreen. I don't want you looking all red and disgusting. Have fun in class."

She finally left after literally crushing my self-esteem to the ground. I wasn't pained since it was a part of my everyday school life. I only needed to graduate and get a life in college.

Her words do most times cause a lot of damage. Back then I looked down on myself. I couldn't ever see anything beautiful in me and it saddened me then. Matthews will always try to talk me up and ask me to get it together but I'd ignore it. This time around I chose to live with it and scale through the day.

"What did she just say to my best friend?" Matthews attitude took a U-turn.

"Just let it slide okay?" I pleaded slightly with him.

"She think she got my jokes, let her come back here and say more funny stuff again. She thinks she got jokes huh?"

I had nothing to say but watch him rant his anger out on what just happened. I rested my head on my locker and waited for him to finish.

"Are you done now?" I finally said after watching his dramatic expression. "You could have said that in front of her and not me."

"That's your problem. You're not ready to stand up for yourself. Honestly, what will do you without me?" He was already feeling himself for the little gesture he did back there. "See you in class baby," He took his exit to class, leaving me to handle whatever business I had with my locker.

I joined him quickly in class and sat beside him. We all waited for our subject teacher to arrive. Some were caught up gisting with their pairs, causing noise in the classroom, some took their books to study a few topics while the rest engaged in what they felt like doing at that time.

"You see, this is why you need me to be your boyfriend," Matthews just had to say "I could be standing up for you when all these bullies come around."

"You won't be everywhere with me Matt," I rolled my eyes as I replied to him. "Besides you're my best friend. I rather cherish that than lose the friendship."

"So that means you've feelings for me hey?" He smirked and raised his eyebrows repeatedly but I was about to crush his spirit with my words.

"Nope. Not at all. I got no time for love," I answered him with my face spread with a smile. It felt good as I kept on bringing his hopes down even if he wasn't ready to give up yet.

The teacher finally worked into the class, getting us to remain silent as she was about to take us on a topic in Geography. This wasn't enough for Matthews to stop talking.

"You think your dream guy will just walk into the class out of nowhere, looking so attractive, and just ask you out. Keep dreaming," he lowered his voice tone and laughed softly.

"Definitely. I'll keep dreaming to keep my reality this way," I whispered back at him.

"Well, good luck with that," he scoffed.

"Good luck to you too," I said, my head held high at how much I was ready to stand my ground on something as real as my dream guy.

"I'm not . . . " Matthews began when my gaze fell on the doorway through which Mrs. McCarthy had come in a second ago, and at the sight before me, my jaw dropped open.