The sound of the alarm clock, which was on top of the bedside drawer vibrated around the room and caused her to open her eyes but she was still feeling sleepy so she closed them back. She heard the door open almost immediately and she knew who it would be. Mrs. Carla, her mum. Her mum only comes to her room early in the morning when she overslept. She jumped out of the bed to avoid making her mum angrier than she might already be.
" Patsy, you know I won't like you going late on your first day in a new school, don't you?, Mrs. Carla asked with a serious face.
"Yes mum, I know", Patsy muttered but her mum already left the room and shut the door before she could finish.
Making her mum angry early in the morning wasn't a good sign at all. She knelt and said her prayers, then picked up her cell phone from the reading table and set an alarm to ring in 15mins time. Her mum has been complaining that she was as slow as a snail so she decided to test herself. Perhaps, she could make things right 👍.
She did everything a little bit faster than she normally does; brushed her teeth, took her bath, and dressed in her new uniform and shoes. As she walked towards her mini dressing table, the alarm rang.
" I guess I'm slow after all", Patsy said to herself, a bit angry.
She sat down facing the mirror and started making her hair as her mum has stopped making it for her since she turned 16.
Looking at herself, she was pleased with the way she looked, "I'm very pretty", she said smiling to herself. She picked up her school bag and headed for the door, swung it open then switched off the lights, and shut the door.
Beaming with a smile and singing her favorite song " Still Look Pretty" in a low tone, she walked down the stairs only to be interrupted by her mum's angry voice.
"How many hours will it take you to dress up and get your lazy self down here Patsy?, asked Mrs. Carla who was through preparing for work and was looking over some documents, waiting for Patsy.
"But mum I tried to be fast", she protested.
"You know I hate it when you argue with me"
"I'm sorry mum".
Mrs. Carla took a good look at Patsy, "You look beautiful. More like an angel than a student".
Patsy chuckled, " thanks mum".
And her mum's voice changed again,
"We are leaving in less than 8mins so eat your breakfast as fast as you can", her mum said while carefully arranging the papers spread all over the table.
" Please Patsy, please", she said again when she saw Patsy walking like they had all the time in the world.
"Ok mum".
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Bye Patsy, be a good girl", Mrs. Carla shouted out to her daughter.
" Ok mum, have a nice day", Patsy replied waving at the same time as her mum drove off.
She stepped into the enormous school compound and couldn't help admiring it even though she has seen it before. The tall trees lined up in the middle and at both ends of the compound gave it a magnificent look. The school's name "DE TOCAs ACADEMY" was boldly written on the yellow, white, and turquoise-colored five-story building.
She headed towards the stairs and tried to remember the way to her class. She had to climb 6 staircases to get to the 3rd floor and then get herself to the 8th class, just as she had counted. She walked towards her class taking a glance at other classes. As she stepped into the class, all heads turned from the geography teacher to her which made her shy.
"What's your name?", asked the teacher.
"Patsy. Patsy Wynn" she replied.
The teacher looked at the list of newbies on her cell phone and found her name there. With that, she motioned her to take the vacant seat close to the window.
As she walked towards the seat, she quickly read the names of those sitting close to her. Their names were written on their lockers; Will Danny in front of her, Grace Elliot seated behind her, and Emily Gerald at her left-hand side. She sat down and enjoyed the rest of the class and was grateful to Ms. Harley, the geography teacher for summarizing the areas she already explained before she came inside the class.
At the end of the class, her classmates came over to say hi after which they returned to their desks. She tried to recall their names; Athena the class president, Nia the short girl in the front, Roy, Frank, and Bob the three guys at the back, Joanne, Zoe, Richard, and Treya.....
"Hi, I'm Emily", she heard her neighbor said.
"Patsy", she replied expecting "I already know that" as a response but instead Emily asked for her age.
"Sweet 16"
"Haha, same here".
Emily asked again, "we are four and I'm the 2nd, how about you?"
"Only child", Patsy replied and Emily said a quick " Wow".
They went on and on discussing different things and laughing 😅 in between. Patsy already grew a likeness for Emily; she was nice to talk to. Patsy got to know Emily's favorite things, her family background, where she lives, her dream job, hobbies, and her view on different things. She also helped me to know more about the school and the activities carried out.
Patsy heard the bell ring every 10mins and that made her curious to know why they rang the ball frequently. Emily told her that the only time they ring the bell constantly is when a staff meeting is being held.
"What do your parents do?", Emily asked her.
"My mum works as the administrative assistant with DYK firms", Patsy replied.
"and your dad?" Emily asked.
Patsy didn't want to talk about him. When her former friends asked about her dad, she would tell them that he works at Kapok in Brunei and visits them during summer holidays because of the distance.
But then, she felt it won't be bad if she tells Emily.
"I have no idea what he does. He left us because of me, he said he didn't want a girl child. I don't even know what he looks like as my mum refused to show me his picture ", Patsy said and Emily wished she didn't ask.
" I'm sorry about that", she said hugging her. "It's not your fault. You did nothing wrong.
The bell rang again, longer than usual and Patsy knew what it meant. School was over. She checked her wristwatch, it was 3:30 pm.
She and her new friend packed their books in their bags and headed downstairs chatting happily like Patsy didn't mention anything about her dad.
Patsy sighted her mum outside the school's gate, "That's my mum standing in front of the black Honda car", she said to Emily. She couldn't wait to introduce Emily to her mum.
"Hi mum", Patsy greeted and hugged her mum.
"Oh my pumpkin, how was school today?", asked her mum who was surprised to see the excitement written all over Patsy's face 🤗.
"It was good", patsy replied, "mum meet my friend, Emily".
"Hi Mrs. Wynn", Emily greeted smiling at her.
"Hello Emily, how are you?", Mrs. Carla asked.
"I'm doing well, how about you?", Emily asked back.
"I'm good", Mrs. Carla replied. Turning to Patsy she said, "you found yourself a new friend on your first day. That's awesome".
A car honked behind them and they turned to see who it was.
" I'm coming, give me a sec", Emily shouted out to the man seated in the car. "That's my dad's driver. He came to pick me up", she said to Patsy and her mum.
"Oh, I guess we have to let you go", Mrs. Carla said.
Emily hugged Patsy, then waved to Mrs. Carla and ran towards the car as the man was becoming impatient.
" Bye", Patsy shouted after her.
With that, she and her mum entered the car and drove home as patsy told her mum everything she and Emily discussed.
As days went by, their friendship grew stronger 💪. They knew each others' likes and dislikes, their similarities, and their differences. They were also brilliant when it comes to their academics, just that, one might be better than the other in a particular subject. Emily was better than Patsy in geography while Patsy was better than her in mathematics and they helped each other. They could tell each other everything.
It was already her 4th week in school. As her mum dropped her in front of her school, she walked into the school compound super excited. She saw all the 10-12 graders standing in the compound and immediately, her eyes went around as she looked for her friend. She saw Emily waving at her amid other graders. She happily walked in her direction as her heart ❤️ sang.
Once upon a golden time,
I'm blessed with someone.
A friend.
The one I can trust on anything.
Anytime.