by Nashaly Espinal 

 

The front door loudly slammed shut which startled Jaycee at first, but; after being reminded of her mother’s betrayal, her facial expression quickly changed back to anger. Jaycee stomped to the bus stop, crushing all the leaves she could beneath her feet; still trying to comprehend how her mother, of all people, would disagree with her on such a critical matter. See what happened was that, Jaycee caught one of her closest friends flirting with a guy she was well aware Jaycee liked. When she confronted her friend about this, her friend told her that she was jumping the gun a bit. And her mother agreed, telling Jaycee that she shouldn’t just assume these things! Feeling the weight of her mother’s betrayal, Jaycee yelled she wasn’t crazy and knew what flirting was when she saw it. 

 

However, feeling remorseful about her harsh words, the stomps stopped, and Jaycee started walking at a more steady pace. Pulling out her phone she looked longly at it, debating whether she should give her mom a call or maybe send her a text. Then suddenly she bumped into Brandon, the guy she liked and who supposedly was flirting with her friend. Her blood started to boil and she even felt a strange hot sensation in her chest. Brandon started to apologize continuously, and that’s when Jaycee looked down and saw that he had spilled his coffee on her blouse. Brandon quickly pulled out some napkins from his bag, Jaycee snatched them and hollered, “Watch where you’re going next time!” She walked away, rubbing the napkins up and down her blouse, desperately trying to get the coffee stains out. 

 

Walking into the school, she saw Candice standing by her locker and swiftly walked up to her. Then she put her head on Candice’s shoulder and let out a sigh. Worried for her friend, Candice tried to look for things that would cheer up Jaycee and she spotted Brandon. Poking fun at her, Candice asked, “Guess who’s at school?” Already knowing the answer Jaycee turned her head and let out another sigh. Not wanting to give up so easily, Candice insisted that Jaycee get off her shoulders and go talk to Brandon. Reaching her peak Jaycee raised her head and exclaimed, “Would you just stop!” Taken aback Candice looked at Jaycee, that’s when her eyebrows turned in, and that’s when Jaycee realized she had messed up for the third time today. So, she scrambled to explain what happened with her mother and Brandon but Candice cut her off. She said, in a reluctant tone, “You know what Jaycee, you always act like this, and today I’m just not up for it…” Then walked away. 

 

Jaycee stood there, still trying to process what just happened. That was so unlike Candice, she didn’t even take a moment to listen to what Jaycee had to say. Feeling worn out already, she made her way to the girl’s bathroom to see if some cold water could do her some good. “Everything is going to be fine,” she said. “Yeah I had a rough start to the day but, things will get better.” And then the bell rang. “Shoot,” she said as her eyes widened. She quickly picked up her things and rushed to her first-period biology class. Mrs. Sudah was a pretty understanding teacher so she wasn’t especially nervous about being late but when she walked into class, she was met with a stern look. “I’m sorry, I was in the bathroom,” she said out of breath. Mrs. Sudah replied in a grim tone, “You can’t just walk into this class whenever you’d like, make sure to use to use the bathroom before the bell rings next time.” Then she gestured to Jaycee’s seat. “Ouch,” Jaycee thought as she walked over to her table, “that’s not the reaction I was expecting.”

 

After biology class ended, she glumly made her way to English class. Jaycee had this class with Brandon. Taking what her mom had said to her into consideration and the fact that she was the one to bump into Brandon, she approached him as he was writing in his notebook and apologized for the way she had acted. A look of sympathy spread on his face and Jaycee closed her eyes sighing in relief. When she opened them again, Brandon’s facial expression was completely transformed. It was a mix of hurt and resentment and then he uttered the words that would pierce her heart: “Now you want to apologize… You know, I really liked you but now I see the person that you really are. I was such an idiot for not seeing it sooner.” Then he took one last glance at her and went back to writing in his notebook. A tear ran down her cheek which she briskly wiped away and she rushed to her seat so that Brandon wouldn’t see her cry.

 

To say the least, the rest of Jaycee’s day was horrendous. Everything she did seemed to bother somebody. Jaycee walked to her bus, trying to make herself as small as she could, trying to conceal herself from others. When she finally arrived at her seat, one tear followed the next and she started to sob. Jaycee had never felt such a gut-wrenching sensation or in other words, she had never felt so alone. When she finally arrived at her stop, her stomach sunk as she thought of how her mom would react when she saw her. Would her mom care enough to hear her apology or would she just be ignored? The answer to this question was daunting. So, she slowly made her way off the bus stop. This pissed off the unsympathetic bus driver who yelled, “C’mon I have more kids to drop off!” Jaycee, feeling embarrassed shuffled to the front of the bus and out the doors. 

 

Arriving at her house, Jaycee tried to open the front door as softly as she could so that her mother wouldn’t hear her enter. She wasn’t ready to confront her. To her surprise, her mother was seated on the couch and they made eye contact. Jaycees mother quickly got up and Jaycee, still sobbing, tried to let out the words “I’m sorry.” Jaycees mother embraced her tightly and whispered the words,“Shh, Shh it’s ok.” And for the first time that day, Jaycee was forgiven.