The next day was a busy one for Havana. She had to drop Melanie off at school since Skylar didn't follow the same path as Melanie's school to go to the college she attended and that day was the day she would begin her job as a secretary.
"Melanie…you're going to be late for school!" Havana called out to Melanie.
"Melanie! Melanie! Where is that girl?" Havana called while searching for her, "Skylar have you seen Melanie?" Havana asked when she saw Skylar coming out from the room.
"Not really…she's not in the room" Skylar said and went to prepare breakfast. Skylar was still talking when Havana found Melanie hiding by the door side, she gave Skylar a "don't bother" sign and walked away.
"Melanie I can see you there…come out. You know, with this attitude we'll reach the school very late" Havana said and Melanie reluctantly crawled out.
"I don't want to go to school" Melanie said, "School is…well, not fun or exciting for me"
"Let me guess, you don't think you'll make any friends?" Havana asked, "Come closer let me tell you the secret to friendship. Just be yourself, don't act to get attention and be kind and courteous to everyone. I'm sure you'll make friends. Now go and prepare for school and hurry!"
"You know this is all weird" Skylar said when Melanie entered the room to take her bath.
"What's weird?" Havana asked.
"You do realize that we barely know this kid and now we are training her in school. I'm not saying it's a bad thing but it's weird and we can't even adopt her unless we are married. If it were another random kid you saw on the street claiming to have no mother, would you have taken that child in like we did to Melanie?" Skylar asked.
"To be honest when I first met Melanie, I had this weird feeling about her…probably because she gave off a different aura than kids her age but I got to understand that she was just feeling insecure and brought out a tough side to avoid being bullied. When she called me mom in her sleep…I, I felt very sorry for her. She had never experienced parental love and she was craving it. I guess she reminded me about the child I lost when I was younger. You know Lucas, my first crush..." Havana said sadly
"The idiot that got you pregnant and ran away? Of course I remember" Skylar said.
"It was our child, a girl, she couldn't make it to this world alive. She would have been Melanie's age by now" Havana cried, it had been 8 years and she couldn't still get over the death of her child.
"Havana, don't cry. I didn't bring up this topic so it could turn out like this" Skylar said as she wiped Havana's tears.
**********
Soon everyone was done with their breakfast and left the house at the same time.
"Don't forget to agree to the date" Skylar said and waved goodbye to Havana and Melanie, they also waved back.
"Are you really going to agree to the date?" Melanie asked.
"Yes I will. It's just dinner and besides I'm not furthering any relationship" Havana said as she flagged down a taxi. By the time they reached Melanie's new school no one could be seen except few students and some teachers because it was very early.
"Melanie…don't bully anyone okay?" Havana said and Melanie nodded. Then they both hugged and parted ways.
[…at the Linux Corp].
"Early once again I see" Nolan said from behind Havana who was arranging her desk. Havana turned to meet his eye. Her eye involuntarily scanned him and her mind read the details 'Not bad, physically he meets all my standards'. Nolan cleared his throat and that's when Havana noticed he was giving her a questioning gaze.
"Um…sorry about that I was just…" Havana said.
"Checking me out?" Nolan completed and Havana blushed in embarrassment, "Have you thought about the date?"
"Yeah, we'll go after work. You can choose the restaurant" Havana said and Nolan left, smiling.
The day's activities were tough on Havana. Angela couldn't handle demotion and resigned, a replacement was gotten immediately. Everyone in the company talked about Havana. Some praised her achievement while others considered it unfair for a newbie to get promotion after two days of being in the company. It wasn't only Havana that was having a tough day. Melanie was struggling in school.
When Melanie came to school that morning, she quietly found a bench to sit but some boys 'ordered' her to stand up claiming they wanted to use it for their goal post. Melanie refused…the school had a gym and they couldn't possibly fire a ball at the wall, it might crumble or break. The boys signaled themselves and kept shooting balls at Melanie who tried to dodge them. Melanie finally stood up and the boys used the bench as the post. They shot at the wall and it cracked, Melanie smiled. It so happened that the principal was arriving at the moment. "What happened here…you, you and you at my office, now!" The principal said as he pointed to the two boys and Melanie. "Me?" Melanie asked and tried to explain that she was not among but the principal won't hear any of it. The principal gave them cleaning duty after school and scolded Melanie the most because she was a new student. Melanie was fuming inside, she wanted to teach those boys a lesson but she had promised Havana that she'll be on her best behaviour and she hated breaking promises.
Classes that day was not any different for Melanie. She was promoted to grade 7 due to her intelligence and no kid there was her mate. Everyone in the class bullied her, or so she thought. When she answered a question many refused to clap, when she wanted to borrow a pencil (as a conversation starter) no one spared her a glance. The peak of it all was when gum was smeared all over her chair once she left for the toilet. Melanie stood throughout the class with students constantly complaining that she was obstructing their view.
During recess,
Melanie walked to an empty seat but one of the two dudes that kicked balls at her ealier walked to the sit and declared that she would not be allowed to sit down at the table. Melanie walked to another free seat but the girl there said she should stand like how she did earlier in class. After minutes of searching Melanie finally found an empty chair in a table full with kids on glasses. Luckily for her, she was not chased away.
"Hi everyone...I'm Melanie. Is this the table for long or short sighted people?"
"Not really. This is the nerds corner. I'm not on glasses as you can see. I'm Natasha by the way" A girl said.
"You must be a nerd like us 'cause you are very smart and you don't have friends" A boy chipped in, he was in the same grade with her and Natasha. She saw them earlier in class.
"You don't have to point that out Ricky!" Natasha said. Melanie had just opened her lunch box when the recess over bell was rung, she sighed and walked back to her nightmare of a class alongside Natasha and Ricky.
**********
The day soon came to an end and Nolan offered to drop Havana off. "I want to pick someone first and i don't want to stress you" Havana said.
"I'm not stressed" Nolan said and opened the car door for her. He had to admit, Havana was very intelligent and her work today. He was happy when she agreed to the date, he just hoped she would agree to his next request.