Chapter 39 FLOWERS AT THE DOOR
Godiva POV
"Sorry," he said in a shy manner.
Ignoring him, I swiftly looked around to make sure no one saw us so they wouldn’t misunderstand.
"It’s no problem," I replied, shying away.
The bus door finally swung open, and everyone rushed out to go meet with their parents or loved ones, except Dina and me. We were the last to drop from the bus.
As we expected, no one came to pick us up. While everyone was busy chit-chatting and hugging their loved ones, we headed straight to pick up our luggage.
We were about rolling our boxes and leaving the park when Lis jumped in front of me, obstructing my way.
We kept staring at each other for a while until Dina broke the silence. "You are in our way."
She ignored Dina and kept on staring at me.
"Ewww, dude," I said, putting on a disgusted face as I attempted dragging Dina to walk away through the vacant space beside her.
She moved and obstructed my path again, holding her phone up and showing me a blurry picture.
"What's that?" I asked, coming closer to look at the screen.
"Look," she said, handing Dina and me her phone.
"Damn, it’s not what you think," I said, looking at the phone, then at Dina, and then back at her in confusion.
"What are you telling me? Girl, you’re shamelessly sleeping on my man’s chest," she barked, pointing at the phone.
I looked at Dina in a confused manner and then back at Lis. I was about explaining when she suddenly stopped me, raising her palms in front of my face.
"Get your hands off her face," Dina said angrily, letting go of her suitcase. I knew that meant danger, and whatever would happen after that was going to end in the office of the disciplinary committee.
I held Dina’s hand and used my other hand to get Lis’s hands off my face.
"It’s evident you don’t need an explanation," I said to her nonchalantly and attempted walking away for the second time.
"What explanation are you talking about when I heard how you threw yourself at my man every second you saw him?" she said arrogantly, folding her arms.
I was already losing my patience, and so was Dina.
"I guess whoever fed you this trash wasn’t quite updated," I said as I hissed and grabbed Dina’s hand to leave.
"Don’t ever make my girl sound like a hoe," Mama’s voice echoed from behind.
Dina and I swiftly turned in haste to confirm if it was really Mama.
"Damn, brutal," Dina said, clenching her teeth as we released fake smiles and hurried to hug Mama.
"My baby will never throw herself at a man, so be careful when you speak next time," Mama warned Lis, stepping closer.
"It’s not so serious, Mama," Dina said, petting Mama on her shoulders as we both struggled to get her out of that place because a number of students were already looking our way.
Dina held on to Mama while I dragged our suitcases. I sighted Leo standing with a few friends close to where the bus was, and they were laughing. I couldn’t say for sure, but I knew they were laughing at us. They were probably laughing at Mama’s worn-out scrubs and Crocs.
It didn’t really matter to me because I knew it was only going to take a while for her to look much better. I was looking forward to the S.M.A.D competition, which Dina and I had been preparing for since we entered high school.
S.M.A.D was an abbreviation for "Students Making a Difference." It was a duo mathematics competition that could fetch the winners fifty thousand dollars each, alongside other benefits.
I knew there was no better duo than Dina and me, the third and first best students in mathematics at our school, and definitely among the best ten in the state. Jerald was the second best, and Leo was among the top five.
I didn’t feel threatened at all since I knew Leo and Jerald wouldn’t be interested in the competition, since they had everything at their disposal.
All through our journey back home in the taxi we boarded, Mama couldn’t stop going on and on about the fact that we didn’t teach Lis a lesson since she was trying to frame me.
I let Mama believe all Lis said were lies because I couldn’t bring myself to tell her I actually slept on his shoulders and not his chest, since she believed I didn’t even have a male friend.
Dina and I kept giving each other eye signals as Mama talked about how impossible it was for me to even touch a guy.
We took all of our luggage to my house since Mr. and Mrs. Job, Dina’s parents, weren’t home.
So typical of Mama, she had already prepared a delicious corn meal for us before she left for work. We hurriedly took our showers and went to eat.
We chatted over our meal as we awaited the arrival of Dina’s parents so we could actually begin sharing our experience back in town Shanghai. Personally, I couldn’t wait to tell them about the award I took for my painting.
Dina’s parents arrived at last after an hour plus of waiting for them. We began telling them of our beautiful adventures over there. We didn’t need a prophet to tell us the particular stories we dared not share with them, especially about Leo.
Mama was more interested in all of the artifacts we saw and the souvenirs we brought back. Dina opened up her suitcase and brought out the key holders we got for them, as well as a beautiful tea set we got at a very cheap rate. We also got a bracelet for Dina’s brother, who wasn’t there.
Everyone was filled with joy, still admiring the gifts we gave them, when the doorbell suddenly rang.
I had wanted to go answer the door when Mama rushed ahead of me. Our parents believed we didn’t need to stress ourselves since we had just returned from a journey.
"Diva, what guy sent you flowers?" Mama asked in her scary yet gentle voice, holding a beautiful bouquet of rose flowers with a note inserted on top.