When I got to class on Monday, everyone gave me affectionate smiles and loving greetings. Catalina's story had spread, many said that she herself had been in charge of spreading it, and everyone knew that she had helped her. Everyone knew my name and from one moment to the next I was getting twice as many requests. No more letters were getting into my locker and I had decided to hang a basket where the letters were piled up next to each other in search of a little attention.
When it was time for lunch, I couldn't find Lia anywhere, so I went alone to one of the tables in the cafeteria, maybe I would find Catalina or Carmen. Before finding an unoccupied table I heard my name being called from one of the center tables, I turned around confused and found Rita Cass waving her hand to get my attention, confused that a girl I had never spoken to was interacting With me, I approached his table that was full.
"Hello, Lydia!" Will you sit with us?
I fell silent as I studied the girl in front of me. She had beautiful brown eyes adorned by long lashes and framed by powerful black eyebrows that contrasted with her straight almost white hair. Her skin had a perfect tan, although in some parts it could be noticed a little more orange, checking that it was not the product of the sun, but of hours in a tanning bed. We were classmates since we were ten years old but we had never spoken to each other, we had not shared rooms and their circle of friends was totally different from my small group.
"Lydia?" Her soft voice pulled me out of my thoughts and, to avoid getting all the stares at that table, I nodded quickly and sat where Rita indicated, right in front of her.
The first minutes were extremely uncomfortable, nobody spoke but everyone studied me with their eyes, they looked like computers decoding some type of code that was hidden in my body. When the glancing bath ended, Rita spoke up, it was clear who was leading that group.
"We were wondering if that whole story about Catalina was true." - I stopped drinking my orange juice and nodded. "Talk, pretty." We are not going to eat you. A chorus of laughter applauded Rita's graceless joke.
I tried to smile and looked for my voice that was still in shock from being approached by the popular ones at school. But what was happening to me! Jeez, Lydia are people just like you! It's not like they have a horn between their eyebrows! I snorted, my inner self was right, I had never cared about popularity, much less would I care now. I was behaving like a ten-year-old girl who is afraid to say something that will cause them to laugh at her, who is afraid of not fitting in ... That was stupid, the time of fear was long gone.
-Yes it's correct. I think she said it a couple of times.
"We just wanted to hear it from someone else." Catalina likes to invent things from time to time. Did you know that she once said that Stefano had stolen a kiss from her? As if that boy would waste his lips on that little girl. —Rita's words boiled my blood, what did this girl think? Would she be superior by making others feel bad? Before I could respond to her teasing without thanks, she spoke to me again— And tell us, is that true about plants? Do they really work?
I talked to him a bit about plants, making the rest of the table stop paying attention to me and allowing me to release that air that I had not realized I was imprisoning. However, Rita was still attentive to my words, listened with interest and made comments from time to time, little by little I let go and ended up telling her in detail the properties of each plant and things that anyone else would have bored but that, strangely, Rita seemed as interested in it as I did. When I finished my monologue the blonde clapped me slyly and leaned a little closer to me to speak in whispers.
- The truth is that I wanted to send you a letter but I was ashamed that someone found out or something. Could I give it to you in person?
Rita smiled at me and went back to concentrating on her salad and talking to the rest of the table. I asked myself again what I was doing there but before I was inundated with that feeling, Rita included me in one of her conversations, forcing me to interact with her friends. Contrary to my forecasts, the lunch hour flew by and the rest of the day flew by the same way.
I didn't see Lia for the rest of the afternoon so I planned to call her when I got home, I had almost twenty letters in my backpack and had to get home quickly if I wanted to have everything ready for the next day.
Upon arrival I found Alan watering the garden plants near the entrance, he nodded to me to which I responded with a smile. I went into the kitchen where my mother was having tea with Doria. I greeted them both with a kiss on the cheek and hurried to my room.
I threw myself into bed where I mentally organized my tasks for the day. I had to call Lia, read the letters, go to the garden to find the necessary plants and collect Lazy's food, and finally, I was to study for my math test the next day. It would be a long day. Before getting out of my comfortable bed, a door slammed me out of it.
"I'm sorry, it was the wind, I just wanted to close the door."
I looked at my mother who was slowly approaching my bed, she sat next to me and took one of my hands in hers. She looked at me with fond gray eyes and something warned me that a serious conversation was coming.
"What's wrong, Mom?"
My mother looked away, which she only did when she was feeling nervous. The blood began to leave my body, what if my mother was sick and told me that she had little time left. My pulse began to accelerate and my right leg began to shake like it did whenever something upset me.
—Well, I ... I know you don't like me to tidy up your room because you prefer to help me and do it yourself but this morning I felt inactive, with all this new employees I feel that I have plenty of time and that puts me on my nerves, I need to be doing things but-
"Mom, to the point" I cut her off before she recounted her entire life. If she was going to tell me she was sick, every second it took made me more distressed.
-Oh yeah. The thing is that I decided to surprise you by making your piece but I accidentally broke your piggy bank and I found too much money. And well, I was wondering if you were up to something ... Strange or where did you get so much money.
A gust of air left my body and I felt much more relaxed. It wasn't any disease, it was just the extra money. With a smile on my lips, I told my mother about the unusual business I had formed with Lia and that the money I collected was for the house and to help her. My mother did not want to accept the money but applauded me for finding a hobby capable of helping others.
Then she went to work and I motivated myself to do the duties on my list.
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