There were some things in life that we have warning signs for such as storms and there things we wished we had warning signs for like embarrassing friends. But I suppose, if that did happen exist half of the stories or my fondest memories would not exist.

No efforts were made to conceal the most talked about topic at Silverleaf C.I. From freshmen to even some of the teachers, the biggest news was of the most popular and liked girl Delancy, dating the outcast Eric.

Delancy didn’t notice it. She went about her day, attending meetings, practices, classes not realising that every time she passed by a group of students, they would stop whispering to stare at her then continue their conversation.

Eric on the other hand noticed. He had looks like that before but these were ten times worse. He kept his head down and focused on the music that was being channeled into his ears. He was calming down when two strong arms dropped around his shoulders and he looked up the see a menacing smile from Diego and Isaac.

“Let’s have a talk shall me?” Isaac said. The two friends were already leading Eric up to the roof and plotted him down on the bench before he even realised.

“So,” Diego said. He cracked his neck and gestured for Eric to sit in the space between him and Isaac. “You’re dating Delancy right?”

“Yes?” Eric said.

“Yes?” Isaac asked.

“No.”

“No?”

“No. Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Yes you’re …”

“Yes I’m dating Delancy,” Eric said as he braced himself for impact.

Diego and Isaac looked at each other and then leaned onto their hand. They stared at Eric who ended up raising his head at the lack of an impact.

“You’re dating our precious little Delancy?”

“The Delancy we’ve known since childhood?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure about this? It’s not too late to break up with her,” Diego said, genuinely worried, not because of Delancy but because of everyone who liked Delancy.

“Yes,” Eric said, his voice became stronger as the conversation progressed.

“Well then,” Isaac said, clapping him on the back. He looked at Diego and they knew what they had to do. “This means only one thing.”

In the stairwell, Delancy raced up towards the roof. When she had heard Eric was taken by Diego and Isaac, she knew it could only mean one thing. She handed everything off to Carson and sprinted up to the roof. When she finally arrived, her worst fears were confirmed.

“And then this time she was in middle school, she was in music class and-”

“Isaac Isaiah Kartal! Don’t you finish that sentence.”

“Hello Delancy Elise O’Hara, I see we’re on a full name basis.” Isaac moved away from Eric and crossed his arms. He raised an eyebrow and waited for the threat.

“Diego,” Delancy warned.

“Aw come on Del, nena. Porque no puedo decirlo?”

“Porque lo dije, a menos que quieras que le cuente a Rei lo que realmente pasó con la última galleta,” she retorted.

“What’s going on?” Eric asked Isaac who was every interested in the showdown between his friends.

“Diego said something along the lines of ‘Why can’t I say it?’ and then Delancy threatened him in revealing to Rei, our friend who you should meet, what happened to the last cookie. Hey! What happened to it? Que le paso a eso?”

“Don’t Delancy.”

“Then don’t make me Diego.”

“Aw come on Del,” Isaac jumped to Diego’s rescue, “you know your dad, as amazing as he is, will never do anything like this. Man’s too calm for his own good. Plus he’s already good in two of the four books. You should have seen him earlier when we were teaming up on him. Hey, good luck against Rei and Asher.”

Eric gulped at look to his girlfriend for help. She simply shrugged and said, “Good luck.”

Diego and Isaac headed back down to the warm school while Delancy decided to stay warm in her boyfriend’s arms.

*

She was the type of person you'd name a storm after, reckless, loud, a mess, and ruins all order. However unlike a storm, there was no warning before her arrival.

The sound of high heels clacking against the concrete and the sound of the wheels on a suitcase echoed in the hall. The scent of her strong perfume could be heard before you could see her bright outfit. Her blonde hair was curled and pinned with an old Hollywood style and her green eyes were piercing under make up but hidden behind her sunglasses.

The door to her unit slammed open and she spread her arms out ready for a hug as she announced her appearance, “Dah-ling I’m home.”

Delancy, who was doing her homework on her kitchen island, cringed at the sound of announcement and looked up.

“Hello Marilyn,” Delancy said.

“Dah-ling,” Marilyn said, removing sunglasses, “you were so much cuter when you were younger. Mommy, mommy, welcome back.” She kicked her heels off, removed her gloves, and untied the scarf on her head. “Now all I get is a hello Marilyn? Oh, Dean dah-ling, I’m home.”

“Hello dear,” Dean greeted his wife and helped her with her suitcase. “How was your trip?”

“It was fantastic . Delancy dah-ling, where are you going?”

Delancy was not the biggest fan of her mother. She was the exact opposite of her father, not just personality and appearance wise. Her mother was never around, she was a popular actress but retired after she married her father and one of the reasons why she did was because his last name was O’Hara like Scarlet O’Hara. After her retirement, Marilyn O’Hara stayed around until Delancy was five and left to travel the world to, quote on quote, find herself.

Her mother would return once in a while and disrupt the peace. She once pulled Rosemond out of just to make her shopping and another time, Marilyn O’Hara took Delancy all the way out to Gingko as a celebration for winning a volleyball tournament only to forget about Delancy on the way back.

Long story short, Marilyn was not the best mother and luckily for Delancy, her trips home were sporadic but they were short.

“And she just goes on and on,” Delancy said. All her friends were gathered on the roof as Delancy complained about her mother. “I can’t wait until she leaves, I can’t stand her.”

“At least you have a mother,” Rei said.

“A mother,” Delancy mocked. “A mother is around, a mother remembers her children’s birthday, a mother cares. Marilyn just travels the world and wastes hour home’s money, do you want to call that a mother?”

“Let me tell you this once and only once,” Rei said, her voice way low and it shook as she spoke. “At least your mother is alive. She may not be the greatest mother but at least you are able to meet her even if it is for a short while. Do you know what I would give to see mine again?”

“Rei, I didn’t.”

Delancy realised the impact of her words but it was too late. Rei loosened herself from Delancy’s grip and tried to leave before the tears fell but she was a step to slow. As Rei ran down with tears falling down her face, Delancy froze in shock.

“I need to apologise,” she said.

“I’ll go,” said Asher putting his hand on Delancy’s shoulder. “Both of you aren’t in the state to talk to each other right now.” Asher headed down the fire escape and off to find his best friend.

“Diego, take care of her and bring her back to Ash’s place when she’s good,” Isaac said as he headed down to his unit to prepare something.