Chapter 28: Chapter 28

I sat by the window for a long time, I knew candy lady had already gone to bed, her lamp which casted butterfly figures around the room had gone off. I couldn't sleep, my mind was spinning on its own. I thought of different things in the same second. But one thing stood out. The thing the Candy Lady said to me at the picnic. I couldn't forget that so easily.

Because she was right, I didn't know what I was doing with my life. Before this time I kind of had something in mind, when Dad was still around. I wanted to be a botanist. But I'm not so sure about that now. I couldn't tell anyone that's what I wanted... Because it was too sappy for someone like me. Only Dad knew about it. And he was gone.

My eye caught a star twinkling in the sky just as I was finally going to bed, it was shining so bright it was hard to miss, it made the other stars look like they were trying to hard. Something crossed my mind in that minute, the star was the Candy Lady, she was hard to miss, always smiling, always trying to help out, always too nice. But then a cloud came and tried to over shadow the star, a really dark cloud. Unfortunately for that cloud, the star was too radiant, it shone through the cloud, making it the only cloud that poured down on us that night.

"You look terrible." My sister said from above the rims of her coffee mug.

I shot her an irritating look, she was already dressed in a purple pencil skirt, a black weird looking blouse, all in all, she was ready for work. Compared to her, I just woke up, already in a terrible mood.

"You don't look so good yourself." I snap at her.

She sighed, she knew I didn't like mornings.

"Apologize to the girl today, it's an order." Mom said from above us.

"Seriously what's with you guys and the girl??" I asked already fed up.

Mom didn't reply, she just walked back into her room shutting the door behind her. I breathed hard through my nose.

"I'll be waiting for you, go take a shower." Lucy said looking and sounding smug.

Dressed in black shirt and a pair of black jeans, I sit in Lucy's car, not so annoyed as I was in the morning, but I still felt it.

"Why are you pressing about this?" I asked.

"I am not, I just want you to be gentlemanly." She said as Pea rolled roughly over the asphalt.

"Is this about Mr Anderson?" I asked calmly.

She stopped the car abruptly, eyes wide.

"What do you mean by that? What do you know about him?" She asked in panic.

My brows furrowed in suspicion... If she acted like this, there was something to hide. What was it? I hoped to God she wasn't dating him, that would be really bad.

"I know he is our neighbor, and also the father of our student body president." I tell her sharply.

She turned to look at me fully, as if trying to assess me properly. After two minutes of complete silence, she turned to the steering wheel calmly, taking deep breaths and as she rolled the car out of the road.

"Answer me Lucy, does this have to do with Mr Anderson?" I asked fearing the answer. I wanted to know, but knowing was scary, I didn't want to know that my sister was that time of person, chasing after other people's husband, going after a married man.

"We are here Joseph, get down, you'll be late." She said softly.

I opened the door and left. If she was ashamed of herself, why was she doing it? I felt bad for Mrs Anderson immediately, she was so nice to Lucy, she didn't know this was what Lucy was doing with her husband.

I sat outside for all the classes we had, I didn't care about going in, I didn't know how to face the candy lady just yet, how could I face her and be mad at her when my sister was trying to divide her home? I rubbed my eye brows in frustration.

I looked at the puff of smoke that came out the butt of my cigarette, I was certain I wasn't going to run into the candy lady, she was going to be in class learning. So I played with the cigarette a bit, I couldn't understand why Lucy was with him, was she in love with him? I thought back to the man, at the picnic, he didn't look like he knew her, either that or he was a good actor. But if he didn't know her then, she worked her charm on him and it worked. Or maybe she was still working her charms.

I groaned in frustration, she had to talk to me, maybe we could move houses, she didn't have to be near him.

I turned my head, facing the opposite direction, I almost fell off the wall in shock as I came to literal face to face with the candy lady.

She looked really shocked, like she wasn't expecting me, I wasn't expecting her either.

"Smoking is not allowed on school grounds.." she said in an almost whisper. Like she was afraid I'd disappear if she talked loud.

I blinked and looked around for a couple of seconds, before looking up and passing her my pack of cigarettes. She took it from me gingerly, like she didn't like touching them. I wanted to scoff, but I remembered the thing with my sister. Instantly I felt guilty.

"Wanna go to cafeteria together?" I asked awkwardly.

She looked up at me, blinking in confusion. I almost face palmed at myself. But she lit up immediately, she smiled so bright I took a little step backward, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Of course." Her voice was soft.

I knew she was beautiful, but her smile was on another level. Why didn't I notice it before? Maybe because I was always looking to criticize her. Yup I was feeling guilty again.

"You can keep them you know.." she said startling me.

We both started walking, very slowly.

"Keep what?"

"Your cigarettes... I only take them because it's against school rules." She said not meeting my eyes.

"And you'd be breaking the rules by giving them back to me." I tell her pointedly.

She blushed. "I know Theo always have a backup pack, I just take the obvious one and leave, leaving him with the second. I thought giving you back would be the same thing." She explained. I looked at her and smiled, she was smart.

"Well, miss student body president, I do have a backup, you can keep that."

She smiled at me, and I think something jolted.

"Uhm.. listen, about the picnic... I was out of line, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it." She said rushing and stumbling on the words.

"I'm sorry too, I had no right to say that." I apologized too.

She literally lit up like a Christmas three.

We both stood there smiling at each other. I felt stupid after a while.

"After you." I say once we got to the front of the cafeteria.

She smiled and walked inside.

I followed her thinking... She wasn't so bad after all.