Pumpkin | ✔️

Chapter 16

Chapter 16 - Detention

Candy and I were walking together towards the detention room silently. Candy was happily munching on a sandwich that she pulled out of my bag that granny made. Yup, we got a food thief in this school. Could not blame her though, granny makes the best sandwiches. We finally reached detention and was not at all surprised to see Aiden and Colton arm wrestling at the back of the room.

"Didn't know this is the seventh grade detention room." Candy said to them as we entered the room and took seats near the door.

"Haha, very fu - hey!" Aiden's sarcastic retort was interrupted by his own exclamation to losing the arm wrestle.

Colton laughed victoriously. "Thanks for the distraction, Candy." He suddenly lowered his voice. "Everybody knows Aiden can't resist you." He snickered teasingly to Aiden.

"Man, shut up." Aiden said sourly.

I looked over to Candy who was blushing lightly. "Oooh, I believe you have a crush on your so called 'enemy'." I teased her, doing quotation marks on the last word.

She was about to say something when Mr. Holland walked into the room. "Ah, what a surprise to see you two in detention." He said sarcastically to the boys.

"We love surprising people, Kevin." Aiden said with a mischievous grin.

"Especially, you." Colton added with a grin of his own.

Mr. Holland ignored them and took a seat on the desk at the front of the room, took out his laptop to work and announced to us that we could do anything we want except for using mobile devices.

"Hey, Raine?" Candy suddenly called, looking serious.

"Yeah?" I turned to her.

"How do you do it?" She asked me hesitantly as she looked at me with curiosity.

This made me confused. "Do what?"

She stayed silent for a while, contemplating before continuing. "You know, with your parents passed away, moving half way to the country and all. I mean, that's a lot to handle and you're handling it really well. You appear so happy and care free all the time like nothing bad ever happened. If you don't mind me asking." She smiled reassuringly.

I was taken aback by her question. I was also a bit hesitant but I also want to get these things out my chest, so I smiled at her sadly and answered her question. "My mother always told me to always let go of the past no matter what. Her last words to me was 'remember to never let your past affect your present and future' before going to school that day, before she died." I suddenly felt a tear slide down my cheek, knowing that there was also another reason and quickly wiped it off. Just remembering these events made me sad.

"I took mom's words very seriously and I'm living by it even if she failed to do so." I let out a breathy laugh. "But, there are some nights where I start to think of them and cry like a baby. I just miss them so much. It still hurts me" I shrugged, wiping the new set of tears.

I felt Candy hug me soothingly and kissed the top of my head. "Aw, my poor baby. Sorry I made you cry by asking that silly question." She said as she pulled away from the hug.