Mostly Unlady

Part 20

Dear Mum,

It seems that everywhere I go, parents are talking to their kids about my fight with Abe. Even at my school—where no one knows him—since he goes to a religious school far away from mine.

I prepared an apology for Abe, which I'm going to try and share with him the next time I see him. The problem is that his mum really hates my guts, as I found out when I knocked on his door, the other day. Given that loads of time had passed since my birthday and seeing that Elena was jogging in and out of Abe's place with her brother, I thought this might be my lucky day; a chance to make things right with everyone.

Abe came to the door on hearing me knock, and he went white as a sheet when he saw me. He shouted over his shoulder: "Maaaaaah! It's HER!" Like I was coming back from the dead. His mum bawled back at him: "Don't let her in!! Don't!!" Then she appeared at the other end of the hallway and her face looked like she had eaten a whole jar of jalapeños: "GO! Leave this house!" she screamed. 

A second later, Elena and her brother spotted me from a different angle of the hallway. I tried to smile at them, but Abe's mum looked like she was possessed. "Did you hear what I said, Zelia?" she bleated like a demented ewe. She took off one of her slippers and pretended she was about to throw it at me as she marched towards me. "GO!" She swatted her slipper at my head as she reached the door and I ducked, avoiding a hit. "YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE-- EVER!" she yelled, and she slammed the door shut in my face.

I can't get the two frozen-solid faces of Elena and her brother out of my head.

In the last few months, Elena and her mum have offered their condolences for granny's passing. At the same time, they keep giving me excuses for me not to see Elena outside of school. I don't know why but I didn't tell Elena how sad I feel about granny. The next day, a girl in my class named Lola told me that everybody in school knew that my granny had died. And then she smiled, not a nice smile like Elena's, a bad smile like she was about to make fun of me. Suddenly the headmistress walked past us, and Lola vanished. I found out that Elena has been spending a lot of her afterschool evenings with Gigli and Lola and other classmates, as well as Abe.

I was sad because I think this is part of some punishment for the Abe thing...since the changes all come right after the fight he and I had.

One day, if he feels like he can stand seeing me, I'll say how I was really angry with him because of what he said to me about girls and not about anything else. Then I'll say I never meant to cause him any injuries to his body or to his soul. I'm not violent and I don't believe in solving my problems with my fists.

I really need to make super-best friends with Gigli now, as a matter of urgency, because she's my ticket to Elena.

Wish me luck.

Zelia

Is Zelia too nice in wanting to patch things up with Abe and Gigli or is she learning some valuable diplomacy skills without realising it? Is her friendship with Elena doomed? Feel free to comment or vote

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